Al Ewing Archives - Page 2 of 6

0:01-4:00: Greetings from Graeme “Gracious Winner” McMillan and Jeff “Suck It Up” Lester. Are we complaining less in 2019? It’s not just a potentially awesome American Voices topic, it’s also something we contemplate briefly before getting things underway.

Seal bitch-slaps man with octopus

4:00-47:51: “Look, I think this whole fight thing from last week was overrrated,” Gracious Winner declares. “Mmm-hmm,” agrees Suck It Up. And so we’re once again unified in our quest to talk comics, comics news, and comics media. So, first up: Aquaman! How has Jeff seen this but Graeme hasn’t? We can’t work that out but Jeff does have some “damning with faint praise/praising with faint damnation” thoughts about the movie. Yes, we have to admit upfront that it’s a shame that Aquaman is going to get much more mouth-time than Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (unless we turn that around next episode) but, well, Jeff has thoughts and you know what that means. (Cut to montage of calendar pages dropping to the ground one by one). Also discussed: superhero movies where the weakness on the page becomes a strength on film; *spoiler of post-credit sequence at 20:28* if that’s a thing you care about. Also discussed: Justice League 2, Ben Whishaw as Bruce Wayne, Wes Anderson’s Batman movie (and now that I think about it, it should be a remake of Batman Returns with Lea Seydoux as Catwoman, Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck (for double bonus in-joke points!) and Jason Schwartzbaum as the Penguin running amok in Gotham as The Kinks’ Father Christmas plays. Come on!); Riverdale; Legends of Tomorrow; Titans; Trolls; and more.

47:51-58:54: Hey!! Kids Comics! We talk about Aquaman #43 by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Robson Rocha and Daniel Henriques; Wonder Woman issues #58-61 by G. Willow Wilson, Cary Nord, Mick Gray, and Xermanico; Superman #7 by Brian Michael Bendis, Brandon Peterson, and Ivan Reis.

58:54-1:16:40: (Had to start a few seconds earlier so I could get Graeme’s “Oh!” included in this. Speaking of DC Comics, there was a bit of news the other week about DC joining Comixology Unlimited (as well as bringing titles to Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading). We discuss that news which includes the 15% discount on digital titles; what’s available there as opposed to the DC Universe app; DC’s different approaches to its different readerships; the first volume of Immortal Hulk being on CU; Jeff’s pie-in-the-sky dreams for having these services as the openers of the way to readers and fans, and more.

1:16:40-1:18:42: Also in comics news: the passing of Ron Smith (Judge Dredd, 2000 AD) and Batton Lash

(Wolff & Byrdd Counselors of the Macabre, and Archie Meets The Punisher).

1:18:42-1:33:13: Since we were talking about 2000 AD, Jeff really wanted to talk about The Green Lantern #3 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp, which is simultaneously a love letter to 2000 AD, DC Silver Age comic book covers, and, uh, more? Less? We’re still not quite sure, but it may have some big ramifications for Hal Jordan…or not.

1:33:13-1:49:55: We talk a bit about the most recent issues of Batman by Tom King, Mikel Janin and Jorge Fornes, Travis Moore, Mitch Gerads, and others, as well as Batman Annual #3 by Tom Taylor and Otto Schmidt. Also discusssed: Heroes in Crisis; ambition, politics, and Watchmen references; and more.

1:49:55-2:00:40: When is a comic we like not a comic that we like? Sadly, when it’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 by Tom Taylor, Juann Cabal, and Marcelo Ferreira. We pull apart what doesn’t work for us in a book we really wanted to work.

2:00:40-2:04:18: We point out (mentioned above in the notes but not actually in the podcast) that the first trade of Immortal Hulk is on Comixology Unlimited. We then go on to rave very briefly about the most recent issue, Immortal Hulk #11 by Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, and Ruy José.

2:04:18-2:19:04: And from there, Graeme goes on to talk a bit about what he’s been reading, including: trades of Action Comics: Rebirth by Dan Jurgens, Patch Zircher, and Tyler Kirkham; Young Justice #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Patrick Gleason; Captain Marvel #1 by Kelly Thompson and Carmen Carnero; Uncanny X-Men by Ed Brisson, Matt Rosenberg, Kelly Thompson and Yildiray Cidar; the Shortbox releases of 2017; the Hilda graphic novels by Luke Pearson; the Asterix graphic novels by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo; and a brief discussion about what constitutes new on Hoopla.

2:19:04-2:45:00: Jeff’s turn! He’s read and wants to talk super-briefly about Die Wergelder Vol. 2 by Hiroaki Samura; Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura; Conan The Barbarian #1 by Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar; Criminal #1 by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Jacob Phillip; Outer Darkness #3 by John Layman and Afu Chan; Gunning for Hits (Music Thriller) #1 by Jeff Rougvie and Moritat; Keeping His Whims In Check by PI; I Moved to Los Angeles to Work in Animation by Natalie Nourigat; Go-Bots #2 by Thomas Scioli; and Man-Eaters #3 and 4 by Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk, and Lia Miternique; and from there we talk about Chelsea Cain’s very problematic tweet from the other week.

2:45:00- end: Closing comments! Look for us on Stitcher! Itunes! Instagram! 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. And then we’re out!

NEXT WEEK: Another episode of Wait, What? Yes, somehow!

0:01-32:16: Greetings from the very last “Wait, What?” podcast of the year! Graeme “The Best of” McMillan and Jeff “The Rest of” Lester. As the nicknames suggest, we immediately jump into discussing the idea of the Best of 2018 list: Graeme has an in-process list, Jeff doesn’t, and it’s been a damn odd year for it for some reason. We discuss why, and also what Graeme currently has on his list. Discussed: Martian Manhunter #1, Bitter Root #1, Goddess Mode #1, the joys of serialization, Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Seconds, whether or not Marvel should do a Daredevil: Season 4 comic; what happened to the Netflix-Marvel deal; spoilers for the finale of s2 of Iron Fist at 20:29 to 20:44); the sales of Marvel’s digital first comics; Marvel’s recent selection of back titles on Marvel Unlimited; Agents of SHIELD makes it to a seventh season, somehow; what the fuck happened with The Inhumans, including The Death of the Inhumans; and more.

32:16-44:44: Section break just in case you need to get your bearings, and also because we linger on this topic for a bit: there’s been “a report” that a screenwriter is working on adapting Master of Kung-Fu. Is Jeff excited? Nonplussed? Halfplussed? We talk it all out.

44:44-56:24: The discussion of MOKF causes Jeff to ask in turn for for Graeme’s feeling about the Bright Burn trailer. “What’s the Bright Burn trailer?” Graeme asks, so Jeff makes him watch it during the podcast so we can talk about it [Graeme’s real-time reactions edited for length]. Discussed: Bright Burn (which Jeff keeps calling “Bright Born” and still maintains is a better title than Bright Burn).

56:24-1:15:34: Jeff had mentioned earlier there were some news stories he thought we’d be discussing this episode. What stories were those, Graeme wonders? There was a big announcement of what Shonen Jump is doing starting December 17. Also discussed: an amazing story from Graeme about Doomsday Clock #8, but the bulk of it is us talking about the Shonen Jump deal, what the expectations are, and who is the deal for, and some other consideration that won’t end in a preposition and make me uncomfortable.

1:15:34-1:33:06: We expand the discussion about the new Shonen Jump to have a larger discussion about other comix streaming services currently available in the U.S. Who’s the audience for Marvel Unlimited? Who’s the audience for Comxology Unlimited? What’s the real DC Unlimited service? And how much does Jeff actually use the streaming services he subscribes to? That last question is a potentially very embarrassing can of worms for Jeff, but on the upside it does allow him to talk about the first volume of Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura, which really is as good as everybody says, and which Kodansha is offering the whole first volume of on Comixology Unlimited. Also discussed: the Hit Reblog anthology on Comixology Unlimited; what comics are on the DC Universe app; and more.

1:33:06-1:49:49: Comics that we are reading! This is a thing we occasionally talk about on our comics podcast! And in case you were wondering, this is where Graeme finally gets a chance to break out that incomplete list of the year’s best books, so it’s worth paying attention to this part, probably? Discussed and/or listed: Brazen by Penelope Bagieu; Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal; Berlin by Jason Lutes; Mister Miracle by Tom King and Mitch Gerads; The Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing, Joe Bennett and others; My Boyfriend is a Bear by Pamela Ribon and Cat Farris; Sabrina by Nick Drnaso (which features a longer discussion between Jeff and Graeme); Judge Dredd: The Small House, by Rob Williams and Henry Flint and just wrapped in 2000 AD; Prism Stalker by Sloane Leong; and (honorable mention) Justice League by Scott Snyder, Jorge Jimenez, and others.

1:49:49-1:54:5o: The mention of Justice League and how, while not being the best book of the year may well be the most improved, leads Graeme to talk about the new Uncanny X-Men series which Graeme describes as “astonishingly bad.” And also, because I’m too lazy to make this a separate entry, Graeme also discusses the first issue of Shazam! by Geoff Johns, Dale Eaglesham, and Mayo “SEN” Naito.

1:54:5o-2:03:48: And then Jeff just talks about stuff he’s been reading, most of which is far from the best (and some of which, like volumes 21-27 of S&M by Mio Murao is just inexcusable). Discussed: Vinland Saga again; Die #1 by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans; and others I think I’m too tired to link to, although some of them deserve it.

2:03:48-2:35:44: Are we through yet? No, not yet! A listener sent us the first seven issues of Plus Ultra by Jon Hughes and Matthew Weldon, and so we dig into this comic series about a superheroine dealing with supervillians and self-identity even as her creators deal with telling superhero stories, engaging in worldbuilding, and injecting ideas about self-identity into a comic book story with only so many panels, so many captions, so many scenes in any given issue.

2:35:44-2:41:49: Closing comments? Nope, psych! We end up talking a bit about Dan Slott’s Fantastic Four and recording plans for our final episode of Baxter Building!

2:41:49-end: Closing comments–for real this time! Look for us on Stitcher! Itunes! Instagram! 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. And then we’re out!

NEXT WEEK: Baxter Building Episode 50! The conclusion of Volume 1 of The Fantastic Four. Join us!

0:01-6:15: Greetings! After a very long time, Jeff “Black Friday!” Lester and Graeme “Small Business Saturday!” McMillan are back with their non-Fantastic-Four-focused comics podcast that starts off being *especially* unfocused. Within the first few minutes, we’re debating what constitutes a device, what kind of liquor you’d find in a Molokov Cocktail, and more exciting not-comics-at-all-we-admit-it topics.

6:15-26:09: But “fortunately” we have The Suicide Bomber Sits In The Library, a book by Jack Gantos and Dave McKean to discuss. Also mentioned: G. Willow Wilson’s thread on the same on Twitter; the dissolution of Telltale Games; what publishers can and can’t get away with; and more.

26:09-45:13: Speaking of what publishers can and can’t do, we look a bit at Marvel’s 2018, with an eye toward the strength of the books they’re publishing, which leads us to discuss The Immortal Hulk #9 by Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Martin Simmonds, Ruy José, and others; Mister Miracle #12 by Tom King and Mitch Gerads; Heroes in Crisis #3 by Tom King, Lee Weeks, and Clay Mann; and more.

45:13-1:03:07: Graeme mentions he’s seen Bohemian Rhapsody to make a larger point about how your experience of a work can be influenced by its reception but Jeff totally goes crazy with the interrupting because OH MY GOD he just saw Bohemian Rhapsody as well, and how can such a terrible movie be so damn enjoyable? Of course, we’re going to talk about that! Also discussed: Huey Lewis and The News; and more.

1:03:07-1:18:00: Comic books! Quickly discussed: The Green Lantern #1 by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp; Avengers #700 by Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness; Superman #4 and #5 by Brian Bendis and Ivan Reis; and why Jeff gave up on Justice League.

1:18:00-1:36:10: Jeff wanted to Graeme to talk about Electric Warriors #1 by Steve Orlando, Travel Foreman and Hi-Fi. Also discussed: creators that don’t work for us and why; the last page of Electric Warriors #1 (which Jeff accidentally spoils at 1:32:27, so be warned).

1:36:10-1:45:58: Jeff mentioned seeing three movies in one day (one of which being Bohemian Rhapsody). What are the other two? Discussed: the second movie Jeff saw, plus Tom Scioli’s Go-Bots #1.

1:45:58-1:52:14: And rather than talk about the last movie he saw that day and have to work hard to slip another comic book review into it, Jeff just decides to openly talk about how much he enjoyed Outer Darkness #1 by John Layman and Afu Chan.

1:52:11=4-2:13:11: And what’s the third movie Jeff saw? The answer will surprise you! (Maybe? I mean…it’s not impossible, right?) Also discussed: pre-show “entertainment,” movie theaters we go to (or not) and why, a lot of other stuff very un-comic booky…

2:13:11-end: Closing comments! Look for us on Stitcher! Itunes! Instagram! 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. And then we’re out!

NEXT WEEK: Baxter Building! Read Fantastic Four Annuals #24-27 and join us!

0:01-20:26: Greetings from Jeff “We Must Talk About Batman’s Penis” Lester and Graeme “Really, Jeff?” McMillan! We get right to the meat of it immediately, and talk about the appearance of “Lil Wayne” in Batman: Damned #1 by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, DC’s attempt to do a Mature Readers label featuring characters you can still buy underoos of. How’d that turn out, you might wonder if you had no access to the Internet until now? We are more than happy to enlighten you, even as we struggle to keep the double entendres to a minimum. Also discussed: Dongtor Manhattan; DC’s decision to automatically censor the book; and more.

20:26-33:43: Jeff worries if between this, Ben Percy being yoinked from Nightwing, and the three month delay after the rejection of the art for Justice League Odyssey if DC is returning to some bad habits they had foresworn before Rebirth. Discussed: all of the above, and Dan Didio getting a bad rap, the artist lineup on DC’s Age of Heroes book not even a year in; whether the Nightwing controversy would’ve landed harder without Marvel’s Vision controversy; what fans want from Nightwing and what DC gives us with Nightwing; and more.

33:43-1:10:35: On what Jeff suspects is a related note, Graeme has a quick spoiler-free bit of feedback about Heroes in Crisis #1 but not before we discuss what’s going on with Nightwing these days, especially as presented in the pages of Batman #55 by Tom King and Tony Daniel. Then we turn back to Heroes in Crisis and the fates of midlevel heroes we’re roughly grouping here under Wolfman-era New Teen Titans. From there we go on to discuss the return of Wally West in DC Rebirth #1, and to what extent that return is a signal of a need for “loose” continuity or “tight” continuity, to what extent the DCU “self corrects,” and with a bit of a comparison to what’s going on over at Marvel with regards to their continuity issues, especially with regards to the current Infinity Wars event.

1:10:35-1:21:08: And, relatedly, Jeff picked up Thanos Wins by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, and Cosmic Ghost Rider #1 and #2 by Cates and Dylan Burnett, which he thinks ties in to some of these ideas about continuity, what works, and who it works for.

1:21:08-1:39:28: Don’t get him wrong, there are comics that Jeff really liked last week and he runs through them briefly here: Immortal Hulk #6 by Al Ewing and Lee Garbett; Mister Miracle #11 by Tom King and Mitch Gerads; Avengers #8 by Jason Aaron and David Marquez; Batman #55 by Tom King and Tony Daniel; The Seeds #2 by Ann Nocenti and David Aja; and most of the first volume of Seto Utsumi by Kadzuya Konomoto. And in celebration of the Killraven Masterworks arriving on Comixology and DC potentially completing the digitization of Kirby’s Kamandi, there’s a brief bit of comparison and contrast between the two. They start off a little closer than you might think? Come for the comparison, stay for the re-creation of a McGregor-Russell Killraven issue.

1:39:28-1:47:39: And while we’re comparing stuff, did you ever notice that Smokey & The Bandit is pretty much just a wacky remake of Vanishing Point? Also, Jeff saw Her and thinks Graeme would like it, but Graeme in inclined to disagree.

1:47:39-2:07:41: And as long as we’re talking movies—the footage from The Joker film! That Captain Marvel trailer!

2:07:41-2:12:13: Closing comments fakeout #1!! Graeme has a quick review of Wonder Woman: Earth One, Vol. 2, by Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette.

2:12:13-2:15:56: Closing comments fakeout #2! There is a direct sequel to Judge Dredd: Trifecta starting in 2000 AD prog #2100.

2:15:56-end: Closing comments! Look for us on Stitcher! Itunes! Instagram! 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. And then we’re out!

NEXT WEEK: We are…pretty sure we will be back next week? Stay tuned!!

http://theworkingdraft.com/media/podcasts2/WaitWhat253.mp3 0:01-10:49: Greetings! Graeme “Bad Chicken Sandwich” McMillan and Jeff “Really Bad Back” Lester have one of their most meta-openings ever, as we talk about…why our episodes open the way they do! Harbinger to come,…

0:01-35:33: Greetings! Graeme “Remarkably Warm” McMillan and Jeff “Remarkably Convincing” Lester are here after a weeklong break to rap about comic books, and what better way to start than discussing the passing of Steve “Remarkably Important to American Comics” Ditko. Graeme has a great handful of fun facts about Ditko you might not have known, and Jeff has some quality bloviation about the strength of Ditko’s plotting….plus a whole lot more!

35:33-1:13:54: Pivoting from comics creators to comics, we discuss Batman #50 by Tom King, Mikel Janin, and a buttload of pinup artists. It’s halfway through King’s hundred issue run, and the issue is, as Graeme put it, “primed for [Jeff] to dislike.” True? Well… Once again, we are back in the arena pit of King’s Batman, with Graeme liking it much more than Jeff would honestly think possible, and Jeff disliking it not as much as Graeme seems to think. Welcome to the Batman #50 Thunderdome! Two Podcasters walk in and….uh, two podcasters walk out. (But thirty minutes do not!)

1:13:54-1:20:30: Well, now that it’s been over an hour, maybe we can talk about a second comic? Well, all right, if you insist: Graeme has some choice words for Death of the Inhumans #1 by Donnie Cates and Ariel Olivetti.

1:20:30-1:29:21: And, picking up the pace, we also discuss Man of Steel #6 by Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Fabok. So much to talk about in this issue, and yet how much do you want to bet Jeff just uses it as an opportunity to talk about how the bad guy looks like Anton Arcane from Bissette & Totelben’s Swamp Thing run?

1:29:21-1:32:19: A book that really rang both our chimes? The Immortal Hulk #2 by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett. The second issue has a lot going for it, including a vibe that heavily reminded us of classic Michael Fleisher/Jim Aparo Spectre comics—eerie and mean.

1:32:19-1:44:13: Not quite as successful for us on the Marvel front? The first issue of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ run on Captain America, with art by Leinil Francis Yu. Was it the storytelling choices? Was it the squandering of one of the better writers about the myths of America squeezing himself into the idea of Captain America? Too on the nose? Not on the nose enough? Or was it just the whole post-Secret Empireness of it all?

1:44:13-1:55:17: Hey, but don’t let us get you down—there’s a lot of great comics out there in the world, and thanks to Kodansha and Amazon/Comixology, we have access to the complete translated Beck by Harold Sukuishi, as well as his Seven Shakespeares series. Beck was one of Jeff’s favorite reads back when Tokyopop reprinted it (under the title Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, which is how Jeff refers to it here) and is delighted to revisit it again. If you’re in the U.S. and have Comixology Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited, you’re in for a treat. (And if not, as Graeme points out, you can try Kindle Unlimited for the first month free!

1:55:17- 2:35:01: Jeff is ambivalent about Justice League #3 by Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez, but Graeme is not, especially after rereading the first three issues. After some more Old Man Grumpus comments from Jeff about Snyder’s recent work and his nonplussedness at issue #2 of The Unexpected by Cary Nord, Steve Orlando, and Wade von Grawbadger, Graeme tries to gently broach the topic: maybe Jeff just doesn’t dig American superhero comics any more? Includes a lot of talk about the comparison and contrast to manga, and what Jeff sees as manga doing better…and a long discussion of what Jeff wants his comics to be. (Plus: also some sales figure stuff there at the very end? Because that’s who we roll.)

2:35:01-end: Closing comments already?! Sure, but first a very quick review from Graeme of Ant-Man And The Wasp? And then: 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: Baxter Building! Join us for a discussion of Fantastic Four issues #362-370.

0:01-14:30: Welcome back to part two of our sorta-annual “asked and answered” episode! Jeff is no longer in in Portland, Oregon, so we are once again “back on the cans,” as Graeme puts it. Others (not nearly so generous) might say we are “back on our bullshit”, as not even two minutes go by before we are discussing this CBS news story about Marvel in which C.B. Cebulski and Sana Amanat are interviewed and…hoo boy. We would say the story speaks for itself…but, really, what would be the point of us if it did?

14:30-37:45: And now, on with the questions! Cinema Strikes Back asks: If you could install new leadership for Marvel and/or DC, who would you pick? With an cold eye towards improving sales and market relations while also trying to improve less tangible metrics like quality and diversity. Also, read the original Battle Angel Alita series yet?

37:45-40:16: Carlos Aguilar wants to know: What are either of your thoughts/critiques on DEVILMAN (manga or anime)? Thanks!

40:16-57:14: Jesse Morgan wonders: How did DC manage to keep the quality up on Rebirth? What did they do different, and can they keep it up?

57:14-1:07:38: Here’s Lee, who would like to find out: As someone moving across coasts soon, how would you decide which (if any) physical comics to keep, especially given how cheap digital comics are nowadays?

1:07:38-1:17:08: K. Jeffrey Petersen is curious: What do you think of the numerous similarities between Stan Lee and Donald Trump? Would the world be better if Trump had gone into publishing and Lee into politics?

1:17:08-1:24:34: Raphael Duffy asks: Kind of a selfish question and I know you’ve answered it before but it’s quick: for people who have never read UK comics before what’s a good/fast to get into 2000AD since Graeme is raving about it?

1:24:34-1:35:44: Simon Russell queries: Are most (all?) of superhero comics poorer fo the loss of thought bubbles? HINT: It means done-in-one stories are harder to do (less compact), character development is massively truncated, and everything is so bloomin’ SERIOUS all the time.

1:35:44-1:42:35: Dan White says: Could you please fantasy cast the following 2000ad movies: Strontium Dog, Zenith, Nemesis, Rogue Trooper and Bad Company?

1:42:35-1:43:57: Steve Morris asks: Rabbits?

1:43:57-1:46:48: Lee Carey wonders: Graeme, which Jack Kirby character do you think Jeff most resembles, and visa versa?

1:46:48-1:53:11: Tom Shapira would like to know: if you had to staff 2000AD with American creators – who would work on what strips?

1:53:11-2:00:47: For half our semester grade, Jonathan Sapsed quizzes: Why did the ‘British Invasion’ happen in the 80s? Which country/culture is best positioned to ‘invade’ US comics now?

2:00:47-2:01:40: Just when Dan Billings was settling down for the night, he realized he also wanted to ask: What price do you think a single floppy will cost in 2025?

2:01:40-2:11:54: Max Blanchard demands to know: Waffle window?

2:04:33-2:11:54: Darth Selfie brings the noise! What Marvel character do you hope they never adapt for the MCU? If you weren’t doing a podcast about comics, what would you be podcasting about? If you weren’t into comics, what fun/weird/stupid hobby would fill the vacuum in the lives of an alternate universe Jeff and Graeme?

2:11:54-2:15:25: Tom Shapira returns with a bonus question for @Lazybastid – what mangaka would you take to work on 2000AD?

2:15:25-2:20:35: And to close us out, Scott asks: Are either of you reading Kill or be Killed by Brubaker and Phillips? What do you think of it?

2:20:35-end: No more questions so…. (eventually, after talking about Solo, You Are Deadpool, Deadpool 2 ): 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: Baxter Building! Join us for a discussion of Fantastic Four issues #356-361.

http://theworkingdraft.com/media/podcasts2/WaitWhat247.mp3

[apologies if that link doesn’t turn into something you can auto-play. I have no idea why it’s acting up, but hopefully have got the damn episode encoded elsewhere…]

0:01-13:13: Welcome! Graeme announces he is weirdly crabby; Jeff announces he just had a visit from Mr. David Wolkin; and there’s a terrifying story about the best pizza place in Portland going *too* Portland, a profile about the man behind Dave’s Killer Bread, and much more “not yet” talk. Don’t worry! comic book talk is coming!

13:13-1:08:08: In fact, it’s here! Our ALL-SPOILERS, WE GIVE-IT-ALL-AWAY talk about Avengers: Infinity War has arrived. Discussed: Some really smart choices; what happened to Hawkeye; what are the gimmes for the sequel, including Jeff’s beautiful theory that Graeme is more or less entirely sure will not happen; the JMS-ification of MCU Spider-Man; the bit that broke the movie for Graeme; Jeff’s pinko anxiety about the MCU’s neolib anxiety; the Kingsman: The Secret Service connection; the choices made for MCU Thanos; and more (Carboat)!

1:08:08-1:21:31: In fact, Carboat leads us into a discussion of contrarian social media and the motivations behind it; 9/11 and superhero movies, which lead us to…

1:21:31-1:33:06: Actual comic book talk! About comics! Jeff just read Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 1 by Inio Asano, and it gave him an abundance of feels! We circle back to the MCU and the military-industrial complex; how Marvel Comics treats the MIC, reflected in, for example, the work of Brian Michael Bendis.

1:33:06-1:55:02: Speaking of Bendis: how is he going to fit into the DCU, considering some of his takes on things at Marvel? Are we going to see something different from him, considering he’s writing Superman, who, as Graeme puts it, “is one of the more establishment characters.” Which ropes us into a discussion of DC Nation #0: the Bendis story in it, but also the pieces in the recent free (or near-free) comic. Also discussed: Justice League: No Justice #1; Dial L for Loeb; discussing Bendis’ final Marvel work, including his work on Iron Man; a summing up of the Superman and Action Comics Rebirth titles up to now; and more.

1:55:02-2:19:48: A comic book round-up of various titles, including: Batman #46 by Tom King and Tony Daniel! Jeff does not like it, but can give a spirited defense of it nonetheless? Discussed: Alan Moore; cheap comedy; and more; You Are Deadpool #1 by Al Ewing and Salva Espin—a Deadpool comic that is a Choose Your Own RPG comic! Absolutely an impressive formalistic achievement…but then why are both Graeme and Jeff left a bit cold? Additionally Jeff caught up on issues #3-5 of Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles by Mark Russell, Mike Freeman, and Mark Morales, and wanted to check in with Graeme about his feelings about the book; and Jeff also caught up with something like six chapters of Platinum End by Ohba and Obata, and is happy to report…he now kinda maybe likes it? Plus: Vampire Tales, Vol. 3!

2:19:48-2:38:53: Finally, a very important Infinity Wars-related question: if you could cast Hawkeye but only with an actor named Jeremy, who would you pick? Also discussed: CQ, what happened to Josh Holloway; are we ever going to see Gambit: The Movie; the Avengers relaunch and the preview of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Captain America; and more.

2:38:53-end: 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: Baxter Building! Join us for a discussion of Fantastic Four Annual #s 19, 22-24, but also feel free to check out the 40 pages of Barry Windsor-Smith’s unpublished Thing graphic novel that several people have pointed us to. We probably won’t discuss it….but we might?

Hey there, friends. The government may have shut down but not your friendly neighborhood Wait, What? Yes, we have a terrifyingly-close-to-two-and-a-half-hour installment for you!

Topics discussed:

How many people we follow on Twitter(!);
Comics news round-up featuring: the return of the red trunks; Bendis in Action Comics #1000; Dan Slott leaving Spider-Man to take over Iron Man; Kelly Thompson is now Marvel Exclusive; and, as Graeme perfectly puts it, “Wolverine is back, in the most fucking confusing manner ever!”

The gap between Marvel’s sales and Marvel’s talent: Thompson on Hawkeye; Zdarsky on Spectacular Spider-Man; Al Ewing’s Ultimates and Ultimates2 (with Kenneth Rocafort, Aud Koch, Travel Foreman);
Graeme’s thoughts on the first two parts of the new Avengers mega-storyline “No Surrender” by Mark Waid, Jim Zub, Al Ewing, and Pepe Larraz;

Jeff’s thoughts on Batman #39, and a discussion about Tom King and Mister Miracle and DC’s non-Kirby handling of The New Gods overall and a discussion of continuity and character investment as opposed to an investment on a creator’s “take” on a character, which leads in its way to:

discussions of American Vandal and the Netflix adaptation of Charles Forsman’s TEOTFW, and
a *very* long—and absolutely spoiler-rich—discussion about Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Back to news (kinda): a discussion of Marvel’s new publisher;

An all-too-brief discussion of the genius Bob Haney, George Tuska, and Vince Colletta story “Will of the Whisperer” from Worlds Finest #252, available on Comixology;

If you like (or don’t mind) reading comics electronically, see if your library has the Hoopla service, so you can check out and read The Bronze Age Batman Brave and the Bold Omnibus Vol. 1 *for free*;
Closing comments! Featuring Graeme’s great recap of Justice League of America #123 over at the most excellent Steve Morris’s Shelf Dust; Jeff’s not-so-great job of his half of the closing comments; and a call for you to VOTE!

Whew!

Next week is a skip week but join us in a mere fortnight for Wait, What? Ep. 242, won’t you?

His name is Rio! And he dances on the sand! My name is Jeff! I was not a fan of the meme!

Together, we are here to finish what we started, which is answering the questions of the beautiful benighted souls on Patreon!

First up is Tim Rifenburg:

Hey Guys,

Thanks for doing the question thing again.

Question 1: Is there any character / company crossover you would like to see and who would write and draw it?

Question 2: Are you ever sorry you started the FF read through? I enjoy listening to your thoughts but you sometimes seem like you are struggling through the books.

Then there’s Ethan Johnson:

There are two variations, I don’t care which one you answer.

Marvel buys DC and moves existing Marvel creative teams intact to take over DC properties. Pair creative teams with books. I’ll allow recent iconic teams, because if you don’t put Hickman & Opeña on LSH, you’re crazypants.

Same scenario, but no DC. Just shuffle existing intactcreative teams onto other properties, like when Byrne & Mantlo swapped Alpha Flight & Hulk!

(Psst! Because Jeff was so proud of his list, he insisted on including it here:)

Okay. Hickman and Opena on LSH. Sure. But honestly I think a better take would be Gillen & McKelvie?

And, then, uh, in no particular order, other than how I think of ‘em:

Al Ewing and Barry Kitson on JLA;
Al Ewing and Elsa Charretier on The Flash;
Al Ewing and John Cassaday on Forever People;
Dan Slott turned Spider-Man into Batman; maybe if he wrote Batman, he’d turn him into Spider-Man? No, just kidding: I’d give Dan Slott and Sanford Greene Angel & The Ape. (Maybe Slott could have Batman, Inc?)
Chip Zdarsky and Leonardo Romero doing Ambush Bug: Year Done;
Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Steelfreeze doing Superman (I should probably say Wonder Woman and then they can just lightly rewrite their issues?);
And I guess Mark Waid and Chris Samnee on Action?
Jason Aaron and Goran Parlov doing Jonah Hex as one title, Batman as the other (I guess I was kidding about Dan Slott?)
Bendis doing Green Lantern (with Mike Deodato?), Aquaman (or maybe that’s Mike Deodato?), Green Arrow & Black Canary (with Dave Marquez), and Teen Titans (with Mark Bagley)
Ryan North and Erica Henderson get the coveted The Brave & The Bold treatment
Greg Pak and Chris Samnee/Stuart Immonen could take Wonder Woman?
Felipe Smith writing and drawing Vibe;
G. Willow Wilson and Tradd Moore on Teen Titans;
Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood on The Rose & The Thorn;
Ryan North (again!) and Gurihuru on Lois Lane;
Becky Cloonan and Olivier Coipel on Nightwing;
David Walker and Robbi Rodriguez on Batman and the Outsiders;
Tom Taylor and Phil Noto on Catwoman;
Nick Spencer and Jesus Saiz on Freedom Fighters;
Chris Hastings and Daniel Acuna on Metal Men;
Mark Waid And Humberto Ramos on Impulse;
Roxane Gay and Jackson “Butch” Guice on Suicide Squad;
Jason Aaron and Alex Maleev on John Constantine;
Matthew Rosenberg and Joe Quinones on Harley Quinn;
Gerry Dugan and Jim Cheung on Secret Six;
Jeff Lemire and Mike DelMundo on The Question;
Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo on Thriller.

Thomas Williams is curious:

The past two years during either SDCC or NYCC, Valiant do a huge sale and I end up buying the entire past year of back issues and binging them. I always find that the comics are just great with solid story, characters and art. However once this sale is over I am back to forgetting these books in my weekly purchases. What can Valiant do to get people like me to remember them throughout the year?

Also Graeme, of VanLente’s Archer and Armstrong and Timewalker which do you prefer?

Evan Cass wants to know:

Are there artists that you used to adore aesthetically that you can’t stand anymore due to those same aesthetics? Two of my favorite artists as a teen were Art Adams & Ron Lim; I loved their work. Now as a 40something their work literally upsets my stomach; it repulses me. I’m curious if you’ve experienced similar with any former favorites, and why you think that might be. Thanks for the show.

Here comes good ol’ Badger Mushroom:

You asked your Patreon patrons (of which I am one) for questions to waffle about. So here’s one: what do you two think of the recent purchase of The Beat by Lion Forge? Any implications for comics journalism?

(I should note that I have great respect for Heidi MacDonald and the staff of The Beat. I just want to hear the experts weigh in. ;) )

Thanks to you both for an entertaining and informative podcast, and thanks to Empress Audrey, Queen of the Galaxy, for bestowing her mercy on us all.

Brendan O’Hare has all the best questions!

For Jeff: Who did you wife/husband up on Stardew Valley?

For Graeme and Jeff: I know Jeff recently parted ways with most of his comic book collection, but are either of you still going through back issue bins to fill in a run? If so, which ones?

And finally, here’s our pal Roger Winston:

I totally missed submitting a question for the Q&A podcast, but I see you are extending it to a second episode. I know you are already full of questions, but here’s mine just in case you need another:

Background:

I sold off the bulk of my collection (~22k books) several years ago and stopped reading. But a few years after that, I discovered digital and got back in (mostly thanks to my iPad and Locke & Key). Now I am totally addicted to Comixology (and to a lesser extent, Marvel Unlimited) and spend way too much money there, buying a lot of books, most of which I will probably never read. I think I felt a need to replace my print collection with digital. At least it takes up less space.

Question 1:

Do you ever think there will come a time when we will lose the rights to the comics we have bought digitally? I don’t think I ever read the Comixology terms of condition, out of fear. But I worry about them going out of business or changing their model or dropping publishers or whatever. Although them being owned by Amazon does make me feel more secure. I have downloaded DRM-free whatever I can for backups, but that is limited to some indie publishers (mostly Image in my case) -Marvel & DC don’t allow that. So was I stupid to have sank so much money (most of it during sales, luckily) into something that could potentially go away before I have a chance to enjoy it? Oh, the hazards of being an obsessive collector, even when there’s no physical component.

Question 2:

Do you think DC will ever come out with a DC Unlimited type service? The bulk of the digital comics I have bought are DC. On one hand, I would love this, because then I could stop buying back issues. (I’ve bought very few Marvels since subscribing to MU.) OTOH, I would hate this because it means I spent a lot on things I could then read a lot cheaper. I have heard some suggestions that DC’s new TV streaming service might include a comics unlimited type service as well, which does make a certain amount of sense.

And that’s that! Again, our thanks to all of you for tuning in, and a super big thanks for those of you on Patreon for you generosity!

Join us next week for a Baxter Building! Issues #314-324 of The Fantastic Four!

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Tag: Al Ewing

Wait, What? Ep. 262: Shiznit.

Wait, What? Ep. 259: As Eloquent As A Dove

Wait, What? Ep. 256: Lil Wayne

Wait, What? Ep. 253: Stomach Sick Meets Muscle Relaxants

Wait, What? Ep. 251: Love Opponents

Wait, What? Ep. 249: Back on the Cans!

Wait, What? Ep. 247: Word to Your Moms

Wait, What? Ep. 241: Return of the Red Trumps

Wait, What? Ep. 237: Big Questions

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