Wait, What?, Ep. 335: Sex-Having Bad Guys

January 23, 2022

00:00-5:44: Greetings! What’s happening? No, seriously—what *is* happening? And then, you know, we can talk about being devilish if you want to, we can leave your world behind…and then Jeff’s teases his big topic for the podcast, one which he quickly tries to pivot away from because it’s one he finds potentially emotionally fraught (and Graeme comically less so).
5:44-46:14: And so instead we talk about Geiger, Vol 1, the collection of the first six issues of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s post-apocalyptic sorta-superhero story with sorta-but-not-really-at-all-Kirby and sorta-suddenly-at-the-end-but-also-not-really-at-all-Morrison elements! A lot of unpacking here (with “unpacking” being my 2022 euphemism for “complaining”) from us as we look at how Johns engineered this title without engineering any real entertainment factor to it. Also discussed: Johns’ “Killing Zone” imprint for DC that never showed; G.I. Robot vs. Junkyard Joe (and god bless Graeme for having this more recently and being able to summarize plot points and provide names and all that semi-crucial info); compare & contrast Geiger with Nocterra; Nocterra’s plot description, as read by Will Arnett; the deleterious effect of Doomsday Clock on Geoff Johns’ comics; the “fun” promised by the comic and what “fun” might be delivered and how.

46:14-1:21:08: And but so here we are finally with the topic Jeff wants to talk about but is also afraid to talk about—how much he spent on comics in 2021, how much he read, and (crucially) how much he didn’t! A lot less shaming from Graeme than I was expecting, I have to say, but I’m hoping this segment still provides some interest to “process junkies,” if you define that in a weird fiscal sense. TRIGGER WARNING for, I don’t know, specific dollar amounts and unwise spending, I guess? Also discussed: HumbleBundles; streaming services; Conan The Barbarian reprints from Marvel; hoarding; a bit of info about platforms, and, of course, Usher.
1:21:08-1:38:33: Time for comics news? Wellllll, kind of? I mean, if you mean that Jeff gets Daniel Cherry III’s name wrong and we spend an inordinate amount of time talking about Don Cherry and Neneh Cherry (but barely have any time for Eagle-Eye Cherry?!? We are monsters, it must be said.) But in fact, we skip over the news of issue #1 of X Lives of Wolverine being released day and date on Marvel Unlimited, and dig right in to our reviews of X Lives of Wolverine #1 which are, uh, not favorable. SPOILERS for the end of Inferno starting at the 1:28:39 mark, as Jeff and Graeme discuss whether using super-old continuity is a bit of a cheat (or, as Jeff suspects without having read it, kind of awesome?).
1:38:33-1:46:44: Graeme also talks about the new status quo coming Spider-Man’s way via Spider-Man Beyond, and how much it too feels tired and underwhelming. What does it mean when your story arc is the return of a fan favorite that not only has returned several times in the past few years but is a supporting character in another title and has been for over a year?
1:46:44-1:55:31: A bit of talk about Dr. Strange leads us to Extrano, leads us to…the first three issues of The New Guardians, now dropping weekly on DCUI! But why is the lead-in crossover Millennium not on the service yet? (Also, why can’t I ever spell millennium right on the first try?) We talk about this delightfully weird book and the sad but unavoidable fact that the books definitely takes a hit in both the delightful and weird sections the farther away Englehart gets from the book.
1:55:31-2:13:24: We both realize it’s coming up on 2 hours and you think that means we’re getting close to wrapping things up, but Graeme wants to talk a bit about the current Milestone reboot which is hitting DCUI day and date with print and how some of the choices the new series make are surprising and smart (with our discussion mostly focusing on Static, and Icon & Rocket). But there’s also a little bit of talk about….Conan? Hawk The Slayer? The hell?
2:13:24-end: Closing stuff! We do not mention it on the podcast but sign up for Graeme’s newsletter (https://www.getrevue.co/profile/ComicsFYI!) and:look for us on  Stitcher! Itunes! Instagram! Twitter together and separately: Graeme and JeffTumblr, and  on Patreon where a wonderful group of people make this all possible, including Empress Audrey, Queen of the Galaxy, to whom we are especially grateful for her continuing support of this podcast. AND THEN! Graeme has some amazing Real Housewives of Salt Lake City information for us…and it’s all David Wolkin’s fault?! (I’ll be honest, I was not prepared for this closer.)
NEXT WEEK:  Skip week ahoy! Join us in two weeks for our next thrilling episode!
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12 comments on “Wait, What?, Ep. 335: Sex-Having Bad Guys

  1. Jeff Lester Jan 23, 2022

    This episode is also available for your cutting and pasting needs as:
    https://theworkingdraft.com/media/podcasts5/WaitWhat335.mp3

  2. Shadavid Jan 25, 2022

    Well, if I’m guilty of anything it’s of being Shadavid! Aaaaah…thank you. Had a look and there’s an absence of sound effects and thought balloons in first three issues of Conan the Barbarian, so I reckon it was set from the start. Whether it was Thomas or Windsor-Smith who first suggested it is interesting. BWS seems the less conventional creator of the two, but that doesn’t rule Roy out. They’ve both written and spoken quite a bit, anyone know?
    Enjoyed the back and forth as usual. Wondering a little if my enjoyment of your interaction is a bit like enjoying reality TV? Moments where I’m going ‘ Classic Jeff’, my pleasure in the return of the ‘on that bombshell’ catchphrase. Real Comic-Book Fans of the West Coast.
    Was a bit disappointed Graeme didn’t talk about Eternals. Maybe another time.

  3. BringTheNoise Jan 25, 2022

    “What if Ghostbusters but deadly serious?”

    Did Geoff Johns write the Ghostbusters Afterlife script then?

  4. Martin Gray Jan 26, 2022

    I’m starting to get very worried that when Drokk! is finally finished we’ll get a couple of years worth of discussion of Real Housewives Below Deck or something. Maybe Graeme and Chloe could start a separate podcast?

  5. Matthew Murray Jan 27, 2022

    Don Cherry (the hockey guy) is (unfortunately) well known in Canada.

    Also, I really have to give props to Jeff for tracking his comics reading so thoroughly. I have a spreadsheet for a horror manga bundle I bought back in 2020 that I’ve been updating as I read them. Only 20 something volumes out of ~134 left to read!

  6. Great episode throughout, but I felt particularly called out by Jef’s spending habits. I have similar issues, but, for better or worse, I can’t make the jump to digital, so I’m accumulating real print books and forming Greek columns with them in my study. I have a problem and need to stop.

    Even though I haven’t seen the show, I laughed a lot at Graeme’s description of the Real Housewives. Ever sentence he uttered ended in a suprise I would have never guessed in a million years.

    I don’t know if I’m ready for Drokk to end (this year?). I wish you could keep doing special episodes whenever a new Case Files drops. You know, for your next show you could always read through One Piece. You’ll be locked into that for 10+ years or so, but wouldn’t it be nice to have something planned out for the remainder of your natural life?

    That got dark. Need a Real Housewise catchphrase chaser.

  7. Listening on my phone while I was cooking and I genuinely thought you guys were saying there was a major event called The Ex Wives of Wolverine. Kind of disappointed in Marvel / this life now that I learn there isn’t (yet).

  8. Along with Abhay below, I was listening to Wait What while washing dishes and I thought you were talking about how weird it was that Steve Englehart and Cary Bates were writing Guardians of the Galaxy at Marvel and that the latest issue was set in1988 with AIDS patients. I was going to immediately purchase this issue to see what was going on with the Guardians of the Galaxy…because Steve Englehart writing the 2nd issue about an orgy with a tree creature and a raccoon in 1988 is something that sounds like Henry Darger outsider art.

  9. The most dangerous thing about Geiger is that it’s unintentionally incel fiction.

    Great episode as usual.

  10. Jared Kahanek Feb 4, 2022

    The changes to Icon sounds like a smart move from a market standpoint, a way to promise the big superhero action that the market demands(!), but it does move the series away from the things I liked about it. As Jeff said, the conflict of the book wasn’t about whoever Rocket and Icon were punching that week, it was about their clashing viewpoints of the world and how to live in it. The same is true with Icon’s history during slavery. McDuffie took great pains to provide plot reasons for Icon not going full Miracleman on slave owners (He didn’t know he had superpowers until he was shot with a cannon during the Civil War, and had no reason to believe he was super powered before that. He was also involved in slavery resistance movements as a normal runaway slave) for a number of reasons that are much more interesting to me than “He tried, but a villian got in the way.” It cuts against the way McDuffie structured Icon and his relationship to black history. He only discoverd his powers after the Civil War was over, a not subtle at all connection to emancipated slaves being able to excercise their rights for the first time, and it changes Icon’s relationship to his enslavement. Under McDuffie, Icon had no way to know he would survive his time as a slave. If he knows he’s got powers from the begining, then he is in a fundamentally different relationship to slavery.

    Sorry, just struck again by how good McDuffie was.

    FInally, it sadly appears to have dissapeared from the internet, but McDuffie had on his website a column he wrote about writing Icon as a conservative black man, and the reaction to it. This culminated in his discovery that Clarence Thomas loved the series, and would have his staff pull quotes from Icon to use in his opinions. McDuffie, who hated Thomas with a passion, was so freaked out by this that he got a massive case of writers block on the series for several months, and needed help keeping the book on schedule while he got over it.

    • Jeff Lester Feb 4, 2022

      Damn, Jared. What a fantastic comment this is! You have me very fired up to start digging into Icon again. Thank you!

  11. Jared Feb 4, 2022

    Glad this got you excited about Icon again, Jeff, happy to help.

    Additionally, with a little help from the WayBack Machine, I was able to dig up McDuffie’s column about his unfortunate relationship with Clarence Thomas:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20010527032512/http://www.psycomic.com/columns/2000/dmcduffie/20001206dmcduffie.shtml