0:01-9:56: Howdy! And, wouldn’t you know it, our opening topic is indeed an inquiry into the nature of the word “Howdy,” before moving on to more important topics like sarcasm which is only the most important topic ever. And then it’s on to discussions of injuries, suffering, machismo, and cool.
9:56-56:01: Well, of course, if we’re talking about what’s cool, we have to discuss what it’s like to read all the issues of Countdown to Final Crisis, plus the various tie-ins. I mean, that’s just common sense! Anyway, since Graeme read them (and Jeff, thank god, did not), we get to hear from it about what it’s like to go down a bad comics hole, and to stay down there for so long. Discussed: the plotlines in Countdown; Countdown as the flip side of our earlier discussion of Dan Didio’s legacy at DC; gibberish; is 52 and Countdown analogous to Secret Wars and Secret Wars II; comic book universe status quos; the latest issues of First Issue Special on DC Universe (Warlord! The Outsiders!); DC’s second silver age; and much more for what is terrifyingly close to an hour?
56:01-1:21:47: Jeff *finally* saw Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker! But it’s been full four days since dong so—has he really had enough time to absorb it? By which I mean: does he remember it? Full-on spoilers for this movie, though if you have a social media account of almost any kind, the movie’s already been spoiled for you already? That said: SPOILERS. Discussed: Star Wars, give me those Star Wars! Nothing but Star Wars, don’t let them end!
1:21:47-1:42:26: What Jeff has read and wants to talk about: Space is Awful: The Ballad of John Dennis #1 by Derek Moreland and Derrick Fleece; Friday #1 by Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin, and Muntsa Vicente; Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Omnibus collection by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson; Cat Shit One by Motofumi Kobayashi; the first three volumes of From The New World by Toru Oikawa from the novel by Yusuke Kishi; Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku by Fujita; 1122 For A Happy Marriage by Peko Watanabe; and more.
1:42:26-2:04:40: Comics news! Catching us up to speed, Graeme walks us through! The alternate distribution deal of DC! Daily digital content! BINC funding! The mystery of Marvel and the fate of John NEE! Bonus: NoBrow!
2:04:40-end: Closing Comments! Look for us on Stitcher! Itunes! Instagram! Twitter together and separately: Graeme and Jeff! Tumblr, and on Patreon where a wonderful group of people make this all possible, including Dominic L. Franco, and Empress Audrey, Queen of the Galaxy, to whom we are especially grateful for her continuing support of this podcast. (Also, don’t forget about Spotify!)
Next week: More Waiting, and almost assuredly More Whatting!
And for the cut and paste crew:
https://theworkingdraft.com/media/podcasts3/WaitWhat293.mp3
I am so glad (and relieved!) that y’all were cool with the name drop. :) Thank you for the kind words, and issue 2 will he out soon!
I can’t speak to how it’s handled specifically in From The New World but I think you need to rethink how you talk about lesbian fiction Jeff. Why assume that its a marketing gimmick to get you interested and not a story by or for lesbians?
I put this in the wrong field, sorry
Thanks, Skye. That’s a very good point and I’ll try to be more conscientious going forward. I do think From The New World is, sadly, constructed with an eye toward attracting men who like girl-on-girl scenes because the relationship between the female characters ends up being entirely secondary to the protagonist’s relationship with a man (at least so the ending of Vol. 3 makes it appear) and there are some other warning flags along that line…but it could just in fact be by and for lesbians and just not very good at doing so?
I haven’t listened to this yet, but thank you for showing the Wotakoi trailer. I had never seen オタク written using a ヲ in place of the オ, but after looking it up now I know the difference. Thanks.
Re Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: I colored an issue of that – the one where some characters go to the vampire Batman Elseworld, [Google’s own bibliography] CP:TSfRP: Red Rain – and I feel like it was representative of the both over- and under-managed nature of that series… series of series? Anyway, at one point while furiously trying to get the pages done, I was asked to redraw a character’s face. I will reiterate at this point that I was *coloring* the issue.
Now, I conveniently know how to draw stuff, but redrawing another artist’s work is not something I’m comfortable with, but I guess they couldn’t get the artist to redraw the face and get it inked and sent to me in time to meet the deadline?
On top of that, I had no experience at that point drawing things digitally. I guess I could have theoretically drawn it manually, inked it manually, scanned it, inserted it into the art file I was working from, except I HATE INKING.
I warned my editor that it would not look great, and the deadline was so close they were just grateful I agreed to do it, I think. And what was I going to do, say no?
Also, I had already colored the page that needs the change, so I went into the line art later in my working Photoshop file, and just started messing around. Some how, a domino mask had been drawn in a character that want supposed to have it . I think some version of Robin was in the story, but there was also another character who sort of looked like how that Robin was dressed in the story, so they needed the mask removed from that guy and just regular eyes drawn in.
Anyway, this is a fascinating story I’m sure. I awkwardly fixed the art and got the pages turned in, and hopefully no one was there wiser.
Until now!
(Note: I don’t fault anyone for the error in the art or it falling to me to fix it. Making comics is sort of insane, and it’s a minor miracle they get finished and printed properly at all.)
Hugely informative, Art, with lots of points very much worth remembering. Sorry you got put in so awkward a position! It’s probably not a huge comfort that your touch-up job isn’t what people remember as what was wrong with this miniseries, but I hope it’s some comfort at least!
You put Countdown to Infinite Crisis in your notes rather than Countdown to Final Crisis. How dare you insult the better countdown to a crisis with your malapropism.
Indeed, how dare I?
Thanks for pointing that out, Dan! I’ve corrected it.
I remember Death of the New Gods as a dismal mess and little else. The lone detail I recall is Metron-does-drugs, but I don’t think it added anything to the character. My enjoyment of Starlin’s work increased rapidly from the issue Cockrum inked where Captain Marvel fought the Thing to the end of the first Warlock run. I didn’t read the annuals until years later, due to distribution problems in the UK. It was pretty much a slow fade after that, mixed with some denial on my part. It’s a tough medium.
Jeff mentioning the Sea Devils was a bit of a coincidence. I’ve just finished reading the Showcase collection. one of the last things I borrowed before the libraries closed. I got it for the great art by Russ Heath. I had to grit my teeth a bit to get through so much Robert Kanigher, though. I know some people find his nonsensical plotting and apparent lack of general knowledge charming, but my recollection of his interview in the Comics Journal was of a person full of contempt. As a result I tend to see that expressed to me as a reader in his careless work. Until demonstrated otherwise I’m happy to suppose Bob Haney was a free spirit, but I fear Bob Kanigher had a mean one.
Heath stops drawing at # 10 of SD and Kanigher at #11. After that Frances Herron starts writing the book and introduces the charming element of having the artist turn up and visit with the Sea Devils at the start and end of the story, sometimes coming out on their boat with them. Irv Novick, Joe Kubert, Gene Colan, Jack Abel, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito all turn up.
Jeff also mentioned bronze age Swamp Thing, leaving me wondering if he’s read the 1977 run of Challengers of the Unknown where Swamp Thing teams up with the Challs and Deadman. Written by Conway with most of the art by Giffen, the story runs from #82 to #87. Turns out it’s the kind of mess I like.
The Nobrow news was a downer. Such nice books, such poor practice.
David M: lotta good points here–especially sadly with regard to Bob Kanigher–but I just wanted to acknowledge that I did indeed read that run and loved it. It was my introduction to the Challs, and I really thought the creepy body horror and Lovecraftian village setting suited the Challs really well. The cover of the last issue is one of my favorite meta covers, too!
Yeah, thinking about it, I’d be very, very happy if they just used the same ol’ Challs and did more Lovecraftian shenanigans with them?
About Starlin and Kirby: somewhere, a long time ago – maybe on rec.arts.comics? – I read an observation about the worldview Starlin brings to bear to his comics writing. (This could be very different from his personal outlook, as I know from hanging around with horror authors.) Starlin believes very strongly in cosmic cycles and a general principle of return. But he also believes very strongly in entropy. So each turn of the great wheel tends to end up with things worse off and no real way of fixing them. Temporary gains get lost, while setbacks and losses become permanent.
Separate subject:
Jeff, I really want you to see Mike Flanagan’s early film Absentia (2013) and then talk to us about the dialogue. It’s much, much closer to naturalistic than just about an film dialogue I can think of, including Mike Leigh-style improvisation, and I wanna know if and how it works for you.
During the first hour or so of this episode you touched on some of the legacy characters that were brought back by DC, and a topic I’d be interested to hear you discuss more in a future episode is basically “What if Kevin Smith hadn’t wanted to bring back the original Green Arrow? What might DC have become if they didn’t bring back Hal Jordan and Barry Allen?”
I think the comment that writers stopped bringing new ideas to Marvel/DC is spot-on though. And I can’t really blame them when they wouldn’t end up owning anything.
This was a fun episode. Was not expecting a Star Wars discussion this far out from the movie’s release.
Just a note on the manga 1122 For A Happy Marriage. The 1122 part is a pun in Japanese. You can read the numbers so they’re pronounced ii fufu, meaning “nice (married) couple.”