Recorded June 6, 2017
Welcome back! MLP welcomes Special Guest, Shaun Schapira—a local comic shop retailer at A Comic Shop in Orlando, Florida. He and Matty discuss the “Cosmic” landscape of Marvel Comics, as well as elaborating on the current DC Rebirth/“Who is Mr. Oz?” situation.
Follow Matty on Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe to MLP on SoundCloud and iTunes today!
I don’t if any of you can tell, but I’ve been pretty busy adding new content to my website like speculative adventures with the X-Men to my latest episode of MattyLovesPodcast with CHIKARAhistorian, Kevin Ford where we discuss the three latest episodes in the “binge-able” batches CHIKARA Pro Wrestling has released on their streaming service, CHIKARAtopia. There are 30 episodes of MLP now available over at iTunes, SoundCloud, and Stitcher. Of course, the full gambit (including the Wrestling with Football Podcast with Grant Sawyer) leading up to episode #52, is still avail in the YouTube archives. There you’ll hear the episodes that were more topical at the time of release. Stay tuned, there are more podcasts one the way.
I can’t tell you where this inspiration to add more content came from. What I do know that my productivity has a soundtrack. Music is very important to me. In my spells of downtrodden points, music has been a fantastic way of dealing with life’s obstacles. I’m sure you can relate. Music also helps me get out of creative funks, dig through my weekly pile of comics, and vacuum. Since the start of 2017, I’ve read a lot of comics. Last year consisted of me building up a stack and then grinding through it every month or so. Sometimes it felt like work. I’ve still needed to catch up a couple of titles because the backlog of a few titles was getting ridiculous. I dug out some collected editions out of the inventory to revisit with an adult brain (Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, Ed Brubaker’s X-Men run). Recently, I’ve been immersed in two genres of music while escaping into the comic book black hole that is my living room.
The first jammers aren’t really a genre, or maybe they are depending on who you’re talking to. On July 5th, I’m seeing Metallica at the Citrus Bowl down here in sunny Orlando, FL. I’m totally dialed in. However, ‘Tallica hasn’t been on the comic book-reading playlist, so much as being the stars of my “get ready for work” soundtrack. They’re one of those bands that I couldn’t wait to listen to once Mom thought I was old enough to rock. Metallica became an interest around the time I first started watching pro-wrestling. Older kids were on the school bus talking about …And Justice For All, then “The Black Album,” and then the Live Shit: Binge & Purge box set. I knew a kid up the street who had all that stuff to pique my curiosity eve more. Seeing Metallica live has been a lifelong quest. Sure, I’ve had opportunities, but I can also name all the extenuating circumstances that prevented me from seeing them all four attempts. Needless to say, I’m stoked.
The other genre is the soundtrack to any hero who: 1. Can drive fast vehicles, 2. shoot any gun, 3. karate anyone with expertise, 4. jump off high stuff, and 5. knows zero unattractive people in any aspect of personality or physicality. It’s also a brand of music that makes for fantastic background noise for reading, driving, or whatever. I’m talking about Synthwave music.
My curiosity started at an early age with John Carpenter. Fans of his work know that the score to his films make the film. Halloween, Escape From New York, and Big Trouble in Little China, to name a few, provide a rhythmic experience through the adventures, horrors, and magic of Carpenter’s motion pictures. Over the past few years, Carpenter released two volumes of Lost Themes which bestow upon listeners chances to imagine different stories that transpire during each of the previously unreleased tracks.
More recently, I came across the Synthwave band known as Power Glove. For most of you who know me, there’s no reason to explain my relation to the NES controller released in the late 80’s. Long story short, once I heard the sound, I thought of Kung Fury and Stranger Things. I thought of Miami Vice and Giorgio Moroder. I thought of Michael Knight and K.I.T.T. Synthwave takes me to places I want to be. The sound splits the atoms in my brain and sets off a creative explosion. The mushroom cloud of memory fills my head with nothing but a mission to unlock the “what’s next” and the new discoveries that await me within my own tales and the comics I read every day.
I’ll give you five more Synthwave acts that anyone would dig.
Mitch Murder – Have you ever seen the film Kung Fury? (Link’s above.) The awesome score is done by this dude. I first heard of the Swiss producer following my first six viewings of Fury. It’s got a killer soundtrack.
Robert Parker – Another Swiss producer whose sound is a mix of 80’s films and European disco and house beats.
Dynatron – This producer out of Denmark says he’s inspired by 80’s action flicks. I’m pretty sure all these producers are inspired by 80’s action flicks.
The Midnight – This songwriting/producing duo is based out of L.A by way of the southern U.S. and Denmark respectively. They also use a cursive, neon logo. (What’s up with that, by the way? Seems like that’s a thing.)
Lazerhawk – Possibly my favorite band name out of this set of Synthwave acts. This producer is based out of Austin, TX. I’m definitely keeping an eye out to see if he’s heading to the FL area soon.
So that’s what I’ve been jamming to while I grind it out here in the Mattcave. Moving right along, let’s now get into the comics coming out this week. I want to start off by addressing three characters and their respective titles that lived in my pull list rotation for years. It’s weird to think that characters like Batman, the X-Men, and Invincible will soon be eliminated from my weekly pulls. One thing is for sure, two of the three won’t be awaiting my arrival at A Comic Shop in the near future.
I’ll begin with Batman. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s run on New 52’s Batman is comparable to Geoff Johns’ run on Green Lantern leading up to and during the New 52 relaunch. My reasoning is solely based on the conclusions Snyder and Johns set up. After I read N52’s Batman #52 and Green Lantern #20, I thought, “This is it. Like, why even write stories beyond this point. Nothing will ever be this good.” I tried to stay on and get into Tom King’s recent run of “Rebirth Bats,” but much like Robert Vendetti taking over for Johns on GL titles, it’s just not the same. Couple this with Snyder’s newest Batman series, All-Star Batman, and you have me longing for The Court of Owls. I know Snyder and Capullo have a new Bats project on the horizon entitled “Metal,” but if there is any sort of lead-up, I will be in the dark (unless Rob at ComicsExplained breaks down King’s Batman and the remainder of Snyder’s All-Star series).
Then you have the X-Men.
[EDITOR’S NOTE:] Another X-Men rant, Matthew? Really?
Oh, there you are, “Ed.” I think I’ve figured out how to catch you, mid-edits.
[EDITOR’S NOTE:] Obviously. This completely defeats the purpose of my commentary. You can just write me out.
I can?
[EDITOR’S NOTE:] No. You can’t. And unless you want this to start turning into a Deadpool-type of scenario. Carry on with your gripes about a comic book series that really hasn’t been prevalent in 15 years.]
Look, I’ve made my bones about the travesty that Marvel Comics has made of the X-Men U. It’s awful right now. The X-titles are almost as bad as the scramble before and after House of M. Fortunately, Marvel still had the scribing services of one Chris Claremont to at least make Uncanny X-Men enjoyable. I read recently that Jeff Lemire is leaving Marvel. My high hopes for Extraordinary X-Men were shot once Apocalypse Wars (plural) got underway. In my experience with Lemire’s work, his recent announcement makes sense to why Extraordinary doesn’t “feel” like a Lemire title. I’m not even going to get into Uncanny. I’m sure I’ve asked in previous posts why Marvel’s (supposedly) main X-title consists of all villains. I won’t again. The next event for the X-Men is ResurreXion. Once again, we’ll have TEN X-Men titles that have nothing to do with one another. So stupid. Why don’t we just have Uncanny X-Men and that’s that? How hard would that be to simply build the team back up from a single title? No? You gotta have as much money as possible? I get it. Do your thing, Marvel-money. You won’t see much from my pockets in regards to the X-Men—until they announce the next volume of Uncanny, because, well, I have almost all of them anyway.
My final gripe may be the biggest one of all. No comic book has affected me emotionally as much as Robert Kirkman’s Invincible. I’ve produced podcasts about the series. I’ve gushed about the first 15-20 volumes in past blog posts. For the past two years, the book reads like its been written by a robot programmed by Kirkman to specifically kick out weak stories while Kirkman maintains his duties on AMC’s The Walking Dead. Oliver, Invincible’s half-brother, was recently killed—which is a another “wtf, man” type of tangent I could ignite. If Invicible’s end happened three years ago, I would’ve been wrecked. Due to the fact that the past two years (like, six total issues) of story evoked zero emotions up to the point of—and during—Oliver’s demise, I don’t really care anymore. Now that I know the series ends in ten or so issues, I just want it to be over with. Kirkman, in all intents and purposes, should’ve ended Invincible after issue #100. The past 33 issues have been a waste. Let’s just be real. What a shame. It’s still the best 100 issues I’ve ever read from any story in the super-hero genre. I’ll likely stand by that forever, unless the end is unbearable. Then that would really be a shame.
But enough of the yuck-yuck over comics. There are what they are. Bats, the X-Men, and Invincible will hopefully be back to form one day. Fortunately, there are plenty of titles I’m currently reading that are hitting their strides. Let’s take a look at some examples from my pull list for this week.
PULLS FOR 3/15
HE-MAN/THUNDERCATS 6 (of 6)
I must admit, this is the first hefty week of books in a minute. The Batman and X-Men titles respectively glare back at me. I’m up in the air about All-Star. There is still hope for the finale of Invincible. I probably will flip through Uncanny for the sole purpose that I’ve done so, much like the 500+ issues I’ve purchased before.
I love this mash of comics because the slate is a “time machine” of my favorite things. Let’s start with He-Man, the O.G. within my history of Geek. He-Man/Thundercats is a super-fun, “what if…” crossover where it’s basically the Eternians and Thunderians joining forces to stop Skeletor and Mumm-Ra from destroy everything. It’s a great time.
Superman and Action Comics really rock it out. Last week’s Action revealed that the “DoppelClark” was, in fact, Mr. Mxyzptlk. One really cool thing the folks at DC provided with was a background history of Mr. MITZ-EL-PLIK—oh yeah, and a confirmation that the way I’ve said his name all these years is the correct way. Well, that way, and four others. This week’s chapter will likely be the first book I crack open. The second being the trouble that Jonn-o Kent and Damian Wayne have gotten themselves into.
Warren Ellis’ Wild Storm continues. I dug the first issue where we basically get the introduction to the main cast, which includes Grifter, Zealot, Void, Jacob Marlowe, and Miles Craven. The only character I’m still scratching my head about is Michael Cray. When will be become Deathblow? Did that happen already? I still have a bunch of questions plot-wise.
“The Asgard/Shi’ar War” concludes this week. I’ve said it before (quite a few times, probably), the Shi’ar make things happen. They’re a wonderful combination of personalities and power sets to make themselves formidable—specifically on ground-level combat. You can never sleep on Gladiator. I don’t know if its Jason Aaron’s awesome stories and “Thor-verse” he created, or the insanely talented artists painting the pictures, but Thor-related events and stories for the past five (FIVE!) years have been incredible. Some of the best comic book content I’ve had the pleasure of absorbing in my life as a reader. I mean that. Thor: God of Thunder is a series I would not only recommend to new comic book readers interested in Thor, I would suggest TGoT to anyone who is interested in reading super-hero comic books in general. Jane Foster hasn’t disappointed me in the slightest.
And hey, hey Kill or be Killed is on the list! Again, this is likely going to win my “Best Comic of 2017” when the year is said and done. I’ll do another quick check to see if the series is being optioned as a television series. I haven’t seen anything yet. Just wait, gang. I’m telling you. This series would translate so well to a streaming service like Netflix. Hope you have considered this book to add on your must-read list.
[EDITOR’S NOTE:] It is quite good.
See? “Ed” knows. And he’s super-anal when it comes to comics he considers to be palatable much less a form of literature.
[EDITOR’S NOTE:] Excuse me, I read the “Archies.”
That’s kind of sad, Ed.
[EDITOR’S NOTE:] And yet here you are clamoring for the next episode of Riverdale which airs Thursday night.
Touché.
[EDITOR’S NOTE:] Wrap it up, please.
Sure.
Another reason I think KobK and other titles from Image Comics are so enjoyable is due to the fact that they’re inexpensive. They never stray from a hard $3.99 on monthly books containing zero ads throughout the story. Amazing Spider-Man #25 is “over-sized” and coming off the shelf at a $9.99 clip. Look, AMS holds one of the torches which continues to guide the Marvel through the endless caverns of canon. Dan Slott is one of the best writers in comics and will likely go down in history as one of the five best writers for the character of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Still though, $10? Really? The book is 96 pages. However, only “40” contain the main story penned by Slott. I don’t know, man. Let’s just hope the corners of the book aren’t torn.
That’s it for this week, gang. Here’s to another excellent week and a rockin’ comic book Wednesday. Have fun! I’ll talk at you soon!
Follow Matty on Twitter:
MLP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mattylovespodcast
Dearest “website,”
It’s been too long. For some time now I haven’t officially submitted anything from my brain onto this domain I pay for, and for that, I’m sorry. It’s not that there were no words to hammer out on a keyboard. It’s not like I haven’t had a little time to update my life for you and whoever else that cares for my radical and wild existence. I have. There’s work and school and… Ah, who am I kidding, website? I’ll admit got away from the usual exuberance I usually get from comic books. The holidays weren’t a drag so much as an excuse to take it easy. Sure, there’s the weekly, late night, Frisbee golf tournaments in the parking lot of my workplace. I guess I could be home—with you, website—adding more words for more reading eyes. But to be honest with you, I was spending a lot of time with my eyes on a computer screen and not on the “life-management screen.” I’m healthy. I’m happy, but I need a little bit of humanity and culture outside of my stories, YouTube channels, and comic books.
I missed you, too. Look, I know you’ve seen the moves I’ve been making over at iTunes and SoundCloud. I’ve dug down into the depths of empty pockets to find enough scratch to finally give the world no reason not to listen to MattyLovesPodcast. After working on uploading old content from the YouTube archives, I’ve just about re-released most of the content I deemed the best of the best of the best. Now that I’m just about finished with that process, I can start recording shows again. That way, I can uber-compile content and then be faced with the “AH! WHAT DO I DO?!” situation. Totally fine with that, website. However, I must complete the uploads before the reloads, if you catch my little play off the word “load” there.
No. That wasn’t meant to sound sexual. I’m talking about reloading my computer with more freshly recorded episodes of MLP. Anyway…
The real reason I’m reconvening with you today is because of the new content I’ve experienced in the forms of film, television, and comic books. Especially comics! You stoked up, website? I just dropped $6.99 on trade paperbacks of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men: Assault on Weapon Plus and Planet X. Trades, website! I didn’t pull the bonehead mistake of spending $7 each on New X-Men issues 130 through whatever. I’m growing up! (Plus, I think I might have most of Morrison’s X-Men run in longboxes safely housed at my resort-getaway-chateau in Blue Ridge, Virginia.)
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Oh, please. It’s your parents’ home. Or your parents’ dog’s home, I should say, dear boy.]
Yeah, website. I don’t like him either. He thinks I don’t catch the edits before I re-edit.
Well, why would I erase his “notes?” I think it adds to the hysteria of my history.
Yes, I need a girlfriend. I knew I could come back to you for some sort of scant reminder. Good ol’ website.
Pressing on—before the interruptions—I’m reading a lot. The daily reads haven’t been this frantic in quite a while. There is so many great ideas going for Marvel, DC, and Image Comics. Even IDW is making a solid effort to reestablish some of the characters from my generation’s favorite syndicated cartoons. I’ve trimmed the fat of my weekly pull list—which I usually post each Wednesday via my Twitter account. I’m back to bare essentials: read what you like. Sure, there are some books that pique my interest, but those books often pop up on Rob Jeffereson’s Comics Explained series. For real, website, this guy is who I tell people to go to if they don’t have time to read the “major” titles in comics past and present.
Say you ask me: “What’s good right now, Matty? Like, what is a game-changing book in the current realm of canon within the ‘Big Two?’”
No, not “you” meaning you, website. Those “reading eyes,” remember?
People of Earth. Viewers of MattyLoves. I’m now speaking to you.
Let’s start with DC Comics. Do you know how long I’ve wanted to hop on the internets and type up a gushing salute to whatever genius managed to (for the time being) right the wrecked ship that were the Superman titles? Folks, you can go back on my blog and see my torrid history with giving the creators telling “Big Blue” stories a chance. The only guy who swung for the fences and came away with a decent average was Dan Jurgens. If you know the history of Superman’s writers, Jurgens basically gave Superman depth, story, and a more robust catalog of imposing threats—namely, Doomsday.
Jurgens is now joined by Peter Tomasi (holy geez, read his run on Green Lantern Corps). Together, they’ve brought Superman back to, arguably, the best character to get to know in 2017. New 52 turned out to be a disaster across all the titles for the standpoint of overall story. ‘Member Convergence? Yeah, pretty confusing. But the one saving grace from that comic event was the Superman who existed before the New 52 is now the Superman of this “Rebirth” era for DC Comics. Superman and Action Comics are currently exploring Superman in this new world, but also looking into the fallout from the death “Prime Earth” Superman of DC’s New 52.
The best part about this new direction for “our” Superman is during the goings on in Convergence, pre-New 52 (or “New Earth”) Lois Lane got pregnant. She and Clark Kent welcomed their baby son, Jonathan, into this new world. (The one miracle from that “event.”) So, now Superman has to raise his son—who is, of course, developing powers—alongside Lois, who is trying to get acclimated to this new world herself. It’s going to get interesting once the major cosmic villains want to take over Earth, and then find out Superman has a son. Can we say: leverage? Abduction? Possibilities galore. Then there is the issue of—who we think is—the New 52 Clark Kent, who is alive and still around preventing the current Superman from dawning the Clark Kent persona. This Clark looks exactly like, but is definitely not Superman. No powers, but has a disgusting sugar habit. I love the sweets, but this Kent probably eats fruit candy like Starburst and Twizzlers, which I deem disgusting and a plague on society. This Kent is bordering on creepy. “I drive an ice cream truck”-creepy.
Confused? That’s why you guys should be reading Superman books! Not just these, but there are a few other related titles rocking it out. China’s got a New Super-Man, Lana Lang is “Red Electric” Superman, and you know DC had to put together a Super Sons team-up book featuring “Jonn-o” Kent and Damian Wayne. I highly suggest Superman titles to anyone right now trying to find their first comic to read, or those finding their way back.
I told you, website. I got that fevah again.
Some other DC titles to possibly flip through are:
He-Man/Thundercats—because why the eff not? If you read comics, are in and around the ages of 30-40, and also read this blog, I hope you’re up to speed on this title and the previous volumes of Masters of the Universe stories from DC.
Wonder Woman—hey, despite DC editorial taking Brian Azzerello’s character-altering saga and swiftly burning the story and the New 52 WW to the ground, who better to bring her back up than Greg Rucka? He’s got solid chops for Diana Prince. It shows. Now that titles like Superman, Action, Batman, and Detective—to name a few—are solicited twice a month, it gives creators many options structurally speaking. The main options being: 1. Does the creator make the title a concurrent arc with possible crossovers and one-shot, character development stories? 2. Or does the creator take advantage of the two books per month and stagger stories? Rucka chose option #2 and I feel it has paid off so far. He’s telling stories of Diana’s past and present that intertwine in their respective plots despite not taking place concurrently. To my knowledge, this is the only title of the “Rebirth” line that is utilizing this brand of storytelling.
Warren Ellis’ Wild Storm—I’ve mentioned in previous posts and podcasts that I love the old WildStorm stuff from Image Comics during the mid to late 90’s. If there is a chunk of comic book knowledge I possess that will get me nowhere in most comic book discussions, it entails the history of the WildStorm U and “Project: Genesis.” One of my comic book idols, Jim Lee, founded the original studio then sold it to DC back in the early 2000’s. After a not-so-successful relaunch, the WildStorm U “dissolved” into the pre-New 52 DCU. Not a lot survived. The New-52 campaign saw the return of some familiar WildStorm faces like Grifter, a weird semblance of Team 7, and I think Voodoo had a title. I liked what they did with Grifter during Flashpoint, but he didn’t get a lot of play beyond his 18-19 issue series that was a part of the second run of New 52 cancellations. Anyway, all that said, Warren Ellis—who wrote a good bit of what I consider to be classic WildStorm gold—has been hired by Lee to relaunch a batch of these old characters who get their own universe within the DC Multiversity. To this point of publication, there has only been one issue. Maybe I’ve been hankering for WildStorm content to return, but I think this line of books will be awesome as long as they hang on to Ellis.
Still with me, website? I guess I could finish up here with what I plan on scooping Wednesday, but I promised the readers other suggestions from Marvel and the indies. So, let’s move on.
WARNING: The following rant isn’t telling you to not read the soon-to-be addressed line of books. See for yourself. Marvel’s X-Men comics have become comparable to DC’s Superman comics during the New 52 era. The only difference is that it is hard to write about Superman without really shaking up his character/family dynamic. With the X-Men, it seems all Marvel’s editorial staff wants to do is constantly change everyone’s character dynamic. Nothing has stuck since Brian Michael Bendis’ run on his X-Men titles. I love Jeff Lemire’s stuff. We’ll get to that later, but there is no way I believe he should be held minutely responsible for the mail-in job Marvel’s done leading up to the end of all this Inhumans vs. X-Men nonsense. Marvel wanted us to care about the Inhumans. Some do. Some did. (I did, see: War of Kings.) Some are still sore with the fact that Marvel may have lost full rights to the X-Men forever. I’m proud to say I’m a part of the latter clan. Once we, the fans, discovered Marvel is, yet again, reshaping the X-Men universe with ResurreXion, books like Cullen Bunn’s Uncanny X-Men and Lemire’s Extraordinary X-Men went full-on “autopilot.” (I had such high hopes.) Maybe I’ll take a moment to discuss my thoughts on the new line of books down the line.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: I should’ve just thrown this bit out all together. The X-Men are long gone. It’s Marvel’s ultimate loss from the comic bust of the late 1990’s. Move on, Matty.]
But enough of the bad, let’s get to all of the awesomeness. I’ll start with Iron Man. Admittedly, I didn’t read a lick of the Civil War II mini-series. “Secret Wars redux” burnt me good in “201$” with the delays, weak tie-ins, etc. (Loved the main story!) I didn’t want to go near CWII once I found out the aforementioned Inhumans played a big part. Fortunately, reading books like Invincible Iron Man and Amazing Spider-Man kept me up to speed on the Civil War II stuff. One thing that I’ve noticed with both Marvel and DC are how they’re taking these longtime, wretched villains and turning them into genuinely good guys. Doctor Doom is a prime example. Now the details are hazy, but I do believe that Tony Stark/Iron Man was “killed” during the events of Civil War II—the reason I say this is because I’ve only read the first of the four or five issues of Bendis’ new volume of Invincible Iron Man starring the adorable Riri Williams that currently lay in a stack on my coffee table of recent titles I need to run through. I’m sure I’ll soon find out Stark’s fate. Anyway, Doom is now one of the new “Iron Men” traversing the globe bashing baddies—and also The Thing because, well, you think Thing’s going to believe Doom’s a good guy? After Secret Wars culminating with Doom’s realization of genuine fear (a first), he’s now reformed and wants to reshape the world to be a better place rather than Doom’s selfish “vision” of a better place. Or, at least that’s what Bendis wants us to generalize. Much like Lex Luthor in Action Comics, I am looking forward to these villains realizing they’re never going to change. They’re not good men. They’re nature is evil. It’s coming. I’ve read too many comics.
I mentioned Amazing Spider-Man. This blog has often been home to rave reviews of Dan Slott’s run on Amazing. It’s undeniably fantastic. The Clone Conspiracy wraps up Wednesday with a classic Marvel “Omega” event. Knowing Slott’s storytelling style, nothing is ever settled. I’m sure more questions will be raised. Clone Conspiracy was basically Slott bringing back The Jackal yet again, only he’s not who he seems. It’s someone else claiming to be the new Jackal. The story’s still fresh. I don’t want to give much away. In the past, if you saw the word “clone” in a Spider-Man title, it was not promising. Slott does an excellent job of erasing most of the anguish of the Spidey-clone events of days gone by. Call me “Wrong Guy Randy,” but I want to say Slott has written close to 200 issues of Amazing Spider-Man. If you’ve never read his stories, oh man, good luck catching up. Clone Conspiracy is a good jumping on point, though. Check it out.
A few other Marvel titles to consider:
Jeff Lemire’s Moon Knight—I’m positive this is the only title I’ve ever blogged about that I have yet to read. Based on his X-Men stuff, I wasn’t clamoring for this book despite my love for Moon Knight. Above, I posted the link for the Comics Explained YouTube channel. From those videos, I realized that this series would have to be added to my weekly pull list. The only problem is that Lemire’s Moon Knight run ends soon. As some of you know, most current Marvel titles don’t go past issues #15 or #16 before getting relaunched as a new volume. And that’s so stupid. Issue numbers are so meaningless nowadays.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Oh, boo hoo.]
But I digress. For anyone who doesn’t read weekly titles and choose to pick up the occasional collected editions, this plan works out. My patience for Lemire’s collected Moon Knight run will be worth it despite knowing most of what happens. However, because I haven’t read it, I’m not going to explain or speculate anything. I’ll just say that if you watch Rob’s videos explaining the plot—holy crap. I guess I should also recommend Lemire’s Thanos miniseries currently on the shelves. It’s three issues deep and I’m definitely reading this series at the moment. Not missing out on this one. It’s Thanos. I need even more reason to take a crap on the movie version presented in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, hopefully.
Any Marvel title written by Jason Aaron—Creators like Lemire and Jason Aaron are who I consider to be top-notch as far as not only telling great stories, but consistently releasing their Marvel titles on time. Aaron currently writes Doctor Strange, The Mighty Thor, The Unworthy Thor miniseries (soon to end), and Marvel’s Star Wars ongoing series, which Aaron has penned since issue one. Everything about these titles project a portrait of consistency and care. When you read each of these books you can tell how much Aaron cares about all of his characters. This extends to his independent work as well. Thor has been one of the best heroes in the Marvel U since the release of Thor: God of Thunder during the initial release of the “Marvel NOW!” line. From there, Aaron has grown a tree of beauty and reason. The motivations of his Thor, Strange, Luke, and Yoda are always clear. Never as a reader do I ask myself, “What’s happening here?” (See: X-Men, or Invincible—don’t get me started on that one.) Much like the newest volume of Invincible Iron Man, I’m about five issues behind on Doctor Strange. The first two arcs story paired with Chris Bachalo’s and Kevin Nowlan’s art were dynamite. I love all the new characters. The same goes for Star Wars. A lot went on in between A New Hope and Empire. Aaron delivers on the “what” every month “…in a galaxy far, far away.”
Almost through this, website. Should I break it up into parts? No? Just give the readers a good read? Okay. I think I agree with you.
With that, I guess I should address the indies. Although I could seriously go in on the travesty that is the conclusion to Robert Kirkman’s Invincible, I’ll table that for another time and place.
Jeff Lemire’s Descender has made appearances on the blog. The book is still kicking ass. There’s a robot war coming. I’m so ready for it. This event what I believe the book has headed for from the start.
Kaare Andrews’s Renato Jones: The ONE % was probably my favorite series of 2016 from any publisher. It’s so good. I’m not even a guy who gives a crap about class or social status. If I did, this would still be my favorite book from 2016, obviously. Some big-time bankers are sleazeballs. Renato shoots those guys in the face with a knife-gun. Need I say more?
Last but not least is Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’s Kill or be Killed. I’m telling you that these guys touch on just about every nerve in my brain-factory with not only the way Dylan’s story plays out by also with the layouts, colors, and images in the title. Dylan is guy who doesn’t know where he is in life, but he’s not making good decisions to help himself out. These decisions hinder his ability to get a grip on what he needs in order to be happy. Instead, he tries to kill himself. Doesn’t work. The consequences of failing the attempt on his life may prove worse than suicide. That sounds crazy enough, right? What if I told you Dylan becomes a vigilante killer? What I won’t tell you is the “why.” The first trade is out now. It’s a bargain. Five issues will suck you in. Trust me. “It’s not what you think” type of stuff
Alright, website. Let’s see: Life status, reading lots of comics… Oh! I guess I should conclude with what I’m picking up Wednesday, March 1.
What’s that? “What about ‘forms of film and television?'” Crapbags! I forgot to talk about FX’s Legion, CW’s Riverdale, and John Wick! Looks like I’ll have to shelf that commentary for a later time. It’ll give the readers something to look forward in the near future. Plus, it leaves this entry unfinished, according to me. Let’s get on with the list for this week, website.
PULL LIST for 3/1/2017
Whoa. See, this is a case-and-point example of how I’ve “trimmed the fat.” After compiling my books, I noticed there are about five other titles released Wednesday that I started to read, but lost interest. These comics won’t even run me $20 this week. Of course, there could be an oversight or two. You never know with Image. Either way, this used to be considered a light week but I guess now it’s becoming the norm. And wouldn’t you know it? All of these books I previously mentioned. This actually makes the close of this recent entry easier than I thought, website.
It was good to hand this over to you. I haven’t kicked out 3000 words dedicated to my interests in quite a while. Say, website, don’t get too lonely. I’m not far away. I’ll be back soon and hopefully have more to tell you and the reading eyes. Until then. I’m going to crack into these Invincible Iron Man issues I’ve backlogged. Catch you later!
Matt de Simone is a freelance writer who is currently stationed in the outskirts of Orlando, Florida, fighting the never-ending battle to find his place in this wacky world.
So a week or so ago, Matt de Simone and “Dr. Tom” Lucas watched a sneak preview of DC Animation’s adaptation of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s Batman: The Killing Joke. In this episode, the fellas took the time to discuss everything that went wrong.
With Suicide Squad coming out this week, Matt decided to create a “Death Pool.” Hear who The Street Shaman and Matty think bites it.
Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/mattylovespodcast
Follow the podcast on Twitter:
@mattyspodcast
@_mattdesimone
@readtomlucas
Matt de Simone’s blog: Mattyloves.com
Tom Lucas’ website: readtomlucas.com
Volume Two is about to come to an end. It won’t until you listen to the most recent episode of MLP (then it’s over). You have to listen to this before the show goes through a “Rebirth” of sorts.
That said, turn up Matt de Simone and “Dr. Tom” Lucas as they touch on some of the recent news in the world of comic books, film, and television.
Have the fellas kept up with the Kick-Ass comics? There’s a new volume on the way entitled “The New Girl.” Find out what they think.
The head shots from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story were released the day the guys recorded this edition of MLP. What are they looking forward to in December?
Zack Snyder finally addressed the “issues” with Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Matty and “The Street Shaman” hope he listens to the fans when it comes to Justice League. Apparently the new film is “brighter.” Huh. Alex Ross’ art apparently inspired the design team’s new costume work on the film. That helps, right?
Syfy has a new show in development called Krypton. You people will never guess what it’s about.
All these topics and more are packed into the final episode of Volume Two. Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/mattylovespodcast
Follow the podcast on Twitter:
@mattyspodcast
@_mattdesimone
@readtomlucas
Matt de Simone’s blog: Mattyloves.com
Tom Lucas’ website: readtomlucas.com
Matt and “Dr.” Tom have both read lead-ins and the first issue of DC Comics’ Rebirth. They take this podcast to take about DC’s new direction.
http://www.facebook.com/mattylovespodcast
Follow the podcast on Twitter:
@mattyspodcast
@_mattdesimone
@readtomlucas
Matt de Simone’s blog: Mattyloves.com
Tom Lucas’ website: readtomlucas.com
WELCOME BACK!
It’s been a little while, hasn’t it? Matt de Simone and “Dr.” Tom Lucas are back to play a game of “catch-up.”
A lot has gone on since the last time MLP reconvened.
This episode of spoiler-rific.
In this episode, Matt and “The Street Shaman of Geekdom” take a look at the more recent comic book films such as Captain America: Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse. Matt’s seen them both. At the time of this recording, Tom had yet to see X:A–so, Matt spoils the crap out of the film.
They also look ahead to Doctor Strange as well as Suicide Squad. It’s a pretty rad time to be a comic book fan. There’s lots of films and books to chose from.
Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/mattylovespodcast
Follow the podcast on Twitter:
@mattyspodcast
@_mattdesimone
@readtomlucas
Matt de Simone’s blog: Mattyloves.com
Tom Lucas’ website: readtomlucas.com
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 25
