Transcript
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Speaker: Right, I'm bored. What plaything can you offer me today?
Speaker: got more rocket Ajax to bring back his body. Terminator X's go, go!
Speaker: Hello everybody and welcome to War Rocket Ajax. This is the internet's most explosive comic book and pop culture podcast. We are your hosts. My name is Chris Sims and with me as always is Matt Wilson.
Speaker: Matt, I think that in War Rocket Ajax Survivors, the final boss would be Matt Fraction. So it's neither of us. Are we the or we the... We are the protagonists, yes. Okay. Okay.
Speaker: And i think I think my weapon would be Batarangs.
Speaker: Interesting. Interesting. that's That's what I would start out with. I would be throwing Batarangs. And then like my my my like ultimate attack that I would get would be like a Kamehameha.
Speaker: Or a Kamehameha, I guess I should say. I guess my basic attack would probably be some kind of web. And then my ultimate attack would obviously be Swinging around. It's not exactly... It's not a sword.
Speaker: I wouldn't call it a sword. But more like a raw slab of iron. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. and I get it. Yeah. Yeah. Any suggestions on on bosses?
Speaker: I mean, i think the two final bosses... You know how like sometimes in a game, there'll be like the mid-final boss and then the actual final boss?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. That's Biscuit and Harrison, but I don't know what order they could. Ooh, that's a good one. mean, they're the bosses. They're the Slogra and Gaibon of War Rocket Ajax survivors.
Speaker: Yeah, they they might be, to to use Dark Souls parlance, Ornstein and Smough. But they're they're definitely bosses in the game. Here's the thing, though. Those games have, like...
Speaker: Like, two dozen protagonists, right? Yes, so it would be you, me, Chambers. With two bats, yeah. With two bats. ah The Vapor Blade would have to be an unlockable weapon.
Speaker: Right. If you defeat Harrison and and Biscuit... I don't want to fight Biscuit, though. Then they become playable characters. maybe maybe we Maybe we don't fight Biscuit.
Speaker: Eleanor's a playable character, of course. Biscuit could be a playable character. the AC and Marlene. That gets us ah a good it also jugged a good bit. Everyone who's been on to co-host at any point is a playable character.
Speaker: Chris Haley and Kurt Franklin. Chris Haley and Kurt Franklin are absolutely bosses. but theyre there They're like the first bosses. They're the bosses of the first level.
Speaker: Folks, we have a great show for you on this fine afternoon. We have a great guest for the show this week. Two guests in a row. Who'd have thought? Xander Cannon, who is comic creator. he He's one of those comic creators that does it all.
Speaker: Writing, art, colors, all of it. His new comic is called Sleep. And we will be talking to him about that, as well as X-Men Comics, Kaiju Max, Heck...
Speaker: And other stuff that comes up, and it is a very fun conversation, and you will want to listen to it later in the show. But Chris, before we talk to Xander, we have some business to take care of here at the top of the show.
Speaker: The first piece of business is thanking our newest supporters over on Patreon. That's right, Matt. Now these are all the people who went down to 714 Gimmick Street in times past, where you would have to get a check or money order.
Speaker: and mail it to art to us individually. And of course, you know it's at 714 Gimmick Street now. Tell me. I will just say, the Gimmick Street level on Rocket Ajax Survivors so is wild.
Speaker: it it You think eventually it's going to loop, and it never does. It just keeps going, and it's all kinds of weird buildings on either side of the street. Yeah.
Speaker: Scott Hall's house. Kevin Nash's house. Kevin Nash's house. The Devil's Tramping Ground. It's all there. It's all there. lot of sports arenas. A lot of sports arenas. A lot of internet cafes. like That's the wild thing. is like For the first 20 minutes of that level, it's internet cafes.
Speaker: Yeah. But that's not what's at 714 Gimmick Street, Matt. What's at 714 Gimmick Street is... Matt, i I had to come up with the question a bit. Okay.
Speaker: It's a lamp store. It's a lamp store. It's where you can buy lighting. Yeah. You can also go there and get on your phone and go patreon.com. Look, folks folks, go to patreon.com slash warrocketajax.
Speaker: Kick in as little as a dollar a month. Help support the show. Help keep me and Matt able to do this show each and every week to bring it to you, along with all the other stuff that we do. And most importantly, pay those gimmicks they keep sending in the mail called bills. Because folks, they do keep sending them.
Speaker: It doesn't stop. It does not stop. i would I would appreciate it if they'd stop it. I would love that. But thanks to you, thanks to your continued support...
Speaker: We can continue to pay those gimmicks. Our newest Patreon supporters, Chris, are Lukewarm Greg Houston. That's a good name.
Speaker: That's a great name. Thank you, Lukewarm Greg Houston. ah It's either Shadavid or Shadavid. Thank you, Shadavid. And Alex Ferguson.
Speaker: Thank you, Alex Ferguson. If you would like to be like those three, very cool supporters of ours on Patreon. You can do what Chris said and go to patreon.com slash warrocketajax and kick in as little as a dollar a month to make sure that we do this show every week that we do every story of our specials monthly.
Speaker: You just got one on February 28th and it's wake up, wake up the first of the month that this episode is going up. And that's a great time to hop onto Patreon.
Speaker: Um, You get Comics Catch-Up. You get Movie Fighters and Snack Situation. All of those shows are made possible by your support on Patreon. Currently, we have 408 paid Patreon backers, Chris.
Speaker: That means we are 12 away, just 12 away, from recording some bonus content where we take an edible or perhaps drink a THC soda,
Speaker: And just just let it record for half an hour however long we want to stay on.
Speaker: Doesn't that sound like something that you want to listen to? Look, can I be honest with you? Yeah. Listeners, I just want take an edible and hang out with my friend Matt. It seems like that would be a really good time.
Speaker: I mean, I guess we could just do that. We could, but but... But the only way we will do it and record it for you, is if we reach 420 paid subscribers on Patreon.
Speaker: And as I said, we are currently 12 away from that. Look, if you think it was obnoxious the way we started talking about Vaporblade and Chambers, two long-running bits that we did not record the origin of, that's just conversations we had off mic.
Speaker: then then you don't want us to not record when we take edibles and hang out and, don't know, play fighting games online or something?
Speaker: As a backer, as a Patreon supporter, you get every single episode of every show that we do totally ad-free. You get your own feed on Patreon totally ad-free.
Speaker: At upper levels, at the $5 level, you get the bonus content, which will include our $4.20, content that we will do. And then at levels beyond that, you get line-stepping privileges for our segment. Currently, every story ever.
Speaker: We will start a new segment to replace Thursday Night Raw soon. And then above that, you get physical rewards, t-shirts, and other things. ah And I believe our 2025 t-shirt is in the works right now.
Speaker: So ah I think you're going to want that. And so you should head over to Patreon and join in the fun. If you are unable to help us monetarily, which we understand that that happens, and there's a reason there are reasons why it's just not something you can do right now, you can help us out in other ways. You can leave us a five-star review on the podcasting app that you use, or you can spread good word of mouth about the show, tell your friends and family about the show and why they should listen to it, and then have them back our Patreon.
Speaker: Uh, because, you know, maybe they can, and maybe they could get us to the, the four 20 funny weed number where we take an edible and do some boco.
Speaker: I gotta say what the difficulty we're having getting four 20. I don't know how I'm ever going to get to the point where we do a live sacrifice to the devil.
Speaker: ah full beast. Well, that's a full beast so on Patreon. Yeah. Uh, but Someday, someday we can hope for that to get there. All right, Chris, now that we have thanked our Patreon supporters, let's do some checks and recs.
Speaker: Chris, what would do you like to check in with this week? Matt, as you know, I've been watching a lot of television lately. ah Sure, sure, sure, sure. Traditionally, not in my top five favorite mediums or media, but but it's, you know.
Speaker: It's available to me. I have recently, and you know this because I was texting you about it all day. Uh-huh. I have started watching The Alfred Show, because fuck it, why not, at this point?
Speaker: And you were texting both me and Daniel Kimblesmith throughout the day. Yes, because that show is fully cuckoo bananas.
Speaker: I think it might rule, actually.
Speaker: It's super weird. It's impossible to figure out when it is supposed to take place. Alfred was in the SAS for 10 years and is 26 years old and fought the Hun in the army during the war.
Speaker: But there is a... like Three episodes in, there's like a brief mention on a newscast that maybe Nazis are still around in the 60s? Like, i mean, look, Nazis are still around. It's a problem. We're all aware of it. But like, in power in Germany.
Speaker: Like, the original Nazis. The originals, yeah. Yeah. ah Which, it's... It's weird, man. It's a weird show.
Speaker: The thing that I will say about it that is making it most intriguing to me, because... Look, if you want to know why I haven't watched it until now, it's less because I didn't want to watch The Alfred Show and more because if I was not actively talking about The Alfred Show, I forgot it existed.
Speaker: Which is not a good thing for a television show. Like, that's a significant problem, I think. What was I saying, Matt? I literally forgot.
Speaker: This is what happens when you watch The Alfred Show. This is what happens when you watch The Alfred Show. It leaves your mind immediately. Oh, yeah, here we go. Here's what I will say about it. As someone who knows a lot about Batman, thinks a lot about Batman, lives that gimmick, brother, i cannot draw a line from anything that happens in the first four episodes of The Alfred Show.
Speaker: to Alfred being Batman's butler. And the show is literally called Pennyworth colon The Origin of Batman's Butler. Well, you got three seasons. You got three seasons to get through. so Yeah, but like, look, I would say I know more about Alfred Pennyworth than the average person knows about Batman.
Speaker: Fair. I can't... I don't know how they get there. Like, Jarvis Pennyworth is in it and is a butler. But not for the Waynes.
Speaker: And Alf, there's no way this show ends with him becoming Bruce Wayne's butler. You know? Like, doesn't make any sense, even with the starting point. Who they've got.
Speaker: ah Thomas and Martha Wayne are in it. And we get to see their first meeting. And I saw them and i was like, wow, I can't wait to watch these two fall in love and then get murdered in an alley.
Speaker: Again. And that was the moment that I realized Martha was wearing pearls.
Speaker: It's... Kind of great. There is a scene where Alfred meets Queen Elizabeth, ah who is young and hot, and I said that she, I was describing it too ah AC, and I was like, yeah, she looks like the version of Claire Foy that would be in This Ain't the Crown XXX.
Speaker: And I texted you and Kibblesmith that everyone on this show talks like a Guy Ritchie character doing a mean impression of a Guy Ritchie character. Which is kind of how Guy Ritchie characters talk already, but I see i know what you're saying. Well, now for Pennyworth.
Speaker: ah So I'm going to be having a butcher's at that show for a while, in in betwixt my other current projects to keep from descending into despair, Yu Yu Hakusho and One Piece.
Speaker: ah One Piece is rough going at the moment, by the way. i Just out of pure curiosity, i went and looked at like episode synopses of season three, just to see if it got any closer to Batman.
Speaker: And I don't have any answer for you on that one way or the other. But I do know that the the third season of Pennyworth has a naming convention for each episode, where each episode is named after a famous racehorse.
Speaker: Amazing. I love that. I love it. I think that's, i'd like, i look, the problem that I will have with this show isn't going to be that it's too weird.
Speaker: Right. Give me the weirdest shit you got. I didn't text this to you, but um I will say there is a ah dominatrix on the show.
Speaker: did text you that there, even for a Batman project, was a lot of BDSM yeah on this show, which I was kind of surprised by. There's a dominatrix named Peg, and I feel like even for DC Comics, that's a bit on the nose.
Speaker: That's like a James Bond name. which i i mean I think they're trying to do a James Bond thing on that show. But yeah. yeah it's like not like They don't like lampshade it, but I was like, alright.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Give me all the weird Alfred shit. like I know I've talked about this when Kimvel Smith has been on the show, but back when Gotham started, I was like, don't make a show about a young Bruce Wayne. I don't want to see Bruce Wayne if he's not Batman. I don't care.
Speaker: But Alfred actually does have an interesting backstory. Just make an Alfred show. Then they made one and I didn't watch it. Proving myself a liar. Well, now you are.
Speaker: Now I'm in it to win it, baby. Matt, what have you been up to while I've been descending further into madness? Well, Chris, ah my playthrough of Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth continues. and Still not a wreck?
Speaker: Still not a wreck, because i i think I'm maybe halfway through the game. Okay. And I have found ah more minigames to play, because of course I have.
Speaker: And also, i have realized that... I don't know. i Perhaps I'm getting into spoiler territory here for Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth. so I won't say too much, but when I first started talking about the game, I said I know that it mostly takes place in Hawaii, which is true.
Speaker: But at some point in the game, you do go back to Japan, specifically, Ijinsho, And play as a whole different character for like a chunk of game. Chris, I didn't know. i didn't realize that Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth was going to like secretly I mean, it's ah it's an Ichiban Kasuga game for sure.
Speaker: But it is also another Kazuma Kiryu game. Yeah, they'll they'll do that every now and then. Yeah. but The Yakuza games love going to a different place and now you're playing with somebody else for a little bit.
Speaker: Yeah. And the Yakuza games also love having Kazuma cure you in the... They sure do. They really, really do. um it It is also, like, the plot of that game is buck wild.
Speaker: it VTubers are a key plot component. Does Kiryu become a VTuber? No, he he kind of becomes... Well, Kiryu doesn't become any of that.
Speaker: Kasuga sort of becomes a YouTuber, but there is a VTuber in the game that makes videos about stories that the media is too afraid to put out there.
Speaker: And... ah and ah It's like exposés about former Yakuza members. I'm waiting for some some of the big like soap operatic twists that the first Like a Dragon was so full of.
Speaker: And that largely came at the end. So I'm excited for that too to eventually come into play. I did call who the secret villain of the game was from Jump Street.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But yeah, i've I've done more of the story stuff. I have also been... like once you get into the the part where you're playing as Kiryu, as protagonists, there are even more mini-games to play.
Speaker: So I've been playing those as well. um That's the other thing that the that the like a Dragon Games love. Yeah. So the the playthrough continues. We're on the way to Wreck, but we're not there just yet.
Speaker: Speaking of Rex, Chris, what do you have to recommend? Matt, I'd like to recommend another television show to you. All right. ah Because this is one that I don't know if we've talked about it before. I feel like we have to have.
Speaker: Folks, we are four episodes into the new season of Reacher. Ah, yes. I see people talking about Reacher all the time. And i've never I've never watched a second of it.
Speaker: ah But I'm glad people like it. i be but People seem to enjoy it. Look, is it propaganda? 100%. Is it a production of the Large Bad Bookstore website?
Speaker: Yes, absolutely. it Is it a morally defensible action to watch Reacher? Probably not. Is Reacher kind of great, actually?
Speaker: Also, Yes.
Speaker: Reacher is the story of a very large autistic hobo who punches people very hard.
Speaker: And there is a purity to it that I find delightful and refreshing. It's so weird to me that the the movies were Tom Cruise movies.
Speaker: A small man. A small man. A notably small man. And Alan Richson... who is Reacher on the show, is a large man.
Speaker: Yes, and the character is a large man. Like, when the movies came out, people were like, I don't know how Tom Cruise is playing this man that is famously large.
Speaker: yeah oh Great thing about this season, there is a larger man.
Speaker: And the the larger man is a bad man.
Speaker: So we get to see we get to see our large man fight a bad large man. Fun. it i I like simple things.
Speaker: You know, I'm a simple man. Sure. I'm a simple kind of man. And I like it when the large man hits the other large man.
Speaker: It's great. Matt, you should watch Reacher. You should even watch... it i i know that people don't like the second season, but the second season um does have a the bad guy get on the phone with Reacher after the third time that he sends dudes to try and kill Reacher, and he keeps answering the phone going, is it done?
Speaker: And it's always Reacher on the other end?
Speaker: And the third after the third time he tries kill Reacher, he's like, hey, listen, I'm a powerful man. I'm a wealthy man. I can give you anything you want. And Reacher goes, I want to throw you out of a helicopter.
Speaker: And then later he does throw that guy out of a helicopter. I just learned that Alan rich Richson played Hank Hall in three different DC Comics shows.
Speaker: How has Hank Hall been in three different DC comic shows? He played Hank Hall slash Hawk in Titans, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow. Now, it was just in so that it was just in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover thing. Okay.
Speaker: Yeah. ah Wild. Wild. A large man. He is a large man. ah Reacher always has struck me as like, I know it's not ah a Tom Clancy work, it's a Lee Child work, but like it's it's like Clancy adjacent.
Speaker: Although Alan rich Richardson, I guess, went to high school with Matt Gaetz and said that they're complete opposites, and I would like to see him obliterate that man. so that would be I would love that if that happened.
Speaker: Reach your season four. Reach your season four. Yes, watch The Large Man. Because he is large. Everything he says is exactly what is happening.
Speaker: And I love that. Matt, what is your recommendation? If not, Yakuza. Like a dragon. Infinite wealth. My recommendation, Chris, is also a television show ah that is about, I think, halfway through. Batman's Butler?
Speaker: It is not. I haven't seen a second of that either. um It is currently in its second season. It is about halfway through that second season, but I feel like I can recommend it.
Speaker: ah um Right before the second season started, i went back and did a kind of deep dive recap of it that made me really excited to go dive into the second season. And so far, I think the second season has been really good and rewarding.
Speaker: um And that is Severance, which is on Apple Television Plus, Apple Computer, Macintosh Television Plus. Which, you know, is that any better than Amazon? I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know. Did they get rid of DEI? I don't know. All the companies have betrayed us. Not Nintendo. Except Nintendo. Not yet. Anyway, ah Severance this season has been really good. like Season 1 ended on a huge cliffhanger, and Season 2 didn't exactly jump back into the immediate aftermath of that cliffhanger.
Speaker: It has sort of slow-burned its way into showing what has happened since that cliffhanger took place and continuing to explore the fallout of like essentially
Speaker: so some big stuff that each character went through at the end of the first season. um Speaking of Pennyworth being set in a not describable time period, Severance is also set in a time period that I cannot place.
Speaker: And this season, I've especially been like cognizant of that. like There are flip cell phones, but everybody drives cars from like the 70s and 80s.
Speaker: Every computer looks like it's from the 80s. Like the early 80s. Like Richard Pryor's computer in Superman 3. The corporate culture kind of feels
Speaker: like not right now. like, sometime in a nondescript past. When we see the corporation in the the season finale of the first season, it reminded me more than anything else of the Nakatomi Industries Christmas Party in Die Hard.
Speaker: Yeah, it's it's such a weirdly...
Speaker: like ah ah Like, the show apparently does take place now. Like if you see dates on IDs and stuff, it's like, it look it says like 2023, 2024, but like all the stuff is from 40 years ago, which is such a fascinating element of that show.
Speaker: um But I, I, I've been really liking this season and i hope that continues. ah I'm, you know, I trust it at this point.
Speaker: So if you have not seen Severance yet, um to me, it's the reason to have Apple TV for a while. It really is. I have not watched any of the second season yet, primarily because I know that I will be frustrated with waiting for new episodes.
Speaker: it It can be. that There's one episode... I love it when a TV show does an episode where it's just like, what? What are they doing? what's What this? And season two definitely has one of those episodes where it's just like, it immediately shocks you because it takes place in a totally different place.
Speaker: The characters don't know what's going on either. it's totally... you have to like it's totally
Speaker: like out of place. It's not actually out of place with the rest of the show, but it feels out of place with the rest of the show. ah and I love those kind of like jarring moments ah for the audience. so I think you're going to like it, Chris. I think you're going to enjoy watching it.
Speaker: I'm sure I will. I just, look, I got enough stress without having to worry about what's going on with Adam Scott. get you You don't want to be worried about about Lumen, what's happening at Lumen? I don't want to be worried about Lumen.
Speaker: yeah i got I got enough problems of my own. Alright, Chris, those are our Checks and Wrecks, which means it's time to talk about some comics. What do he say? Let's do it.
Speaker: The texture choice winner for this week, Chris, I believe is Absolute Wonder Woman number five, which I texted you to say that it rips.
Speaker: And boy, does it. Yeah, you were correct. like Look, I know we've talked about how like these absolute books, maybe not absolute Superman, but definitely absolute Batman and absolute Wonder Woman, ah remind us of Berserk.
Speaker: But goddamn does absolute Wonder Woman to remind me of Berserk. It's got real Berserk vibes, dude. She cut her own own arm off to save the person she loves.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah She's got a giant sword. She's got a drives ah giant sword and one arm and there's monsters now that have been unleashed from from monster people. and like ah You might take that to mean that that I mean that that's a bad thing.
Speaker: That it's derivative or something. Absolutely not. I love it. Yeah, no, I'm a million percent in for it. And i an a also, i will say, this issue does do something somewhat different in that we see Diana given this version of Diana's lasso, which is not a lasso of truth.
Speaker: No, which I thought was – we knew that it wasn't a lasso of truth. like We knew it was a different a different thing than what we're used to. ah But this ah is – it is a a lasso of ah of transformation. And if you're wondering what the Greek letters were, it's Thousia.
Speaker: Thousia, according to Benito, yeah. but ah And Diana says it's so it's sacrifice. It's a lasso of sacrifice. Yes. But what it does is, okay, well first, she's told that it's a lasso that will hold anything.
Speaker: And it will also transform anything. So what she does in this issue is transform herself.
Speaker: Yeah. She turns into a Medusa. She turns into Medusa. And I will say, worst part of the series so far is somebody going, what's Medusa?
Speaker: I mean, I guess I can buy that this is a society, a version of the world, – I don't know, a universe where Greek mythology just isn't known.
Speaker: i cannot buy that. like i i Like, I get from a ah writing standpoint, from a technical standpoint, why it's there, because you kind of have to set up like, oh, here's what the deal is with Medusa.
Speaker: It's just mind-boggling to me that anyone... Because, like, they've talked about stuff. They've talked about Greek gods and mythology in previous issues, right? i mean, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah It's just weird that, like, someone would ask that question. Um... You tell me you told me this is a universe without Clash the Titans? I don't buy it. I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know. ah But just ah a weird, awkward exchange in what is otherwise a phenomenal and kick-ass book. yeah Like, when I say that's the worst thing that's happened in the series, the series has otherwise been one of the best comics I've ever read.
Speaker: Yeah. It's by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman, who are both absolutely killing it in this. Yes. Essentially, after Wonder Woman turns into a Medusa, it's not just a Medusa. It's ah like a kaiju-sized Medusa. it's It's a big Medusa.
Speaker: it's at least It's a Lich-dusa. Yeah. and Do you get it? I i do. Thank you. and And the giant monster who has been the threat of the last few issues, you know...
Speaker: There's a big like kind of kaiju fight between it and... I mean, it doesn't last very long, but... There's a big kaiju fight between it and and Wonder Woman is a big Medusa. And then Wonder Woman has to remember that she's a person and not a Medusa. And it's great. Which is really, really good.
Speaker: And then Wonder a Woman's like, yeah, now that thing's just a big rock. And then she punches it. And shatters it. And that owns It's great. I love this book.
Speaker: it It kicks ass. It's so good. like ah the The Absolute DC books are so good. We're getting Absolute Flash and Absolute man Martian Manhunter next, and I'm um' very curious about both of those.
Speaker: i am I am more curious about those than excited about them, but I don't know if I was all that excited about... i mean, I was looking forward to Batman. ah But I don't know if I was as excited about them as the quality has warranted. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: So we'll see. We'll see if it continues. yeah um Up next, Chris, you wanted to talk about gi Joe a Real American Hero number 314. Matt, Larry Hama's the greatest of all time.
Speaker: I mean... Larry the GOAT. He's he's great. He's the best. Da God Larry Hama.
Speaker: In this issue, you find out that in Benjean and Trusial Abysmia... ah this year this is a This is an interlude issue, we should note.
Speaker: This is an interlude. ah The stuff that has happened in Springfield has ended with Destro beating the dog shit out of Cobra Commander. Yeah. And the the art in this issue is by Andrew Kronke. Yeah.
Speaker: ah Yes. Basically, there is some, ah there's a terrorist action involving a kidnapped freedom fighter, and things turn out to be more complicated than they initially appear.
Speaker: What matters is that they there is a terrorist named Alcobra. yeah K-A-W-B-R-A.
Speaker: Who is, of course, a Fred. Who is pretending to be a Middle Eastern terrorist. Right. Al Capra? That's so fucking funny, dude.
Speaker: Is it a great tragedy, perhaps, that Larry Hama has not been able to write G.I. Joe every month for the last 25 years straight?
Speaker: Maybe. Probably.
Speaker: But it's probably good that G.I. i Joe, A Real American Hero, was not coming out in, say, the early 2000s. Yeah, probably. Probably. probably Yeah.
Speaker: And look, just me saying that, you might hear that and go, Chris, that actually doesn't sound that great. um It is. like it Because here's the thing.
Speaker: It's so distant from anything real. but but thats That's the point I was about to make. yeah I think if, like, look, a lot of people
Speaker: who usually know better did and said and wrote some regrettable things in the immediate aftermath of nine eleven yeah and And i I can't help but think that G.I. Joe, if it had been coming out at the time,
Speaker: would have done that too. I mean, to be fair, Larry wrote ah those Batman comics in 2000 and 2001 that were quite bad. Not for that reason, just unrelated reasons they were bad.
Speaker: They were just not good, yeah. But but with the the hindsight of 20-some years of looking back, you know of knowing better...
Speaker: you could do a story like this where like the quote unquote Islamic terrorist is actually just a Fred, you know, like that's so much better than probably what would have been back then.
Speaker: And I think like a, a thing that is recurring in GI i Joe that I think is like actually really subversive about GI Joe. Cause look, Larry's a complicated guy.
Speaker: Larry, carries an Uzi with him wherever he goes, and also campaigned for Barack Obama. You know? Like, complicated guy. But the like there is a recurring theme that the people in charge of these of terrorist organizations, because that's what Cobra is, are con artists.
Speaker: And they're taking advantage of people. And to have that also applied here in what is basically kind of a throwaway is also like a reminder of Larry being like, yeah, this is how this world works.
Speaker: you know this world This fictional world, wink wink, where people in charge are grifters and con artists, always. And it's always a scam.
Speaker: I don't know. Larry's the goat. Allow me to say, ah to eat my words and say that G.I. Joe, Real American Hero, was absolutely coming out in 2001. Yeah.
Speaker: Was it? it's Devil's Due was publishing volume two. oh Yeah, that wasn't Larry, though. But that wasn't Larry writing. That wast that was that was ah the... Devil's Due, that's the Josh Blaylock run.
Speaker: That was the Josh Blaylock run. Which is in continuity with the previous 156 issues of G.I. Joe, but Larry's book is not in continuity with that. Right. The IDW revival was in 2009. And that was Larry.
Speaker: Yeah. so That's when Larry came back with G.I. i Joe number 156. Or 157. ah one seven Yes. ah So, just ah allow me to clarify that ah there was there was a version of G.I. Joe being published in 2001, but Larry wasn't writing it.
Speaker: Yeah. So, finally, I'm going to talk a little bit about Fantastic Four number 21, which... ah with continues the One World Under Doom story.
Speaker: Now, Chris, we've said many times on the show recently that comics are great because they allow you to get away from the realities and hardships of life. Like G.I. Joe.
Speaker: Like G.I. i Joe, and like Fantastic Four, which is a book about how, in this particular issue... ah Written by Ryan North with art by Corey Smith.
Speaker: Sue and Ben go meet up with She-Hulk to have lunch. like They're going to go like just like hang out and try not to think think about the bad stuff that's going on with Doctor Doom.
Speaker: Going to listen to a podcast. Yeah, going to listen to a podcast. can it Going to take their mind off of it.
Speaker: And while they're out to lunch, they get into ah situation where they see some vampires being chased down by people in the street. ah Because Doom is blaming a lot of the world's problems on vampires ever since the events of Blood Hunt.
Speaker: And saying, like, they're going to kill us. they're they're They don't deserve to be alive because they're dead anyway. And Ben and Sue are like, well, hang on now. like They're people, and they have kids. like let's Let's be reasonable.
Speaker: and And so essentially this issue was all about how Doctor Doom is blaming all of the world's problems on vampires, and people are buying into it, and and saying, yeah, vampires are the reason for all of our problems, and Doom's going to fix it for us.
Speaker: And so we loved we actually love Doom.
Speaker: Alright, look.
Speaker: I think I appreciate what's happening here. However, I'm not sure that's as good a metaphor as as maybe we want it to be.
Speaker: Well, I guess we'll see how it plays out. There is the element in this of Reed Richards fixing the problem. Because people hate the vampires because the vampires need to eat.
Speaker: In this issue, they like the vampires that people are like mobbing up against ah kill a pigeon and and like suck its blood to try to satiate their hunger.
Speaker: And that's what people are mad about. I don't know if anyone in New York would actually be mad about that, but okay. Great point. But Reed Richards ends up synthesizing...
Speaker: fake hemoglobin just like Michael Morbius in the movie Morbius. yeah ah But he ends up synthesizing fake hemoglobin that will like satiate vampires hunger and now they're they're not hungry for human flesh and blood anymore. And so like Reed kind of fixes it but people are still like all on board with Doom by the end of the issue.
Speaker: Boy I wonder where this is going. do wonder. I do wonder. i Ryan's great. We've had him on the show. He's a friend of the show. i i I trust him.
Speaker: But boy, I wonder where this is going.
Speaker: We'll find out. We'll find out.
Speaker: That's our comics, Matt. yeah Which means it's time for us to talk to Xander Cannon. We're going to find out about his comic, Sleep.
Speaker: Joining us for the program this week, we are very excited to welcome a a new friend to the show. Someone that I've met in person, as he is joining us from right here in beautiful Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Speaker: ah You will know him from Kaiju Max, but he is here to talk about the new book, Sleep. Xander Cannon, welcome to War Rocket Ajax. How are you? Oh, i'm great. Thanks for having me. We are ah delighted to have you. i have actually ah we have been We have been going back and forth through our mutual friend, Ted Anderson.
Speaker: I've been wanting to get you on the show for a while. he has been like, you know, you should get Xander on the show. The first question that I have for you. Oh, yeah. ah Matt and I were talking before before you joined the call, before we started recording.
Speaker: And I am curious to know what it is like to have what is kind of objectively the coolest name in comics. My my real real name, I mean, my the name i was given when I was born is alexander Alexander Bradford Cannon, a pretty aristocratic name by American standards, I think. It does. it Alexander Bradford Cannon is a robber baron name. Yeah, right, right. So I had to quickly change, you know, pivot.
Speaker: And I couldn't pronounce it. You know, that's ah it's a long name. four syllables, right? So I just, I think a cousin and i both couldn't pronounce it and called me Al Xander and then Xander and then So, yeah. and then um But I will say, it's it's when I had to make a banner, I was really pleased with how it's very symmetrical, you know, like six letters of each name.
Speaker: and just They just make a little block. It goes onto a banner really nicely. So, yeah. I'd say it's ah it's a pretty good it' pretty good to have a nice to have a cool, weird name. Well, it's one of those things where have been, long before...
Speaker: long before you know we We met long before we talked. I was aware of you as a creator, ah probably going back to probably going back to top ten. Yeah, sure you know i had never Like many things in comics...
Speaker: You don't say it out loud because you're always reading it. ah Right. And tonight is kind of the first time I've had to say Xander Cannon. Right. And it's so cool. Right. Right. Just rolls off the tongue. Right.
Speaker: And there's also like no like Alex Cannon would be cool. Lex Cannon would be cool. There's no wrong way to go. You know, there was a person named Alex Cannon who for like two seconds was one of Trump's attorneys for like the Stop the Steal or whatever it was.
Speaker: And I was like, oh wow my God, I almost got Scaramoochied. like
Speaker: but But luckily, it was short-lived. so and i I mean, you were you were so happy that you went with Xander then at that point, I'm sure. Because because there's a guy, Gertz.
Speaker: the The guy yeah yeah on social media whose name is Matt Gertz, who just cannot ah yeah poor guy have one restful moment. but Every time I see anything about Matt Walsh, I always go, the guy from Upright Citizens Brigade?
Speaker: ah Oh no, hell yeah, that poor guy. yeah um i have i have a weird moment of thinking he took like a hard right turn. Right. Well, there's that there's that one episode of ah Community that he's on where he's the janitor, and like at one point it's revealed that he's a Nazi. like Anyway. And he has a bit and they their clue that they missed was that he had a huge swastika tattoo on his janitor.
Speaker: Yeah, it's it's always easy. Easy to miss that. I'm a community that tried to warn us all along. We are here to talk about sleep. So before I get sidetracked asking you if you are in fact related to the director of Judge Dredd, Danny Cannon,
Speaker: um may ah Please tell us about sleep and what it is. Well, it's it's a Jekyll and Hyde type of thing where you know the the character, when he falls asleep, he turns into something unthinkably terrible.
Speaker: and but the But the hook of the book is that it's only told from the moment he wakes up until the moment he goes to sleep. And so each issue is one day or one sort of like waking period.
Speaker: And then ah the mystery is him waking up and trying to figure out why, why I'm on top of this pile of bodies or why, whya why, uh, why I'm in the middle of this car crash or whatever. And, uh, you know, and it's told, in all gray scale, I've, I'm using a different art style. It's all gray scale. And there's a lot, there's pops of red, which, uh, indicates certain, uh, lore based, uh, elements.
Speaker: And, um, Yeah, it's it's a fun change from Kaiju Max, going from 300 characters to like four. And Kaiju Max being a very like very colorful like neon book.
Speaker: ah yeah Yeah, right. And it's really it's really fun. I mean, just as a creator, it's kind of fun to kind of go like, oh, wow, I don't have to think about color anymore. I can just think about light.
Speaker: And so like everything in this book is very is very much... it's not painted, but I mean, it's, it's digitally done, but it's like, everything is, you know, dealing with, you know, hot you know, hot spotlights or like bounce light off of things. And so it's kind of, it's kind of fun to play with that, with that stuff without kind of worrying like, what color shirt would this guy wear?
Speaker: Um, you know And it's all set in the ninety s because, of course, you know if you're telling a horror story, you don't want people to have cell phones or cameras or all that stuff. so ah So I'm glad to not have to think about like what color everything really was in the 90s.
Speaker: Everything's hyper-color. You just don't know. Oh, man. Well, see, now that would be fun Well, it's it's interesting, Xander, that you mention... the book being grayscale with spot color.
Speaker: It's, it's, it's grayscale in red. Yeah. ri Yeah. And I was struck by that because i wrote a comic that we intentionally decided to do in sort of black and black and white grayscale, uh, because it was like a noir thing.
Speaker: And, that book, because of that, ended up being kind of a hard sell. Yeah. And so, and but I know you've done other black and white stuff before. Like, I'm a huge fan of Heck. and Yeah, that was a hard sell, too. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I mean, there's there's one review on Amazon that's like, this book is black and white. Like, two stars or whatever. It's like, oh, well, okay. Yeah. i So, I mean, does that give you – did that at any point give you – mean, obviously, it didn't stop you from going back to – you know that very limited color palette. So i'm I'm just curious about the decision and how you came to it and why you thought it was right. Yeah. I mean, ah well, I was just giving you the same description to Ryan Brown, the the cartoonist. He's, he's, um, eight, eight billion genies and he's doing lucky doubles right now.
Speaker: And I was like, yeah, well I wanted to make it black and white so that he goes, so that it wouldn't sell. I'm like, and like Yeah. I mean, but you know, yeah, smart ass. Exactly. But, you know, it's like I do I I worry about of course, I worry about everything, but I'm also kind of um
Speaker: I don't know, I'm a little bit stubborn. So I'm like, well, that's that's the way I'm going to do it. And that's, you know, people are just going to have to live with it. And I I don't know. I think that sometimes. you know When I start something, it's usually kind of a bad idea. And then I try to like, ah you know I acknowledge that it's a bad idea. And so I kind of like try to shore it up in other play in other ways. And you know a lot of people are sort of like, Kaiju Max is a weird, but weird, it's a weird idea because it's so absurd and you're making it the saddest, like grimmest thing you've you know ever. And I'm like, well, I don't know. And then that was what people liked about it is that it's like, well, there's not anything else like it, I guess.
Speaker: it It does make me wonder if black and white is as big a turnoff for a lot of people as maybe it used to be, because of, you know, like, a manga, and B, The Walking Dead.
Speaker: Right. It certainly didn't hurt that book. I mean, that this book, any know, you've gotten ah the issues that I sent you. Like, it it doesn't feel black and white in the way that, like, a 90s comic feels black and white. Where you're like, some old, you know, it's like, oh, that's because they couldn't afford it. Or, because you know, and it's like, oh, it's part of the, you know, this black and white sort of, like, run of comics that are sort of, like...
Speaker: There was a feeling, I think, in the 80s and 90s that those comics were kind of like not ready for primetime. You know, like they weren't like Marvel or DC Comics. Or even Gru, you know, Gru, which was an indie comic but had a color.
Speaker: You know, like... This is this was something that was like, okay someone's just trying it out. But this, you know, this book is essentially fully rendered in black and white and feels, I think.
Speaker: I mean, I think it feels as rich as if it had color. It's just like a you know, it's like a spy movie. It's like, you know, like you saying that this is sort of like noir thriller.
Speaker: I mean, look, I will say this. It does not feel like Jade Man comics from the late 80s. Is that a compliment? Is it not? Right, right. More's the pity, in my opinion. so
Speaker: I am curious. You mentioned the kind of artistic idea of not having to worry about color, but did it change the way that you approached it? Like, like was it always intended to have the the red spot color?
Speaker: ah Yeah, yeah, actually, um ah do you know do you know Jamar Nicholas? who's ah He's a podcaster, he's a cartoonist. Anyway, every like I met him, I think, 10 years ago for like a um and for an interview or whatever.
Speaker: And he has like, he wears like white framed glasses. And I just thought that was so cool. And i wanted to have a character who had, who had white framed glasses, but, um but my character is, is white and it's in a black and white comic. So I was like, well, I'm going let's make it red.
Speaker: And so it i built it out from there. Um, And like, yeah, I mean, again, it's like, I could make this book in color, but I wanted to have all these, but I wanted to have this, this one bit of color have a meaning behind it. I want it to be noticeable. And if the rest of the book is in color, you wouldn't notice it, you know, so much. And I'm trying to keep it pretty.
Speaker: you know fairly subtle. it's not like every It's not in every panel. it's not you know It's not all over the place. and so so I think that it was interesting to think about color only from this from the point of view of meaning and not from the point of view of aesthetics. like it like the the The red never varies. like there isn't It doesn't go to pink or dark red or anything. It's always a flat red.
Speaker: That's always something that's interesting to me to think about because it feels like as an artist... taking a, you know, taking a tool out of the toolbox, uh, in that you can't use like color to set time of day or anything, but it's like a lot of times applying those limitations.
Speaker: I mean, it's like, like you said, it makes something stand out when it shows up. Yeah. Uh, so it's a, it's an interesting trade-off. Yeah, it's i mean, I didn't even realize how many how many sort of like limitations I gave myself until until relatively recently, until I was really sort of into the thick of it, which is like, okay, it only follows one person because it's it's his you know his waking hours. And so it's like it never cuts away to anybody else.
Speaker: And so it basically has to follow this one person all day. And so I had to sort of like figure out a way to like kind of skip through, you know, a boring 30 minute stretch or a boring hour long stretch. And i so it would just be like, you know, these, these quick cuts to, you know, to certain, to panels of him doing things with like certain sound effects or whatever. And um I also, I also changed, I it gave myself a limitation of how I was going to like lay out the pages. Like i was only going to do it in thirds.
Speaker: um Anyway. And I, you know, and of course, like later I'm just like, what am I, what am I doing to myself? I was going to ask, like is there a is there a time when like Xander the artist looks back at Xander the writer from yesterday and goes like, hey, that guy sucks. All the time. I mean, I've done it for every project. like you know like i was ah Xander the comic book artist is always mad at Xander the creature designer for Kaiju Max or whatever. you know like And so, yeah, like now it's like, i don't know, yeah, Xander the artist is mad at Xander the person who set these arbitrary limitations.
Speaker: ah if you will If you will forgive me, I'm going to i'm gonna pitch you on a tagline that you could that you can sell people. Okay. This book.
Speaker: ah it It's the hangover, but it's horror. yeah. You know what? You're not the first person to say that, and I think that that is a sign of a sign of its brilliance, because it's like, because, yeah, like it it totally is. i like I would never lead with that, but that is exactly what it is.
Speaker: Okay. but Look, people people walk by the table at the con real fast. No, that's true. No, that's true. I probably will actually say it. I don't know if it's fair to say that this is a more grounded story, but there's certainly not giant monsters in it.
Speaker: Right. No, it's pretty grounded in terms of what you see. You know, the... like it's meant to, it's, it's meant to like, the details are meant to be meaningful. And like, you know, there's, there's, and like you, like, well, we had been talking earlier about something, things that had too many premises. It's like, nope, this has one premise, you know, like, uh, there's no, there's not going to be any sort of like left turns in terms of the plotting. It's, it's like, I'm going, I want to sort of see through this, this one premise to its logical conclusion.
Speaker: So what you're saying, Xander, is that this book is not – it should not be compared to the Max Original Series Pennyworth. Right. Yeah, you know what? Among other things, that is one of the things it should not be compared to. That's what we were talking about, having too many provinces.
Speaker: Yeah. i mean I do think that that's really frustrating when you're watching something where you're like, oh, okay, i I get what this is. you know it's It's this genre. And then they're like, nope, it's gonna be you know we're going to throw this other thing in there. And it's why?
Speaker: What are you doing? Are you so insecure about your own work that you won't yeah just sort of stick with it? I feel like that is definitely something about Kaiju Max, which is this book that has a premise that's very easy to get.
Speaker: And then, like, really, it does one of my, you know, my favorite things, which is the, if this is true, then what else is true? World building. That's right, right, right. ah and And, like, clearly that is a ah that is a format.
Speaker: Like, you seem like someone who likes to strip things down so that you can focus on the consequences of this one idea. Right. Yeah. And I think also, like, yeah if you stick with this one idea, you then you start to really realize how rich it is, you know, like, if, if, if you're ready to jump and add some more stuff, then, you know, you'll never really, you'll never really get down to to what, you know, to what you're really talking about.
Speaker: um Yeah, so, I mean, you know, and it's like Kaiju Max, I wouldn't say it had a lot of premises, but had it had a lot, I mean, instead of having lots of premises, it just had a lot of elements.
Speaker: yeah Like you said, if this is true, then what else is true? And that and that sort of accounted for all the other junk that, you know, sort gets thrown into it. Yeah, no, I mean, like, that's that's what I meant, is that it it it has, it only follows that premise to the, you know, to,
Speaker: to build everything around it in a way that I thought was like really fun, really accessible, really good comics. Uh, that's a, it is a book that we've talked about on the, on the show before and it's a good book, but yeah, it's a, it's something that's, uh, kind of fascinating to me.
Speaker: Yeah. I, yeah. I mean, yeah, I think that, and I think too, like, I think that when, you you know, when you're trying to, and you you guys know this, like when you're pitching other books and you're, you're pitching, uh,
Speaker: you know, you're pitching a comic series to like DC and Marvel and stuff like that. You kind of always are having to sort of balance like, well, I want to do something that's sort of like whatever, a spy thriller, but because I want them to publish it, it's got to be about the X-Men. And so like, then you're already sort of like grafting two premises together and it's, and then it becomes a prop, you know, that becomes, or, you know, it introduces certain complexities, which, know,
Speaker: you know aren't always that fun to deal with, or else it takes away the purity of your your idea. I will say that in terms of superheroes, that is a thing I like about Marvel and DC as universes, is that you know this is a universe where Daredevil beats up the hitmen on the streets of New York, and also there is a talking raccoon who flies a spaceship.
Speaker: Right. Right. And like like, I remember if you remember when the Punisher was Frankenstein for a while, people, you know, some, someone once told me like, Oh, that doesn't, I don't think that works in the core Marvel universe. And I was like, buddy, let me tell you about some stuff that's happened in the core Marvel universe.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Like, I mean, like I, and I, and I could certainly see chafing under that, but I also think, I mean, yeah, like if you go into into with the right, with the right attitude and the right premise, um,
Speaker: you can kind of be like, yeah, I'll throw whatever you got into it. you know Is there an example of something that has too many premises that you think works?
Speaker: um Well, I remember thinking that about the original Avatar The Last Airbender, where where you it was sort of like, right away you're like... they were introducing, you know, airbenders and like water tribe and like and all the animals or two kinds of animals mashed together. And like the, then that like the avatar lore was really sort of like a lot in the first issue, first episode. And i remember just thinking like, huh, this you know, I hope they pull this one together because this is when it was brand new.
Speaker: And of course, you know, like it turns out to be one of the best animated shows that's ever been made. But like, yeah, I remember thinking that like, There was too much there. And maybe it's just the way they doled it out in the first issue, or the first episode, but ah yeah.
Speaker: It does make me wonder, because as a kid, I feel like I had a lot more a lot more time for that sort of thing than I do as an adult. Yeah. Whereas, you know, like I've often talked about how ah my experience ah with the X-Men when I was ah like 10 was...
Speaker: was watching the cartoon and then reading the comics. And as soon as I picked up one of those comics, I was like, oh I will never understand this. There's too much that's happening. There's too much that's going on.
Speaker: I'm never going to get this. And that was a selling point for me because there was, okay. There was so much there that I knew I would always have a good thing to learn.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, I felt the same way about the X-Men, but I'm a little older than you. So this was sort of like in the eighties when like, you know, maybe in like the sort of early 200s. Like it was after sort of like the John Byrne era and all all this stuff. But like, but I mean, there was like this, that episode that was, or that but issue that was sort of like a, um where Storm didn't have her powers and she was kind of held in this sort of glass house by Forge. And it was sort of like a bluebeard, you know,
Speaker: pastiche or whatever and like and there was all this stuff that seemed really grown up to me really like there's all these characters that had all these motivations and you know and it's like they're all pretty like standard you know adventures back then but like they they felt the way that Claremont handled their personalities I felt I thought felt very sort of complex and and sort of interconnected and and complicated. And I thought that like, yeah, that seems, that's really cool. And it's felt consequential to me. Like I felt like, oh my gosh, this is like, this is real life. I really wonder what's happening to these characters as opposed to, you know, like an issue of Batman at that time where i'd be like, yeah, Batman's going to survive or whatever.
Speaker: It's going no big deal. I feel like the the lesson here is that no matter when you started reading X-Men, it was always like that. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Maybe if you started reading it like 1965 or whenever, you know, you'd be like, all right, you know, bunch of, you know, college students zoom around. Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, but Claremont for sure. I mean, definitely just sort of like committed to the bit so hard that that it just it was just a I don't know. I just remember I just remember being fascinated by it in a way that I hadn't before in comics and and it probably haven't since, you know, for good or, or you know, for good or ill.
Speaker: I mean, look, those are the, the, the more I think about it, the more I think Claremont is like maybe the second most influential comics writer of all time. ah Yeah.
Speaker: Like, to yeah. I mean, especially, I remember even, even as a kid thinking like, man, this dialogue is dicey. Like,
Speaker: You know, just so because it was it is annoying in a way. But of course, the lines would stick in your head. I still remember lines from, you know, like Excalibur or whatever that are so silly and so weird. And like, he would just rhyme stuff for no reason.
Speaker: But like, and he was like, this is dumb, but it's like, oh, but it but those it was all to sort of describe these characters that were so alive and felt so real to a, you know, to a 13-year-old or 12-year-old
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I can't. And of course that was that period of time. I feel like that's that period of time where you're like super invested in comics, you know, like you can only buy so many a week. you read them about four times and like, you know, and like, I remember reading, uh,
Speaker: Fantastic Four versus the X-Men, ah which Claremont wrote. And rereading it, it's okay. But I mean, i was so invested in that. Like, i was just like, oh my God, could it be that Reed Richards actually planned to, you know, deform all of his friends and family?
Speaker: You know, like well this dumb little, this dumb little sort of like, red herring of a plot point. And I'm like, oh my gosh. You know, I was completely, completely taken in by it.
Speaker: I do love that cover where Reed is in the Dr. Doom armor and he is pointing and laughing. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And he's like, ha ha ha. And John Bogdanov did the art and it's like, I mean, so like,
Speaker: Wolverine kicks mr and incredible ah Mr. Fantastic in the face, and it like deforms his whole face out. And i was like, this is this is comics. like this is ah This is A, literature, and B, the thing you know comics that I want to read forever and ever.
Speaker: In this house, we love and respect John Bogdanov. Oh my gosh. Well, why wouldn't you? i do think, though, like there is...
Speaker: When you go back and read not just the those those Claremont X-Men comics, but a lot of a lot of comics, ah but I think the Claremont comics are maybe the best example of it.
Speaker: I think what it shows is that people, especially people with maybe a little bit of time on their hands, are willing to wade through some of the...
Speaker: weirder parts or so of something or the wonky dialogue or or, you know, the stuff that's not so great because they know... that this story is going to peel back the onion and unfold and give them payoffs.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. know Oh, yeah. Well, and when you feel like the world feels fully realized, I mean, the world or the the characters, you know, like ah there's this huge cast and that you felt like, yeah, like you would not mistake.
Speaker: you know, what some of the, like how Sam Cannonball would speak with the way that, you know, Wolverine would speak with the way that Storm would speak. I mean, they were all, they all spoke in a very distinct way and not just by, you know, dropping in one word of whatever language of whatever country they're from, which, but what which I also thought was a great trick.
Speaker: um But yeah, like, yeah, knowing that you're going to sort of like know more about these characters and know more about the world that they live in and how, and their relationships. I mean, all of them had a relationship with each other, know, like each, they all had an and a relationship with each individual other character, which I think is, that's absolutely crucial for that kind of cast.
Speaker: I am obsessed with the idea of phrases that, people who, you know, us, ah the people who read comics as kids, got so used to, but that if you stop and think about them for one second, it's like, that's meaningless.
Speaker: hear that I know you've got ah an example in the chamber right now. Oh, yeah. yeah no um ah Mutant Death Factor is a favorite. um Vulnerable to Fire and Sonics is another one that I like a lot. Okay.
Speaker: It's just like, yeah, yeah, Venom, he's vulnerable to fire and zonics, you know? Yeah, yeah, you know. Like, try try saying that to a civilian sometime and see how that goes. right.
Speaker: But then, like, yeah, you say it to a comic book person, they're like, mm-hmm, yeah. Yes, yes, yes. yes ah take good ah To do the bell. Take up the mantle. that's ah That's one that, like, that i that i have heard people apply to so many situations.
Speaker: Right. Well, and ah and also like all the little things like just, oh, no killing rule. You know, like, i mean, that's not like a phrase or anything, but it's like, oh yeah, well we knew, we always knew which superhero that would apply to and which it didn't.
Speaker: You're talking about my code against killing? if we Code against killing. There you go. That's better. Which is a thing people will will specify in comics, which is a thing I feel like most people have. Yeah, right. Like you really, you should basically say I have a code for killing if that's applicable. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, man, it's I love all those. i the The language of comics is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, and I think... i mean, again, like, yeah, like, it was so... Everything that... And again, we're back to Claremont, but it's like the the whole... All that stuff was so mannered and so... But it was almost like like a code, like you were saying. Like, it's this, you know, how often did... did ah Wolverine talk about being the best he is what he does. i mean, it's... I think now where comics have a slightly more grown-up sort of, like, ah approach, it seems tacky for him to keep saying it, you know? But it's like, well, yeah, but, I mean, you didn't get every issue back then, you know? Like, I never... i never
Speaker: I mean, it was ah it was a challenge to get ah more than a couple-issue run. and so it's like, well, yeah, going to remind me of, like, you know who's the best at what, who does, and so forth.
Speaker: Yeah. You might think that those are lasers, but they're not. They're concussive force beams. Yeah, yeah. I mean, come on. And it's important to Us real heads know, but, like, not everybody.
Speaker: ah Real heads know. that's That's the truth of it, Xander. Yeah. a Speaking of what real heads know, Matt, we have been talking to Xander a little bit now, but I think it's time that we open up the floor to some questions from our listeners. And if people want to ask questions of the guests that we have on occasion here on the show, how can they go about that?
Speaker: Well, Chris, there are two places where you can go to ask questions of our guests here on the show. First, you can go to Blue Sky, follow us there at warrocketajax.com, and wait until Thursday night at 9.30 p.m. Eastern Time, that's 6.30 Pacific, and we'll put out the call for questions there, and you can ask a question there.
Speaker: But lately, far more questions have been coming from our Discord server, which you can join if you ask us nicely for an invitation on Our Blue Sky or by emailing us or contacting us in the other ways to contact us.
Speaker: that is That seems to be the best place now to go to ask listener questions. So if you're not a member of our Discord, hop on over there. And join us by asking us for an invitation.
Speaker: Our first question from Discord is going to come from the aforementioned Ted Anderson. yeah Who says, for everyone, but especially for Xander, favorite combination of pizza toppings?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: um You know, recently we discovered, ah we had been I like to get jalapeno and green olives. That's actually a big a big favorite of mine. But recently we discovered ah pepperoni and garlic.
Speaker: We've been getting pepperoni and mushroom, and then somebody didn't want mushrooms, so we get pepperoni and garlic. And that is out of this world. Like, you kind of think, like, I know what those things taste like, but it's like, they they are incredible together.
Speaker: And we get pizza from from the place down the block, which used to be known as Crescent Moon Bakery, now is known as Football Pizza. ah And it is... Well, Chris is at it. It's good. it's pretty Matt, next time you're in town.
Speaker: Football Pizza. The pizza is football-shaped. Okay, good. I was going to ask... it's Chris? it's a um It's an Afghani place.
Speaker: And you wouldn't think that Afghani, I don't know, you wouldn't think that Afghani pizza was a thing, but it apparently is. And it's, I mean, it's great. It's pretty in incredible. That's, i mean, that's exciting. i I want to try that.
Speaker: ah Chris, what about you? Preferred pizza toppings? My go-to would be like a pepperoni and bacon. Oh. I like the salty meats. Whole hog. but That's what they call me.
Speaker: I wish they wouldn't. I wish they would stop. I usually will just go for like, I mean, I go whole hog as well. I will go for like a pepperoni and sausage typically.
Speaker: um But I like us if there's a spicy sausage option, I will go for that. And I prefer pepperoni that's the kind of like cupped sauce.
Speaker: Old-fashioned pepperoni that gets crispy. Correct. um also Also enjoyable on pizza, hot honey. Oh, yeah? Yeah.
Speaker: there's ah There's another place here in Minneapolis that does a really good hot honey pizza. Yeah. Where's where's that? ah That's Luce. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. ah car Kara Wildstorm is getting a little bit personal with this question.
Speaker: ah To all, side, back, or face sleeper?
Speaker: Sure. Why not? I sleep on my tummy. Xander? I'm a side sleeper. You know, i was a side sleeper for a long time, and the older I get, the more I do appreciate and enjoy sleeping on my back. Yeah.
Speaker: Because but I think I breathe easier or something? I don't know. I think I snore more on my back. Which, I don't care. but but my Most people who snore would do snore more on their back.
Speaker: yeah Ultimate Nick on our Discord asks, Godzilla vs. Gamera, once and for all, who you got?
Speaker: Oh man, am I supposed to be the expert on this? I think so. Yeah. um I mean...
Speaker: I mean, there's the question of like, you know, oh, who really, I mean, if you really wanted to like make him win, like if you had a movie about it, they'd have to have draw because they're both heroes. Right. But, uh, yeah, I mean, Godzilla seems to have, you know, they just keep giving him more stuff, you know, like they just keep making him more powerful and making him taller and taller and taller.
Speaker: So I can't, I kind of think that there's no way, like Gamera is just not even in the same, you know, power ranking. I mean, he he's the king of the monsters. Right, he is the king of the monsters. Yeah, Gamera just, you know, Gamera is an also-ran, and I mean, a significant one, but but I mean, nobody can beat Godzilla.
Speaker: Our friend Ben, Franz Ferdinand 2 on Blue Sky, has another sleep question for us because the book's called Sleep. ah For everyone, how much of your own dreams do you tend to remember? Hmm.
Speaker: Zander, would you like to go first? Yeah, I i mean, boy, I think i'll go and i'll go and I'll go in stretches where I'll remember them fairly well. Usually I'll get like a few a few snippets. I mean, I think that you can get into the habit of really remembering them, but...
Speaker: Lately, and like for the last couple of years, it's like we get up at crack of dawn to go to the gym. and so it's like It's all kind of scramble, and so yeah there's no time to sit there and go, wonder what I dreamed about last night. so yeah I used to now I don't as much.
Speaker: Chris? ah It really depends on the dream. I don't always remember a lot, but occasionally I do have like really vivid dreams that I will remember a lot of.
Speaker: I also get deja vu a lot. Like, thinking that i have I have dreamt a situation before.
Speaker: I will sometimes remember the shape of a dream, but rarely the details. Like, i I can tell you that I generally had a dream about something, but not any specific details of what took place in it. If I remember the details of a dream, it was probably...
Speaker: harrowing Yeah, yeah i feel like I feel like I'll remember certain certain things about a dream, but then like later you'll be like, try to recreate. you know like Sometimes when you're trying to remember a story like or something happens in your life, you can kind of just be like, oh, I have a framework of how it probably went down, and then I can kind of remember the details from that. But like it's impossible to think of the framework of a dream because it's a mess.
Speaker: You know, but I'll be like, oh yeah, it probably happened in this order. And I'm like, no, it sure didn't. And yeah, my old landlord was there for some reason. Yeah. There's always that thing of like in dreams, places and things are like actors where you're like, yeah, it wasn't our house, but it was a different house playing our house. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah yeah Yeah. Yeah. That, that, that happens a lot. Cyrano dope dog Bergerac asks, who's the best Kaiju? Yeah. You've already made it quite a case for Godzilla.
Speaker: I mean, sure. I really like, um i mean, I really like, a there's a whole bunch of like Ultraman sort of like bad guys that were sort of like won an episode.
Speaker: I always really liked them. Anyone that's like a, like a Yeti type of thing, I'm always going to be up for that. um But like, really I really like Pikmin.
Speaker: ah He was sort of like a ah good kaiju in Ultraman, but he's also little, so don't know he counts. um
Speaker: Yeah, let's let see who else. I mean, Mechagodzilla, any Mechagodzilla or Mechanicong from King Kong Escapes. Any Mecha type of ones are always are always high on my list.
Speaker: Cyrano insisted that it was just like classic King Kong. ah But... That is that is their opinion. yeah I like classic King Kong, but i also feel like classic like from from the first King Kong movie, doesn't feel like a kaiju to me.
Speaker: Even though I know ticks all the boxes. But like he doesn't he doesn't seem as kaijue-y. He seems just like a giant monster. Like a giant creature. Rather than kaiju. It's splitting hairs to an absurd degree. But...
Speaker: Xander, I know Ted prepared you for this question from Stone Cold HCC, an account that exists only to ask questions on War Rocket Ajax. Stone Cold asks, y'all ever actually eaten something out of a cornucopia? i'll Yeah, I'll say i have not.
Speaker: No, I have not. I have not either. I'd recognize a cornucopia in real life if I saw
Speaker: I've seen one decoratively, but I'm pretty sure the food in it was fake. Yeah, I've never seen one with like real food in it. i would I would love to eat something from a cornucopia.
Speaker: Well, wouldn't you think, like, that's a thing from like that that underwear label. and mean, if you're if you're doing that, Xander, then it's it's it's all fruit. Like, you're never getting an apple again? That's true. all right. You know, you' that's fair. That's fair.
Speaker: ah WC Witt on our Discord asks, Shin Godzilla or Godzilla minus one? In terms of, well, I'll do a separate one for the movie and separate one for the kaiju.
Speaker: ah Movie, I think Shin Godzilla is one of my favorite ones. Mainly because it's so weird. like It's such a weird movie. like and it and i And so like I can't believe they made all these like meetings.
Speaker: Fascinating. like you know like you're You're riveted by like a committee meeting as they're like these whip pans and like these really beautiful shots. um And I thought, but i also thought, i mean, I thought that Godzilla Minus One was an awesome movie. It was great. But it's so not weird that it didn't really make my like my favorites list.
Speaker: And then the creatures, I think Shin Godzilla is far and away better than Godzilla Minus One because he's just so creepy. like I mean, because he's got the beams of light. He's got that split jaw. He's got he's got the his eyes get covered by some sort of like metal cover when he shoots his beams out. I mean, it's like that thing's got everything that works.
Speaker: And Godzilla Minus One is like an awesome an awesomer Godzilla, which is that's good, too. And I like the little chunk couldchu couldchunk of all of his like plates as he got ready to blast somebody.
Speaker: Yeah, I love Godzilla Minus One, but it really is just like ah a war drama with Godzilla in there. And it's not like they it's not like they were embarrassed to make a Godzilla movie or anything. like I don't think that I wouldn't... There's none of that, but I also just think like yeah it's it's it's just a nicely well-made movie.
Speaker: And that is absolutely not what I go to um monster movie for.
Speaker: Captain McGlue. on our discord asks, can you talk a bit about working with Alan Moore? Are his scripts really crazy detailed? Yeah. Well, so and I worked with him on top 10, uh, and smacks and in top 10, especially they're both in both, but top 10, especially the, the, the scripts were very detailed, but probably in a different way than let's say, ah from hell or watchmen or things like that, because, because the things that they, that,
Speaker: the details that he would go into were usually like, okay, in the background of this is going to be these, you know, 11 gags or whatever, you know, like, oh, it's a, it's car wreck.
Speaker: And so there's going to be a car full of rubberneckers going by, but they're going to be elongated man, Mr. Fantastic, you know, plastic man, et cetera, et cetera. And so the, yeah, like they were really detailed,
Speaker: Um, but they were, a lot of that detail was, ah was just sort of like the chicken fat, so to speak, the, the Will Elder called chicken fat, like the extra junk in the back of the panels.
Speaker: Um, because, especially because, you know, unlike, unlike Watchmen or, you know, a lot of these other things, it was, it was really meant to be like his sort of like, I, his, um,
Speaker: you know micromanaging of sort of like panel you know ah perspectives and panel and sort of point of view shots was not as was not as individualized. like It wasn't as is as crucial. like he He would do it, but it wasn't but it was just sort of like to tell ah to tell a ah you know pretty standard police drama that had a whole bunch of weird stuff in it, course.
Speaker: Our last question is going to have to come from Dr. Casino. on our discord who says a huge fan of heck. What other work of classical literature is due for a thoughtful, thoughtful action exploration in comic form?
Speaker: Yeah. yeah I mean, i I think we should open this up to the group. Of course. I mean, I, I actually always wanted to tell a story about the, the tower of Babel.
Speaker: and have it, have it, cue as close to that story as I did with Dante's Inferno, which is to say not at all. But, uh, but I always really liked, I always really liked that concept of like this sort of, you know, tower to the sky. I mean, they you know, it was done in Cerebus or whatever. Like I always really liked the, that sort of, there's something really interesting about that. And of course with it, you know, being like, you know, the symbol of hubris or whatever, that's even better.
Speaker: Chris, is is there an ancient work of literature you would like to adapt into comics? I mean, like ah my my initial thought was The Odyssey.
Speaker: ah Because I think there's a lot of like really fun set pieces. But A, like we've we've kind of gotten that a lot. I mean, we're kind of getting it in some ways like with... ah with Absolute Wonder Woman right now.
Speaker: um But also, I am on record as saying that society no longer needs the Odyssey now that we have Magic Mike XXL. ah Another person saying that, okay.
Speaker: Look, it's true. and And people can laugh all they want. It's true. Does the original Odyssey end at Myrtle Beach? No, it doesn't. And that is a flaw in storytelling.
Speaker: I don't know, Matt, do you have a... Do have any thoughts? think it unlike the Odyssey, which I think has been covered a bunch of times,
Speaker: the the classical work that you don't see that is a similar kind of like hero you know pi epic um is the Aeneid. I think I'd do the Aeneid.
Speaker: I think that would be fun. yeah Yeah. Yeah. All right. That was our last question. Xander, before you leave us, please let our listeners know where they can find you, where they can find your stuff and how they can support you. I'm on blue sky as well. Just Xander cannon on there. And, ah you know, and it's like, I kind of hanging on, and on, on Facebook and,
Speaker: threads and that kind of stuff. Uh, and I, I'm just, my finger is hovering over the button of deleting my, uh, my Twitter account. But, uh, sometimes I can't bring myself to do it. I just don't interact on there. I just look.
Speaker: You should do it. I should. Okay. You should do it. Um, and, uh, yeah. Um, Other than i you know i've been going to I go to ah Heroes Con every year, and I go to San Diego every year. So people are going to those shows.
Speaker: It's always fun to see see people. And you know and they ever every show around the Twin Cities I usually go to as well.
Speaker: right. Our guest has been Xander Cannon. ah Honestly, go read everything he's done. It's all really great. But the new book is called Sleep. Xander, thank you so much for joining us. Please come back on the show anytime you want.
Speaker: I would love to. Thanks so much for having me again.
Speaker: Thanks once again Xander Cannon for joining us on the show. That's going to do it for this week's installment of ah War Rocket Ajax. Matt, I had a good time. So did I, Chris.
Speaker: And I can't wait to do it again next week. Always great to talk to me, old China. Matt Wilson. Who knows what we'll get up to next week as far as baby maybe but we'll finish up Raw.
Speaker: Is this the end Raw? It could be. You'll find out if you tune in next week. In the meantime, If you want to email us, our email address is warrocketpodcast at gmail.com.
Speaker: That's where you can send every story ever lists. Let us know if you want to sponsor the show. Drop us a line, a listener question. Let us know. ah Say nice things, maybe. There.
Speaker: That would be good. That would be nice. That would be nice. We're on Tumblr, warrocketpodcast.tumblr.com. You can send us listener questions there or get in touch. Blue Sky, warrocketajax.com on Blue Sky.
Speaker: If you want to join our Discord, send us a request for an invitation at any of those places I just mentioned, and we will make sure that you get one if you're nice. Our website is warrocketajax.com.
Speaker: It has every episode of the show we've ever done.
Speaker: WarRocketWiki.com is the fan-run repository of all the information you could ever want or need about this show, WarRocket Ajax, so go check that out if you want to see our various lists or find out about our canonical pages.
Speaker: We really have the page on the wiki of all of our ah side projects that we have never done.
Speaker: That's a good thought. That is a good thought. Proposed spin-offs.
Speaker: you want to find me and my stuff, go to mattdwilson.net for links to my comics, my books, my other podcasts, and my social medias. Chris, where can people find you? Everybody can find me by going to the-isb.com. That is my website. It has a lot of stuff that I've written, and also links to things that I have written that you can read from the comfort of your very own ah computer device, or that you can purchase to read at your leisure.
Speaker: Thanks for listening, everybody. Yes, thank you for inviting us into your homes, into your ears, into your lives. We will be back next week with another great show.
Speaker: Until then, folks, do not forget that black lives matter. Trans rights are human rights. As are abortion rights. Drag is not a crime. Diversity is not a problem. And cops aren't your friends.
Speaker: But we love you. We love you.
