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Episode 705 - Specials That Are Special f/ Daniel Kibblesmith
978 Plays3 days ago
The writer of the X-Men story in Marvel Holiday Tales to Astonish and Powerpuff Girls Winter Snowdown Showdown joins us this week to talk about what's different about writing a story for a holiday special, that one time Kitty Pryde fought the Alien from Alien, that time a child mistook Ghost Rider for Santa Claus, and, of course, Garfield.
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Transcript
Introduction and Zencastr Promo
00:00:00
Speaker
This show is recorded using Zencaster. If you are a podcaster, or you want to be a podcaster, and you want to be able to record remotely, you can do so using Zencaster. They also have hosting options, and you can let them know that we sent you. Follow the link in our show notes, or in the episode description, and sign up for an account on Zencaster now to start recording your own podcast.
Hosts Introduction
00:00:53
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to War Rocket Ajax. This is the Internet's most explosive comic book and pop culture podcast, and we are your hosts. My name is Chris Sims. With me, as always, is Matt Wilson.
Christmas Traditions: Popcorn on Trees
00:01:05
Speaker
And Matt, the Christmas tradition that I think we can just get rid of is putting popcorn on a tree. That's whack. Now, what is it about it specifically that you find whack?
00:01:22
Speaker
It's, well, you're putting food on a tree. That's true. Yeah. A a thing that is alive, but famously does not eat food.
00:01:33
Speaker
And it's not like you're putting a particularly durable food on a tree. That's true. Although I always assumed, I never was part of a family that did the popcorn garland. But I always assumed that the popcorn was like,
00:01:51
Speaker
made more hardy in some way. But is now how is it just regular popcorn? How would you go about making the popcorn more hardy? Hardy or hardy, either one. How would you go about reinforcing the popcorn map? I'd boil it. That's an that's interesting.
00:02:14
Speaker
Because I suspect that would do the opposite. Probably would. I don't know. I don't know how you go about doing that. maybe it's As we all know, the only way to reinforce ah popcorn is, of course, to use adamantium, and then you have to erase the popcorn's memory. That's true. I guess I always assumed it was like kettle corn, which I do think has a little more toothsome-ness to it.
Holiday Drinks Debate
00:02:44
Speaker
than regular popcorn, but I don't know. Any any Christmas traditions you're ready to to to shuffle off away from, Matt? I think my wife might be mad at me for saying this. Okay. Because she likes it. But I ain't got nothing for eggnog.
00:03:04
Speaker
Eggnog is something I'm always very excited about until the moment it is in my mouth. Like, It's just milk with eggs in it and some spices. Yeah, I was gonna say, they're spices. i think we can I think we can find a better drink.
00:03:26
Speaker
did i What's basically milk? Like uncooked custard. Now, but you being a a famously famously averse to ah hot drinks,
00:03:41
Speaker
Yeah. You don't go for like the eggnog latte or anything either, right? No, I do enjoy a hot chocolate though. I like, I will, I will wait until it is a little cooler. Uh, but like, like you put sunglasses on. That's right. I'll put sunglasses on the mug and then I'll drink it. And, uh, but I love hot chocolate with a little whipped cream on top. That's great. hu Love that. I see.
00:04:09
Speaker
You know, you'd like a, like a spiced cider, which I guess is more of a fall thing. That's a good seasonal drink. What if we just replace eggnog with mold cheer wine? and Perfect. Perfect. Now that is cadesia' tradition that's a holiday I can get behind.
Guest Introduction: Daniel Kimball Smith
00:04:30
Speaker
Our guest on this week's show is someone we've had on over the holidays in the past, someone who has written a lot of holiday comics and other things, and someone who's a friend of ours, Daniel Kimball Smith, is here ah to talk about his two new holiday comics. There is ah the Powerpuff Girls Snowdown Showdown special.
00:04:58
Speaker
And also he has a story in the new more Marvel holiday tales to astonish, ah which both very fun stories, both unique in their own ways. And we will talk about all of that when we talk to Daniel. But before that, Chris, we do have some business to take care of here at the top of the show.
Patreon Support and Perks
00:05:20
Speaker
ah The first piece of business is thanking our newest supporters over on Patreon.
00:05:26
Speaker
That's right, Matt. These are the Angels, the the Santa's helpers, who are going all the way down to 705 Gimmick Street. And of course, Matt, you know what's there? It's the Reindeer Stables. You know what's funny is, before we started recording, I wrote down what it was. Uh-huh. And I wrote down that it was the Eggnog store.
00:05:53
Speaker
But because of your lobbying ah huh at the Guinness Street Chamber of Commerce, that's right there is no longer a year-round eggnog store there. It is it is only the reindeer stables. Reindeer stables where they sell mulled shear wine. Yes. In fact, its shear wine presents the reindeer experience. You know what's good? Glue vine.
00:06:23
Speaker
which you can get at like German style holiday markets. aha That stuff's good. Like actual mulled wine. That I like. Anyway, raid your stables. Well, you're sipping your year round eggnog visiting a reindeer or just getting tanked on mulled wine. ah You can also get out that internet connected device that I know you have because you're listening to this and that's how you get it. And you can go to patreon dot.com slash warrockinajax and kick in as little as a dollar a month to help me and Matt keep the show going. and Help us keep doing all the stuff that we do. Help us remain indoors in these cold winter months.
00:07:17
Speaker
Uh, because they do keep sending those gimmicks in the mail called bills. They sure do. Uh, here are our newest Patreon supporters. Uh, Don. but Thank you, Don.
00:07:34
Speaker
And I think that is everyone who is new. Um, so if you would like to be like Don and help us out here on the show, uh, you can do that by going over to patreon dot.com slash war rocket Ajax and kicking in as a little as $1 per month to make sure that we keep doing this show. Uh, every single week, every story, every specials monthly, comics, catch up monthly, movie fighters, snack situation. All of those shows are made possible by your support on patreon. Currently we are at 400.
00:08:05
Speaker
paid Patreon subscribers. What does that mean? That means we need 20 more so that we can do funny weed number boko where we take an edible and do boko. Correct. Very exciting. Which i' I'm committing that we will do.
00:08:34
Speaker
if we get to the funny weed number. All right. I'm excited about it, Matt. Me too. I can't wait for us to do that, but we will only do it if we reach the funny weed number of Patreon subscribers. so And here's the rule. If we fall asleep during the recording, if we get too sleepy and fall asleep during the recording, we have to put up the entire recording.
00:09:01
Speaker
of a bunch of honk shoes? All right. A bunch of honk shoes. ah so so So it be spoken. um As a patron on our Patreon, you can get some really cool stuff. You can get every single episode of all of those shows that I mentioned a minute ago, totally ad free in your own special ad free Patreon feed.
00:09:22
Speaker
which I think is a great deal because you get that at every level of the Patreon. At the $5 level, you get bonus content. We just put up some bonus content where we talked at length about the back half of Kentaro Miura's
Patreon Goals: Edible Episode
00:09:38
Speaker
Berserk and especially the ending of Kentaro Miura doing writing and drawing Berserk. And we really get into it.
00:09:52
Speaker
It gets real. ah And before that, we have a brief conversation about Kendrick Lamar and Tupac. So it's a pretty good bonus content. You're go to going to want to go listen to that. But there's lots of other bonus content over there on Patreon as well. Audio we recorded outtakes I've cut out of the show writing that Chris and I have done.
00:10:15
Speaker
At the $10 level, you get line stepping privileges for our segments, which currently include Every Story Ever and Thursday Night Raw. Thursday Night Raw submissions are closed. We're going to finish out the rest of the line steppers at the start of 2025 and then start something new as we get into 2025. So ah stay tuned for our announcement on that.
00:10:40
Speaker
And then at levels beyond that, you get physical rewards like t-shirts. I'm going to send out some t-shirts next week. So, uh, for people who are newly at the t-shirt level. So if you want to be at the t-shirt level, head over to Patreon and make that happen. If you are unable to help us out monetarily, which we understand that might be the case, you can help us out in other ways. One, you can go to the podcasting app that you use on that internet connected device.
00:11:07
Speaker
and leave us a five-star review. That would help us out a whole bunch. Let more people know about the show. You can also just spread word of mouth about the show. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your uncle money bags to listen to our show, and then they can contribute to our Patreon and help us get to that funny weed number so that we take an edible and record. Chris, with that, it's time for comforts and joys.
00:11:36
Speaker
Let's do it.
Chris on Comfort Reads: Death Note
00:11:43
Speaker
Chris, what is bringing you comfort this week? Matt, I like to read comic books. I love it. It's one of my favorite hobbies. I'm i'm sure you've you've learned that about me over the years. Yes, I have. And so I've been i've been really doing a ah hard deep dive on something lately.
00:12:05
Speaker
start to finish reading the whole thing for the very first time. That's right, Matt, I got into Death Note. Yes, I've i've seen the various panels from Death Note that you've been sharing on on Blue Sky and occasionally in text messages. Buddy, let me tell you, it's all according to Keikaku.
00:12:31
Speaker
ah Yes, I am reading ah Death Note for the very first time, and I'm very much enjoying it. And that's not necessarily surprising to me. I had heard it was actually pretty good, but here is what did surprise me. Matt. Okay. I think you would like Death Note. I can see that. I can see that.
00:12:58
Speaker
Because it is like, at least for the first half, it is a a detective. Well, it's not a detective story. And if it is a detective story, it's more of a Columbo than anything else. Because you do know who Kira is. Right. Yeah. Pretty early on. light Light is the protagonist of the series. So that's not in doubt. But the The battle of wits between Kira and Elle is to a truly wild extreme. To the point where it is, you know those are Jeff Loeb comics that have like where Superman and Batman will have internal monologues where they're like saying the same thing about each other that's bad.
00:13:54
Speaker
hu It's like Bruce's problem is that he doesn't trust people. Clark's problem is that he's too trusting. Like that kind of thing. Right, like that the oversimplification of those two characters into things that they're actually not, yeah. Yes. ah It's that, but the wildest leaps of logic, 5D chess of people try, like,
00:14:25
Speaker
There's literally a scene I thought I had heard about the scene prior to reading Death Note and I thought it was an exaggeration. It is not an exaggeration. ah But there is a scene where these two dudes are playing tennis. And literally, there's a panel of like, if I beat him at tennis,
00:14:44
Speaker
He's gonna know that I'm Kira because I'm very competitive and Kira's very competitive. But if I don't win it tennis, he's gonna think that I threw the game to throw him off suspicion of me being Kira. And then if he loses this game, I'll be able to tell whether he threw the game or not based on his skill level. And that will finally reveal if he is Kira.
00:15:10
Speaker
buddy, it's wild. It is a wild book about two weird little freaks. And I don't think you should read it. That's compelling. I did just put Chainsaw Man on my Amazon wish list. That's just good too. Very different. So Chainsaw Man is probably the next thing I'm going to read, even though I'm also still in the depths of my berserk reread. But your recommendation for Death Note is is noted and i will I will make every attempt to get to it. Well, here's the thing that I do wish people had told me about Death Note ah prior to me reading it. You know those the the big scary Shinigami Death Gods that are in Death Note? I'm sure you've seen them. but I'm sure you've seen Reook.
00:16:01
Speaker
Yes, i've I've seen that one especially, yes. Yeah. Would it make you more likely to read it if I told you those dudes are straight dumbasses? I think I kind of knew that. I've seen a little bit of the Death Note anime and I've seen a little bit of like the live action Netflix show. So I kind of know some stuff about those, those like spooky looking demons, like not quite being what they appear to be.
00:16:30
Speaker
Yeah, they're just a bunch of dudes who are dumb as a box of rocks. Which is kinda great.
00:16:41
Speaker
It's like, that they're not sinister, like they look scary, but they're mostly just dumb weirdos. yeah yeah And one of them is named Justin. That's great.
00:16:54
Speaker
Which is extremely funny. Naming a demon Justin is great. giving Giving any cosmic entity a regular name. yeah oh That one member of the God Hand being named Conrad. Yeah, yeah.
00:17:08
Speaker
yeah but do I fucking lost it when I hit Justin the Jewel Skeleton, who is a Shinigami.
00:17:17
Speaker
Ridiculous. Matt, what have you been taking comfort in lately?
Matt's Joy: Challenge Accepted Game Show
00:17:20
Speaker
Well, Chris, I just this past weekend
00:17:27
Speaker
as we're recording this, so I guess two weekends ago, by the time this episode goes up, um hosted the second ever show, episode, whatever you want to call it, of the game show that I host, Challenge Accepted. It went it went well. It was fun. ah we We played some fun games. We did a version of Connections as a game.
00:17:50
Speaker
Interesting. Where I gave the contestants four sets of four words and then they had to figure out what the common thread was. So, and and everything, all they were all Christmas themed. So Chris, I'll give you one, I'll see if you can get it, all right? Hell yes. ah Last, blue, happy, and well, I forget what the word I actually had was, but I'll say white.
00:18:19
Speaker
last threes Those are all songs, but what specifically? All songs that are two words and the second word is Christmas. these are Those are all words that immediately precede the word Christmas in song titles, yes. Yes. There was another one I gave them that was tongue, decoder, BB gun, lamp. What was the second one? ah Decoder.
00:18:45
Speaker
Oh, those are all elements from a Christmas story. These are all important items in the movie, A Christmas Story. Yeah. Like they weren't super hard, but i I didn't want to give them super hard stuff that would take a long time to get. Um, but that was one of the games we played. I, we played a lot of other games. There were physical challenges and stuff. Um, and it was a hoot and a fun time and we are already planning the next one. Um, these shows.
00:19:11
Speaker
are meant to be quarterly, so the next one will be in March. But the reason I bring it up is um the next one I think will have a video element that we're actually going to start like putting up on YouTube, ah where we'll do some challenges ah that are not in the the venue where we do the show, but that will actually show on video. So when that's available,
00:19:40
Speaker
i will share the video of ah what we we end up doing as kind of the the filmed portion of challenge accepted which seems like a thing that might be branching out and and becoming a bigger thing as we go so I am so so happy to be a game show host. ah Something that I've wanted to be my whole life when I was three years old if you ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up I would answer a game show host. ah My aunt made me ah three by five cards with questions on them so I could quiz my family members and so
00:20:22
Speaker
There's nothing I've ever wanted more than to be the host of a game show. And so ah the fact that I have been doing that, I've done that a couple of times now and and there are plans to do more. ah That's a big comfort to me and I'm very happy to have done it. And ah I will be letting all of you know when there's more of that to see soon. um As of now, it's just been, you know, local ah local stuff. we We didn't make a video of the shows we've done because we've just kind of been working out the bugs in these couple of shows that we've done, but ah hopefully there'll be more to share very soon.
Game Recommendation: Metaphor ReFantazio
00:21:03
Speaker
Time for Joyce. What is bringing you joy, Chris? Matt, I do want to officially recommend Metaphor Re-Fantasio. Have you finished it or is there more to play? I have not finished it yet. I am a pretty
00:21:23
Speaker
good amount of the way through ah the the main story. At least I i believe I am. i have I have maxed out my relationships with certain characters. okay And one of the things that, again, I think it makes it easier for me to recommend this game than a Persona game, even though I i deeply love Persona 5 and the remake of Persona 3.
00:21:53
Speaker
It is much more forgiving in certain ways. If anyone read the big essay I wrote about Persona 5 on the ISP, you may recall that I talked about how my biggest problem with it was that it kind of requires you to play it with a guide, right? Because you have to advance your relationship with characters by picking certain options that are not necessarily intuitive.
00:22:23
Speaker
when you have the the dialogue with them. The thing that metaphor does is you're given the the same kind of setup of you go and spend time with someone, you have a conversation, you pick your ah answer. That doesn't affect your progression. Instead, that is a thing that gives you what are basically experience points. So you it's not penalizing you for picking a wrong answer. It's rewarding you for picking a right answer and not hindering your progress through the game. You still have to decide who to spend time with and which relationships you want to pursue at which point in time, but that is also seems much more forgiving. ah At least given how much I play it, if I get to the end of it and there's like three characters that I haven't been able to make any progression with, I will be
00:23:23
Speaker
I will revise that opinion quite a bit, but the fact that you get but just like the same kind of thing that you get, that that you can get in battles, you know, makes the social aspect of the game a lot more forgiving and a lot more, for me, enjoyable because I get i don't feel like I am picking a wrong answer. I feel like regardless of whether the person is but like agrees with what I'm saying.
00:23:56
Speaker
like it is so it's It's a tertiary resource that I'm getting. I feel like I am making the dialogue choice that I would wanna make rather than following a script. Obviously the the conversations are still pretty heavily scripted, but they're really enjoyable. I really like all the characters so far and kind of getting to know them It's not quite as fun as the cast of huge fucking weirdos that you get in a Persona game, but I do like these medieval fantasy weirdos. And buddy, there's a double twist in this game, and I'm not even to the end yet.
00:24:42
Speaker
metal gear i I think you, again, I would recommend this specifically to you because you have not played any of the Persona or Shin Megami Tensei games. I have not. I have not. If you're gonna start with one, start with this one, I think. Okay, good to know. Yeah, it's extremely good. The quirks of the system are a lot easier to deal with and it's got some really, really fun stuff in it.
00:25:11
Speaker
So, Metaphor Refentazio, I will probably go into more detail at some point, but very enjoyable. Matt, what is ah bringing you joy this week?
YouTube Documentary: Reform Party
00:25:24
Speaker
Chris, I don't know how familiar you are ah with John Boyce, but John Boyce for a long time was a writer and video producer for ah different um sports outlets online. I think SB Nation is where he worked most of the time. But ah in particular, he made a series of videos or like interactive
00:26:01
Speaker
art pieces called 17776. Okay, yet that I am aware of but not familiar with. That was a story about a ah three satellites talking about how football took over Earth, and like football games would stretch across like entire continents and stuff like that.
00:26:26
Speaker
um And it was it was great um But now John Boyce has a YouTube channel called secret base where ah he posts ah different videos about a lot of sports stuff but also other topics and over the past a seven months, seven, eight months or so. there's He's been posting a three-part series called Reform, Reform! exclamation mark Which is all about the history of the Reform Party. Okay. The Reform Party, which had three key figures ah behind it. Ross Perot, who started it. Jesse Ventura, who was the only Reform Party candidate who ever won anything.
00:27:16
Speaker
Right. Because he got elected governor of Minnesota. Minnesota's out. Minnesota's own Jesse Ventura, the only reform party candidate to ever win period. And then the third figure who sent the party going down in flames was Pat Buchanan. the Each part of reform exclamation mark is like around an hour long, so the in total it's about three hours. And it is just an absolutely fascinating look at this attempt to have an American third party. And a remove of about 20 years, it's, you know, you don't have to think about it in
00:28:05
Speaker
terms of current politics. You can you just kind of like look it as ah at it as a sociological, political sciences kind of study. And it is truly fascinating, and it is especially fascinating to see this party just completely fall to pieces. He has video footage of their convention from 2004. Or maybe it was the year 2000. No, it had to be 2004.
00:28:34
Speaker
He has video of their convention from that year. No, it was 2000, because that was the year a bunch of people accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan when they meant to vote for Al Gore. So it was definitely the year 2000.
00:28:47
Speaker
where like There's a bit of that convention where the the secretary of the party, like the guy who was running the party, realized that it was going down in flames.
00:29:04
Speaker
and was trying to preserve some of the the structure of it, but he was getting shouted down and like the delegates at this convention were going to take a vote to vote out like his friend who had been helping run the party for a long time. And he is standing on the stage at a political convention, trying to do the rules of order, knowing what's about to happen. It just bursts into tears.
00:29:34
Speaker
and has to like ask the the like undersecretary to come take over and just walk off stage. And like this thing is full of those kinds of moments. It's full of this story of these like true believers who thought that they were gonna do a thing and then all the worms and weirdos coming in and taking over instead. It's a really fascinating story, the way that John Boyce tells it with charts and graphs and this like 3D visual piece on the video is really cool and a really great way to tell the story. And I was just totally locked into this thing through all of it. And all three parts are up on YouTube for free. I think they originally, you know, we're on the secret based Patreon.
00:30:26
Speaker
But now they all three parts are on YouTube for free, and they're so worth watching. um Just to kind of get this history lesson about this weird third party that only ever had one candidate who ever won office.
00:30:43
Speaker
It's fantastic, and I highly recommend it. It's just called Reform, and you can watch it on YouTube. ah All right, that's my joy, Chris. It's time now to talk about some comics. What do you say?
Solo Comics Discussion
00:30:57
Speaker
Let's do it.
00:31:00
Speaker
You may have heard a few clicking noises during the last segment, and that was because Chris was muting himself to hide coughing, which he's fine, but the coughing got to the point where he needed to bail out on the rest of the show. He will be back for the interview, but in the meantime, and before the interview, why don't I talk about a couple of comics that I read this week. First, let's talk about Amazing Spider-Man number 63, which is surprisingly not written by Joe Kelly.
00:31:37
Speaker
but it is another part of The Eight Deaths of Spider-Man. It is written by Justina Ireland, who I think does a really great job with this issue. And the art is by Gleb Melnikov, I think that's how you say his name, um who is interestingly in this issue. I've seen his art a few times before, but the style in this issue is kind of like weirdly the exact midpoint between Ed McGinnis and John Romita Jr. I think it actually looks really good and I dug it. I i think he's really coming to his own as a Spider-Man artist. um This is a ah story where Peter encounters one of the many ah devilish figures he's been countering and been encountering
00:32:35
Speaker
as of late, this one sort of takes him through a Christmas carol style run through his past and all the things he tried to do ah that are people he tried to save, I suppose, ah who he couldn't. um This particular demon person is named Sirius, who keeps taking him back and forth into different points in time. And ah himself from the future, he he is saved by himself from the future who figures out what this is, which I think is a really cool thing.
00:33:11
Speaker
Um, there's also, uh, more explanation of, or more examination of Peter's relationship with Shay, which I really like. I'm really glad that Shay crossed over from the last run into this one. Uh, and, uh, it ends on some conflict, I guess, with, uh, with Aunt May. Um, well, that's not where it ends, but, uh, there's like Aunt May is finally kind of like fed up with Peter.
00:33:41
Speaker
shirking his responsibilities um To the point where he has to go talk to black cat about it, and then he tries to make good ah with Shay um And then by the end obviously we're gonna cross over with the x-men in a bit um I'm really I Really enjoyed this issue I think I maybe liked it a little bit more than the Joe Kelly issues so far on this run Justina Ireland I think is doing Has done a great job on this issue issue and other stuff of hers that I've read um Has I've also liked so I would love for Justina Ireland to perhaps do more Spider-man in the future um I think that would be great Another issue that I read was X factor number five ah Which
00:34:38
Speaker
is a fun one. I've really been been liking the Mark Russell run on X Factor. It really seemed to set up a status quo. um This is by Mark Russell and Bob Quinn, by the way, who I think has been doing the art all entirely so far. um Five issues in, it feels like Russell is dumping the status quo here. Like everything that we've set up with the government and this X Factor team and their TikTok posting and all of that is is already kind of being blown up. And I'm very curious is to see to see where this continues to go from here. ah it's It's interesting that
00:35:36
Speaker
it's sort of blown up the status quo this quickly. I mean maybe by the next issue it won't be so clear that the status quo has been totally changed. um but But based on what happens in this issue, it seems like it has to um So it's it's still as fun and enjoyable as it's always been I just wonder if it's gonna go in a totally different direction after this so we'll see and That is the truncated comic segment that I have done by myself Why don't we jump right in to our interview now?
Guest Segment: Holiday Special Comics
00:36:11
Speaker
ah With Daniel Kibblesmith and Chris will be back for that
00:36:26
Speaker
Joining us for the program this week, we are very pleased to welcome back a very festive friend of the show, ah here to talk to us about not one, but two holiday specials.
00:36:39
Speaker
We have Daniel Kibblesmith. Daniel, welcome back to the show. It's always a pleasure. Shing, Shing, Shing. These are sleigh bells. Shing, Shing, Shing. Oh, I can tell. that because It's so difficult for your your jingle horse to travel up Mount Premise where Matt and I already are. oh yeah Oh, you guys got an early start this year. Well, you know, it's been a hard year.
00:37:04
Speaker
yeah da Sometimes the the jingle horse ah gets a little yeah it's a little under the eight ball, and I have to be like, pick up your feet. Come on now, pick up your feet. Yeah, I saw your jingle horse. The jingle horse does a lot of cocaine.
00:37:29
Speaker
It's really fashioned through the snow, if you know what I mean. Oh, we were so close. We were so close to getting past that.
00:37:38
Speaker
I was like, Oh, I don't think they're gonna do it. Okay, yeah, moving on. ah Daniel, it's always great to have you here. And it's always festive to have you here. The only guest we've ever had to attend a Garfield convention with us. Yes. Yes. And the Garfield convention, if I recall, I don't think it was like Christmas time, but the the t-shirt that the matching t-shirts that we bought were like Ebenezer Scrooge themed, like he was Scrooge Garfield. It was a Christmas themed Garfield convention. It was in the summer. Yeah, it was during baseball season because I left a baseball game to drive to Asheville. Yeah, the best decision that anybody's ever made ever.
00:38:20
Speaker
But ah ah as I recall, they themed it after holidays. each Each of their convention, they themed after different holidays. And the one we went to happened to be Christmas themed. it is ah So our T-shirts all have Garfield in a wreath. And it's the T-shirt I always wear to move my grass. Yeah, that's about right. Because I got to let my neighbors know what I'm about.
00:38:51
Speaker
ah Yeah, I don't know if I still have i don't know if i still have my my Garfield gathering shirt. I have other Garfield shirts that I've been gifted since. But yeah, I haven't seen i haven't seen that guy in a while. But that's the that's like the graphic tease physics. Like you just put them in something and then they go into the the flurken hole and you don't you don't see them again for another like eight years. I know exactly where mine is.
00:39:18
Speaker
Please. So I, you, you are the odd one out on this one, bud. Oh man. I, okay. I'm, I'm the disappointments. Fair enough. Uh, look, look, I know that you are here to promote, uh, your, your comics. You've got two really great books out right now, uh, that people can read there. They're wonderfully festive and very funny and highly enjoyable.
00:39:47
Speaker
It's not too late to turn this segment into us doing a live commentary track of the Garfield Christmas Special. o Garfield Christmas Special, pretty good. when i was like When I was a kid and I saw that for the first time, when he sits in that creepy robot Santa and starts asking for jewels and stuff, and Jon gets his elf hat, which is the the breadth of Jon's imagination is that he'd like to be wearing, I'm already wearing an elf costume, but I lack an elf hat.
00:40:16
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I don't know how we feeling guys. I should probably promote things I've written, right? Yeah. I, I did just discovered it's 23 minutes long. We could still get questions. with yeah yeah It's, it is, but it, it, there's an official upload on YouTube of it. It's yeah, it's on there right now. It's also streaming on peacock, but they, there's an official Garfield and friends upload on YouTube.
00:40:46
Speaker
I did know off the top of my head it was streaming on Peacock. I did not i did not know, but I'm not surprised that it's on YouTube because YouTube is really good at having sort of, ah you know, I have a child now and YouTube is very good at having like official branded, you know, you can get anything on there, but ah because they also know that ah you can get a lot of officially branded like little bluey episodes and things like that that are um Sanctions and you don't have to worry about the money going to you know, some kind of ah bluey pirates Yeah, I feel like that is a new trend of YouTube where like it used to be if you wanted to see the Garfield Christmas special on YouTube It would be like a like a 240 P pirated upload from a VHS
00:41:35
Speaker
right it would still have commercials for empire carpets yeah and and and but now Yeah, yeah these these companies have realized, like, we're missing out on revenue. We're monetizing our libraries. Yeah, they've all put official stuff, official uploads on YouTube. We've burned enough time talking about it that I don't think we can watch it, I think. I've got a zero, zero, zero right now ily and right now. We have the clap sync.
00:42:09
Speaker
i It's your show, fellas! This is something we will consider for the future, though. Okay, I'll come back. yeah You know what? not not You could also like make Fraction do this. and My understanding is that if you're putting anybody through the Christmas ringer, ah you've already got a guy.
00:42:28
Speaker
That's true. That's true. But A, we already know what we're doing next week. And B, you are our Garfield guy. I know, I know. and and like As a fan of the show, i I think of Chip as your Garfield guy. but I was going to say, theyre there there are multiple people in the running for Garfield guy, but you are the only one who has attended.
00:42:52
Speaker
a Garfield convention with us, there is no debt denying that. Yeah, you can't spell Garfield without IRL. And I i i turned i turned out. That's undoubtedly true. ah through Through great difficulty to to come to that Garfield ca convention. it it's ah It's a weirdie. People can go back and listen. ah Daniel, I got a question for you about Marvel holiday Tales to Astonish.
00:43:19
Speaker
Uh, which has multiple stories in it, like it's three and, uh, yours is the X-Men story, which, uh, correct. Which first of all, takes us back to Katie pride's first year as an X-Man, which i got me thinking. I know there have been Marvel comics over the years.
00:43:48
Speaker
your untold tales of Spider-Man and so on, that like go back to an earlier era of a character or a team to tell a story during that era. But I got to thinking, like based on this story, like is that is that a thing that Marvel Comics should become? Where it's not always forward chronological momentum, but Like ah a creator comes onto a run for a book and they're like, I want to tell X-Men stories in this specific era of X-Men. That that's a fascinating idea to me to like go back to an earlier era and tell a story then.
00:44:34
Speaker
yeah i mean Obviously, we you know did that. um and ah Untold Tales was a huge influence on this even before I found out that it was being drawn by Pat Olive, ah who you know did Untold Tales. and you know We're doing something really similar here. The co-creator of Spider-Girl.
00:44:55
Speaker
I actually did not know that. That's spectacular. um God, I guess that's a pun. There's enough of those adjectives that that's going to happen a lot accidentally. oh Well, I guess it was Ron Friends, but I know Pat Olaf drew a lot of Spider-Girl. Yeah. What's wild about that is even if you go adjective list, that's still a pun. Yeah, yup exactly. Actually, because there's adjective list ones, really everything we're saying is is a Marvel pun ah um until we start using adjectives.
00:45:24
Speaker
What are we actually talking about? Yes, Matt's idea. i think this is I think this is brilliant because something that I think all of us are a little obsessed with are the sorts of ah creative and market niches that the big two have carved out. And you can kind of find these like rare things that they do differently. And I think, you know, i i this is my opinion, obviously, but I think there's a lot of evidence for it that DC has maybe a better grip on the bookstore market, creating these kind of evergreen things like a Watchmen or ah Red Sun or Mr. Miracle that you can kind of just come in and grab and they can be your first comic even. Whereas I think of Marvel as the company that has a more sort of consistent, continuity-driven identity
00:46:22
Speaker
with a lot more um interconnectivity ah in terms of you know what what they're selling as their their bugs versus features. ah So given that, i mean I like the idea of putting you know giving Marvel ah more potential ammunition for something that can sort of expand their publishing identity, ah making a a untold ah tale of Spider-Man a kind of book.
00:46:48
Speaker
ah rather than a one-off born of that you know particular era of Spider-Man and like a way to address you know the the Peter Parker Ben Riley stuff that was going on at that time. um I love that notion. I was also struck, Daniel, by ah the the structure of the story being you know Kitty Pryde's Eight Nights of Hanukkah during this year.
00:47:14
Speaker
And on one of those nights, she has an encounter that is very special and to us here on War Rocket Ajax, because it's you you do a little prequel to that issue where she fights the alien from the movie Alien. in the Correct.
00:47:36
Speaker
but that's right This is a story that requires you to get about six pages in and then read the story where Kitty Fried fights the alien from the movie Alien and then continue. And then and then yeah put mine down, get on the app.
00:47:53
Speaker
Go to Uncanny X-Men 143, read that, and then come back to our story. ah No, i mean absolutely. what what you're kind of what you're kind of um The Pandora's Box you're opening is that like this story was this story was pitched ah to me by the editor, Darren Shan, who was looking for a Jewish writer who also loves Kitty Pride.
00:48:17
Speaker
because they knew that they wanted to do a Kitty Pryde Hanukkah story. And he asked another editor at Marvel that I've worked with a lot, ah Will Moss, you know, do you have a candidate for this? And apparently, ah Will said me very quickly. He said Daniel Kibblesmith. He has asked me 10 million times if he can do a Kitty Pryde story. Because I, you know, grew up a big Excalibur guy. Nightcrawler is my favorite character, and I got to do a lot of prominent Nightcrawler stuff in this story.
00:48:45
Speaker
So I had a loose pitch for this and it started as an eight page story. It ended up being 10, which was was really crucial because we we get to do the eight nights of Hanukkah with a little bit of prologue and a little bit of epilogue.
00:49:01
Speaker
But Darren and I talked through the whole story. We had the phone call. The conversation was over. And then just at the last minute, I had one of those thoughts that you can't have. And I said, well, you know, if it's an eight page story, there might be a way to just have every page be this you know, incredibly action-packed single-page story glimpse at a different adventure or, you know, version of an adventure inspired by the the Claremont Byrne era and maybe with like a little inset of a menorah at the bottom and you see the candles getting lit. And that's exactly what we ended up doing. And it was really hard to, once we had committed to that structure, it was really, really hard to actually pull it off.
00:49:47
Speaker
but I think it's so worth it especially for a holiday anthology where you know you're doing things a little differently and you can try these kind of like ambitious gimmicks and stuff that ah in in a run of x-men would feel kind of like a weird stunt issue.
00:50:03
Speaker
But here, where there's not really any ground rules, ah you can you can try that kind of stuff. So that's that's how the structure came about. And then calling back to the N'Gara'i demon, the alien from Alien, was just like, well, if this is Kitty Pryde's first Hanukkah with the X-Men, that happens. you know That's in continuity. yeah So i I sat down and I tried to figure out where Hanukkah fell in 1981 when that story was published.
00:50:32
Speaker
ah so that I could figure out, okay, does Hanukkah stretch over Christmas Eve, which it does. So which Knight of Hanukkah does Kitty fight the demon on? So that I can put it on the correct page in this story. And I'm very, very proud that I either either got it 100% right, or I was off by one entire year.
00:50:55
Speaker
and time I'm not sure, but that but that was the intent. ah The intent was to to ah write about, you know, even though sliding sliding timescale of the Marvel Universe. If you're gonna do the gimmick, do the gimmick. So I tried to figure out where did Hanukkah fall in 1981? Where did Christmas fall within Hanukkah?
00:51:16
Speaker
And ah regardless if if my math is correct, that's what we were trying to do ah with making sure that we were writing something that could absolutely, like Untold Tales of Spider-Man, like fit in the cracks of continuity. The thing that I always loved about Untold Tales of Spider-Man, in addition to the fact that it was just like a really good comic, I mean, it's, you know, it's cart music. It's, you know, it's pretty good. It's pretty good. It's pretty good.
00:51:46
Speaker
But it literally does like fit between panels oh of the 60s Spider-Man run. and like you can There is a chronological order you can apply to it, which I always found really fascinating because it seemed like a lot of work. Yeah, I went to this tiny baby version of it. To do it with 50 issues of Spider-Man is an unreal level of of dedication.
00:52:13
Speaker
So what is your philosophy to writing a a holiday story? Because we've got the the Kitty Pride story, but ah there is that is not the only holiday offering that you have. Correct. This this this festive season. and ah There is a Powerpuff Girls Winter Snowdown Showdown.
00:52:40
Speaker
Uh, which is, uh, it does involve appearances from Santa Claus. Santa Claus is in that one. Yeah. The Kitty Pride one is ah is a Hanukkah story, but I got to write Santa in the Powerpuff Girls. Yeah. So, so what is the, like, did you go back and get a bunch of Christmas comics out and read them and try and figure it out? Because that was a thing, uh, that like one of the few things I collected where I would just buy it regardless of of who the creators were or what it was about, like I would get any holiday issue that I could find. Yeah, it's kind of its own long box or, you know, very short box because unfortunately there's not that many of them.
00:53:24
Speaker
Um, yes, to answer your question, I did read, I did read a bunch of them, but I think what I had found is that I had sort of already internalized my approach to this, which is, uh, I think, uh, and I'm, I'm just starting to, you know, I do a lot of holiday stuff. Uh, you know, I've been on the show for, uh, the Santa's husband book. And I think I've been on the show for the Harley Quinn Christmas carols.
00:53:53
Speaker
And ah my friend Colin Crawford and I did a Rugrats Hanukkah comic for Boom a few years ago. And it's you know ah it's it's it's it's turning into a beat. Chris, obviously you are a big holiday big holiday person and I get to talk to a friend of the show, Benito, about this as well. and if you What I'm finding is if you like this stuff, you really like this stuff.
00:54:20
Speaker
So if I have like a forming philosophy around it just from from doing it a bunch of times and sort of learning to articulate what I've been doing maybe on instinct thus far, it's that doing a holiday story is a genre on top of a genre. ah You are always, I think with with any writing, especially with famous characters that don't belong to you, you're you're always very aware of the contract with the audience and trying to deliver on the promise of buying a story about those characters while also surprising them and subverting their expectations and you know not just not just pushing the Batman button but you know showing them something that Batman's never done before but fits within the parameters of their relationship with Batman.
00:55:05
Speaker
so doing an X-Men story or doing a Powerpuff Girls story, you are trying to satisfy and build upon, you know, the expectations that the audience have for some of their favorite characters or some of my favorite characters. Adding the holiday stuff to it, I think it's the exact same thing. It's like, what do we want to see the Powerpuff Girls doing on Christmas? Because they should meet Santa. their little girls, they live in a like a heightened universe.
00:55:35
Speaker
ah so you know Having watched ah you know Child of the 80s and 90s, having watched every Christmas special of every Saturday morning cartoon and every sitcom, like I kind of know what the tropes are.
00:55:50
Speaker
having just internalized them over the years. And then having characters like the Powerpuff Girls who have these like incredibly pure and consistent personalities, it's really more of like putting a puzzle together based on on what exists already than writing from scratch. And i knew I knew that I wanted Bubbles to give a version of the Linus speech. ah That was sort of like the one thing that I really came in with.
00:56:19
Speaker
which is a very, very good moment in that story. that's lot thats yeah Thank you. so i'm very I'm very, very proud of that. ah But that's that's how I would describe writing a holiday comics, you're starting with a genre, and all of the, ah you know,
00:56:35
Speaker
ah Tools and tropes and shorthand that you have with the audience by virtue of writing a genre or writing familiar characters and then you slap that extra layer of genre on top of it where it's like okay, so it should be sentimental uh it should probably end with everybody together maybe there's like you know a musical components which is hard to do in comic books but if you buy these stories you know yeah wolverine sits in front of a roaring fire and says bahumbug like the i'm i'm scratching itches that i think we all have when we imagine what an x-men christmas or hanukkah story should be i also
00:57:18
Speaker
really appreciate in both of these stories that they are structured to have stories within the story. I think that's a hallmark of holiday were they special comics in particular. ah So you you mentioned the structure of the X-Men comic, you know,
00:57:46
Speaker
marking time with the inlay of the the menorah and the powerpuff girl story also has the structure of like the girls split up and then go off into their own stories that all get title cards correct which i love like i love that idea of like breaking up a single issue story or even a smaller story within a single issue into even smaller pieces.
00:58:19
Speaker
it's It's so structurally minded. um Thank you. No, I mean, I take that as a huge compliment because it's it's a colossal amount of work. ah um it's not it's not something It's not something that I do a lot ah in my work so far. it is It is something that I'm starting to be a little more ambitious about. And it really does, it really does like like I think a lot of just writing in general, it really does come from this place of like, oh, can I pull that off?
00:58:49
Speaker
Like now that I've had this idea that I sort of can't unhave, can I make this work? And ah yeah, I mean, the the Kitty Pride one is fairly straightforward because it's just trying to do a different Claremont and Byrne flavored mini story on every page with ah bookends.
00:59:09
Speaker
at the mansion. In the first page, they're setting up the decorations. In the last page, they're taking down the decorations. But with the Powerpuff Girls, there was like diagramming. like With the Powerpuff Girls story, I was getting i was getting like way into like you know carting it out and making sure that everything everything got the exact same amount of weight that you know all three girls had stories of equal length that you know broke off and came together ah at the you know planned rhythmic points. So I really appreciate that that you appreciated that and that people are noticing. It it really does feel to me like like, not to say that you wouldn't see it in a single issue story
00:59:56
Speaker
that's number, I don't know, 43 of a comic, but it really feels like something you see more often in holiday specials or like a summer are spectacular or an annual. Like these are the kinds of stories that really lend themselves to that sort of particular type of comic. And I always feel like if If I'm reading a special issue or an annual and it's got that kind of story in it, that scratches a particular itch for me where I'm like, I am reading a comic that is a special and not you know a regular issue.
01:00:40
Speaker
um you know Yeah, I completely agree and I hadn't thought about it in terms of making a special feel like lowercase s special um But yeah, no, that's that's really that's really ah nice and satisfying. I think if you can pull it off I think it's also just sort of a product of my career, you know, cuz I've only been on one superhero ongoing. and I'm starting another IP ongoing that that we can talk about in in a minute, but I do a lot of one-offs. When I'm structuring a miniseries or or potentially an ongoing
01:01:20
Speaker
You know that's a serialized story so ah you're absolutely right like it whether it's just like habits or momentum or you know kind of meeting the expectations of an audience buying a conventional comic there's not a lot of invitation to to play with the format um unless you've been going for a little while.
01:01:40
Speaker
And you're sort of doing like a big, like ambitious stunt ah in in the middle of of something longer. um But a lot of the things that I've done in the past couple of years, I did a Rick and Morty comic that was a ah Sherlock Holmes locked room mystery in space. And obviously the the ones where we're talking about right now. they I've known them to be self-contained stories or single issues that have these beginnings and middles and ends. and I am very inspired by comics like Midnighter Number 7, which I think is very in cave-on, and I want to say Derek Robertson, ah where the story is just told backwards.
01:02:22
Speaker
because he's midnighter and he knows what is going to happen. and It's this incredible single issue story that can be read backwards and forwards. and If you're dipping in and doing one issue of midnighter,
01:02:37
Speaker
That's something you have the opportunity to do. so I think you guys are right. By like creating these opportunities like anthologies or one shots of any kind, you can have them be like, you know choose your own adventures and and things like that that just work really, really well in comic books. I do love comic books. I love comic books, you guys. They're so great. They're they're very good.
01:03:05
Speaker
ah Do you have, as as someone who has done a significant amount of ah wintertime holiday comics work at this point, and wintertime holiday entertainment work, yeah do you have a favorite, yeah it's not non-you ah holiday story? ah Well, i first of all, I appreciate that you that choosing one of my own was even on the table. ah like ah Like when Ridley Scott was doing his letterbox interview and his top four included Blade Runner. That's pretty cool.
01:03:42
Speaker
if you had said oh you know Santa's husband bought my deck or whatever. like I would be like fair. Right. yeah it's i and My favorite is very easy because the first time i the first time I knew holiday comics were a thing was the 1991 Marvel holiday special with the Art Adams cover where all the superheroes are chasing Santa Claus and it's unclear why.
01:04:07
Speaker
Do you guys know what I'm talking about? Oh yeah, I'm running him down. Of course, of course. So in that issue is the story, and I feel like I may have even mentioned it on this show before, ah in that issue is the story where the little blind child thinks that Ghostriner is Santa Claus because he has big boots and his chain rattles like sleigh bells.
01:04:30
Speaker
that story owns. It's so great. It's so great. So that issue was really important to me. ah Because um I think like you, Chris, it was just like I noticed that these could be a thing. and i was also you know When I was a kid, it was largely the the late 80s, early 90s, and comic books were getting a lot more violent and grown up and trying to appeal to teens and stuff. so i I did always have this hesitation.
01:05:00
Speaker
You know as as more of a as more of a muppet babies kid was like is this like for me like will this like scare me or or push me away and to see the holiday comic i was like oh this is such a great you know like a comedy comic or something like that ah this is such a great way of saying like.
01:05:19
Speaker
This one's a little different. You can tell from the cover that it's accessible ah because it's using something that you're already familiar with like holiday tropes as kind of like a like a lens to to view all this stuff through. So that was definitely my first ghostwriter comics story. You know, I was probably familiar with them from cartoons and stuff. But ah yeah, I would definitely, definitely choose the one where ghostwriters mistaken for Santa Claus ah by a blind kid. That I love that story. it's veryqua that's It's very sweet. And it's also like, okay, so you've heard enough about Santa certain things, but you don't really understand the concept.
01:06:07
Speaker
yeah You could, even with no sight, confuse Ghost Rider, an on-fire skeleton wearing a leather jacket. Correct. who is like Surely there were motorcycle noises right before the the chains you mistook for sleigh bells. And and it definitely smells like brimstone.
01:06:25
Speaker
That is not speaking. A full demon skeleton motorcycle. It's so great. And it's just, it's that comic book thing of like, the idea doesn't have to make perfect sense. It just needs like enough internal logic to kind of get it over the finish line. Daniel, do you do you remember who wrote that story? and No, I don't. I'll tell you who. I know who. Who is it, Chris?
01:06:53
Speaker
That's the one true voice of Spider-Man. Yeah, we're backy. That's right. The one true voice of Spider-Man. Incredible. Incredible. The chips that I ski up his day. Yeah. ah Credit continues where credit continues to be due. Yeah. Well, yep. I appreciate it. It changed everything. We're talking about it now.
01:07:16
Speaker
oh Daniel, I'm curious. ah What is... What's your thought on Santa Claus vis-a-vis superhero universes? Because I feel like one of the best things that ah Detective Comics Comics has done with regards to Christmas, that has kind of like given them the edge in Christmas stories over Marvel,
01:07:46
Speaker
is that they've finally just gone ahead and been like, yeah, Santa's real in this universe and everybody knows him. I love it, yeah, I love it. Like, Batman knows Santa, because of course he does, because why would he not? Yeah. Do you think that's the way to do it? Or do you think children should continue to confuse Ghost Rider? Santa Claus. Well, children confusing Ghost Rider with Santa Claus doesn't like preclude Santa Claus being real, you know? It's just he's not there right now.
01:08:16
Speaker
So, I love both of the approaches. I love DC Comics deciding that Santa Claus is real, I think makes a huge amount of sense from just sort of like a shared storytelling and editorial perspective because, like, Zeus is real. You know what I mean? Santa Claus is definitely in a category of deities that, like, Especially if you factor in the various pantheons that are shown in Sandman comics and stuff, I think it would be much harder to make the case that Santa Claus was not real in the DC universe. I think that because Marvel, even though it also has Zeus and a lot of real mythical figures, because Marvel is sort of branded as the air quotes real one,
01:09:07
Speaker
And since DC has already kind of planted a flag in this other this other approach, I like the idea of DC doing their thing and then Marvel keeping it being that sort of like classic Christmas special like ambiguity.
01:09:20
Speaker
where it's like, the cookies are gone. Hey, you don't suppose, you know, and you can just like show Santa Claus a bunch of times, but not really commit to this idea that there's like one incontinuity Santa Claus, that you can kind of just play fast and loose with ah the the reality of Santa in the in the Marvel universe. And that way we get to have both. That is exactly how I would do it. That way on the cover of the Marvel 1991 Christmas special,
01:09:49
Speaker
Captain America doesn't know who Santa Claus is and just refers to him as that bearded man. excuse Well, because Santa Claus was invented in the 70s and Captain America was frozen. It is time for us to move on to listener questions. ah If you would like to ask us a listener question on the show, ah you can do so by following us on Blue Sky at warrocketajax.com on Blue Sky. That is our handle there.
01:10:22
Speaker
or ah joining our Discord, which you have to be invited to be a member of. But if you ask us for an invitation to our Discord, we will give you one. And you can ask a question just like these for Daniel Kimblesmith. Womzilla on our Discord wants to know, what are the best Christmas cookies? Sugar cookies, spice cookies, or everything nice cookies? Ooh.
01:10:45
Speaker
I'm very curious as to what everything nice cookies ah consist of. I want to pick everything nice cookies because they sound kind of like those cookies from Milk Bar. They're just loaded with like pretzels and popcorn and crap. Like the sort of like everything, everything safe retreats cookies that that Milk Bar has. I'm gonna pick those. And I'm going to say that um it's inspired ah by by your question. ah Wamzilla, was it? That's correct. Wamzilla, you are now ah the godparents of ah the official everything nice cookie, ah which is ah the milk bar cookie with the pretzels in it or any homemade attempts to recreate it. I gotta say, given the context in which we're talking to you, Daniel, I really think ah ah Kevin dropped the ball with this question by not also including the chemical X content.
01:11:37
Speaker
Oh, I went down a tray of Chemical X cookies. that's That's the real secret ingredient. i Eat 19 of those and fold a bridge in half.
01:11:51
Speaker
Our next question is from WC Witt who wants to know why is the Walter Simonson Salba Simma anthology short where high father and Orion substitute in for a mall Santa and his elf so underrated?
01:12:03
Speaker
Oh my God, I didn't know this existed. I gotta, I gotta go. Guys, I gotta to go. That's unreal. That's available to me. I don't know about this. What was this in? Holy God. Uh, I don't know. I'll have to, I'll have to research. Yeah. Show notes, show notes. Yeah, I'll, I'll find it and put it in the show notes for sure. Um, and I'll let you know, Daniel, where you can go read this. It was apparently in,
01:12:32
Speaker
DC Universe Holiday Bash from... I don't know what year I'll... That's unreal. Yeah, huge, huge mean thanks for turning us on to that. um I definitely have that. Let's see. What year what what year did that come out? I i will find out and let you know. Holiday Bash was like late 90s.
01:12:57
Speaker
Okay. ah ah Well, yeah, I mean, obviously it's underrated ah because ah you know we read a lot of comics and it was not on my radar at all. um Thank you for the heads up. It's impossible to read everything. It just it just is. ah Stone Cold ACC, an account that exists only to ask questions on War Rocket Ajax, wants to know, how come Garfield hates Mondays so much? That's when War Rocket Ajax comes out.
01:13:25
Speaker
It's like weirdly clear-headed for him. It's like not it's like not a full non sequitur.
01:13:36
Speaker
It's got like actual information and opinions in it. um yeah yeah no I agree. um look I like the fan theory that Garfield has had because John goes to work, but John doesn't go to work. He's a stay-at-home cartoonist. Yeah, John's a cartoonist. I like the warm sentiment behind it. um but yeah Garfield hates Mondays because we hate Mondays. like It's not complicated. Garfield is a machine that was designed to reflect us and print money.
01:14:06
Speaker
ah Garfield is the Vox Populi. Yes, exactly. ah okay i've found i've okay There were three DC holiday bashes. Yes. Three issues. The first one was in 1997, and that was when that's the one with the Walt Simonson story about Orion and Highfather posing as Santa and an elf.
01:14:32
Speaker
yeah So i go back we gotta go back to DC Holiday Bash 1997 for that. i'm I'm guessing that's quite good. That will be there will be Daniel's comics catch up. Jay Gonzo, our friend, Jay Gonzo, wants to know, how seriously does Daniel take being the best follow on Blue Sky?
01:14:55
Speaker
but Not very. ah I mean, I'm pretty, you know, I get ah i try to I try to alienate people as often as I as i try to say something ah funny or helpful.
01:15:10
Speaker
um i think that's I think that's very kind, especially because I had a Blue Sky account when it was new, and then I deleted it just because I had just too much social media going on, and then I got and a new one, a more recent one during the big ah exodus. So I'm very grateful, but given that i I chickened out the first time, I refuse to accept the title. Our other friend,
01:15:39
Speaker
the Carla Pacheco on Blue Sky. That makes it sound like we have two friends. Yeah, don't count me, please. It's a little too forward. i One of our many friends, Carla Pacheco, says, Hello, friends, what is the most Christmasy fight scene in comics or movies?
01:16:01
Speaker
o Oh, that's tough. Oh, I would have wanted a day. ah The most Christmasy fight scene. and So I'm just going to say the first thing that I thought of, which is ah in Jingle All the Way when Arnold Schwarzenegger puts on the Turbo Man costume and and just the reality of the movie fully goes out the window. And I don't really know if it's a fight scene, but I know it's an action scene.
01:16:26
Speaker
So i'm jaie yes i i I must admit, daniel my first thought was also jingle all the way. What is wrong with us? Is it because we're just is it just because we're working too hard not to say die hard? Is this like a contrarian? li Is this like a authority oppositional disorder kind of reaction? It's like, no, I'm gonna say the the bad one. I will say there is a fight scene in the movie violent night where badass ah Santa Claus ah uses a candy cane as a weapon? That's pretty Christmasy. That's what I was racking my brain for, because I know that I've also seen the trailer for that musical comedy about a Christmas pageant that has zombies in it, and I think that the actress has a candy cane weapon on the poster.
01:17:16
Speaker
So i I knew that there was something like that out there, but I haven't seen either of those movies. Love the casting of David Harbour as Action Santa though. ah Violet Knight is pretty good. I wish it was like 10% better.
01:17:32
Speaker
Yeah, those are those are those are tough. You know, those movies are such pitches, you know, that sometimes it's a little hard to live up to the to the movie that's going to be in your head. But i think I'm glad to know it's not awful because I do want to see it. We did have movie fighters about it. You can go listen to that. we um It is better than I expected it to be by a lot. Fantastic. That's it' all I need. like The bit where he's like taping up his wounds.
01:17:59
Speaker
with like gift wrap is very good. That's pretty solid. That's like what you want when you go to the whiteboard and you're like, okay, what would Action Santa do? And you come up with like 300 of those. Yeah. Also, John Leguizamo is the bad guy in that movie and he's so good. Oh, he's great. yeah Huge fan. But I'd say the worst thing about that movie is the title.
01:18:22
Speaker
Actually, like, Violent Knight, I get it. I get the the joke, but i i would I don't think it's totally representative of what that movie is. ah I would agree. It sounds generic. It sounds dismissible. Yeah. I think it could have had a better title. That's that's my number one thing. Let's see. Our next question is from...
01:18:46
Speaker
King of Doma on our Discord, who asks, who in the Marvel universe is at the very top of Santa's naughty list this year? Oh my god, this year. um the The US government for testing the gamma bomb in ah Ultimate Adventures. um that that issue That issue shook me. That's that's where you need to find Santa. Yeah.
01:19:15
Speaker
ah Yeah, that's pretty that's pretty wild. Yeah, I'm sorry. I went straight to a bummer one. and Dr. Doom, it's Dr. Doom. He takes over the world. It's Dr. Doom. He took over the world. Ryan North is writing a, it's Dr. Doom. It's not the sad thing that I said. It's Dr. Doom. He stole ah the Sorcerer Supreme. I didn't steal it. He used trickery to get it.
01:19:42
Speaker
it I would say top of the naughty list might be... um is who i What is the character that was Blade but did not Blade? Matt, that was Varnay the First Vampire. That was Varnay the First Vampire, yes, which you called early on. Oh yeah, like like first issue. Yeah, I think that might be that might be top of the top of a naughty list. he he He caused a huge vampire problem.
01:20:10
Speaker
That's pretty naughty. And Santa versus vampires also, like, I'm sure it's been done. I'm sure it's been done. Should be done again with a higher budget.
01:20:20
Speaker
ah All right. we We only have time for one more question, unfortunately. We got a lot of questions. ah So Daniel, if you're on the Discord and you want to tackle some of these questions, go for it. Nope. Nope. Catch me next time, suckers. All right. I'm going to choose this one, though. This was from Sluggo A. Summers.
01:20:42
Speaker
As a fellow member of the tribe, Daniel, ah do you think it's difficult to do Hanukkah holiday stories? It's a very violent holiday and I'm not sure Marvel would let you do a story about all those dead elephants in the Book of Maccabees. I wasn't aware of the dead elephants. Oh buddy, have I got a podcast for you. Yeah, that's what Benito tells me. He messages me on Instagram.
01:21:05
Speaker
um Benito, ah but this is also behind the curtain, Benito sends me pictures of ah really ah really excellent bagel and cream cheese ah combinations, and then he just tells me to listen to a pack of pills. And I appreciate one of those things. ah Tell him to stop sending you the bagel.
01:21:27
Speaker
ah and So actually, I'm i'm guessing i'm guessing that um Sligo hasn't read the story yet. um but it would It would seem not. I did try to get in a little bit, and there was there was an earlier draft where there's a little bit more of it, but I did like the idea that Wolverine hated holidays, but he kind of liked Hanukkah more because it had fighting in it.
01:21:54
Speaker
ah That was so sort of like a sort of a thing that I was sort of a thing that I was like kicking around is like that he might appreciate like the story of Hanukkah just because it's like a bit of an action movie. So yeah, I don't know. I think that like I think it'd be very cool to see, like, the Jonathan Hickman shield book where, you know, you see the Maccabees fighting Galactus or whatever. I don't know how Marvel would feel about a really violent Hanukkah comic. I think it's just um just a you know a time and place thing. This is the fun holiday anthology. ah But if they want to go, like, you know, hardcore history, ah they should give me a call. I'd love to i'd love to try another tone. Well, it's it's not like Christmas stories are all about
01:22:39
Speaker
the birth of Jesus. They they rarely are. so Yeah, that's the the minority, I think. Usually it's just about like, you know, ah Larry and Balke buying each other like the same ah vinyl record or, you know, whatever happened in 1986. Yeah, right. Exactly. the Larry and Balke always buy each other the same present and they're like, what are we going to do with two? And that's Christianity. Yeah.
01:23:05
Speaker
That is what Christianity is all about. I mean, but you're not wrong. No, it's true. It's true. He welcomed in his immigrant cousin. He made a life for him. Look, every once in a while, Ben Grimm is going to be present for the birth of Jesus. That will happen. Yep. But that's the that's yeah, like you said, that's the the minority of the stories. Yeah, largely it's just about characters celebrating Christmas. Characters you're familiar with already celebrating Christmas, or in this case, Hanukkah. But um i love I love the question. And yeah, Maccabees fighting Galactus. Let's do it. Well, Daniel, we are sadly out of time. um Everybody, please ah go buy Daniel's holiday comics before the holidays are over.
01:23:55
Speaker
ah Marvel Holidays Tales to Astonish and Powerpuff Girls Winter Snowdown Showdown to very, very fun holiday comics. Daniel, you mentioned that you've got some ongoing comics coming up, so let our listeners know about ah what you've got coming up and where they could follow you and everything. Yeah, um I am next doing a new number one for Dynamite for a little character called Darkwing Duck. So I'm losing my mind about that on an hourly basis. it's It's a dream come true. I cannot wait for people to see what we're doing. I'm doing it with Branson Stein, who did the comic Crowded that I'm a huge fan of, Drew Crowded, and also did some illustrations for our
01:24:45
Speaker
aforementioned Harley Quinn Christmas Girls book. And they're perfect. We're giving original covers, varying covers from the creator, Tad Stone, which is a galactic honor and makes this whole thing feel really official. So ah please tell your your local comic shop right now that you want those. Every issue is designed to feel like a new slash lost episode of Darkwing Duck.
01:25:08
Speaker
and they're turning out great. We're all really, really, really proud of these. On social media, you can find me on Instagram at daniel.kibblesmith. I'm on Blue Sky, but I don't know how Blue Sky names work. I guess you can just search for me. You have a website and it's kibblesmith dot.com. All right. Our guest has been Daniel Kibblesmith. Daniel, it is always a joy to talk to you. ah Just real quick, lightning ground. What's better, the Penguin show or the Alfred show?
01:25:36
Speaker
Penguin show's way better than the Alfred show. I'm sorry. I love the Alfred show so much. Penguin show's actually good. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me.
01:25:50
Speaker
Thanks once again to Daniel Kebbell-Smith for joining us for the show this week. The Marvel Tales to Astonish holiday special. Holiday Tales to Astonish. That's what it's actually called. And the Powerpuff Girls Snowdown Showdown special are both available for purchase right now and you should do that. You should go buy both of those comics. They are both a ton of fun and worth reading. We will be back next week with our annual
01:26:21
Speaker
Christmas special with our typical Christmas special guest. You know who that is. So come back for that. We're going back to Mount Primus. It is going to be a hoot and a fun, fun time. So definitely come back and join us for that next week. And then that will be our last episode of War Rocket Ajax for the year until 2025, when we will come back with the Gordy awards as we always do. So send in your Gordy categories. Email us at warrocketpodcastatgmail.com to send in those Gordy categories. That is our email address where you can also send every story ever lists or get in touch with us about anything else, listener questions, or if you want to sponsor the show or anything else. So send us an email there.
01:27:14
Speaker
Our website is warrocketajax.com and as every episode of the show we've ever done, ah we're on Tumblr at warrocketpodcast.tumblr dot.com. You can send us questions there. You can follow us on Blue Sky, as I mentioned a little while before. That's at warrocketajax.com. On Blue Sky, you can also join our Discord. Ask us for an invitation to our Discord and we will get you an invitation and you can be part of that community.
01:27:41
Speaker
And you should. You should be part of that community. It is a fun place. WarRockitWiki.com is the fan-run repository of all the information you could want or need about this show, War Rocket Ajax. So go there to find whatever you need to know about this show. If you want to find me and my stuff, go to MattDWilson.net to find links to my comics, my books, my other podcasts, and my social media presences. That is all there.
01:28:07
Speaker
For Chris, you can go to the-isb.com to find stuff he has written and links to all of his stuff that is his website with all of that. See you next week for the Christmas special, everybody. And Chris should be better by then, and we should have a great time. In the meantime, please remember, Black Lives Matter, trans rights are human rights.
01:28:37
Speaker
As our abortion rights, drag is not a crime, and cops aren't your friends. But we love you.