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Episode 746 - HickMania III: Four Cities
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If only we had known this story arc would be taking place in multiple cities, we'd have figured out a way to make this HickMania 2. But it's our third installment, and Hickman is taking the Fantastic Four to cities that are underground, underwater, on the moon, and in the Negative Zone!
Covering Fantastic Four #575-578.
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Transcript
Intro & Zencastr Promotion
00:00:00
Speaker
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00:00:12
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00:00:28
Speaker
I just, I'm bored. What plaything can you offer me today?
00:00:38
Speaker
about to walk Rocket Ajax to bring back his body. Terminator X's Yo! Yo!
Podcast Introduction & Hosts' Banter
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.
00:01:03
Speaker
With me, as always, is Matt Wilson. Matt, you're happily married. True. I cannot deny. I, as well, am happily married. Also true. Mm-hmm.
00:01:13
Speaker
Yep, yep.
Dating App Attributes & Humor
00:01:15
Speaker
But, in the terrible alternate universe, where that was not true for either of us, Mm-hmm. What attributes about yourself would you highlight in order to make yourself seem a little more dateable?
00:01:33
Speaker
Not that you're not dateable. I guess I phrased that in a way where I don't think you're dateable. I do. You're very handsome and kind. i just You know what I mean.
00:01:44
Speaker
What would you highlight to for for a a a potential romance partner? So what you're saying is, if I was on an app...
Video Games Discussion: Minigames & Opinions
00:01:53
Speaker
You've got to get on the apps.
00:01:54
Speaker
Like you have to do in Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth. Exactly. the In the ah the the Mismatch minigame, which is a great name for a matchmaker.
00:02:07
Speaker
Yes. um Although I hate that minigame. That's my least favorite minigame in the world. I did not play a lot of that minigame, but I did like that the lady was named a Mismatch. It's not fun minigame. That's Dragon Quest level.
00:02:18
Speaker
Yes. the the the The gimmick is good. The minigame, not so good. Minigame, not good. Not as good as the as the the minigame in, I believe it's Yakuza 5, where Kiryu goes to camgirl websites and writes comments.
00:02:37
Speaker
An actual minigame in Yakuza, which is bananas. That's very funny. Yes. Let's see.
Humorous 'Red Flags' in Dating Profiles
00:02:45
Speaker
I think I would highlight...
00:02:51
Speaker
Man, what would I highlight? Number one, sense of humor. Matt, sense of humor. Yeah, I was going to say something about like yeah doing improv or something, but I feel like that's a red flag.
00:03:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it can be. Sure can be. Can't say i do improv. Can't say i have a podcast. Can't say I enjoy video games. so These are all red flags. yeah he all like The reason I thought about this is because I'm all red flags.
00:03:20
Speaker
yeah Matt, I collect knives.
00:03:26
Speaker
Okay, I think I would highlight how much I enjoy both writing and reading. okay Which I think most guys on the apps are not.
00:03:37
Speaker
are not like like if From what I understand from women that I know about the dating pool, a lot of guys on these apps are not touting their of being well-read.
00:03:52
Speaker
So I think I would do that. ah did you What did you land on? I honestly have no idea.
00:04:02
Speaker
Because look, the the way I once tweeted when Twitter was a less bad website than it is now, I tweeted that that here's three things about me.
00:04:16
Speaker
I think about the Justice League constantly. i love Christmas and I cry at children's movies. And that got me a wife. Yeah. that ah AC replied to that and cut to now.
00:04:32
Speaker
Married. yeah Years of happy marriage. well so you know i think I don't know. Vulnerability. I think vulnerability is a good thing to display.
00:04:43
Speaker
So you think I should start with um talking about Sonics and Fire? Correct. um Don't be like Kraven and have no known weaknesses. Yeah, I can't have no known weaknesses like Kraven. I probably shouldn't mention Kraven in a dating profile.
00:04:59
Speaker
it It is wild to think about like, Ooh, cannot say podcast. that That is a lot. Oh, yeah. And one of my podcasts is about Bible.
00:05:12
Speaker
I think that helps. and what you like What do you have podcasts about? Oh, you know, anime, Bible. Well, it's as long as the podcast isn't about, like, being a gamma male or whatever.
00:05:25
Speaker
you mean the Hulk? Yeah. i what is it Is it not Gamma? It's Omega? An Omega is a different thing. That's when – I'll explain later.
00:05:36
Speaker
but i i know what I know what it is. i do I think you're thinking of a Sigma. Sigma is what I'm thinking of. You might be thinking of a Ligma. im It came up again. As long as you're not talking about like dudes assigning Greek letters to to being a dude, ah like you're one step above, i think, a lot of options.
00:05:57
Speaker
Yeah, but I think i think if you – if I'm lady, and God forbid if I'm – if i'm a lady and god god forbid if i'm a a straight lady, then if my eyes hit the word podcast, it's over.
00:06:12
Speaker
Oh, yeah. yeah it's You're swiping left immediately. what do you like? Well, I really like ah Dragon Ball Z and professional wrestling. And do you want to see my knife collection? It's just for show.
00:06:28
Speaker
Now, a lot of a lot of women... Enjoy Dragon Ball Z and professional wrestling. That's true. That is true. But much in the same way, if I met a guy and he said, hey, I really like Dragon Ball Z and professional wrestling, I'm like, there's a 70% chance we are not going to get along.
00:06:46
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, like you know. You got you gotta to give me specific matches you before I know if we're chill. Come in with the first impression and then be like, Hey, these things are also true about me, but I'm not one of the – I don't fit the stereotypes of this kind of person. all right i think I think what I would have to do is it's all pictures of me and Biscuit.
00:07:11
Speaker
You know, that's a pretty good approach. And I think you could maybe pull it off with Harrison and Eleanor. Yeah, that's a pretty good approach ah for sure.
Patreon Support & Gratitude
00:07:19
Speaker
All right, we've got a great show for everybody this week. ah We are going to be doing the third installment of Hick Mania.
00:07:26
Speaker
So technically, this would make it Hick Mania 3 in the Pontiac Silverdome. In front of 93,000 people. In front of 200,000 people. In front of half a million people.
00:07:40
Speaker
but Yes, where Hulk Hogan fully... whole kick thingsed up Picked up and slammed Andre the Giant with no assistance from Andre front of 900,000 people at the Pontiac Center. And tore a hole in his own back.
00:07:57
Speaker
That's right. um And didn't know if our Andre was going to cooperate with the match before. Yeah. for um But i I've been thinking, and i I've been thinking about these issues that we read for the show this week, and and I'm thinking about making a retroactive change.
00:08:15
Speaker
But we can talk about that when we get to the Hickmania portion of the show, before we talk about some Jonathan Hickman Fantastic Four. Matt, you talking about but doing some retcons?
00:08:26
Speaker
Matt, you talking about using the tuning forks to get in touch with the antimatter universe? Yeah. You know it, baby. Talk about how worlds are going to live the worlds going to die. But we'll get there when we get there.
00:08:37
Speaker
Before we get there, Chris, we do have some new Patreon supporters to thank. That's great. That's great. I love this, Matt. These are some of my favorite people in the whole wide world.
00:08:49
Speaker
Because these the people who, they want to support the show. They want to kick in as little as a dollar a month. They want to help me and Matt keep going. ah Help us stay...
00:09:02
Speaker
married. I don't think it would be like a huge issue. AC is not you know checking on the Patreon receipts or anything, but I don't think it hurts. Well, when you said stay married, I definitely had a flash of thinking married to each other.
00:09:18
Speaker
Which, if we weren't married, maybe that's the solution. I mean, AC does describe you as my life partner. We have discussed you in terms of like Like, I have life partners, yeah and you are one of them, and you do technically outrank AC.
00:09:41
Speaker
You've been here longer.
00:09:44
Speaker
But these people, they like the show. They want to support the show. They think it's charming and funny when we just do these weird intros to the show. When we think about engaging in matrimony with each other, yes. Right, yeah.
00:09:59
Speaker
Look, hey, I could do a lot worse. Honestly, Matt, honestly, I think you're a little bit out of my league. I don't think so. Please continue. They want to support the show.
00:10:10
Speaker
So how do they do that? They don't need no kettlebells, Matt. They don't need to go down to 746 Gimmick Street. All they need to do is go to patreon.com slash warrocketajax and kick in as little as a dollar a month.
00:10:22
Speaker
That helps us do this show. It helps us do movie fighters. helps us do comics catch-up in every story ever. ah It helps us do all the fun things that we do. Rankin' Swords.
00:10:34
Speaker
Talking comics. watching We watched Kraven for you guys. We sure did. but she watched We watched the movie Kraven. And we watched Morbius. A movie I could tell you zero things about.
00:10:48
Speaker
Now, we haven't done a movie Fighters in like six months. ah have we wait Have we? Yes, we have. We did one. The last one we did it was in June.
00:11:01
Speaker
so Did we not do one? Five months. But ah yeah, that'll come back eventually, I guess. do ah ah Matt, I swear to God I didn't notice.
00:11:14
Speaker
Hang on, when did we watch Sonic 3? That was much earlier. Okay, I don't remember anything about the movie fighters. it the We hit stop on the their recording, and all of those movies immediately exit my brain.
00:11:28
Speaker
Patreon.com slash WarRocketAjax, that's where you gotta go. WarRocketAjax, name of the show. And... Chris, you mentioned 746 Gimmick Street. You don't have to go there, but there is something cool there.
00:11:40
Speaker
There is cool there because of the ah we have a little organization called the Gimmick Street Preservation Society. If you're at the $15 level on our Patreon or higher, um you join the Gimmick Street Preservation Society, and as a member of that, you get to decide what goes at of an address on Gimmick Street.
00:11:58
Speaker
And what who has determined what is at 746 Gimmick Street? It's Chris Cole. That's my name. Who puts this at 746 Gimmick Street.
00:12:11
Speaker
It's the Kurt Conkin Taco Hut, which is the combination KFC Taco Bell Pizza Hut, locally owned and operated by Kurt Connors. No, you can't go there.
00:12:25
Speaker
You can't go there. Maybe he's learned his lesson. And it's just KFC Taco Bell Pizza Hut. If any other kind of business, I would say you would be i would be willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
00:12:42
Speaker
But this business? After what he did? You can go get one of those Baja Blast pies at Kirk Connors' KFC Taco Bell Pizza Hut.
00:12:55
Speaker
Matt, sidebar real quick? Yeah, yeah. Buddy, I would fuck up one of those Baja Blast pies. and We don't do Snack Situation anymore. I'm not even kidding. Bring back Snack Situation with the two of us for one episode?
00:13:08
Speaker
I don't even have to. I would i would eat it recreationally.
00:13:16
Speaker
I know that they had that flashback menu. They brought back that caramel apple empanada. Yeah. Oof. Oof. right, back to the show. Thank you to Chris for naming that ah location on Gaming Street.
00:13:30
Speaker
And also to the other Chris. Chris, here are our newest supporters on Patreon. It is just one name, but we do have a new supporter. um That is Aaron Bolger.
00:13:43
Speaker
Thank you, Aaron. If you'd like to be like Aaron and help us out here on the show, you can do that by going to patreon.com slash warrocketajax. And as Chris said, kicking in as little as a dollar a month to make sure that we do all the shows that we do here on the Clytus Media network of podcasts. And as a patron, you get every single one of those shows, every single episode of every single one of those shows completely ad-free.
00:14:06
Speaker
um So that sounds pretty good, right? But in addition to that, if you're at the $5 level or higher, you get bonus audio, which includes... Everything we've ever recorded specifically for Patreon, we do stuff that's just for Patreon. We do stuff that is um outtakes from the show that I put on Patreon.
00:14:27
Speaker
And um there's also writing that both of us have done that's Patreon exclusive. So if you join at the $5 level, you get all of that right all the way back to when we first started on Patreons. which so That's a pretty good bucket of stuff to listen to and read.
00:14:47
Speaker
At the $10 level, you get line-stepping privileges for our segments, which currently include 1 to 10 of Swords and Every Story Ever. At the $15 level, you join the Gimmick Street Preservation Society and get to name an address on Gimmick Street. And at the $20 level, you get a t-shirt, our annual t-shirt, um which we're going to start thinking about the 2026 t-shirt pretty soon.
00:15:08
Speaker
I'm sure we'll have something good for you for that. We did have a 2025 t-shirt that we ended up delaying. So I think it might be time.
00:15:18
Speaker
Pending availability. Pending availability. We might do that. If you're unable to help us monetarily, we do understand that you can help us out in other ways. You can leave us a five-star review on the podcasting app that you use.
00:15:33
Speaker
um That would be great ah a great way to help us. Or you can just spread the word about the show, tell your friends and family, tell people you know to listen to this show, War Rocket Ajax, and then maybe they will be ah compelled to contribute to our Patreon, and and they can help us out monetarily. That would be a big help as well.
00:15:57
Speaker
All right, Chris, with that, now that we've thanked our Patreon supporters, it's time for Comforts and Joys. What he say? Let's do
00:16:11
Speaker
Chris, what's bringing you you comfort this week? Matt, I hate to say it. But I'm in some discomfort today.
00:16:21
Speaker
Oh, no. no. What's going on? Well, Matt, as you know, I got the Nintendo Switch 2. And I transferred everything over from my Switch 1.
00:16:34
Speaker
Right. now It's an interesting process. i've I've gone through it as well. Yeah. Now, here's the problem. The whole reason I got the Switch 2 when I did was because there was a new Pokemon game.
00:16:47
Speaker
It's great. Some people say they don't like it. Those people are weird and wrong, and I don't know why. They're talking about Windows. The game has Bulbasaur in it. Why are you looking at Windows?
00:16:59
Speaker
Look at Bulbasaur. Look at Eevee. Wait, what what do you what do you mean Windows? People are mad because the Windows are just like... like drawn onto to the buildings and they're not like actual windows. They're not like reflective or glass or anything. like People are upset about the graphics. Buddy, I hate to tell you, it just looks like a Pokemon game.
00:17:20
Speaker
That's what a Pokemon game looks like.
00:17:24
Speaker
ah Anyway. I went to open up ah Pokemon Home. which is the online service that I pay actual US American dollars for, which lets you keep your Pokemon forever.
00:17:41
Speaker
And i actually wound up transferring Pokemon from the Nintendo 3DS Pokemon Bank, ah which was very funny because i ah it's from a playthrough of Pokemon X where I named every Pokemon that I caught.
00:17:58
Speaker
And so I do have a Hawlucha from 12 years ago named El Dandy Jr. Which I think is pretty funny. He's a jam-up guy. Just like the original El Dandy.
00:18:12
Speaker
Matt, he's ah he's a jam-up guy. He deserves title shot. I went to go transfer some Pokemon from Pokemon Sword, a game that I put a considerable amount of time in. And...
00:18:24
Speaker
My Nintendo Switch 2 was like, oh, do you want to start a new game of Pokemon? And i was like, no. I want my Pokemon and from that game.
00:18:38
Speaker
So I don't know what's happened, but I have lost Pokemon. There are Pokemon in Limbo somewhere. Now I will say, I have a Pokemon Sword on a cartridge.
00:18:52
Speaker
But the save data was on my i Switch 2. And I went through, i did all the Isle of Armor stuff. I've got an Urshifu. I've got um've got a lot that I would be reticent to start a new game of Pokemon Sword and get again.
00:19:12
Speaker
So wait, by by putting your Pokemon Home Pokemon in... On the new game, it thought you were trying to get rid of everything from your old game? No, no, no. I wasn't able to get the Pokemon from my old game, and I don't know why.
00:19:27
Speaker
i see. My save file does not seem to exist anymore. So I guess I'm just going to look around on my existing Switch 1 and see if they're still there. But if anybody has been through this process... It should be still be on your Switch 1, I would think.
00:19:45
Speaker
Yeah. And like, they should still exist in Pokemon Home, right? Because that's like... Well, they're not in Pokemon Home. Because Pokemon Home, that's in the cloud. Yeah. Where they are is in my Pokemon Sword save file.
00:19:58
Speaker
Weird. And I don't know where that is. So, if anybody has been through this situation, and you can help reunite me with Scorbany, and Zation, and all them, Urshifu, Corviknight,
00:20:15
Speaker
trying to remember more Pokemon from that generation. if you If you know how to solve this problem, let me know. DM me on on Discord. don't Don't put it in the Ajax Discord, because I won't see it, probably, but DM me for for sure.
00:20:31
Speaker
or Or reach out via email. Or reach out via warrocketpodcast.gmail.com. Matt will make sure I see that. Because Matt, you understand how important it is.
00:20:43
Speaker
Yes, I want you to get your Pokemon back too. Thank you.
00:20:50
Speaker
Anyway, that's what I'm doing.
Homeowner's Insurance & Deck Repair Concerns
00:20:53
Speaker
So, ah what are you up to this week, Matt? Well, I am adrift and lost without my pocket monsters.
00:21:02
Speaker
Well, Chris, i um I'm going to ask our listeners for a little bit of help. Wow, both of us. Yeah. Coming out hot in hand.
00:21:12
Speaker
That's right. if if we're If you're doing discomfort, I will too. um Because i have never been in this situation before. but The deck... At the back of my house, which is a necessity, because otherwise, if you walked out of my back door, um you would fall several feet.
00:21:31
Speaker
Amazing that I have not managed to do that when I have visited you. Well, because the deck is there. Yeah, but I'm notably clumsy.
00:21:41
Speaker
If the deck wasn't there, then you would fall. it's It's not in great shape. It's... it's starting to kind of like the wood. don't, I don't think it was built very well.
00:21:53
Speaker
Uh, when my house was built, uh, however many years ago. Yeah, I don't. And, um, it doesn't seem to have been like treated well, um, like with wood treatment stuff.
00:22:06
Speaker
And so like some of the wood is starting to rot and, um, it's like, it is becoming ever more abundantly clear that, um, I gotta, I gotta get that thing fixed. Um,
00:22:17
Speaker
Or or like totally redone. And you know it's taken its share of water damage. It's been through a hurricane. It's been through some stuff. I'm wondering if anyone listening to our comic book podcast knows enough about homeowner's insurance to tell me if I could get my homeowner's insurance to pay for deck repairs.
00:22:38
Speaker
Matt, I feel like there's someone you could call who would know. And it's your insurance people. Yes, but like I don't like talking to them.
00:22:51
Speaker
i don' i know. um' I'm going to call them and they're going try to upsell me on some shit or like whatever. And I'm trying to avoid having to actually talk to them.
00:23:04
Speaker
um Especially like because they're going to want me to like take pictures and stuff. And I just generally want to know, is it worth it? Is it worth it to contact... those people uh to see it to even like talk to them about them paying anything for these repairs that i need um before i just like you know have to shell out the money uh to do it uh because it's probably something i'm gonna have to do next year and uh you know it's a homeowner problems but uh
00:23:40
Speaker
But that's the way it is. Matt Wilson wants to know, is it worth it? Should he work it? Yes, that is exactly what I want to know. Should I work it and call my insurance company, my homeowner's insurance company, to put the thing down and flip it and reverse it?
00:23:58
Speaker
but Right. but which The thing in this scenario is a deck. Which is not big. it's ah It's like a ah relatively small deck. All I've got out there is kind of like my grill and my smoker.
00:24:12
Speaker
And that's like it. That's all that's out there. So, ah yeah, listeners, if if you have some experience with ah homeowners insurance and being a homeowner and whether you can get them to pay for stuff like that, um please get in touch.
00:24:31
Speaker
Because I don't know. I don't know. It's been on my mind. Because I know it's going to be expensive. Yeah. Probably so.
Chris's Video Game Reviews & Critiques
00:24:42
Speaker
Alright, time for joys. Let's talk about some real joys, Chris. What's bringing you joy? Matt, there's a lot of great video games out right now. Yeah. A ton of them that I look forward to talking about on this show.
00:24:54
Speaker
the The remake of Dragon Quest 1 and 2 is out, ah where they went back to the original Dragon Quest and added a plot. And everything.
00:25:05
Speaker
oh yeah There's ah this amazing ah roguelike beat-em-up that I started playing yesterday and enjoying this very day as we're recording this. a new I say a new Zelda. It's a new Hyrule Warriors.
00:25:20
Speaker
But that is a new Zelda, technically. and In a very technical sense, yes. Yeah. And of course, you know... look a new mystery gift for, uh, Pokemon legends, uh, ZA just came out.
00:25:34
Speaker
So you can get Diancy in that, but Matt, I had a problem. I have a real problem playing Pokemon legends, ZA. Cause you know, i gotta to catch them all.
00:25:47
Speaker
It's true, yeah. I did complete my Pokedex, by the way. Those 230 Pokemon got them all. Every single one of them. Congratulations. Thank you. had to do some trading, had to do some post-game stuff, but it but it all worked out.
00:26:02
Speaker
The Switch 2, Matt. I don't know how you play Silksong with this thing. Because it is not made for, I would say, human hands.
00:26:20
Speaker
It is, like, it's very flat. And playing it hurt me physically. I do love Nintendo.
00:26:33
Speaker
It's the only corporation that I consider to be a friend. But I don't know why they wanted to make it hurt me to catch Pokemon. So I went on ah Blue Sky, an increasingly bad website, but one that is less bad than many others.
00:26:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And I said, hey, does anyone have any recs for Switch 2 grips? Because what I had with the Switch 1 was the HORI Split Pad Pro, um which I liked quite a bit.
00:27:04
Speaker
ah They have not made one for the Switch 2 yet. But ah Andrew Lehman recommended the D Brand Killswitch 2.
00:27:15
Speaker
ah So I went to go look at that. it is ah You can find it if you want at dbrand.com. And they make a... ah i think he's i think he changed his name back to Luchasaurus, by the way.
00:27:31
Speaker
but Boom. Kill Switch. switch That's very funny. i was I was looking at Blue Sky being like, is this guy Luchasaurus? He's not wearing a mask in his profile picture.
00:27:45
Speaker
I don't know why it's called the Kill Switch. That's a very aggro name and for this. But it ah it comes in different pieces. It's it's got screen protectors. It's got like a shell for the the main body of the Switch 2.
00:28:00
Speaker
And most importantly, it has Joy-Con grips ah that basically make the Switch 2... be like look and feel exactly like the Steam Deck.
00:28:12
Speaker
They go on very easily. They're a little bit pricey. I think it was ah like $60 for the set, but they seem very well made. ah They went on super easy. They come in a variety of of colors, and you can get like skins and everything if you want.
00:28:31
Speaker
I just got the basic... like regular thing. And I have not regretted a second of it. It even comes with dock adapter because the shell makes it slightly too thick to fit in the regular adapter or the regular dock. So they just give you a thing that you just put into the dock and then put your switch to. And it's packaged very nicely. It comes from Canada.
00:28:59
Speaker
So, you know, if, if that, if you like Canada, Maybe give it a shot. But ah definitely check it out. DBRAND.com I picked one up. Not a sponsor, but could be.
00:29:12
Speaker
ah But thank you to Andrew for the recommendation. My hands don't hurt as much trying to catch Diancy, which took me fucking 40 Pokeballs today.
00:29:25
Speaker
ah Yeah, the D-Brand Killswitch. Matt! What do you have ah to bring joy to everyone?
Review of Korean Movie 'Sleep'
00:29:33
Speaker
Chris, I'm going to recommend a movie. This is the last, I think, kind of kind of spooky movie that I'm going to recommend. these These are holdovers from when I was watching movies for for the Halloween season.
00:29:48
Speaker
The holdover? Is that little spooky? No, that's that's that's a Christmas movie, too. A movie about people having problems. Boring as hell.
00:30:02
Speaker
I think it's pretty good. ah You will. No, that's I'm not recommending The Holdings. I think I already recommended that on the show. um The movie I'm recommending you can watch on ah Hugh Liu...
00:30:16
Speaker
Huey Lewis. Huey Lewis. Streaming service. right Right, right, right, right, right. It is called Sleep, and it is a Korean movie.
00:30:28
Speaker
It's a very interesting movie. approach to a spooky movie because it is a movie where two characters have two different interpretations of what is going on in the movie and each one is equally valid and you can fall on one side or the other and be right and the movie does not tip its hand as to which one is correct at all um But it's called Sleep because it is about a ah married couple, the wife is pregnant, and the husband, who is an actor, suddenly starts having sleepwalking.
00:31:14
Speaker
it's It's eventually revealed that he has just like that thing that Mike Birbiglia has. okay Where like he will get up and like open a window and...
00:31:25
Speaker
lean out of the window or he'll just start like eating food out of the refrigerator, like raw food out of the refrigerator or like do various things. And and so they go to a doctor and the doctor tells them like he needs to like sleep in a sleeping bag and start taking medication and stuff.
00:31:43
Speaker
um Essentially the movie becomes about whether this is a medical disorder or he is possessed by a ghost. Okay.
00:31:55
Speaker
And you could come out of the movie really thinking strongly either way and be right. like ah Like I said, it does not come down on one or the other being right or wrong.
00:32:11
Speaker
um But the third act also just like ramps things up to like really like insane, wild proportions. It's very good. it I will say, though, Chris, you specifically should not watch it.
00:32:27
Speaker
Not even because of it being scary, but because of what happens to not one but two dogs. Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah, I don't mess with that. Yeah, so I would warn anyone else about that part of the movie. um but But it is a really good exp exploration of... like A married couple disagreeing about something, and like you you can really see both sides.
00:32:59
Speaker
A married couple disagreeing about something, and one of them thinks ghosts are real and the other doesn't? Yep. Interesting. Interesting. That you would find that. That I would find that compelling? Yeah. Anyway, that's ah I enjoyed that movie a whole bunch. So that's that's what I will recommend as my joy.
00:33:18
Speaker
With that, Chris, it's time to talk about some of the comics
Comic Book Highlights: 'DCKO Nightfall No. 1'
00:33:21
Speaker
of the week. What do you say? Let's do it.
00:33:25
Speaker
There's no text or choice winner for this week, Chris. ah We didn't text about any comics, but the the comic that we both read and said let's talk about it is DCKO Nightfall No. 1.
00:33:39
Speaker
Which, or I'm sorry, Night Fight. night nightfa Nightfall. Night Fight. I think we both thought it was called Nightfall. I might have called it Nightfall. But that's just because I'm often talking about or thinking about Nightfall.
00:33:52
Speaker
Yeah. Batman is holding a Batleth on the cover of this comic, which is nuts. Yeah, doesn't he know that's a low-ranked sword? It is a Batleth, though. I mean, that is true, so it is... Some degree of sense why Why doesn't he have his laser sword, though? That's a high-ranked Batman sword.
00:34:10
Speaker
That's a good point. That is just a Batleth. Yep, that is fully a Batleth on the cover. um i mean, look, this is this is marketing directly to me. It is Batman in like Jack Kirby armor with a Batleth drawn by Dan Mora.
00:34:27
Speaker
Yeah, so Dan Mora does the art throughout this issue, and so it looks gorgeous, obviously. um But this is about what happens to Batman after he gets um unceremoniously removed from the competition of DCKO.
00:34:43
Speaker
ah he's He's like the one guy in the bracket. In DC KO who who gets eliminated like in that first scrum in that that Rambo that determines who everybody is in the in the tournament.
00:34:59
Speaker
And so he ends up as as we've seen Batman do many times in recent years going to like a future Gotham City that he doesn't recognize.
00:35:11
Speaker
Yes. Full of Robins. Just chock to the brim with them. Chock full of Robins, they call it. Yeah. And what happens, like the the issue starts with like ah you know Batman in Gotham as he knows it, like kind of wondering whether Gotham even needs him anymore because all of his sons are doing such good work.
00:35:38
Speaker
Right? Mm-hmm. This is a world where Dick Grayson has become Batman and has Grey Temples and has like dozens of Robins.
00:35:50
Speaker
and He's got Robin Incorporated? Yes, yes, yes. And he has like a grudge against batman against Bruce because this world's Bruce has done like some really bad stuff that has apparently resulted in the deaths of...
00:36:09
Speaker
Damien and Tim and Jason. Yeah, two very regrettable deaths. two Two out of three very ri regrettable deaths. Yeah, one that... Yeah, but an interesting idea.
00:36:22
Speaker
We sure have seen Batman like end up in worlds where he's like, what's going on? A lot lately. It is weird that Batman doesn't go, man, this is just like what happened in the Chibs Darsky run.
00:36:36
Speaker
Yes, it it is very similar to that. Like, like, Dog, you know about how there's ah there's a dark multiverse. True. Did you like that there's a Robin with the Dragon Slayer?
00:36:52
Speaker
I didn't dislike it but You know what? That's, I think, that's a good way to put it. We don't see him do much, but there is a Robin with a six-foot sword. Yeah, he's also got, like ah like, a green arrow hood and a beard-like green arrow, so I don't know what's going on there.
00:37:06
Speaker
Well, you know, lot of people have beards, Matt. You have one sometimes. That's true. That's true, but you you don't really you don't usually think of a Robin with a beard. Well, no, I think of Robin as a child.
00:37:17
Speaker
Right. ah But, like...
00:37:22
Speaker
it It seems like a lot of these Robins are modeled after other superheroes. And there is a bit where Dick talks about how like other superheroes got involved in the training.
00:37:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think what's so kind of the most interesting thing is that the Dick's like, yeah, you know, like... I founded the Titans and was like a leader of the Titans, so I know how to make a team. but And then when you see like the the workings of ah Robin Incorporated, it's Cyborg and Starfire and Speedy and Raven are the ones like teaching the the classes, ah which I think is a nice little connection.
00:38:00
Speaker
What was that dark crisis? Yeah. dark crisis Yeah, Dark Crisis. Yeah, look, we had a lot to say about Dark Crisis. Yeah, it wasn't Joshua Williamson's best work.
00:38:12
Speaker
Yeah, the comic that never actually happened. Always felt like it was about to, but I don't think it actually did. Boy, it really did. Took a while to get out of the gate.
00:38:23
Speaker
Dark Crisis. But I will absolutely go to bat for Joshua Williamson on Batman specifically. like heat like Back when I was an Oni Press guy, and he was an Oni Press guy, like i ended up hanging out with him at like a like the day before New York Comic Con, the first time I went to New York City.
00:38:46
Speaker
And we we talked a lot about Batman. And like... He's a guy who clearly like thinks a lot about Batman and Batman's relationship to the Robins and the Robins' relationship to the wider DC universe and how they all fit into the Batman family. like ah We get like a very truncated introduction to ah Jason and Damien and Tim in this that I think...
00:39:18
Speaker
I will say, if I have one criticism of it, I feel like it could have used a ah one more pass, because everybody except Dick gets, like, two epithets at the start of theirs. It's like, Tim, the detective, the brains.
00:39:31
Speaker
And it's like, you only needed one of those. But that's just me nitpicking. And I like seeing that play out. I thought this was a very enjoyable issue. And obviously, it's Dan Mora drawing Batman. So, like, you know, that's good.
00:39:47
Speaker
You don't need me to tell you that. You can look at it with your eyes. I also really liked how this version of Dick's Batman costume is kind of a Nightwing costume, too.
00:40:00
Speaker
Yeah. like It's a very good mix of the two. And I assume Dan Mora designed that. um Kudos to Dan Mora on that. It's really good. He's got the Nightwing gauntlets and boots, but with little Batman spikes on them.
00:40:15
Speaker
Yeah. I think that's fun. It's good. All right. His bat symbol is very, very much a Nightwing and Batman symbol at the same time.
00:40:26
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I like that a lot. All right. That was DC KO Night Fight
Review of 'Planet She-Hulk No. 1'
00:40:31
Speaker
number one. I want to talk a little bit now about ah Planet She-Hulk number one, which is by Stephanie Phillips and Aaron Cooter. Yeah.
00:40:42
Speaker
Stephanie Phillips, I haven't read a ton of Stephanie Phillips' stuff, um but I know she's written a good amount of single-issue or one-off stories for both Marvel and DC.
00:40:57
Speaker
this I thought this was pretty good, pretty fun. It it figures out a way to get Jen Walters ah to Sakaar, although this is like like the new Sakaar. It's Sakaar in Nevo.
00:41:12
Speaker
which I think is like the second version of the planet. um And she comes to Sakaar first for the the funeral of Hirokala, who is one of Hulk's sons from back when he lived on Sakaar.
00:41:31
Speaker
And Hulk tells her, like, oh, well, I just need you to stay here for five days while... to maintain the peace while I do like grieving stuff.
00:41:45
Speaker
And then it takes a lot longer than five days. And so she starts to get restless and she gets invited to a wedding, ah where it seems like the point of the wedding is for her to be like the entertainment and fight a giant monster in an arena.
00:42:02
Speaker
And wouldn't you know it? She's got a fucking dragon slayer, absolute wonder woman sword through that whole sequence. i Did everybody read Berserk at the same time?
00:42:17
Speaker
Great I guess we all jumped on with those big Dark Horse editions, huh? I guess so. um But ah it ends with a cliffhanger that that finds Jyn probably having to like solve a big mystery ah on Sakaar in Nevo.
00:42:37
Speaker
um And it's it's a pretty good, I think, approach to bringing She-Hulk into the whole Planet Hulk mythology, um while maintaining like some She-Hulkiness of it, where she'll like talk to the camera and stuff.
00:42:53
Speaker
Now, I will say this. There's at least one joke in here that is extremely dated, where um she invokes the name of Jerry Springer, which should absolutely not be in a comic in 2025.
00:43:06
Speaker
yeah yeah but But that is my only complaint about the book. Otherwise, it is a hoot and very fun and well done. And Aaron Cooter's art is like really perfect for it.
00:43:20
Speaker
like He loves drawing these little this alien freaks and giant monsters. um so ah So far, so good. I liked this issue.
00:43:33
Speaker
ah One last book. that I didn't get a chance to read, Chris, is Absolute Green Lantern number eight, but you did. Right. Now, we talked about ah the last issue of Absolute Green Lantern, where it went real high concept, and about about the different colors of lantern as being like states of enlightenment that you pass through.
00:44:06
Speaker
but also some people believe that it's the reverse order that you pass through and how one is action and without thought and the other is thought without action.
00:44:17
Speaker
And that got, that got real complicated and philosophical in a a way that, that I thought was very, uh, Morrisonian. along the lines of like some of the stuff in like the invisibles where it gets real cosmic.
00:44:37
Speaker
Uh, this issue kind of gets back to what I think the people really want to see. Sapphic romance.
00:44:46
Speaker
Uh, this issue focuses on the kind of backstory of, uh, Joe Mullen, uh, And includes a couple of my favorite ah DC Universe characters, Renee Montoya and Cameron Chase. Cameron Chase has been in the book for a while.
00:45:03
Speaker
Also, fucking Mark Shaw shows up. So if you were wondering, is there an absolute Manhunter? Yes, there is. Hell yeah, dawg. We find out ah that, you know, Joe was a cop in Evergreen.
00:45:18
Speaker
And then ah she did the best thing a cop can do, which is stop being a cop. Right. ah Because the chief of police was racist who was running a protection racket.
00:45:29
Speaker
And ah one of the things is she also works with Renee Montoya. And they have a moment where they're out together and Renee kisses her.
00:45:41
Speaker
And Joe's like, oh, I like guys. And Renee says a very great line, which is, huh, I thought I was a better detective than that.
00:45:53
Speaker
And then come to find out later, um like that is the start of Joe realizing that no, she like likes women too. As well. And then she goes to Coast City and winds up ah in winds up getting married to Cameron Chase.
00:46:12
Speaker
So all the bits before about ah Joe having a marriage that ah broke up ah were about a marriage to Cameron Chase, ah which I like. Then she starts cheating on Cameron Chase with Renee Montoya.
00:46:27
Speaker
Wow. The drama. Yeah, no. All of this is in this issue. ah it is like It is the best use of the nine-panel grid I've seen in a while, because there's a lot of story to get through in here.
00:46:43
Speaker
Yeah. I'll say the the sticking point for me on this book from the very beginning has been the art. ah It's just... it It looks like it doesn't... like I don't want to say it's bad, because it's not.
00:46:59
Speaker
But it it's not what I expect from a book like this. But I will say, um this issue looks better to me than like the earlier ones. Yeah, I like i have liked the art in it, but I know exactly what you're saying.
00:47:15
Speaker
Genoi Lindsay, who did the the first arc. This arc is by... oh Al Ewing and Rafa Sandoval. that I think Genoye Lindsay is on this issue. No, he is on this issue. who what it What did Rafa Sandoval draw? this Oh, Rafa Sandoval drew ah um Absolute Superman.
00:47:35
Speaker
That's where I got confused. ah yeah I think there is a shift in style that has fit it. I do feel like for this book, you kind of want like a Pasquale Fairey.
00:47:47
Speaker
Like, you like it feels like it's a book that weirdly feels like it should be in a style that is very specific. But I think the art in this issue ah is a real like level up. I think it's, again, ah doing it on the on the grid, the layouts work really well.
00:48:06
Speaker
like it's It's not a thing where you notice that it's on the nine-panel grid because it doesn't call attention to itself until you're thinking about how much happened in this issue. ah But yeah, I really liked it.
00:48:18
Speaker
At least the issue right before this one had fill-in artists. Yes. So I think that might be what you were thinking of. Yeah, I think so.
00:48:28
Speaker
ah But I know that I... i i i read the credits for this and Absolute Superman this week back-to-back, so that is probably what tripped me up.
00:48:40
Speaker
yeah ah the The fill-in-out for the last issue was was good, too. yeah that was Jason Howard and jason howard and Riley Rossmo. Yeah, man. on Good stuff ah from Al Ewing and Janoy Lindsay. Again, I think all the Absolute books are kind of like crushing it.
00:49:02
Speaker
Like, Yeah, the only one I haven't really read is Flash. um But every single one that I've read has been top-notch good stuff.
00:49:15
Speaker
I think the big three are the big three. Superman, Batman, and a Wonder Woman are the absolute books. yeah Flash and Green Lantern... Flash is weirdly... It's not a It's not a slow book, but I feel like it is taking its time to get where it's going.
00:49:36
Speaker
It feels like it has a slower burn than, you know, Batman kicking down a door and saying, knock, knock, motherfucker. yeah ah Whereas ah Green Lantern, now that it's getting really weird, I'm super into it.
00:49:52
Speaker
And Martian Manhunter is like... Oh, and Martian Manhunter is the best one. Yeah. the The trippy indie book, which is, yeah, it might be my favorite. I don't know. It's hard to say.
00:50:06
Speaker
They're all really good. Martian Manhunter is kind of like one of the best comics that I've ever read. Yeah. All right. With that, Chris, it's time. Let's talk about some other good comics.
00:50:18
Speaker
It's time for Hick Mania.
Discussion on Jonathan Hickman's 'Fantastic Four'
00:50:25
Speaker
Now, Chris, before we get into these issues of Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four, I said earlier that I had some thoughts about potentially retroactively changing how we approach this.
00:50:41
Speaker
Here's what I mean by that.
00:50:45
Speaker
I kind of feel like Fantastic Four Dark Reign... wasn't Hickmania 1. Okay. It was like the war to settle the score. Okay.
00:50:57
Speaker
So that would mean the first arc of Hickman's Fantastic Four proper was Hickmania 1. And then this would be Hickmania 2.
00:51:09
Speaker
Because if there's any set of comic books that reminded me of Wrestlemania 2, it's this. Because it takes place in multiple cities? Exactly.
00:51:25
Speaker
Matt, I appreciate that you have embraced making jokes just for me. The jokes that only that only i will but ah but I will get them, and I will love them.
00:51:41
Speaker
i i I guess we could still call this Hickmania 3, but But man, did this have me thinking about WrestleMania 2. I think we should we should ah just start naming them after In Your House.
00:51:55
Speaker
Bad Blood with two Ds. Beware of Dog. Yeah. ah I really – you know what these four issues felt like to me? and And we're going by what's in the different trade paperbacks. So that's why we're only doing four issues this time.
00:52:15
Speaker
Mm-hmm. um But these four issues felt to be like the first issue of four different story arcs. Like, you expect these stories to, like, continue, but then the next issue is just a different thing. Yeah, and I do feel like...
00:52:36
Speaker
That is definitely a thing with the first one. And then you realize, like oh, each of these issues is going to be about a new kind of city. Right, because because it's it's the the the city underground, the high evolutionary city underground.
00:52:52
Speaker
That's the first issue. Then it's a new version of Atlantis. Then it's a city on the moon.
00:53:04
Speaker
the The universal in humans. Where the universal in humans are. And then it's the Negative Zone. where Where the Negative Zone prison from Civil War has been expanded into a city.
00:53:18
Speaker
Correct. So it's it's four issues that introduce four different cities in like four Marvel-ass locations.
00:53:30
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And it's new takes on them. like It's not just the Mole Man City Underground. It's the high evolutionary city underground that the Mole Man doesn't like being there. it's It's Atlantis, but it's not Namor's Atlantis. It's it's a a different... ah the so It's actually a different three Atlantises.
00:53:56
Speaker
Yes, with three new races of Atlanteans. And it's... um A city on the moon, but it's not like the regular Inhumans' city on the moon. It's not the blue area of the moon.
00:54:10
Speaker
It's where these new Inhumans are. and And then finally, it's it's the negative zone, and it has to do with Annihilus, but it's a new take on that, too.
00:54:24
Speaker
Yeah, apparently there's a war going on between Annihilus and Blastar. And... the The weirdest thing about this, and the the structure that I think... Matt, you know that I am an advocate of the Larry Hama school.
00:54:42
Speaker
Very much so. Of not planning ahead. Right, pantsing all the way, yeah. Yeah, do you you figure that out. You figure out the parachute on the way down. oh But I love that each of these issues ends with like...
00:54:59
Speaker
a complete story arc's worth of stuff that's just summed up in bullet points in a very Jonathan Hickman style. yes Like, you get four or five bullet points for each city.
00:55:10
Speaker
And then the last one, the bullet points are interrupted by the rest of the story. Right, there's a reveal that those bullet points are coming from somewhere and aren't just, like, Hickman text pages. Right.
00:55:29
Speaker
and And yeah, then the rest of the story goes on after that, which yeah yes, that is good. i do think as like a reading experience, it is a little frustrating.
00:55:40
Speaker
I think Hickman gets better at this over time. Well, because you want, Do you want the rest of the story ah about these cities interacting, or like you know what are these four cities going to do now that they're all here? But that doesn't happen in these five issues.
00:55:58
Speaker
but Well, and also, also like each of these first issues, each of these issues that introduces this thing, also introduces a conflict or problem.
00:56:09
Speaker
yeah That it seems like the Fantastic Four is going to solve. But then they don't. like They just kind of like leave, I guess. and And that is like ah a little bit frustrating.
00:56:22
Speaker
um I mean, it's clearly all building to like a convergence of of this all coming together. But like the the way that it's presented here, where it's just like these episodic things that lack...
00:56:35
Speaker
a real resolution um is is like I said, a little bit frustrating. it But also, interestingly, each of these four issues has a different focus character from yeah the main team.
00:56:50
Speaker
And I think that's cool. Like, I think there's, like, a lot of cool stuff about these four issues. And then I think there's also, like, a weird amount of, like, them being a little bit frustrating. So let's like dig into the details.
00:57:04
Speaker
ah One more thing before we get right into it. A thing that I found interesting while reading this and and listening to you talking about it is that I don't think you would describe Jonathan Hickman's time at Marvel as like backwards looking.
00:57:22
Speaker
like like There's literally an issue of this comic where Reed Richards is like, hey, the past fucking sucks. Y'all need to get with it. yeah It's the future, baby.
00:57:33
Speaker
And i feel like that's, you know, Higman does a lot of new stuff. But as we're reading this with an eye towards going to Secret Wars 2015, which is a modernized kind of remix version of a story from 1984, it's
00:57:58
Speaker
it's
00:58:00
Speaker
It's interesting to look at these in the context of, yes, each of these is an existing Marvel Universe thing, but taken to the next level. like The first one is the Mole Man for a reason.
00:58:13
Speaker
Yeah, i it does feel like Hickman and El Eelosham trying to do their versions of a Lee and Kirby story.
00:58:26
Speaker
we like you know If you go back and read the Lee and Kirby Fantastic Four, they're just like constantly inventing new things. Because they had to. right it's like Yeah, because there was no continuity to build on. other than it's i mean Other than Namor.
00:58:38
Speaker
but Yeah, but it's like it's it's like throwing out new ideas all the time, sending the team to new places, having them go underground, having them go to space, having them go to Atlantis, having them go to the Negative Zone.
00:58:54
Speaker
Like, it it it it It's certainly like – if it's not backwards looking, it's certainly an homage to that kind of storytelling, which was very forward-looking.
00:59:07
Speaker
So I get that's what it's going for. I really do. I like i think that's evident yeah in the stories we get. um So, okay. Fantastic Four, number 575.
00:59:18
Speaker
um Above the the logo, um there's it's there's chaos in the underworld, which is something that the Mole Man is going to say. And we have on the cover ah the Fantastic Four fighting Mole Man and his monster.
00:59:33
Speaker
Yeah, you know that big monster from ah Fantastic Four number one? Yep. um That doesn't happen in the issue. That does not happen in this issue. Mole Man isn't really a villain in this story, um but the cover would make you think so.
00:59:46
Speaker
I do like, ah we'll get to it in a second, but I do like when Reed's like, hey Mole Man, are you like, done trying to conquer the surface and everything, and Mole Man's like, man, fuck the surface. Have you seen the news?
00:59:58
Speaker
Yeah. Have you been there? sucks. I'm like, damn, Mole Man's got a point. Yeah. I mean, he has more of a point in 2025 than he had in 2010, I feel like. That's true.
01:00:11
Speaker
Mole Man, you didn't know how good you had it. Yeah. So the the issue opens with some of Mole Man's emissaries coming up from the sewers. The moloids.
01:00:22
Speaker
The moloids. um And one of them instantly gets hit by a truck. Like... Like, right away. And he wakes up in an anime universe with RPG rules.
01:00:35
Speaker
um So one of the other Moloids removes his head, and then they go to the the Baxter building. And um the one that's just ahead...
01:00:47
Speaker
says, like, hey, we're we're coming here to let you know that there's a message coming from the Mole Man. Here he comes. And then the Mole Man and what a different monster, not the one on the cover, um like just emerge from out of the ground and destroy these beautiful ah polished floors in the Baxter building. and ah the woman cause Because the Mole Man's got to like make a big show out of it, out of out of being here.
01:01:16
Speaker
And he says, there's chaos in the underworld, subterranea is in peril, and I believe you are my only hope. And he explains about this city that the High Evolutionary has underground, which is in a Darwin bubble, which was supposed to like accelerate evolution.
01:01:36
Speaker
um Accelerate the evolution of the of the inhabitants of that city. But um the opposite happened, and everyone in the city started to devolve. And so the High Evolutionary had to like escape the city, and the Moloids went there and started devolving and turned into like kind of like ah Neanderthals, I guess? No, they devolve into...
01:02:09
Speaker
Like, humans, like, they devolve, but it makes them smarter. Yeah, they they devolve – like, it says they're, like, human-like, but they kind of look like, I don't know, cavemen, maybe? Yeah, but they don't look like moloids.
01:02:24
Speaker
They don't look like moloids. That is very much true. but But whatever the case –
01:02:31
Speaker
They have gone to the city. These Moloids have gone to the city and and transformed. And now they've decided to raise the city to the surface. Which is what gets the Fantastic Four to like go down and try to stop this from happening.
01:02:47
Speaker
So they get in... you know the journey to the center of the earth version of the Fantasticar. isn't And start heading down toward Subterranea.
01:03:00
Speaker
i will say, I do really like the way that Eaglesham draws all of the vehicles that they use as these like weird retrofuturist Jack Kirby.
01:03:12
Speaker
like They're not aerodynamic. I really like that. they I really like the fucking Thunderbirds.
01:03:22
Speaker
They're very, um they're covered in pipes. A lot of pipes. um So they pass by Galactus corpse that's in the ground. Yeah, man. ah And Reed just says, this is where I buried the Galactus from the future. Did I miss that?
01:03:41
Speaker
the No. the This is referencing like a story from, I think... Quite a few years before this. Is this a Mark Miller story where there was a Galactus from the future that turned into a Galactus corpse that got buried in the Bullmen?
01:03:55
Speaker
I think it's from even before that. um Like a good bit before that. but But an asterisk with an editor's note would have been really useful. there i feel like There's space left on the page for a footnote.
01:04:07
Speaker
Yeah. Like there's a big empty space on that page. What the hell? They continue their descent. There's a scene where Ben Grimm confronts the Mole Man, and he's like, you're going try to take over the surface.
01:04:22
Speaker
um um That part um that you were talking about. Yeah. And then he's like, hey, Mole Man, if the Moleids are turning into like people people, like what's the problem?
01:04:34
Speaker
And Mole Man's like, uh, they suck, actually. and And Bingram's like, okay, do they suck or do they just not want to be, like, your slaves?
01:04:48
Speaker
And Mole Man's like, nah, man, the vibes are off. They have bad personalities. he ah this Okay, in 2025, this is weird to talk about, but Mole Man's like, they stopped having kids.
01:05:02
Speaker
Because the kids they have aren't affected by the devolution stuff. Right. So they're just moloids. So Mole Man makes a ah poses a philosophical question to the thing where he's like, what's better to be kind of dumb but care about your community and family?
01:05:28
Speaker
Or to be smart but abandon... your community for personal gain. ah Which, the conversation ends there, because they arrive.
01:05:41
Speaker
ah Well, they arrive at a city, but not the city. yeah And that is not actually the moral quandary of the issue. Because...
01:05:52
Speaker
What requires the intervention of the Fantastic Four is not like the existence of this city, but that the city is going to rise up to the surface and might create a an earthquake that could destroy New York.
01:06:07
Speaker
Right. So they finally get to the city, the High Evolutionary City, and Ben Grimm – it's already rising. The city's already rising. They can't stop it. Yeah.
01:06:19
Speaker
it's it's The thing they came here to do, they can't do it. But Ben Grimm, having heard about these kids that have been like essentially abandoned, jumps out of the ship, leaps into the city, immediately starts de-evolving into like a monkey thing. Yeah, but he gets a really big head.
01:06:42
Speaker
Yeah. And I couldn't tell if he was supposed to be getting a bigger brain. Because we do find out that's kind of what happens.
01:06:54
Speaker
Like, even the the like abandoned children who still look like moloids are super smart. Yeah. but But he's got kind of like a like an ape-like appearance.
01:07:07
Speaker
Yeah, he gets like – his arms get longer and yeah like Johnny makes a reference. Eaglesham, I think, could have made it a little more clear what exactly is happening to Ben. I largely like Eaglesham's art here, but yeah, I would agree.
01:07:21
Speaker
um But he like leaps in, rips open the cage where the kids are being kept, and takes them away. And is like, I'm getting you out of here. And so he brings them back to the ship.
01:07:32
Speaker
And there's only like four of them. No, three. There are three of them. All of the like abandoned children, there's just like three of them. um But Ben saves them all, brings them back to the ship, and then they escape from under the earth.
01:07:47
Speaker
And... um the city, like, it ends with the city just, like, having risen up to the surface. Yeah, Reed's like, oh, wow. So it looks like that fault line was actually designed to close up after it and provide it with ah lift and support.
01:08:04
Speaker
Crazy. Yeah. Like, Reed's like, damn, it's lucky that happened. And then we get the text page at the end, which is, like, on, like, a Like a ah pad screen. It's called HomePad.
01:08:22
Speaker
Yeah. um It says... lot of ah lot ah lot of designed icons on that screen. Yes, it says, ah a little over an hour after leaving the city, Ben Grimm reverted back to normal.
01:08:37
Speaker
ah Experimentation on the city. Well, normal for Ben Grimm. That's right. Non-devolved state is what it says. um It says experimentation conducted on the edge of the city suggests that a level A containment suits will prevent the effects of the high evolutionary ascension engine.
01:08:53
Speaker
Four days after rising, diplomatic envoys from the United States government opened a dialogue with the city's people regarding territorial rights. But negotiations broke down because they wanted it to be an independent nation state.
01:09:08
Speaker
And ah the Moloid children showed no signs of diminished intelligence two weeks later. Yeah, so Ben went back to normal, but the super smart Moloid children stayed super smart.
01:09:21
Speaker
Now, I want to talk about this letter page for a second. Okay. There's a letter page at the end of this issue with two letters. Now, the the way that the letters pages have been set up up to now were that Jonathan Hickman was answering the letters, but also he was having Valeria and Franklin answer the letters.
01:09:42
Speaker
That's fun. That's not what happens in this letters page. but because Because people are writing in being like, Valeria, they're those are words you should not use. Yes, there are two letters from two different ah people who are particular were particularly affected by the use of that word 574.
01:10:03
Speaker
in five seventy four Who were writing in to say, i don't like that that word was in the comic. Okay. ah they like they are They're saying, like that's like i don't I don't think that fit.
01:10:23
Speaker
And I'm just going to read Jonathan Hickman's response. Matt, Matt, do I need to brace myself? Well, it okay. Okay. I don't think his his take here is entirely wrong, but I also don't think that it's – I don't think he would defend it now, and I don't think he would say the same thing.
01:10:44
Speaker
Okay. So here's here's what Jonathan Hickman said in response to two letters from readers who said that they didn't like the use of the R word in the previous issue.
01:10:58
Speaker
Okay, first off, let me say with all honesty and candor that when someone buys a book I write, i want each and every reader to be thought thoroughly entertained. So I apologize for failing to provide that here.
01:11:10
Speaker
I know it's an impossible standard to meet, but it's my job to go give it a go each month, and I take a lot of pride in doing so. On to the point. Regarding Val, yes, she is super intelligent. However, emotionally and psychologically, she remains a toddler.
01:11:24
Speaker
One of the cool things about her is a character. So she's mostly id. And in truth, this makes her behaviorally closer to someone like Johnny instead of Reed. Now, like Johnny, this does not mean that she is not capable or willing of talking about how her words and actions might affect others.
01:11:39
Speaker
In fact, that very issue, number 574, she and Franklin commit an amazing act of compassion by helping Artie regain his ability to communicate, truly helping someone disabled.
01:11:51
Speaker
In the face of her actions, I'm not sure how you can portray her words as anything other than the type of playful, mischievous, competitive, cruel behavior that exists between siblings this age.
01:12:02
Speaker
It's just how kids talk. It is. I hate it when other kids say mean things to my children. I hate it when my kids say bad things back. And I hate it when I have to punish them for it. But this is the world, and I choose to write characters that live and breathe, that act like real people.
01:12:18
Speaker
Because if this is going to be a book that matters, that really means something, then it has to be about a real family. A real family that loves each other, and not just because of the good they do, but also but also in spite of the bad.
01:12:30
Speaker
I wrote something that you didn't like and it upset you. That makes you angry with me. I completely respect that. But if you come here each month expecting something else of me, then there's nothing I can do for you. I write how I write. That's the only way I know how to do it.
01:12:43
Speaker
Thanks again for reading and we'll see everyone next month.
01:12:52
Speaker
i i I think your response to my question of whether I needed to brace myself was accurate. Yeah. Because it's like, you know, I mean, this is a thing that I've you know written about and talked about. Like, yeah, man, I said that word all the time when I was kid.
01:13:09
Speaker
Sure. And like, like into my twenty s all just because i I hadn't thought about it, you know? like ah and And I do feel like there was a a time when it was...
01:13:30
Speaker
ah certainly more acceptable than it is now. Like, I think that is that that is a word that, like, I mean, you see it in Fantastic Four comics. oh
01:13:44
Speaker
So, if his argument is, like, that's just the way kids talk, and I'm writing realistic children, well, you're writing a super smart three-year-old who's gonna be fucking around with Dragon Man.
01:14:00
Speaker
I mean, I feel like he's writing realistic children from when he was a kid, not from the time of this comic. Probably. like ah i know i feel like that might be a lot of it, too.
01:14:14
Speaker
Because, again, i will tell yeah ah you, Hickman, he's a South Carolina guy, and we didn't we did not get the memo that that was the word we shouldn't be using until until the year that started with a two.
01:14:28
Speaker
In South Carolina, you know? A little slow on the ah ame uptake there. Like, I get his point of, like, I'm trying to write kids that feel like real kids.
01:14:40
Speaker
But I don't think that's the way you do it. Yeah, but they're not going to say fuck. Right, exactly. Because you you can't say fucking this comic. They're not going to say shithead. Yeah. Right? So, like... There's plenty of things they're not going to say that would be realistic for right many kids that they're not going to say in that comic.
01:15:00
Speaker
like Because they're not allowed. like I don't think his response is unreasonable, but like I said, i don't think he would... I probably don't think he would say that now. I would... Part of me would be curious, and part of me would, like...
01:15:15
Speaker
you know, like,
01:15:20
Speaker
part of me wants to just be like, it was 16 years ago. probably thinks differently now, you know? and it's And it's okay for him to to grow in that regard.
01:15:33
Speaker
i i wish...
01:15:38
Speaker
I think that there is an acknowledgement that that is a bad thing for Valeria to have said. and I think that, like, his argument isn't that it's okay to say it. It's that, like, yeah, it's a bad thing to say, but she's a kid and kids do bad stuff.
01:16:02
Speaker
That is, I think, of ah fairly reasonable argument. But again, there's other words she's not saying. yeah That I've heard children use. like I wouldn't go so ah so far as to say that his defense there is disingenuous, but it does...
01:16:24
Speaker
If your defense is, well, I've got to write kids the way that that kids really talk, well, there's lots of stuff that kids really say that you can't say for for all kinds of reasons.
01:16:37
Speaker
And I think there's an alternate...
01:16:41
Speaker
Way to do that than to have that kid say – than to have Valeria say what she said. yeah Apparently, it did get changed in like trade paperback reprintings.
01:16:56
Speaker
in I mean, good. But it is still that word on Marvel Unlimited. That blows my mind. That's why. Because that page where ah Hank Pym goes up inside Jan is not on there. That's gone.
01:17:10
Speaker
Actually, it is gone. Maybe it's there because also like the the letters page is still there, too. I don't i don't know.
01:17:22
Speaker
But it's interesting to see the response in the letters page, if nothing else. yeah um all right Fantastic Four number 576, above the title, has the phrase, Tell Me Who Speaks for Man.
01:17:34
Speaker
And our Fantastic Four is on the cover in like parkas, in branded parkas, walking through... We get a lot of branded gear in this ah set of issues.
01:17:48
Speaker
Walking through a whiteout snowstorm. While Reed uses some equipment to look for something. We start with Sue ah talking about um the super smart mulloid kids.
01:18:02
Speaker
But he's she's giving a presentation to ah Johnny and Ben about Vostok Station in Antarctica.
01:18:15
Speaker
ah where things have been messing with ah the the scanning equipment. They've got to figure out what's going on with that. They launched some probes, they don't know, but they they didn't get anything back from that.
01:18:30
Speaker
And so, oh when there's been like a data leak, and AIM is fucking with their shit. Yeah. they're like, yeah, there's something going on under the ice in Antarctica, and AIM's after it, so we've got to go down there and sort that out.
01:18:47
Speaker
I like that Sue is very annoyed by this situation. I'm like, yes, fucking name. Yes. um And Reed comes in and helps like give some of the presentation, too.
01:18:58
Speaker
and And the you know after this like rally, um they they go to Antarctica.
01:19:10
Speaker
um They're wearing their parkas, except Johnny is like wearing his like open shirtless shirt. Wearing like cowboy boots. Swim trunks and cowboy boots, man.
01:19:22
Speaker
Fiery swim trunks, yeah. That's a good bit. That's a funny bit. Yeah. ah Yeah, because john Johnny is never cold. Yes.
01:19:33
Speaker
ah So they meet with some of the scientists who work at this station. ah it's it's very much structured like a Star Trek episode. Like they're going to be an away team. Yeah.
01:19:44
Speaker
Yeah. It really is. yeah um so they go they go into the water and what proceed what follows that is a long dialogue-free sequence under the water where they fight aim guys for a while and then and and sea creatures and then finally these like other inhabitants of this like city made out of crystal on the underside of some of the ice
01:20:16
Speaker
appear And ah they shoot out a thing. It's like a little like organic thing that allows for telepathic communication between them.
01:20:31
Speaker
And so they get taken into this throne room. And they are introduced to this... Like we said, this new version of Atlantis. like they these These guys are claiming that this is Atlantis. And Reed is like, this isn't Atlantis. We've been to Atlantis.
01:20:55
Speaker
hey Yeah, man, we know about Atlantis. we we We know what Atlantis we went to Atlantis in like Fantastic Four number three. Yeah. And these guys are like, no, no, no, no. no This is Atlantis.
01:21:06
Speaker
ah and That Atlantis is bullshit. This is Atlantis. So like we need somebody from your part of the world to like bring our cultures together. So who speaks for man?
01:21:19
Speaker
And that's when Sue is like, I'll do it. Yeah, re because Reed's like, no no, you don't understand. Our society doesn't really work like that. like We're not unified in this way. And Sue's like, I'll do it. yeah And then Reed tries to tell her, and su Sue says, it's what they understand, and you know why it has to be me.
01:21:40
Speaker
And that, I love that. That's my favorite part of these four issues, because it's a little bit of a thinker. Yeah, I mean, you know why it has to be her.
01:21:51
Speaker
You know why it has to be her. And Reed knows why it has to be her. It's because Sue's the one that Namor is going to listen to. Yeah. That's so good that all she says is, you know why?
01:22:04
Speaker
and it does not come up again for like two issues. Yeah. That's really good. And then the issue ends with Sue getting like outfitted with a cape.
01:22:15
Speaker
like ah a cape with shells on the as epaulets. um And it says, I am Susan Richards, and I speak for all mankind. And then the little text piece we get at the end of this one is, Before leaving the peak, Susan and Richards was given an access device to be used if communication was desired.
01:22:34
Speaker
The Old Kingdom is supported by a hydrodynamic apparatus powered by ah Lake Vostok's internal current, which is the result of the ice shelf above. The three races that exist in the Old Kingdom are the Uhari, who are fish-like, the Chordai, who are eel-like, and the Mala, who are crab-like.
01:22:54
Speaker
The Uhari are a worker class, the Mala are a legal class, and the Chordai are a warrior class. I don't know what a legal class is, but whatever. I think it's like administrative. Yeah, I guess.
01:23:06
Speaker
ah Soon after leaving Antarctica, Susan Richards took the first steps toward achieving what she hoped would be peaceful assembly of all undersea cultures by contacting King Namor. Namor has yet to respond.
01:23:18
Speaker
Yeah, man. That shit's funny. Knowing what we know eventually about who's writing this, it's very funny that it says Susan Richards. Yeah.
01:23:31
Speaker
Alright. ah My second favorite part of this issue after so being like, you know, it's got me is ah that when they go into the water, Ben starts sinking.
01:23:42
Speaker
Yeah. And Sue has to like put him in a bubble and tow him along. And I'm like, did y'all motherfuckers not see that coming?
01:23:52
Speaker
He's made of rock. like I would have thought you would have solved this problem before you went down there, real Y'all have definitely been underwater before. You've definitely been underwater before, guys.
01:24:03
Speaker
Yeah. He's made of rocks. Fantastic Four 577, above the title it says, How Does One Best Serve the Universal Collective? And on the cover, the Fantastic Four are in branded spacesuits um looking through some like rubble and wreckage on the moon as a spectral Medusa and Black Bolt turn and look at them.
01:24:29
Speaker
A real telenovela, Medusa and Black Bolt. Yeah. they're they They're doing that three-quarter turn over the shoulder. Very dramatic. Very dramatic.
01:24:40
Speaker
ah So this opens on the blue area of the moon, with the Inhumans standing around, and Medusa says, it is time. And they talk about doing a summoning.
01:24:54
Speaker
And ah Black Bolt plants like a big like ah scepter into the ground, which goes, thme And then like ah a city like a spaceship city thing starts to rise out of the ground.
01:25:09
Speaker
And then we get two months ago and yesterday ah where... Who's that bearded dude? ah That guy is ah ah the Wayfinder. That's the Wayfinder, okay.
01:25:21
Speaker
Yeah. um The Wayfinder and the Watcher are kind of watching what's going on on the moon, watching this ship come out of the moon. And the Wayfinder's like, look up, Watcher.
01:25:32
Speaker
It is indeed a time of change as they look at this ship. um Which like sort of like turns sideways and then plants down in the shape of a city.
01:25:44
Speaker
Yeah, and it really just looks like... It looks like... Adalon, but more. Yeah.
01:25:57
Speaker
So then we cut to the Fantastic Four in the Baxter building.
Fantastic Four Storyline: Costumes & Moon Journey
01:26:00
Speaker
Another briefing about what's going on on the moon. And suddenly their costumes have sleeves now. And I was like, oh, thank God, the sleeves are back.
01:26:11
Speaker
um But they're gone by the next issue. Well, that's these are their spacesuit costumes. I guess so. But I was like, oh, ah finally, there's their costumes look normal because they have sleeves.
01:26:22
Speaker
But no, next issue, they're gone again. The sleeves are gone. ah So they get in their their spaceship.
Meeting Del Damoc & Unique City Exploration
01:26:29
Speaker
and take off for the moon. And the there's spaceships their spacesuits and inside the issue are different from their spacesuits on the cover.
01:26:40
Speaker
I actually really like the design of the spacesuits that use the center seam and have like the very design-y four on them. um mean I think those are cool suits.
01:26:52
Speaker
I guess the difference is that the cover is by Alan Davis and the interiors are by Dale Eaglesham and And they did not exchange notes on what the spacesuits were going to look like. so yeah ah But yeah, I like the interior spacesuits a whole lot.
01:27:05
Speaker
theyre They're pretty cool. um So they go up to this city. They meet the Wayfinder. Or the Summoner is what he calls himself there. Dal Damach.
01:27:16
Speaker
Dal Damach, the Wayfinder, ah a.k.a. the Summoner. The Herald of a New Inhuman Age. And he calls this place the Universal City. I believe it's... Is it Ben or Johnny says, great, just so we need another stupid city? Yeah. Which is pretty funny.
01:27:32
Speaker
And this dude, this Del Damoc, he is like running game on Sue Storm, Sue Richards. Because um she says to him...
01:27:48
Speaker
What you're standing on, I can see it. You've constructed a perpetual motion planar construct that doesn't require constant thought. It's so simple. Why haven't I ever thought of that? And Del Damoc says, I think the better question is why a woman such as yourself ever let her feet touch the ground.
01:28:07
Speaker
That's game, dude. damn
01:28:11
Speaker
Her husband's right there, man. Her husband's right there. um They walk into the city. um The city is made of dudes.
Inhumans & Their Universal Plan
01:28:20
Speaker
Yeah, well, you know, Matt, when you really think about it, most cities are. Well, a lot of cities are made of like you know um steel and glass and brick and those kind materials. In a literal sense, this city is made of dudes.
01:28:34
Speaker
This city is made of dudes. like It's constructed of dudes. like They walk through a doorway that is a dude named Eldrak. Yeah, man. Eldrak the doorway.
01:28:46
Speaker
Yeah, and Del Damoc also- What else you're going to do? Yeah. Del Damoc also talks about like some of the like how the Inhumans were created and by but the Kree experimentation. Yeah, you know about the Terrigen Mist.
01:28:58
Speaker
It's the most important thing in the Marvel Universe, like, eight years ago.
01:29:08
Speaker
and And they're like, well, we wanted to go to the next step, you know? Like... There's more than just Terrigenesis. There's also Isogenesis, and Amphogenesis, and Antigenesis, and Exogenesis. Yeah, because they keep they they say, like, hey, you know how the Kree showed up and created the Inhumans with Terrigenesis?
01:29:27
Speaker
They did not just do that on Earth. Right. They did that in four other places using other places' version of Terrigen myths. And so, the Fantastic Four then meet...
01:29:42
Speaker
the results of all of those experiments who are the universal Inhumans. Yeah, man. So these are the Inhumans ah who are ah the Centaurians, which is what Yondu is.
01:29:56
Speaker
Right. The Centaurians look like Yondu. ah The Badoon, a Marvel Universe ah classic alien race. ah The Chimelians, who you might know as the horse people from a Power Pack.
01:30:11
Speaker
right And the motherfucking dire wraiths. And the dire wraiths. And so now, in Marvel continuity, all of those groups have been were experimented on by the Kree and made into inhumans of their own.
01:30:31
Speaker
And all of their leaders have tuning forks on their heads. That is right. That is right. That's great. And they are looking to claim their new holy land, which they are calling New Halla.
01:30:43
Speaker
<unk>la New Halla! And Rita's like, so you're going to take over the moon? And they're like, nah. And they all point to Earth. And Sue's like, alright.
01:30:57
Speaker
And like, look.
01:31:01
Speaker
Of all of these four issues, this is the one that made me go, like, they're just ending it here? the fantastic I guess the Fantastic Four just left after that? Yeah, man. Because they tell him, like, hey, the and we we should point out, all of the ah other ah universal Inhumans are led by women.
01:31:21
Speaker
Correct. the idea is
01:31:26
Speaker
Can I get the the phrase spinning game out of my head? ah it's It's four queens for one king. Yes. yeah So Black Bolt's going to come back and marry these four ladies?
01:31:38
Speaker
Well, they say five queens for the one king because we've already got Medusa. Yeah, so guess Medusa is the queen inhumans, yeah. yeah Or is there another... you're no It's Medusa is number five.
01:31:52
Speaker
yeah Number one in our hearts. yeah oh But yeah, they're like, yeah, we're going to take over Earth.
Introduction to the Light Brigade
01:32:00
Speaker
Then the text page at the end is, um there are roughly 110,000 citizens living on the Inhuman cityship um with population estimates for the four different races.
01:32:12
Speaker
There are currently 726 Inhuman prisoners located on the black level of the cityship. So I guess the Inhumans are in prison on this thing? Well, some Inhumans. I mean, you know about Maximus, though. Some Inhumans are.
01:32:25
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. um And then it says, The Light Brigade is an elite group comprised of comprisedes the six greatest Inhuman warriors. Each Light Brigade is formed to take part in a ritual called The Offering. The Offering takes place once every generation, where the Light Brigade takes on an endless succession of trials in order to internally prove the worthy worthiness of the Inhuman collective.
01:32:45
Speaker
The Offering ends with the death of the last living member of the Light Brigade.
Negative Zone Chaos & Johnny Storm's Dilemma
01:32:49
Speaker
No Light Brigade has ever survived longer than a year. That's what that says. Yeah, so they have a group of superhero Inhumans who try to do impossible stuff, and when they finally get a group that can do it all, that's when they're going to take over the Earth.
01:33:06
Speaker
So it's not a pressing concern. Fantastic Four number 578 has above the title, Here You Die, In the Negative Zone, You Can Live.
01:33:18
Speaker
um And it's Annihilus' face with a reflection of Reed, Ben, and Johnny in it. It's good. it's It's kind of like that Todd McFarlane Hulk cover with Wolverine.
01:33:32
Speaker
It is kind of like that. But it's Annihilus and everybody but Sue. Where's Sue at? I guess she's invisible. I guess. Yeah. So this issue starts with, speaking of running game,
01:33:47
Speaker
ah Johnny is at...
01:33:52
Speaker
it it You think he's at a bar, but he's not at a bar. He's at a place where like a guy is like giving a speech, and um and he's the anti-priest. He says it's an all-inclusive performance art spa self-help shrine bar.
01:34:07
Speaker
Yes. Which is honestly very funny. But he picks up this this lady at this place, takes her back to the Baxter building, and she's like... She like makes a beeline for the portal to the negative zone. like She just goes straight for it.
01:34:31
Speaker
And she's like... ah Johnny's like, hey, that's the portal the Negative Zone. What are you doing? And she goes, yeah, that's what I came for. And she starts like messing with buttons. She hits Johnny and quickly reveals that she is um like a bug creature from the Negative Zone.
01:34:48
Speaker
Yeah, she's full of bugs. Yeah. And that, I think, is maybe the best Eagle Shemart is the page of the Negative Zone bugs crawling out of this lady shape.
01:35:02
Speaker
Yeah. Because it's real it's real gross. It's real gross, and it has the bugs making sounds, and then from her human mouth, she goes, erk. Yeah. And then I like that Johnny's reaction to this is, okay.
01:35:15
Speaker
Well, he says, Johnny goes to bar. Johnny gets girl. gerrny Girls turn now turns out to be a bug monster. Bug monster disappears through the hole. Johnny never kissed the bug. I'm going to call that a win. So yeah, they they never got to the hooking up part.
01:35:28
Speaker
yeah look just Johnny Storm... Has been through it. He sure has. You gotta do a lot if you wanna shock Johnny Storm on a date. Johnny Storm got married to his friend's girlfriend, who then turned out to be an alien.
01:35:49
Speaker
Ligia. Yeah, that's Ligia. Yeah, that's Ligia. She like opens the portal to the negative zone, and and the the bugs like fly in there, and the portal is just sitting open. And so Johnny's like, I guess I gotta fix this. So he flames on and flies into the portal.
01:36:06
Speaker
And gets into the middle of this war between Blastar and Annihilus that's going on. yeah Which I like that there are dudes just like dressed like Blastar.
01:36:20
Speaker
wearing in Wearing their little He-Man outfits. Looking like some real man-y faces.
01:36:30
Speaker
And like this this big army of bugs like attacks and starts eating one Blastar's guys. And Johnny is just kind of like standing there in the middle of that.
01:36:43
Speaker
He starts burning up the bugs. And then we cut to a text page. That says, the other side of zero is the recruitment armed for an organization called the cult of the negative zone the mark three negative zone portal possesses the following features and improvements a faster brood cycle emergency transparent bybranium shielding and a decompression buffer the annihilation wave armada has been rebuilt to pre-crunch assault levels
01:37:09
Speaker
a state of war exists between the forces of the reborn ha nihilus and bla blastar The level 42 negative zone presence station has been expanded into. And then Johnny interrupts it and says, wait a second.
01:37:22
Speaker
It's Valeria who interrupts. Valeria says, wait a second. Because Valeria is the one who's been making all of these text pages. Valeria is doing the files, which I think is a pretty good bit.
01:37:34
Speaker
so and In the files, she refers to her own mother as Susan Richards. Yeah, man. Yeah. And so Johnny is telling her they expanded the Negative Zone prison into a city, which makes four cities.
01:37:50
Speaker
And he says, the Annihilation Wave like poured into this base and took it over. And I couldn't stop them. So I just had to get out of there.
01:38:01
Speaker
So we see Johnny like going back through the portal and just saying, close it, close it. And Valeria's like... Well, you know, or Johnny goes, why are you interested in this, Val?
01:38:16
Speaker
And Val's like, well, you know, I got to keep learning and and I got to keep these files. ah And but it seems like Valeria knows something that Johnny doesn't, but isn't revealing it.
01:38:30
Speaker
Well, ah it's I believe Valeria. Future Franklin told her yes ah something about cities. Yes, it's this is her doing what for Future Franklin told her to do.
01:38:45
Speaker
yeah ah Future Franklin tells her there will be a war between the four cities, the dead must not be forgotten, the future man must return to save the past, all hope lies in doom.
01:38:56
Speaker
So, she's been keeping an eye out for the four cities.
Atlantis & Negative Zone Portal Responsibility
01:39:03
Speaker
Yes. ah Cut back to Atlantis, the new Atlantis.
01:39:13
Speaker
And Sue is coming back there ah with Andromeda the sword, who has a message from Namor. Which I think, I feel like this is the first time we find out that Atuma means the sword.
01:39:28
Speaker
Yes. Because, you know there's Atuma, the Atlantean villain. And she's Andromeda Atumasen, Andromeda the sword. Yes. And she shows up and looks at the these kings of ah New Antarctic Atlantis and is like, fuck you.
01:39:46
Speaker
yeah she's She's like, y'all ain't Atlantis. I'm Atlantis. I'm Atlantis. don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Y'all been hiding under the ice. oh Her actual line is like really good. She's like, who calls himself king that has never felt the sun on his face, that cowers into the ice at the bottom of the world, that sleeps through the age of man?
01:40:08
Speaker
These are the questions that Namor, prince of the ocean, lord of the sea, has for you so-called kings. And as she's saying this, their city comes up through the ice up to the surface.
01:40:22
Speaker
Yeah. um So now it is on the surface as well. Very in-character for Namor to send an ambassador whose entire job is to be like, fuck you guys. Then this this we get a scene of Reed and kind of giving Johnny a talking to about leaving the portal to the negative zone open.
01:40:45
Speaker
and Johnny, don't fuck the bugs from the negative zone. Yeah. Johnny, I know we go through this every time. That there's a new writer who really wants to to tell a story about Johnny Storm maturing. But don't fuck the bugs in the negative zone, even if they're in a hot lady shape.
01:41:05
Speaker
ah But Rita's basically like, look, man, I got a lot going on. So just like be careful, okay? like Think about what you're doing. ah And Johnny's like, all right.
01:41:17
Speaker
I'll do what I can.
Light Brigade's Mission & Narrative Concept
01:41:19
Speaker
um Then we get one last look at the the universal Inhuman City and the introduction of the Light Brigade, the six members of the Light Brigade
01:41:35
Speaker
ah who are their champions. Yeah, so we've got like a Yondu made of crystals, a Yondu that just has a bow and some arrows, like regular Yondu. yep ah A Badoon and Dire Wraith.
01:41:48
Speaker
Well, i guess the Dire Wraith is the the Queen Dire Wraith because she's got the The tuning fork. oh Oh, yeah. There's one dire wraith that's all Kirby dots, who looks like ah they're on fire.
01:42:02
Speaker
And then a Chimelian, who instead of being a white horse, is a black horse. But they've got the tuning fork, too. That's true. That's true. but But I don't believe he was in the... That's not the queen. That might be the king.
01:42:17
Speaker
I don't know. i fought Five queens for one king, man. He's not there. That's true. um But like some of those characters... I keep thinking about Jada Pink in Magic Mike XXL being like, does anybody here feel like a queen?
01:42:35
Speaker
show these... show these Universal Inhumans, Magic Mike XXL, I promise you it'll sort everything out. So anyway, these the slight brigade the Light Brigade jumps through a portal and goes to the Negative Zone and starts fighting bugs.
01:42:48
Speaker
Yeah, because they're like, here's your impossible task. Go stop the Annihilation Wave. Yeah. And so the war between these four cities has begun. and And yeah, we'll go from there, I guess.
01:43:03
Speaker
ah I don't think the next issue... Actually like covers that. I think the next issue goes on to something else. um The Future Foundation stuff.
01:43:16
Speaker
But we'll get to that next time. But like I said, man, this is WrestleMania 2, dude. WrestleMania 2 is in three different cities. This is four different cities. I would say this is better than WrestleMania 2. I think it is better than WrestleMania 2. But man, if it doesn't evoke...
01:43:34
Speaker
ah WrestleMania II taking place in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Yeah, which Starrcade 85 had already done. In two cities, right? In two cities, yeah.
01:43:45
Speaker
What was it, Greensboro and where else? Charlotte. char Was it Greensboro and Charlotte? It had to be Charlotte, right? thats That's so funny. No, it wasn't it wasn't Charlotte.
01:43:57
Speaker
ah It's Greensboro and is it Atlanta? Yeah. It might be Atlanta, yeah. You'd think I would know this. I got a fucking tattoo. Yeah, Starrcade 85 was in Greensboro and Atlanta. There's like four cities it could have been from.
01:44:09
Speaker
could have been from Charlotte, Greensboro, Richmond, Virginia, Atlanta, GA, Tokyo, Japan, Charlotte, Baltimore.
01:44:21
Speaker
Could have been in Baltimore. Could have Baltimore. it was Chicago! Ha ha ha. but They did go to Chicago sometime. Yeah, I think Starrcade 84 is Chicago.
01:44:34
Speaker
Wow, we're really getting into the weeds. 84 was Greensboro. 86 was Chi-Town Rumble. 86 is Chi-Town Rumble, yeah. No, wait, no. 87 was Chi-Town Heat. When's the Skywalkers?
01:44:46
Speaker
That was 86, but that was also in Greensboro. Yeah. In Atlanta. With that shitty scaffold match. Man, but did wouldn't jim cornnet it when fell. Jim Cornette fell, and fucking Big Bubba Rogers did not catch him. Oh, man.
01:45:06
Speaker
ah these are These are four interesting issues. i Here's the problem.
01:45:16
Speaker
am not interested in this stuff. Yeah, it's I think – well, I am interested in it conceptually, but I don't know how well they work narratively.
01:45:32
Speaker
Yeah. Well, the thing is, you're interested in it conceptually. i'm not. Because, like, I wanted, when the Inhumans say the Universal Inhumans show up and say, we're to take over the Earth and five five queens for one king, I wanted Sue to be like, you know the Inhumans are never getting over, right?
01:45:56
Speaker
like you Like, you know nobody cares about the Inhumans. Come on! Okay, but what if they were the Badoon, though? i mean, if it was, like, if it was everybody except the Inhumans...
01:46:08
Speaker
I would be more into it. If it was the Badoon and the Dyrrhaeus and the Chimelians and the Yondu's, I'd have the Centaurians. But you know what I mean. and The Yondu's. yeah I like but the idea of the Kree. No, the Kree are a galactic empire. Of course they did.
01:46:27
Speaker
like ah like Earth wasn't the only place they experimented. like That's cool. But like i don't care about humans I don't care about the high evolutionary.
01:46:38
Speaker
Well, that's what I mean by, like, these are some interesting conceptual concepts, but like... Conceptual concepts. Conceptual concepts. LLC. Yeah. Our new company. And we are asking for a $10 million dollars donation.
01:46:53
Speaker
Yes. i just An angel investment. what What do we do at Conceptual Concepts? Innovation. Innovation. ah We're creating the Everything app.
01:47:04
Speaker
That's right.
01:47:06
Speaker
No, they're interesting conceptually, but I don't know how much I need to or want to read a story about this kind of stuff. like And it's not... it It feels like it's only a part of a story anyway.
01:47:23
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like... None of these stories come to any kind of satisfying resolution.
01:47:36
Speaker
And so i find these four issues, especially individually, like or in this like chunk of reading, like if you just bought this trade paperback, it's like a little frustrating.
01:47:50
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's going to be a lot more interesting when we see how it all plays out. For sure. But this is i mean this is some very well-done table setting. like I did not have a bad time reading these issues.
01:48:03
Speaker
It's just like... And it's not even like, when are we going to get to the fireworks factory? Because these are good, and stuff happens in it. And we get the super smart Moloid kids, and that's fun.
01:48:13
Speaker
yeah It's just... Yeah, but like, you know, four cities going to go to war and where's Doctor Doom? But like what are they going to do? We know Doctor Doom's going to show up eventually. Where's he at, y'all? but also yeah And also, like what are they going to do? you know like yeah Just tell me what they're going to do.
01:48:31
Speaker
Because having read a lot of comics in the 16 years since this came out, I don't remember a lot of people talking about the ah universal inhumans and the high evolutionary city full super smart mulloids. Well, there's there's a lot I think there's a we're going to find a lot of that as Hickmania continues. If you...
01:48:49
Speaker
if if you don't want to read about some new guys, don't read Jonathan Hickman Marvel Comics. Because they're full of new guys. full and But I like new guys.
01:49:01
Speaker
Yeah. I like new guys. You're going to get a lot of new guys.
Closing Remarks & Social Justice Support
01:49:06
Speaker
But like, the main guys from his Avengers run, like, boy, those are some new guys.
01:49:16
Speaker
You get some new guys right away. Yeah. All right, we'll get into more of this ah next time with Hickmania 4. ah In the meantime... this going to be Hickmania 4 or is this going to be Hickmania 3?
01:49:30
Speaker
it like Since we've already started the numbering, this was Hickmania 3. um And next one will be Hickmania 4. But in our hearts, we knew that this was Hickmania 2.
01:49:43
Speaker
What if we called the next one This Tuesday on Gimmick Street?
01:49:52
Speaker
I think we just got to continue numbering them. but All right. well We'll definitely stay tuned for Hick Mania Access, the week-long festival for War Rocket Ajax fans. I'm going to be playing video games.
01:50:04
Speaker
Yes. Matt, you'll probably watch a movie. I might. We'll see. ah If you would like to get in touch with us about Hick Mania or any other thing, you can email us at our email address, which is warrocketpodcast at gmail.com.
01:50:20
Speaker
um You can also get in touch with us on Blue Sky. We're there at warrocketajax.com. On Tumblr, warrocketpodcast.tumblr.com. Or our Discord.
01:50:32
Speaker
um If you want to be part of our Discord, you've got to be invited. um But if you would like an invitation, just ask us nicely and we'll send you one. um Ask us on Blue Sky or Tumblr or on our Patreon channel.
01:50:46
Speaker
or in an email and we'll, we'll send you a link, a discord invitation, and you can join over there. And it's a cool place. Most of our listener questions come from our discord now. So um it would be good for you to be over there. If you want to ask listener questions and so on and so forth.
01:51:06
Speaker
Our website is warrocketajax.com. It has every episode of the show we've ever done. So go there ah to find all the episodes. Warrocketwiki.com is the fan-run repository of all the information you can want to need about this show, Warrocket Ajax.
01:51:18
Speaker
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 medias. Chris Rickett, people. Find you. Everybody can find me by going to the-isb.com.
01:51:31
Speaker
That's my website. It's got stuff. Got kinds of stuff. Man, you know it's got stuff. You know it's got stuff. It's got things you can read all day long if you want.
01:51:43
Speaker
If you want 5,500 words about the Alfred Show, buddy, it's on there. It's on there. Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll be back next week with a guest. Oh, that's right.
01:51:56
Speaker
We got a guest next week. I thought i thought it was going to be Swords. We got to wait just a little bit longer to get back to Swords. That's true.
01:52:05
Speaker
Matt, I did buy some new swords. um and and And we love you for it. I know. Alright, we're done. See you next week, everybody. It's another good one in the books.
01:52:18
Speaker
We'll be back next week. But until then, folks, do not forget Black Lives Matter. Trans rights are human rights. As are abortion rights. Drag is not a crime. Cops aren't your friends.
01:52:30
Speaker
But we love you. We love you. Yes!