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Episode 696 - I'm Not Dumb
1.3k Plays2 months ago
Matt and Chris are taking your listener questions on this week's show, and one leads to a discussion of what Chris' "no bummers" stance really means.
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Transcript
Sponsored by Big Bad Toy Store
00:00:00
Speaker
This week's episode of War Rocket Ajax is brought to you by Big Bad Toy Store. Go to tinyurl.com slash BBTSWRA in all caps to find an incredible array of cool toys to buy and to let the folks at Big Bad Toy Store know that we sent you from War Rocket Ajax. You'll hear a little bit more about Big Bad Toy Store and what we got from there a little bit later in the show. Clitus, I'm bored.
00:00:30
Speaker
What play thing can you offer me today?
00:00:37
Speaker
He's got more Rocket Ajax to bring back his body!
Hosts Introduction and Sword Talk
00:00:51
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome to War Rocket Ajax. This is the internet's most explosive comic book and pop culture podcast. We are your hosts. My name is Chris Simms. With me, as always, is Matt Wilson. And Matt, if I could have any sort, I i think I would want, I think I would want Undudil the Flame of the West. Hmm. Yeah. Okay. I know that's unsurprising.
00:01:19
Speaker
My answer is also going to be unsurprising. Yeah. Hit hit me, bud. It's less a sword than a sharpened slab of iron. such knife A big giant slab of iron. yeah Yeah. You could barely call it a sword. Okay. Here's... I'm sure we've done this on the show before. I'm pretty sure we have, but but look, this is it's we haven't done it in this new segment where I got tired of asking you, how are you? yeah yeah After 14 years, and I decided I was gonna ask other questions, here's the thing, Matt. I could conceivably wield Andoril, the Flame of the West. Yeah, the dragon slayer, which is guts- You can't pick that up. Which is guts to sword from berserk, is aspirational. I want to get there someday.
00:02:20
Speaker
They're gonna drop that off and you're gonna need at least Marlene to help you bring it in. At least, yeah. ah more like ah like I'm sure Andoril is heavier than then I am used to swinging around, which is nothing. But, but you know, gut I can at least pick it up. Guts.
00:02:47
Speaker
you know, has a very unenviable ah life in many regards. I would say in every regard. Except that he used a giant sword throughout his childhood, which enabled him to pick up and use a giant sword in adulthood. I would even say that Guts' is physical strength and skill based on the manner in which it was acquired. Unenviable.
00:03:15
Speaker
Not enviable. Fair enough. I would pass on that. But yes, this is a show where we talk about swords pretty frequently because you know what? Dudes to like swords. Dudes like swords. And you're going to hear more about the character, the protagonist of Berserk, Guts. If you get a version of this episode with ads in a bit.
00:03:40
Speaker
That's right, everybody. The show is sponsored this week by Guts. ah This episode... He just wanted us to read this. Fuck Griffith. Yeah. it's I mean, it's more complicated than that for him, but that's that's what he wanted us to say.
Listener Questions Special
00:03:58
Speaker
On this week's show, we are taking your listener questions. That's right. It is a listener question special. Despite us so asking to do two raw episodes in a row,
00:04:10
Speaker
we decided instead to take your listener questions on the show this week. That's right, we're turning the show over to you ah to ask us whatever you like, and we're going to answer those questions a little later in the show. But Chris, before we do that, we do have some business to take care of, starting with thanking our newest supporters on Patreon. That's right, Matt. Now these are the people, they've gone all the way down to 696 Gimmick Street. That's right, 96 Gimmick Street.
00:04:41
Speaker
where they, ah you you know what's there, of course, obviously. Well, let's see. it Across the street is the parking structure for the Giving Street Good Hats. Right, the the Good Hats Athletic Park, yeah. The GHAP. The old GHAP, yeah. Yeah. I would have to think that across the street from that,
00:05:09
Speaker
has to be ah what is, across from every ballpark and parking structure, a Goodhats-themed bar where you can watch the game. That's right. Yes, it's it's the good tap. The good tap.
00:05:30
Speaker
And of course, while you're there, you can also get your ah GSGH merchandise that they have there. You can watch the games. You can't get into the, you know, if there's a sold out. minor league baseball team. I've been thinking about this, Matt. I've i've been thinking about the lore a lot. hey And I think this is gonna tie into something else we're gonna talk about later too. I've been trying to figure out what major league team the gimmick street good hats would be the affiliate of. I think it's gonna be the Deep Space Niners. Oh, of course. Of course. Yeah. and which i get or Or I guess the London Kings.
00:06:14
Speaker
Either way, yeah. But yes, while you're there watching watching the latest, ah we're getting we're getting close to October, everybody. So the the the standings are really heating up. It's true. But while you are ah enjoying the great games of the gimmick street good hats, as they get through their baseball season, playing 23 times a week, as as they do.
Thanking Patreon Supporters
00:06:39
Speaker
ah You can make sure to go to patreon dot.com slash war rocket Ajax, where you can kick in as little as a dollar a month to help us keep doing the show, help us keep doing all of our associated shows and spin offs and expansions to this show. Most importantly, you can help us pay those gimmicks they keep sitting in the mail called bills. That's right, Chris, our newest Patreon supporter.
00:07:08
Speaker
is John Hammond. but Thank you, John. Wait, from Jurassic Park? The founder of Jurassic Park. I hope I every time we do this, I know we are running the risk of somebody being like, I haven't heard that before. Fuck you guys taking my $5 back.
00:07:31
Speaker
Listen, all I have to say to John Hammond is welcome.
00:07:38
Speaker
No, John, thank you so much. John, thank you. In all sincerity, yes. Yes. If you'd like to be like John and have us, if you have a name that you share with a fictional character and have us mention that when we say your name on the show, you can head over to, as Chris said, to patreon dot.com slash war rocket Ajax and kick in as little as $1 per month to make sure that we do this show monthly, that we do, or this show weekly, ah every story ever specials monthly, comics, catch up monthly. The comics catch up for September has been recorded and will be going up sometime this week and You're sure gonna hear us talk about blood pack. You want to hear some exhausted boys? Movie fighters the snack situation all of those shows are made possible by your support on patreon and as a patron you get every single one of those shows completely ad-free
00:08:30
Speaker
in a special feed just for you on Patreon. ah So if that sounds like something you'd be interested in, head over to Patreon and kick in a buck. If you want more content, if you want more audio, more writing, more stuff from the Good Bits boys here on War Rocket Ajax, you can bump that up to the $5 level and get bonus content. All the bonus content we've ever done is available on the Patreon right now as we speak. That includes bonus audio we've recorded special for the Patreon. That includes outtakes from the show that are put just on the Patreon. That includes writing that Chris and I have done, mostly Chris. That includes the newest piece of bonus content over there, which is the ah spreadsheet survivors spreadsheet
00:09:23
Speaker
but Chris is regularly updating with information you're irregularly updating irregularly updating with information about Every survivors like he has played um there's lots of cool stuff over there There's also line stepping privileges for our segments which currently include Thursday Night Raw and Every Story Ever and there are physical rewards as well. So if any of that is Something you'd be into ah let us know or don't let us know, just go to Patreon and sign up. If you are unable to help us monetarily,
Encouraging Listener Support
00:09:57
Speaker
which we understand that that might be something you can't do right now, you can help us out in other ways. Yeah, we get it. You can help us out in other ways. You can leave us a five star review on the podcasting app that you use, or you can spread the word about the show and tell your friends to listen to the show and join the Patreon. That would be delightful. yeah And if you're ah sitting there thinking, hey,
00:10:19
Speaker
I don't like vampire survivors games. what What about CastleMania? What about that? Well, the new one of those also just went up. That's true. ah Which I have actually not heard anything, any reactions to, other than you and Benito saying it was good. And that is, you know what? i don't but That's not a request for reactions. But if if you do want to tell me something nice, nice things only, then then feel free, by all means.
00:10:49
Speaker
to give it a read and and let me know that you enjoyed it. With that, Chris, it's time for some checks and recs. What do you say? Let's do it. What would you like to check in with this week, Chris? Matt, I've got a busy couple of ah some ah busy couple of recreational ah weeks coming up. And by that, I mean I'm doing like two things in the next two weeks. And one of them I'm very excited about, which is that on Saturday,
00:11:19
Speaker
I am going to the Mall of America to see professional wrestling. Is this first first wrestling? This is a first wrestling, not a sponsor, but could be and should be, honestly, I think. Should be, yeah. Should be for sure. Both of our local pro wrestling but promotions, first wrestling for you, for me, urban combat wrestling should be sponsored of the show. Absolutely agreed, ah because I am going to see ah Pro Wrestling at the Mall of America for the third annual Saturday Nitro, ah which is of course named in tribute to the very first Monday Nitro, which was from the Mall of America, ah held in the very same rotunda. And I'm super excited about it. I mean, for one thing, Matt, the Wrestlepalooza Championship,
00:12:18
Speaker
will be defended by Matt Cardona. Ooh, okay. That's right. Woo woo woo. You know it. ah Taking on local favorite, black sex excellence, Devon Monroe. Perfect rules. Yeah, that's great. I know Dan Housen's been at a lot of first wrestling shows. Oh, Dan Housen's going to be back for this one with with a, uh, an M O T Y C.
00:12:46
Speaker
Ally, Catch, and Effie, the team known as Bussy. Yes. Taking on Danhausen. And my first time seeing her live, Maki Ito. Oh shit! Yes. That, that, that is worth the price of admission alone. That match is gonna be bananas. That match is gonna be banana.
00:13:09
Speaker
It's going to be a banana. Yeah, I i i love Maki Ito. Maki Ito is one of the greatest wrestlers of the generation. Yeah, she's she's so great. That's going to be a match to remember, to keep in the mind palace.
Wrestling Event Highlights
00:13:26
Speaker
Yes, very excited. ah Dan Hasem was great at the last first wrestling event that I went to. And I can't wait to see him again. Other local favorites are going to be there. War Horse.
00:13:39
Speaker
is going to be whos who's ah a bad guy now is going to be defending his title against a mystery opponent, but I will say that ah Nick Nemeth is going to be at the fan fest. There's a chance that ah but but old Nick Nemeth might ohll show up.
00:13:59
Speaker
But yeah, I'm very much looking forward to seeing first wrestling again. ah Every time i've I've seen them live, they've put on a really, really fun show. And also I have run into at least one of the wrestlers at the grocery store.
00:14:18
Speaker
I love a local promotion. I love it. Oh, yeah. i I have talked to people from Urban Combat Wrestling here in town just hanging out ah outside of a comedy show on several occasions. ah is that Now, is that how you met Adam Edge Copeland?
00:14:38
Speaker
No, ah he does not, unfortunately, come to the local wrestling shows. But um no, I met Adam Edge Copeland and a Barnes and Noble. I've told the story. He also came to the Fleet Fox's concert that I attended in town. But I haven't seen him in quite a while. I haven't seen him in quite a while. Well, he's been, look, he's been back on tour in in the years since then.
00:15:03
Speaker
I mean, he's not now. He's, he's, he's laid out right now with that broken leg, but that, that, that diabolical Christian cage. Yeah. Uh, Matt, if you haven't been running into the rated R superstar, Adam Copeland, what have you been doing this past week? What are you checking him with? Well, Chris, you know how it is on a long running show like this, sometimes
00:15:32
Speaker
reliable or not 100% reliable, but long running members of the crew come and go. And we are saying goodbye to something that has been part of this show for a decade now. Before you say it, I was fucking terrified that that something had happened to Harrison or Eleanor. You had not told me. No, no. ah That construction, I was slightly concerned, my genuine concern for a living thing. um I'm talking about a computer.
Matt's iMac Setup Challenges
00:16:10
Speaker
I'm talking about the iMac that we're recording this episode of War Rocket Ajax on, the last episode that will be recorded on this this iMac. you can As you can tell, it's still working, which hasn't always been the case. I've replaced the hard drive on this iMac twice as a result of podcast editing.
00:16:30
Speaker
ah Podcast editing has killed the hard drive on this computer, specifically twice. ah But what killed it dead? This is a late 2013 model iMac that I've been using to do this for years now. Like I said, a decade. And what finally made me have to say, I gotta to get a new one,
00:16:55
Speaker
was the notification that Chrome will no longer update on this computer because the operating system hasn't been updated in like five or six years. um Or I mean, well, it's updated the operating system I have, but it hasn't updated to the new version of macOS in like probably five years. um the the vert The macOS that's on this computer now is macOS Catalina. If you know about versions of macOS, that was from a while ago. And so stuff is just not updating on here anymore. And and so on the other side of my office right now, my new iMac
00:17:46
Speaker
is migrating all the files off of my time machine backup that I have on an external. And I will be setting it up. And that will be the new computer that I do this show on, ah the the recording and editing. i Let me tell you, Chris, let me tell you something about new computers. They don't like putting holes in them.
00:18:16
Speaker
That's true. that that is That is actually true. It has four ports. Four. Does not have a headphone jack. No regular USB. It has two USB-Cs.
00:18:35
Speaker
And to, what do they call it? Firewire or whatever? Thunderbolt, which is also USB-C. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So it's it's basically just four USB-C ports. Yep. And, you know, okay. I will say um the Magic Mouse and wireless keyboard finally work worth a fuck.
00:18:59
Speaker
because the last iMac I got, the wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse both took double A batteries. And now you can actually plug them in and charge them. But I don't have any headphones to use on the new iMac because the ones I have are wired. So I'm also going to have to... I'm surprised because my MacBook, which I got last year, by the way, Apple, certainly not a sponsor.
00:19:30
Speaker
absolutely could be and you know you could afford it. Yeah, throw us a little bit. You knew you could afford it. We also know you're listening to this. Throw us a little bit. I mean, look, we're putting it on your service. That's how a lot of people are getting it. So yeah, at the very least, your bots are going through this for copyrighted music. So hey,
00:19:55
Speaker
Give us money. but give us Give us some money, Apple. Give us a fraction of of what we have given you over the years. Mine does have a headphone jack. and also it's It is not where I expected it to be, so I always forget it's there.
00:20:12
Speaker
But it does have one. All right. I will do a once over on the new iMac to make sure that there's no headphone jack. I mean, I would believe you. They, they love getting rid of a headphone jack. They love getting rid of all ports. And that is, that is certainly the case with the new iMac, but I'm losing the plot a bit here. Let me pour one out for iMac late 2013 model.
00:20:41
Speaker
21.5 inch iMac late 2013 on which much of this show has been made. More than you till I join you. The original machine? That's right. The original machine. ah Time for some recommendations. Now, Chris, you told me before we started recording, you don't have one? Has that changed? Buddy, I'll, look, look, I'm gonna be real with you, Matt.
00:21:11
Speaker
I have a job. Yeah. So I've been playing a lot of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Okay. And that's kind of it. I mean, look, I was playing Yakuza like a dragon for like a month. Yeah. And, but like once again, there's too much game. There's, there's way too much game in this. And I can't imagine playing this game and also having a job.
00:21:40
Speaker
Cause like, it's tough. It's tough to play a big open world game with a job. yeah ki Like I have been putting serious hours into this thing and it and it's cut like, it doesn't leave room for anything else. Yeah. I hate to say it.
Favorite Star Trek Episodes
00:22:04
Speaker
But I've got nothing. I haven't even like watched anything or or had anything new playing while I've been playing it. Cause all I've been watching is like, I mean, I could recommend what I was talking about earlier today with you, which was that there's that there there has never been a better back to back banger two episodes of ah of a TV show than in season five of Deep Space Nine. And they do the one where they go back in time to the trouble with tribbles.
00:22:34
Speaker
And then they immediately do the one where Worf goes to the sex planet and gets so mad that everybody's horny that he, uh, accidentally joins a terrorist cell. I, uh, and currently nearing the end of next generation season five and my rewatch. Good stuff in that one. There's good stuff in that one. Uh, season five has a bit of a mid season lull, but the front and the back of that season,
00:23:04
Speaker
Great. Yeah, but but I mean, you're finding out about Data's Day in season five. That's season four, I think. Season four? Season four really good. Season four's really good. Hang on, let me take a look at season five here. You can give me a recommendation. I'm going to take a look at Star Trek Next Generation season five. All right. Anyway, we're on a bit of a break in our Next Generation rewatch because we're watching some other stuff, but i I almost can't wait for the next generation rewatch to be over so we can start Deep Space Nine. It's it's good. which i see Okay, season five, Darmock. Darmock.
00:23:42
Speaker
So season five is the season that introduces Picard's jacket, which is the best look anyone has ever had. It's such a good jacket. It's I love that jacket so much. We got ah the game. The games in season five. Yeah, that's a good one. Oh, the one where ah where that one character actor ah shows up and pretends to be a time traveler. That one's great. Yes, the guy, ah the guy who was is it Matt Bomer? No, that's not his white collar.
00:24:12
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, it's something like that, but he, he was Beck's headroom. Yeah. And he was the villain in the Generation X TV movie. Yeah.
00:24:22
Speaker
yeah was Matt Fruer. Matt Fruer is Fruer. Yes. Yeah. That's the the masterpiece society. That's a good one. Yeah. i bore oh Oh, buddy. You've got, you've got the outcast, the one where Riker introduces heterosexuality to a planet.
00:24:40
Speaker
Yes, the the one where there's a planet of non-gendered people. ah the The one where it is a very, I love i love it because it is a very Star Trekky, ham-handed metaphor for ah homophobia. Yeah. But it has, what are in 2024, amazing lines like, my people find the concept of gender to be abhorrent.
00:25:07
Speaker
yeah ah Season 5 also has the Spock two-parter. That's a good one. And my favorite episode of the whole series. Which is? Do you want to guess? Alright, I'm looking at the ah um i'm looking at the the list now. Is it is it conundrum?
00:25:31
Speaker
No. Okay, because that's that's that's a good one. Conundrum is a good one, yeah. No, my favorite episode of the whole series is The Inner Light. Oh, okay. I am not a The Inner Light hater, but I am a The Inner Light is just okayer. I love that episode. not to but Not to be a jerk, because you just said it was your favorite episode. yeah i know i I understand I'm wrong about that. Anyway, okay, here's my recommendation.
00:26:02
Speaker
um Chris, I finally took the dive and ah so and and got a month. I didn't do the whole year subscription, because I wanted to see how much i of the backlog I could watch in a month. um But I did subscribe to Dropout for a month, and I've been watching ah Game Changer, which is a show that is like specifically for me. Yeah. Yeah. i am i is especially if you get to like the latest season. Yeah. it is That's got Matt Wilson written all over it. Well, I haven't watched it all yet. I'm in the fourth season of Game Changer. After COVID when they get back to the studio. Okay. so you Did did you watch the you watch the COVID season? I watched the COVID season because I was going to say my favorite episode of the series so far is- This one I'll absolutely get right. Which one do you think it is? Jeopardy episode.
00:27:02
Speaker
It's the Jeopardy! episode because it goes on a journey. It's such a journey. My favorite thing about Game Changer, you might think that my favorite thing about Game Changer is the sort of game showy aspect of it. But my actual favorite thing about Game Changer is when the game itself is kind of a mystery that unfolds over the episode. Yes.
00:27:28
Speaker
Yes. ah the ah The Sam says episodes are really good for that. Yes. i and And I'm not as big. I mean, not that I don't enjoy when they play a game they've played before, but I really like it when they introduce something new and the contestants don't know what the game is. And part of the game is figuring out the game.
00:27:53
Speaker
you're really gonna love the latest season. Okay, great. I think that's great because I consider Sam Reich to be very much a Matt Wilson type in a lot of ways. We look kind of alike, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Except when he's interacting on Game Changer with Brennan Lee Mulligan in with in that situation, and Sam Reich becomes the Chris Sims type and Brennan Lee Mulligan becomes the Matt Wilson type.
00:28:23
Speaker
it's It depends, I think. i i There are times when Britton is more like you and times when he's more like me, but I could definitely see that. um But it's also giving me a lot of inspiration for um when I will be a game show host in just a few weeks. Oh, I didn't know about this. Which is something I will be talking about ah later in a later, maybe next week on the show. um But there's ah there's a local there's a local game show that I will be hosting.
00:28:52
Speaker
um I don't think there's going to be video of it, but maybe maybe there will be video of it. Anyway, that's my recommendation. ah Game Changer, and specifically the Jeopardy! episode of Game Changer, which I don't want to say anything about. No, the Jeopardy! episode's very, very good. It's such a journey. It's amazing. All right, Chris, those are checks and recs, which means it's time to talk about some comics. What do you say? Let's do it.
Aliens vs. Avengers Comic
00:29:19
Speaker
Chris, a comic from last week that you wanted to talk about is Aliens vs. Avengers No. 1. Yeah, I was looking at this one ah because the logo on it is the like mid-80s backstage NWA logo. I mean, it's meant to be a take on the Weyland-Yutani logo from Alien.
00:29:46
Speaker
and the And the AVP logo. And the AVP logo. But you're not wrong, but it also looks like the NWA logo. No, it's fully just that NWA logo. That's exactly what it is. Yeah. ah we we I almost put them on on Blue Sky.
00:30:06
Speaker
just as a comparison. um But i that caught my eye. But then when I was looking at the cover, I saw that this is a comic by Jonathan Hickman and Isad Rubik. And guess what? here Here's a shocking piece of news that is true. Aliens versus Avengers, it is fucking slaps, actually.
00:30:31
Speaker
I only just noticed this. This is a 20th century studios comic in association with Marvel. Yes, much like the Wolverine vs Predator comic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Interesting branding there. But i guess I guess it makes sense. Yeah, that branding is interesting to me. Because I mean, like, these are clearly just like Marvel Comics.
00:31:00
Speaker
I mean, it's all the same company. Yeah. Yeah. Like, and but I mean, like, it's Jonathan Hickman and Assad Rivick. It's like, is a Marvel comic and fucking Spider-Man's in it. Yeah. The premise of this is actually that some, uh, robots who are pretending to be she are, but are actually robots are there specifically the, the like alien.
00:31:28
Speaker
universe androids with the white blood Yeah, yeah, but they're pretending to be she are which means they're wearing she are wigs Which ah black panther pulls off at one point which is hilarious ah They are doing experiments with the aliens and seeding worlds with ah aliens and We cut to The future where the entire planet except for New York City has been overrun by aliens and most of the superheroes are dead and also they're very old. So like you get like an old Hulk and an old Captain Marvel in this and a grown up ah Valeria Richards is 45. So it is it is like 40 years in the future.
00:32:18
Speaker
Well, I guess Valeria's probably older than that, but like 30 years in the future. 30 years in the future, probably, yeah we yeah. We never see Miles with his mask off, so we don't know what he looks like. No, but we do see Miles, and some shit goes down. Some shit goes down with Miles, for sure, yeah. And it is...
00:32:37
Speaker
say it Like I was reading it and I was like, yeah, it's pretty good. Like this, this is, this sure is a Jonathan Hickman comic. It's got some, some pretty fun ideas. And this sure is a, an Assad Rivic comic that looks good. And then I got to the end and so like the twist of this issue. And I was like, no, actually this fucking rules. My only problem with it, and I believe this is something that our buddy Ben Gully pointed out.
00:33:05
Speaker
ah is that there is a page where it's kind of like talking about what the process is of the aliens wiping out a planet. um And it says, you know, placed into suspended animation at the precipice of a lifecycle transition. It takes almost no time for a host to yield their hidden bounty, a xenomorph. I do really wish it would have said an alien from the movie Alien.
00:33:32
Speaker
Well, look, they've been trying to get aliens from the movie Alien into Marvel Comics for... since Shortly after Alien came out! For 45 years, yeah. So, hats off to Marvel Comics for finally getting an alien from the movie Aliens. Inofficially. Yeah. ah Like, very, very fun.
00:33:57
Speaker
I feel like it's been a while since we've had the fun aliens superhero aliens versus preator superhero crossovers that we haven't had some fun ones for a while and now we're getting them like out of nowhere very unexpectedly ah so yeah good stuff yes it's fun stuff and that twist at the end is bananas I cannot wait to read the next one yeah ah All right, next up, we're going to talk about Star Trek number 500, which is a very fun anthology issue um of different stories about Star Trek from all kinds of different eras.
Star Trek #500 Anthology Discussion
00:34:35
Speaker
um There is an incredibly fun story by Jordan Bloom and Patton Oswalt. Friends of the show. Friends of the show um with Leonard Kirk from the perspective of one of the tribbles.
00:34:51
Speaker
in The Trouble with Tribbles, which is just an absolute hoot. There is a Jodie Houser story about the Kelvin timeline, said in the Kelvin timeline. ah There is a... Oh, that's not the that's not the the Kelvin timeline. That's Strange New World.
00:35:12
Speaker
Oh, that's Strange New Worlds, okay. Yeah. Sorry, sorry. I i i only really... only The Kelvin timeline does not make an appearance in this issue, which I'm fine with. No, I i only skimmed that one, I have to admit. um There's a Discovery story by Stephanie Williams.
00:35:29
Speaker
There is a story that is a an absolute hoot. you You brought up the baseball episode of D Space Nine. and There's a story by Mike Chin and Angel Hernandez, only a two page story about the baseball episode of D Space Nine that also has a dog named Latinum. Yes.
00:35:50
Speaker
It's a corgi, I think. Who plays baseball? Who plays baseball. That story is- Nara cast it to you. Yeah, it is for me. ah There's a story by Magdalene Visagio and Megan Huang, a Lower Decks story. That's a fun Lower Decks story. There's a great bit um about Q Jr., a great like little three or four pager by Morgan Hampton and Megan Levins.
00:36:19
Speaker
um about Q Junior and Q Senior. um And then there is a ah full story continuing the ongoing story in the regular Star Trek book by Jackson Lansing and Colin Kelly and Christopher Cantwell um with David Tinto doing the store the doing the art. um It's a lore story that's been going through the regular Star Trek book ah for a while.
00:36:46
Speaker
Yeah. I haven't been reading the Star Trek comics like on an ongoing regular basis, but I think both of us picked this one up because our buddy from the show, Jodie Troutman, lettered six of the seven stories. There are seven stories in the book and Jodie lettered six. of There are seven stories in the book, Jodie lettered six, yeah. In pretty much every way,
00:37:11
Speaker
But I think, honestly, especially the lettering, the Q Junior story is the standout of the book. The the Q Junior story that threatens to become Multiversity Comics. It's so close to Ultra Comics. Yeah. It's so close to Ultra Comics. Yeah. ah Yeah. ah Very fun. Jody pulls off some incredible lettering in this that is exactly the kind of lettering trick. There's there's a ah there's a ah dropout bit that I think about all the time since we were talking about it earlier, uh, where Zacho Yama does a bit about giving a snake $4 and without laughing, like Brennan Lee Mulligan does that thing where he just nods and goes, that's the perfect comedy amount comedy amount of money. Yeah.
00:38:08
Speaker
that's That's the most bills for the least amount. That's the perfect, amount like, comedy amount of money. That's when Brit and Lee Bulligat is like me. Yeah, yeah. And I feel like there's that thing where when you're really into something, you get the things that, like, make you laugh and, like, delight you, but then you get the things that you see and you're like, yeah, that's really good. Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:34
Speaker
And the the lettering bits in this story are the ones where I'm like, yeah, that's that's that's incredible. That's good work. There's a part in that story where the lettering, the the caption boxes become objects that Q Junior is holding. And you might think that that was part of the art in the issue, Megan Levins' art. um No, that's Jody's lettering.
00:39:01
Speaker
that is That's all Jody, ah did a a bang up job. Yeah, it's it's good, good stuff. The art's also incredible. like The art is the best in the book, I think. And there's there's a lot of good looking stuff in this. Yeah, the art starts breaking down like the lettering does because it's starting to become ultra comics. It's great. the The whole book is great, but that story is is definitely a standout.
00:39:27
Speaker
One last book you wanted to talk about, Chris, I have not had a chance to read it yet, is um Exceptional X-Men number one. Yeah, we've discussed, ah I think, most of the ah post-Krokoa X-Men titles that are coming out, and so I've been, you know, trying to keep up and ah dip into them as as they come. This one is an interesting one because it is This is the Kitty Pride book. Yeah, it's I guess it's the the new Marauders. It's by E-Viewing and Carmen Carnero. Yes. And it's good. I'll say that up front. And i'm not this is not a plan for a compliment sandwich, but it is good. I did enjoy it. But I did say the Kitty Pride book, because at one point,
00:40:19
Speaker
ah someone is like looking at her ID and and calls her Catherine pride and she goes it's kitty and there's a like pause in the dialogue or like in the way it's it's ah presented where it's one panel is she saying it's and then the next one she's saying it's kitty kitty pride and so she's clearly like about to say it's Kate and that To draw that much attention to it intentionally, as ah E-Viewing ah does in this, ah E-Viewing and Carmen Carneiro, it is noticeable, but it is a very noticeable move backwards. And on one level, I'm like, okay, so we're you're not pretending like that's not happening. ah Cool.
00:41:13
Speaker
Like you are, this is a statement on your part to go, right, okay, yes, she is Kitty Pride again. But it is something that I, that I'm not sure how to feel about.
00:41:28
Speaker
because the rest of the book does feel, in a lot of ways, like almost to a fault, very forward-looking. It is about Kitty interacting with a but ah Gen Alpha mutant, like to a a very young mutant. ah But it also involves... like you know Kitty has a ah date with a with a woman, so it is is very much texturally reaffirming, like yes, this is this is Kitty Pride, she's bi, but...
00:41:58
Speaker
there is that one thing of like, yep, this is resetting back to status quo. I mean, i I prefer that to the approach of what some of these other books have done, where it's like, oh, we're regressing to a so to status quo, but we're we're talking about Krakowa a lot, we're talking about where we came from a lot, you know, this is just,
00:42:26
Speaker
regressing I mean, obviously regressing back to that, to Kirby and Kitty, and lamp shading it a little bit, but just getting it out of the way and moving on. Yeah. Which is, I prefer that so much more. I i do too. Like I said, I liked the issue and I do think it it's... When I say it's interesting, I mean it's interesting. I don't mean it's bad and I don't want to call it bad.
00:42:52
Speaker
So it it did kind of, it made me think about it in a way that I might not have if they hadn't drawn so much attention to it. Yeah. I mean, I think it's trying to lampshade it and. Yeah. Well, because it's going to like, we would likely be having a similar version of this conversation if they hadn't too. Like I'm not going to, you know, a a trap that I try to avoid falling into is reviewing the comic that we don't actually have.
00:43:23
Speaker
But yeah, it's a good book. I'm interested to see where it goes. it's It is very much a ah a comic of today, and because it's such a comic of today, it's going to it's going to seem very 2024 in like two months. But that's fine, because that's what it came out, and that's, you know, that's X-Men, baby.
00:43:48
Speaker
It should always be the comic of now. that's Marvel Comics are the comics that are happening right now. And they they always should be. ah So I'm fine with that. But yeah, it's an interesting approach for Kitty to just be like, hey, fuck being an X-Man. I'm going to be a bartender for a little while and then get caught up in hijinks. Well, speaking of what's happening right now, Chris, right now it's time to answer some questions from our listeners. So let's do that. Let's do it.
00:44:18
Speaker
Friends and enemies, this week's episode is brought to you by BigBadToyStore.com. We've had them as a sponsor for a couple weeks now, and we've talked about the Big Bad Batman battle, Operation Monster Force, but this week we want to talk about just some of the cool stuff that they have. If you like anything we talk about on this show, go to Big Bad Toy Store, use our URL,
00:44:42
Speaker
Look around for two minutes. I guarantee you, you will find something cool related to the things that we like. As a result of this sponsorship deal, they sent us some cool stuff and I got three things that are basically the starter kit for Matt Wilson. I got a guts figure.
00:45:08
Speaker
SH figure arts guts figure which you also got one of from I did we that was the one that was on both of our before wish lists That's right in the berserker armor. I Got a Marvel Legends spider-man. That is such a Steve Ditko looking spider-man ah I'm looking at it right now. It's filling my heart with joy and I got an AEW sting statue because if you talk to me about wrestling for long enough, I'm gonna tell you that I love Sting. The Sting statue is huge. When this arrived, the first thing I texted Chris was, big Sting.
00:45:52
Speaker
And I texted back, how big? And then I had to send you a photo for reference. I got the the same guts figure, which is very, very cool. I got Piccolo, which is a great figure because his cape actually, the way it works, you can have him like floating in a cross-legged sitting position and he's supported by his cape. It's such a cool figure. I got your forger from a spy family, which is a a really fun figure. I got a statue of Goku.
00:46:21
Speaker
That is ah fantastic. I have so many Goku's in this house. a Big Bad Toy Store is enabling the Gokufication of my house. This time, AC was like, you know, I kind of like that we have this Goku statue on the dining room table watching over us.
00:46:42
Speaker
Use our URL. That is how they know that you are coming from War Rocket Ajax. Just look at what's on the main page and you will find something that is something we like. Really cool gaming stuff. They have an entire section of like of tarot cards ah related to pop culture and other like cool art.
00:47:03
Speaker
that's That's really cool that I literally just saw for the first time, but I think that's awesome. More importantly than something we like, you're going to find something you like. We didn't take long looking at BigBadToyStore.com to find stuff that we were like, I want that, I want that, I want that.
00:47:20
Speaker
and You i'm sure will have much the same reaction so here's the ah url the chris has mentioned a couple of times it's tiny url dot com slash bbts wra those letters are in all caps tiny ah url dot com slash bbts wra and when you do that not only can you find lots and lots of cool stuff you can put all that cool stuff in what is an incredibly smart marketing idea that big bad toy store had called pile of loot, where for 90 days, you can just amass all the stuff that you want in a pile of loot that then once that 90 days is up, you hit buy.
00:48:09
Speaker
you You buy all that stuff at once and then you just pay $4 flat rate shipping one time and get everything you were going to buy over the past 90 days. You can also, this is a great idea as well, you can choose your packaging style depending on what kind of display you want to do or how much of a collector you are so you could just get standard grade packaging which if you don't necessarily care about the packaging you just want to take it out put it on the shelf
00:48:44
Speaker
Standard grade is perfect for that. or If you want to keep it in the box. I need guts hanging out with Steve Austin and Goku. So standard packaging is fine by me. If you're just not worried about it being collector grade, even if you keep it in the box, standard grade, perfect. But they also have collector's grade ah packaging where they are trying to make it as near mint as possible.
00:49:08
Speaker
for you to keep it in box and have it be as good a quality as possible. tinyurl.com slash BBTSWRA. You will not have to look for long to find something you love. Buy that stuff, let them know we sent you, and it's a match made in heaven. um
00:49:40
Speaker
Chris, our first question comes from Locified on our Discord. Hey, that's our, that's our buddy. Lucas Brown. Who wants to know who is the Eddie Kingston of comics characters? Ben Grimm. Yeah. I mean, I think that's the easy answer, right? Yeah. Like, I mean, the difference being that, like, in universe, Ben Grimm is as famous as Eddie Kingston should be. But I, all but I do feel like Ben Grimm is not as famous as he should be.
00:50:10
Speaker
in the real world? Also, yes. The only, I think there is a difference in personality between Eddie Kingston and Ben Grimm in that Eddie is angrier. Yeah, he's real mad. He's easy big mad. But I do think that they're the closest comparison.
00:50:32
Speaker
As like, as a long time you know, 10 plus year fan of of Eddie Kingston. God, I mean, but I guess more than that ah now, geez, he is the, the most I have done this while watching a pro wrestling match has been Eddie Kingston, where I'm like, I'm like, Ooh, I'm legitimately worried about this person. Yeah. And I feel like that is the, that is the,
00:51:04
Speaker
won't stay down in this of Ben Grimm. Plus very New York. Very New York. that's Those are the the big similarities between Ben and Eddie for sure. I'm trying to think somebody of somebody who's like angry and got a chip on their shoulder, but there's also like a definite kind of vulnerable side that comes out.
00:51:34
Speaker
Maybe I'll think of it in a bit. i you just like When I think of Eddie Kingston now, I think of him ah getting into CM Punk's face and just going, fight me, fight me, fight me, fight me. And it's like, I can see Ben Grimm doing that to Dr. Doom. Here's our next question from our Discord from Detective Spade, who says, what in current comics just ain't getting over, brother?
00:52:04
Speaker
Uh, I mean, I had a lot of stuff. I feel like, I feel like these Tom King comics ain't getting over. Oh, but they are. like so People, lots of people. I don't get it. Who's like in Danger Street out there? I mean, Danger Street's and a weird case.
00:52:27
Speaker
But like people people loved Human Target. People loved to Human Target. many People told us we were wrong about Human Target. They did. They did. I don't know what to tell you. I mean, well like always when someone tells me my opinions about a comic are wrong, I listened and I really thought about it and took it into account. Sure. That's a joke about my personality.
00:52:57
Speaker
Your boy, uh, personified oppositional defiance disorder over here. I don't know. I don't know. I, I, they are getting over, but not with us is the thing. What's the new one? What was the new one? What was the the one? Oh, right. Jenny Sparks. I think Jenny Sparks might be the breaking point. Cause I haven't seen anybody say anything good about Jenny Sparks. Jenny Sparks is like when Ahmed Johnson came back as big T.
00:53:29
Speaker
that's that That one was just for you. When he stole the tea from Booker T? when Yeah, when Booker T had to stop being Booker T and just be Booker. Because Big T took his tea. Big T took his tea? Yeah. Yeah, you got it.
00:53:51
Speaker
Oh, that got me good at it. I love how much that one got you.
00:53:57
Speaker
I forgot that is a wrestling storyline that I had left my memory and you brought it back. But honestly, I feel like comics right now is in such a weird place because there's stuff that we're like, that'll never get over. And then it's inexplicably ah very popular. I mean, look bud, look, we we already did the ad, but you can go on Big Bad Toy Store right now and find a Hallows' Eve Marvel Legends figure.
00:54:31
Speaker
ah hellos eve If she ain't over, she should be. but No, I fully agree that Hallows' Eve should be over. You know, you and me are like, number one, like like president and and just secretary, or maybe sergeant at arms and treasurer of the Hallows' Eve Club. yeah
00:54:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'd say I'm about like rec rap. I know a lot of people don't like, a lot of people don't like stuff ah from the Zeb Wells run of Spider-Man and that's baffling to me, utterly baffling to me. I think it's such a fun run of comics. I thought Hallows' Eve and look, maybe maybe she will be, but I thought for sure Hallows' Eve was going to be a, I mean, not Banjo tier because she's good, but definitely like,
00:55:28
Speaker
I'm Ricochet to your character from the slingers. Yeah, man. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I like Ricochet. He had cool hair. I liked I liked all the slingers. I guess Ricochet Ricochet was the breakout because he was briefly in the Uh, was he the runaways? No, he was in the, uh, he was in runaways, the comic, yeah but he was, uh, the loners. He was one of the loners. That's right. yeah Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I, I'm sure there's plenty of other stuff that like, that's a good jacket that he had too. Was a good jacket. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff that's not getting over that I'm just not thinking of right now.
00:56:15
Speaker
But this feels like a weird period of comics where like stuff that I think should not get over does. And stuff I love, at least the online comics fan community seems to hate.
00:56:32
Speaker
i just i It's the children who are wrong. Yeah, no, like I do think you and I are now kind of officially at that age where we're a little bit, just tiny little shred out of touch with what the audience might want. But also, we're existing 40 year old comics fans if they're not being made for us. Who then? If not us, whom? I just don't get the Tom King stuff. I just don't get the Tom King stuff. I get the Tom King stuff.
00:57:05
Speaker
it
00:57:07
Speaker
it yeah It just blows right by my my my head. Blows right over my head, I guess is what I should say. it's That implies that you don't get it. Okay. And that's not that's not the case. Blows right by then. I yeah i don't i i don't get it. ah So I don't have a great, great answer to this question, unfortunately.
00:57:36
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I mean, it's like, I don't know, man, comics is a medium. I mean, that's, that's the sad truth. Unfortunately.
00:57:49
Speaker
both Man, that that quote that question took a couple of real dark turns. That bummed me out by the end of that. All right.
00:58:01
Speaker
here's Here's one from our Blue Sky, which is ah kind of the opposite of that question. It's from Shano. it's but Who's a character that you love, but you haven't actually read many of their comics? and Now, this this is not like a like the Manhattan Guardian, who I've read every appearance of, but there just aren't many. There just aren't many, yeah. I assume it's...
00:58:29
Speaker
They have many appearances and we like them, but we've only read some of them. I mean, like that is a really tough one for me because as a, as a like reader and critic, kind of my thing was getting fixated and reading like entire runs of something. Yeah.
00:58:54
Speaker
Like, you know, I read, I read every Punisher comic. I read every Ghostwriter comic. I read, uh, every issue of Tarot. Like, uh, I, I like, I like reading long runs. So I don't know. Like, I think I know my answer. I've only read some Gwenpool.
00:59:15
Speaker
o Yeah. And this comic's good. I love Gwenpool as a character. I think I was reticent. or uncertain about Gwenpool at first, because it did seem like a weird, hard to get my head around kind of concept. ah But once I read Gwenpool comics, I was like, oh no, I'm totally on board with this. yeah I just haven't read them all. I've read some, you know? That's that's a good one. There's a lot of manga
00:59:50
Speaker
that I really like, but I haven't dipped too far into. Like, I was just talking with some of our friends earlier about how I probably should read more of One Piece, ah because I've only read about, you know, ah probably less than 10% of it, which is the first 120 chapters. There's so much One Piece.
01:00:18
Speaker
Yeah, I've read a, I've read a not insignificant amount of One Piece, but overall, I mean, I haven't even gotten to fucking Chopper yet. I don't know what that thing's deal is. Yeah, like, I feel like a lot of manga is that way for me. Like, like I've only read like some of the, like I own and haven't read all of the Go Nagai cutie honey stuff. Yeah, I'm, I'm behind on a lot, but I mean, yeah, I love Cutie Honey. I just, you know, love Cutie Honey in the media I have experienced. Our next question is from WCWit on our Discord. Have either of you checked out Hideki Anno and Shinji Higuchi's Shin Superhero Trilogy, which is Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman, and Shin Kamen Rider?
01:01:09
Speaker
I have not. I was curious about Shin Kamen Rider when it came out. I've seen Shin Godzilla, but that's the only one. How's that? It's great. Okay. I was curious about Shin Kamen Rider because, you know, ah again, Kamen Rider is something that I have experienced objectively a lot of and, you know, less than 10% of. Yeah. Should I? Listener?
01:01:41
Speaker
Hit us up. Hit us up. Let us know. Is that the Evangelion guy? Edekiano? Yeah. He is the Evangelion guy, yes. Okay, because I never got into Evangelion. Evangelion is... i don't know I don't know how much you would like it. See, that's the thing. Even when I was a teenager, I was like, I don't think I'm gonna like this one. It's very...
01:02:08
Speaker
inside the character's heads. For an anime, it's probably as different from Dragon Ball as an anime can be. And still be an action anime, you know what I mean? um still Still technically be about robots fighting each other?
01:02:30
Speaker
robots fighting angels who were the enemies in Evangelion. Like, I like Evangelion, but even I, by the end of Evangelion, I'm like, it's a little too heady. By the end of Evangelion or by end of Evangelion? Both. Okay. Folks, I want to get something clear right now. I'm not dumb.
01:03:01
Speaker
I'm not. I'm very smart. When I say heady, I don't mean smart. I'm not, Matt, I'm not even talking to you. Okay. I, but look, I like a specific kind of thing. And the thing that I like is when, when the metaphor takes on a literal, becomes literalized in a lot of ways. I listened to a podcast with our our buddy Lucas and Annie Creighton and Anna ah about Speed Racer where they talked about Speed Racer for two and a half hours. And that's a movie that I love because there is a metaphor
01:03:53
Speaker
there and the metaphor is like car racing is making art, which they go into a lot in that. It is also a movie where car racing is car racing and car racing involves like doing backflips and like cars fighting each other on giant Hot Wheels tracks. That is something that I really gravitate to because I i like it when something is fun and action-packed and that action and that fun is in service to a deeper meaning. And I feel like a lot of times, because I don't like stories about people having problems, I feel like people forget that I am actually like a, I am an award-winning media critic. Here's the thing about Evangelion.
01:04:51
Speaker
It does literalize its metaphor. It absolutely literalizes its metaphor. From the beginning, you're like, I get it. Then the more you watch it, the further you get into it, the slipperier your grasp on the metaphor it gets. And by the end, it's kind of like, I'm not sure anymore.
01:05:17
Speaker
And but that is even clearer by the point where, like, there are two different endings, you know? Like, but I mean, the original ending is just because of there being no budget anymore. But then even End of Evangelion is like... End of Evangelion is all about problems. The character's having problems. So, like, that's why I'm not so sure if you would like it. And it is, like I said, very heady.
01:05:47
Speaker
um in a sort of like You as a member of the audience don't know What the metaphor is anymore exactly? There are lots of theories and lots of ideas um But it's not nearly as clear as what the metaphor is from the start of the show Which is which couldn't be more apparent? so That's what it is. I worry that people think that I am someone who
01:06:15
Speaker
i I mean, obviously I don't engage with mediating critically, but I worry that people think that I'm someone who doesn't like to think, when what I don't like to do is be bummed out. Yeah. People on our Discord did not like our ranking of spectacular Spider-Man number 200. They definitely didn't. And... I was informed, and I do agree with this, that we are ah too heterosexual to truly understand Spider-Man. That may very well be true.
01:06:41
Speaker
Yes. That may very well be true, but I will say... Look, it's a fair call. Someone on our Discord said that it was because of the no-bummers propensity that we have. It's not even that, because if there's one media property that can sort of break the no-bummers rule and it's still okay, it's Spider-Man,
01:07:06
Speaker
I just can't. I just can't with the with the Salba Shima art from. I mean, look, if like, do we do I like having a good time? Yes. Do I not understand why other people, including you, like to be frightened? I mean, you don't, I guess you've never been scared. Yeah, I i watch every horror movie very analytically and don't get scared.
01:07:33
Speaker
and And you've never been scared, yeah. But I mean, it's not like any comic that's not just a ah ah laugh-em-up, goof-em-up fest. is something we don't like. like Have you read Pluto? Pluto's a bummer, dude. In a lot of ways. it's like As I said when we talked about that issue, the last page first so the last page of Spectacular Spider-Man 200 is the best part. It's my favorite part of the issue. It's it's what I like.
01:08:06
Speaker
of that issue. And I think it's the best art in the issue as well. I just can't with the fucking pink pizza and Salba Sima's art generally. And um that issue also has Peter being like, like it has the question of will Peter kill, which if you want to turn me off at a Spider-Man comic, do that. Well, he's not even wearing his, his killing clothes. I just like that. Just like, Hey, should Batman kill the Joker?
01:08:36
Speaker
is a tired question we don't want to hear anymore. Like, will Peter be mad enough this time to kill is a question i I'm just not interested in. yeah Anyway, here's our next question. It's from Josh, who's just kind of here, I guess. And the question is, what piece of media has permanently altered your vocabulary the most, AQUAD? AQUAD is probably a close second place to Homestar Runner.
01:09:06
Speaker
Ah, yeah. Okay. I i think Aikwood edges it for me, but I see that too. Yeah. If, if I didn't say no Prabalo as much as I do, which is often, then, then it might be Aikwood. I do enjoy talking about circumstances. Circumstances calling a hundred of something a hundo.
01:09:32
Speaker
I'm a man of blank. Oh yeah, wow. ah It's just, there's so much of the lexicon that's direct from Aikwood. Yeah. Chris Colno Trigger on our Discord wants to know, what's your favorite awkward wizard magazine casting call decision? I don't have a great backlog of those in my memory, but I'll tell you the one I'll never forget. Okay. I got but got one in the chamber. Robert De Niro Wolverine.
01:10:03
Speaker
Oh, was that for Earth-X? No, it was for just the X-Men movie. just do It was before the X-Men movie happened, and they were like, oh, we got to get Robert De Niro is as Wolverine. And they had one image of him where his hair was kind of flared out that they used for the for the image. ah The one that that I will always remember is ah is Bruce Campbell as Superman.
01:10:32
Speaker
That's pretty good good. Well, cause that's pretty good. Except that it's not.
01:10:40
Speaker
Cause he's, he's too insincere. Yeah, because Superman isn't like, isn't funny in that way and cocky in that way.
01:10:55
Speaker
Which I don't think Bruce Campbell is even like is a bad actor who's incapable of doing things other than, you know, playing Ash in Autologos or whatever. But Bruce Campbell as Superman is equal is an equally good and bad idea. You know who Bruce Campbell should play? Should have played? Not Superman.
01:11:20
Speaker
I mean, that's pretty good too. Not Superman, but Super Duperman. He would have been great as Super Duperman. If you don't know Super Duperman, Super Duperman was the Mad Magazine parody of Superman. I would even think Bruce Campbell would be a good Captain Marvel.
01:11:37
Speaker
Because even though Captain Marvel is like yeah know a very sincere character, he's also like a kid's idea of what a cool guy is like. Very much so. And Bruce Campbell is was literally was my idea of what a cool guy was like when I was a kid. ah He was a cool guy. He's not just somebody's idea of a cool guy. He's a cool guy. No, I agree. But he was my idea of a cool guy.
01:12:04
Speaker
ah Chris, I decided ah after this, after that question to Google Wizard casting calls. Uh huh. And I found a post on r slash comic books, the Reddit, sub Reddit.
01:12:23
Speaker
where someone has taken photos of several different wizard casting calls over the years. so I love this. And I found from the February 2003 issue of Wizard. That's so late for Wizard to exist. Jeff Johns casts the Avengers movie.
01:12:46
Speaker
this Based on his run. Yeah, it seems like it because this was when he was writing Avengers, right?
01:12:55
Speaker
I'll give you one guess as to who he cast in each role, starting with Iron Man. Okay, 2003. McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy. Great guess. This is his best casting choice in the column I think. Okay. George Clooney.
01:13:19
Speaker
Okay. All right. Not bad. Not bad. He works as Iron Man. I can, I can see it. Yeah. Captain America. Gotta be Junk Club Bento. No, but just as wild of a choice. Heath Ledger in 2003. You know, I can see that actually. I can see that.
01:13:43
Speaker
Do you want to know what Jeff Johns' justification for casting Heath Ledger as the Joker? As Captain America? Was it that he looks good blonde in A Knight's Tale? That was part of it, yes. But also, he was in The Patriot. Okay. It would be wild to cast a non-American actor as Captain America. Yes, agreed. A thousand percent agreed.
01:14:10
Speaker
ah I mean, i guess I guess they, you know, they did cast a dude from South Carolina as Black Panther, who was great, but... he Yeah, he was great. i've I mean, I guess they could have gotten an African actor, but... Yeah. He was great. Vision, I will i will be shocked if you even remember who this guy is. ah Is it ah Doug Ray Scott? It's not Doug Ray Scott, who...
01:14:40
Speaker
I think Wizard also wanted to cast his Wolverine at one point. Well, Doug Ray Scott was cast as Wolverine. that's Oh, that's right. And then he couldn't do it. Back out to do Mission Impossible instead. Man, man, what a terror. What a weird alternate universe that would be. Career choice. Where Hugh Jackman was never Wolverine. Where Hugh Jackman was probably never famous. Yeah. Here's who they casted. Here's who Jeff Johns castes the vision. Barry Pepper. Barry Barry Pepper? Isn't that Bill Hader's character on Barry? It's a slightly different name. Barry Pepper would only have been in this column in 2003. He had been in Saving Private Ryan, and his I think is one of his last movies was Battlefield Earth. ah Barry Pepper was a famous Hollywood Scientologist um who disappeared
01:15:40
Speaker
the The Falcon. ah the In 2003? Yeah. Is it someone that we've recently watched a movie with? I don't think so. Oh, okay. Because i' like in I was thinking that there is a non-zero chance it could be Martin Lawrence. That's funny, but no. ah Do you want to take another guess or do you want me to just say? Who is it? Morris Chestnut.
01:16:09
Speaker
Okay. That's, that's, that's not bad. That's not bad. Uh, Ant-Man. Uh, Ant-Man. Well, I'm looking at Barry Pepper. That dude's got, that dude's got intense eyes. Yeah, yeah. Uh, so this would, this would be Hank, right? I think, I think it would have to be Hank Pym, yeah. So this would be someone like who would be a contemporary of like a Heath Ledger.
01:16:38
Speaker
Keith Ledger in 2003 and three in George Clooney though being like Captain America and Iron Man feels a little weird. But I mean, I guess that's probably... There's there's an age... Robert Downey Jr. is probably that much older than then Chris Evans. You don't notice it quite quite as much, but yeah.
01:16:57
Speaker
all Man, Barry, Barry Pepper, I gotta close this window of pictures of Barry Pepper. The eyes are getting to me, dude. I'm not even trying to be rude. He's got intense eyes. Yeah. ah And then, I don't know. Joaquin Phoenix. Honestly, for Jeff Johns' Avengers, perfect casting. Perfect guy to shrink down to pleasure his wife. Okay, Jen, it's your turn. It's your turn.
01:17:29
Speaker
Thumbs down. And finally, She-Hulk. This is, it is nuts that Jeff Johns knows who this is. China. You're very close. Ivory. Wow. Man.
01:17:46
Speaker
continue Jeff Johns pulling out the right to censor era. Ivory. What a weird choice.
01:17:57
Speaker
Ivory's short though. Yeah. Like China's a irys much better, China's a much better choice. Yeah. Well, I know that was wizard's pick, uh, often. I look, I think China could do it.
01:18:16
Speaker
i guess this would all I guess, I guess that was after the disgracing of China. And, uh, they wouldn't say that anymore, but China's great, great choice.
01:18:29
Speaker
pre CGI characters. Yeah. I gotta say, if I ever talked to Jeff Johns again, I gotta ask him about ivory. Like, Hey, you heard the ivory. I mean, look, um, I don't imagine that'll be number one on his list of things he wants to talk to me about. Probably not. Yeah. But if it is stone cold, HCC,
01:18:55
Speaker
on our Discord asks, y'all seen that show shotgun? How come it's just a bunch of Japanese guys stabbing themselves with swords?
01:19:11
Speaker
Oh, that took me a second. Yeah, i I did a really good impression of the guy from Shogun one time and I don't know if I can do it again. I have not seen Shogun, but I would like to. I i i feel like I gotta steal myself to watch it, but I would like to watch it. I need to see my men and I need my ship. If you could tell him that I need to see my men and my ship. That's good. That's not as good as when I did it before. I did i did it and it was perfect and I lost it.
01:19:48
Speaker
ah yeah Anytime we try to do an impression on the show, it's gonna be lesser than ah what we would normally do. It's just the nature of performance. Nature of the bees, baby. yeah ah Secretly, a summer squared on our discord wants to know, is there a comic you wish you had the chance of reading the for for the first time again?
01:20:10
Speaker
two I mean, because like I often go back to things. you know it's I have had jobs over the years that have like required me to go back and look through a lot of my favorite comics to kind of like pull things out, ah whether it was you know reviewing or or or doing research.
01:20:35
Speaker
ah
01:20:37
Speaker
And I will often find myself like, you know re you know getting caught up in and rereading Batman R.I.P. again or something. And it's like the stuff that hits still hits. Yeah. you know I think my answer, I mean, my actual answer is Berserk. But been beating that drum for a while. ah Yeah, but like, but are you you're currently rereading Berserk? Pretty slowly. Yeah. But are you like,
01:21:10
Speaker
Are you, experience like the experience that you're having rereading Berserk, is it as rewarding as the first time through? It actually is. I'm, I'm noticing things on the second read through and it's partially because ah i I read it all digitally the first time. Now I'm reading it all in print and the, the omnibuses. Um, and so I'm noticing details and connections that I didn't notice the first time. So that is rewarding. Um, in a way the first read through,
01:21:40
Speaker
wasn't It's a different kind of rewarding. um the The actual comic, I think I would say, is All-Star Superman, which is certainly reward rewarding to reread, but I'll never have the emotional reaction I did to reading it the first time again. and it's it's It is a book that I had a clear, definite emotional reaction to.
01:22:09
Speaker
ah that I would like to replicate. I would love to read, but honestly, most Grant Morrison comics I have read. Again, but like we were, you know, we were just talking about ultra comics earlier in the episode and like reading ultra comics again would be like for the first time. Yeah. Would be a real hoot. It really would. it It weirdly enough, aside from the monster at the end of this book, there's nothing else like it. Yeah. Yeah.
01:22:43
Speaker
ah Scott H. PDX asks, when did you first realize writing comics was something you could do and wanted to do? Well, I I've talked about before, like I knew I wanted to be a writer early, but I didn't necessarily wanted but like I didn't necessarily want to write comics as much as I just wanted to write. I mean, it was probably when I was working at the comic book store and I was around ah Chad Bowers so much because Chad always knew he wanted to write comics, like specifically. And I loved reading them and I loved writing. And I loved, you know, like, like I would
01:23:28
Speaker
come to really love writing about them. But it was probably like all the conversations we had about, I mean, you know, primarily like his ideas and and then becoming a a critic because I was around them so much made me look at them in a different way that made me kind of like reverse engineer, like how I would do it.
01:23:53
Speaker
Uh, and that's the, you know, the same time that I got really into like reading scripts and buying like any comic that had a script in it as like back matter bonus material, uh, just to see like, like comics that I didn't even like love. If they had scripts in them, I would, I would buy the collection, you know, like, uh, like I got those invincible hardcovers. I liked invincible. Like it wasn't my favorite book, but I bought them because I wanted to see the scripts and I wanted to see how they worked. So.
01:24:24
Speaker
I mean, it was probably like, you know, knowing I wanted to be a writer early, but not really having a desire to write fiction at all until like getting really into writing comics in my early twenties. I had a very similar experience. I knew I wanted to write.
01:24:51
Speaker
when I was younger but what I did most of the writing like recreational writing or or leisure writing that I would do it was not trying to write comics even though I loved comics and read them most of the the sort of writing in my free time that I would do would be like comedic essays yeah and because I loved Steve Martin's book pure drivel I read that book till I wore it out and And I just wanted to write like that. And so I would write just comedic essays ah for fun. And when I got to college and finally had like regular internet access, which I never had at home in high school, even though it was available, um, like I could have had it, but my family just didn't. Um, I would have to go to the library to do anything online.
01:25:48
Speaker
um So when I got to college and I had the internet all the time, I started writing comedic essays and submitting them to places. And that's how I got into like working with Jay Pinkerton and doing stuff for um some of his sites. And I wrote some stuff for the National Lampoon website and stuff like that. But I i didn't um think about writing comics until Marvel did the epic.
01:26:18
Speaker
pitch thing it in the final issue of Marvel when it was like, Hey, we're accepting submissions from everybody. So send us your submissions. And that's when I was like, I can write a comic. And that's when I wrote the script for the comic that became imposter syndicate, which is the book's done. It's just getting printed. Um, so that's when I knew that's when I was like, Oh, I could write comics.
01:26:50
Speaker
Yeah, I think you and I are both probably a little more unusual in that we both came from writing comedy.
01:27:04
Speaker
You know, you wanting to be Steve Martin and me wanting to be Dave Barry. yeah Yeah. A weird thing for a 12-year-old to want. I mean, a weird thing for two 12-year-olds to want, yeah but we did. Yeah. ah Which, you know, I think is i think that's an an interesting thing about our path, because the love of comics was always there. And the like, oh, i you know, ah I think, you know, Spider-Man could do this, Batman could do this, like, these would be cool ideas. but Those were always there.
01:27:36
Speaker
And I think we both had you know the experience that you always get of like kids drawing, you know like how many times did you draw Spider-Man when you were a kid? Oh, a lot. ah ah i mean i I probably drew Batman more, though. Batman's good to draw, man. I drew Batman a lot. i i've I've surely told the story on the show about how when I was like six years old, seven years old, I would just draw the Joker falling off that building.
01:28:07
Speaker
ah to the point where if I like a teacher had to be like, please stop.
01:28:16
Speaker
Yeah, so I think we I think we definitely have that love of comics, obviously, but but we both came at a love of writing that was different. Yeah. And then came together. MargoCity1 on our Discord asks, I'm finishing up the Giffen beer bombs run on Legion, and I have to ask, what are the boldest reinventions, reimaginings, or reworkings in comics? I mean, five years later, Legion is bold. Certainly. That's about as bold as they get. Yeah.
Frank Miller's Impact on Daredevil
01:28:49
Speaker
Yeah, like, I don't know of anything that's like, that magic combination of, this is a superhero book,
01:28:58
Speaker
So it's like, you know, it's got Marvel and DC money behind it, but it's also a book that we don't really know what to do with right now. And it's definitely not what it used to be. So we can do something that weird. I don't know anything that's like, that's gotten that weird. I think the best example You don't really think about it because Daredevil has been this way longer than he was when he was before. yeah But Miller on Daredevil changed Daredevil completely. yeah Like the idea of what Daredevil as a character was
01:29:46
Speaker
was totally totally different yeah after during and after the Miller run. The the thing is that that's what's daredev that that's what has been ever since. And that's been 45 years, right? Yeah. But before Miller on Daredevil, Daredevil was not that. um So I think that, maybe that. um but because Because every time Miller did that again, he was just doing the same thing again.
01:30:16
Speaker
like um or or others in the 80s when they like made characters more gritty. They were just doing what Miller did on Daredevil. So I think that's, if there's another example, it's that one.
Excitement for Dragon Ball Daima
01:30:30
Speaker
Yeah, good call. Reed Strong on our Discord wants to know, is Chris excited for Dragon Ball Daima, or are you still mostly focused on the manga material? I am excited about Daima, because everybody gets certain new kids.
01:30:46
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's gonna be weird. I think it's gonna be weird and and fun. In a, oh like, I never really got into into GT, obviously, because GT was over and done with by the time I was a real ball head. That can't be right.
01:31:10
Speaker
It also is it GT is the one that Toriyama just had like no involvement with right? Yeah, he's not there so like a bunch of stuff from GT like trying to wound up being in ah Dragon Ball, but like super like super retconned GT Right out of the park Yeah ah It's gonna be interesting to see what Daima is I mean was it finished before Toriyama
01:31:43
Speaker
died? I mean, I think it was it everything that he would have been, I think, you know, directly involved in was done. Okay. Uh, cause I think it was like, he was mostly doing like concepts and, uh, like general plot stuff, uh, for it. Uh, and you know, it's, I mean, I'm sure the lead time on that was, was long. Yeah, probably. So, uh,
01:32:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it'll be interesting for sure. I think we have time for one more question, which look, we got a lot more, but, uh, no, it says that look, I'll try and, uh, if you're a, a discord member, I will try and pop in there and maybe, uh, answer some questions. I'm gonna, I'm gonna but go through and pick a good one.
Secret Phrase for Listeners
01:32:40
Speaker
Not that they're not all good, but, uh,
01:32:44
Speaker
Okay, catsman asks, what is the secret phrase we should say to identify other War Rocket Ajax listeners? I mean, you could just go like, have you ever heard War Rocket Ajax?
01:32:58
Speaker
Like, I don't know why are you so ashamed of it that you can't. that you can't, that you need a code for you to shibble with. What if, what if, yeah, we don't need a let's go Brandon. ah You could just say, I like, I like where I could Ajax, but I do think it would be funny to greet each other by saying good hat.
01:33:21
Speaker
That's not perfect. I get, there is nothing I can do better than that. And a good hat to you. And a good hat to you.
01:33:31
Speaker
Is that how we we're going to end the show from now on? It might be. It might be. Thanks for listening, everybody. We're done. We're out of time. ah Chris is going to try and go and its there are so many questions on the Discord. That is that is a lot, my word. ah Chris,
01:33:53
Speaker
You got some questions to answer on the on the Discord. ah If you would like to send us a question, a listener question, um there are several places where you can do
How to Send Questions and Access Content
01:34:03
Speaker
that. You can email one to us at our email address, which is warrockitpodcast.gmail dot.com. You can also send listener questions to our Tumblr, which is warrockitpodcast.tumblr dot.com. People don't really do that anymore, but you could. They show They show up occasionally.
01:34:21
Speaker
um You can send us questions on Blue Sky. We're on Blue Sky at warrock at ajackstylebsky.social. And we took most of our questions in this episode from our Discord, which you have to be invited to be a member of. But if you ask us in any of those places I just mentioned or on our Patreon for an invitation to our Discord, ah we will provide you with one. And then you can join and be part of that lovely community and ask listener questions in our ah listener questions channel. They're on our Discord. Our website is warrocketajax.com. It has every episode of the show we've ever done. warrocketwiki.com is the fan run repository of all the information you could want or need about this show, War Rocket Ajax.
Where to Find Hosts Online
01:35:12
Speaker
If you want to find me and my stuff,
01:35:15
Speaker
go to MattDWilson.net for links to my comics, my books, my other podcasts, and my social medias. Chris, where can people find you? Everybody can find me by going to THE-ISB dot.com. That is my website. It's got ah one thing on it right now, but also some links to other things that I've done. So go there and check those out. Soon to be two things. Soon to be two things. Although ah the,
01:35:43
Speaker
it It took me like a year to work through my thoughts that became what is there now. So I definitely have more research to do on the second thing, but it'll be there eventually. Carefully crafted material over there. ti zb yeah Artisanal, that's right. Artisanal comic book and pop cultural opinions. Thanks for listening, everybody. Yeah, thanks for listening. Until next time.
Closing and Social Justice Affirmations
01:36:10
Speaker
Don't forget, Black Lives Matter. Trans rights are human rights. As are abortion rights. Drag is not a crime. And cops aren't your friends. But we love you. We love you. Good hat. And a good hat to you.