Pick of the Week Podcast

Pick of the Week #229 – Jonah Hex #54

Show Notes

Hey, they’re back! After handing off the show to the writers, Josh Flanagan, Ron Richards, and Conor Kilpatrick have returned in the first heat-influenced show of the year! Plus, the language gets super salty when discussing one particular book, Conor reveals the uncomfortable origins of his Power Pack problem, and Josh still has a Tom Katers complex.

Running Time: 00:58:05

Pick of the Week:
00:02:37 – Conor says that his Pick of the Week, Jonah Hex #54, is the complete package.

Comics:
00:11:30 – S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 was heavy on the information… and the awesome.
00:16:25 – Ron and Conor tripped over each other to gush about The Flash: Secret Files & Origins #1.
00:19:38 – Josh fell in love with the Nazi-killing in Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers #1.
00:21:31 – Buffy the Vampire Slayer #34 has everyone hot and bothered.
00:26:42 – Badass 70s-tinged action and muttonchops in The New Avengers: Luke Cage #1!
00:27:47 – Josh found a very fun all-ages story in Thor and the Warriors Four #1.
00:29:13 – Was Jonathan Ross paid by the word to write Turf #1?
00:31:47 – With Proof #26, Ron says things are back on track.
00:32:41 – Both Ron and Conor fall a little bit in love with Demo, Vol. 2 #3.
00:33:45 – Everyone has fun with Avengers: The Origin #1.

User Reviews:
00:35:26 – dharmabum loved everything about Uncanny X-Men #523.
00:37:28 – bigyanks had some problems with Invincible Returns #1.

E-Mail:
00:40:58 – Brantford from Ontario, Canada says Josh and Conor got some ‘splainin’ to do!

Voicemail:
00:44:14 – Anonymous wants to know where to start with Aquaman.
00:47:34 – Kevin & Michelle from Simi Valley, CA say thanks!

Giveaway:
00:50:08 – Three lucky iFanboy Members have won a signed copy of Turf #1!

• Chris Albrecht
• Mary Ann Borrelli
• Neil Cudmore

Etc.:
• Do like Rick Remender says and buy a limited edition FEAR AGENT Shirt!

• Go subscribe to iFanboy: Don’t Miss to hear a preview of a book coming out this week.

Brought to You By:
Discount Comic Book Service – Mail order all your favorite comics with amazing discounts that must be seen to be believed!

Music:
“Big Iron”
Johnny Cash

 

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Comments

  1. Oooh, we’re going to argue about Flash: Secret Files and Origins, aren’t we?

  2. No Batman & Robin?!  What on Earth were you guys smoking?

  3. Don’t worry Josh, I didn’t think SHIELD #1 was god’s gift to fanboys either…while this series has the potential to be great with all the fantastic ideas that were introduced in this issue, there really wasn’t much besides the backstory of SHIELD to keep me hooked. Hickman decided that he wanted this to be more about the backstories than the story of the main character for this issue, which is fine, but it causes for the few flaws that were in this issue. Loved the art, though.

    I REALLY loved The Flash Secret Files, as I’ve read some old Flash issues before, but like you guys said, this was a perfect primer for people like me who want a fun way to catch up on everything. Beats Wikipedia research.

  4. Yup. You guys are nuts. Here’s what I thought about the Flash thing (from a post on th eCBR forums):

    Yaaaaaaaaaaay! Johns drop the ball on the Flash. Again.

    I just have so many issues with this comic that I barely know where to begin.

    1. Barry’s all new tragic past. It was total crap when it was introduced in Rebirth and its no better here. Barry Allen IS NOT A TRAGIC CHARACTER!!! When the hell will Johns get the message that adding tragedy into the Flash’s background doesn’t make the character more intesresting but it takes away from what made Barry such a cool character in the first place. He became a hero simply because he understood that it was the right thing to do. He is not Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker and trying to make him such is really a problem for me.

    2. Barry Allen is still boring. The worst part of all this is that I’ve read some modern day stories with Barry Allen and they all portray him as a much more charismatic character than he is here. Johns is trying too hard to make Barry "cool" when the thing that makes Barry such a wonderful character is that he is anything but.

    3. The story itself was very weak. I liked that it all happened over the course of one minute but it just felt so insubstantial.

    4. The Rogues stuff. I like Johns’ take on the Rogues but what is this crap about "Open when the Flash returns"? I love how Johns promises that Wally is still going to be a central character in the Flash-verse and yet they continually try to undermine his two decades as THE Flash.

    5. Speaking of which, I noticed in the profile pages that Wally’s only extra abilities thanks to his close ties to the Speedforce is that he can generate a costume out of the speedforce itself. That’s useful in battle! What happened to the other abilities that he gained during Terminal Velocity like his abilty to share his speed and remove speed from others. Oh, I know, we wouldn’t want to make Wally any more special and awesome than the newly returned Barry Allen. Sorry but bollocks to that, I say!

    I will be giving the regular series a few issues to maybe win me over just because I am such a hige Flash fan but I don’t exactly hold high hopes. I really can’t believe that this is the same guy who is writing the wonderful Superman: Secret Origins that I read straight after this. Are there two Geoff Johns running around or something?

  5. (Geoff Johns changed the character, because no one had written him for almost 30 years. Let it go.)

  6. @Ilash: One wold wonders why you would plan to buy even a few issues of THE FLASH when you’ve hated everything featuring Barry Allen since his return. Here’s my bold prediction: You’re going to hate those issues too. Save yourself some money.

  7. That may have been insensitive. I’m sorry for your loss.

  8. @Conor: Admittedly, I am basically being a sucker for punishment as far as the Flash goes right now. Thing is that The Flash really got me into comics and has been my favourite superhero ever since so I’m really, really hoping that Geoff Johns could turn this whole thing around. Between this and Blackest Night, I can’t say I have the highest of hopes but i want to give the new series at least a couple of issues to win me over.

    @Josh: See, it’s not really true that no one has written Barry in 30 years. They may have been out of continuity but Waid’s JLA: Year One and GL/ Flash: Brave and the Bold were modern stories heavily focusing on the character of Barry Allen. The same is true of Darwyn Cooke and New Frontier. Hell, I even thought Grant Morrison’s quick take on him in Final Crisis showed a lot of promise. I know that Geoff Johns is THE DC writer right now but, I’m sorry, I could point to sinle panels in those above comics that show a better grasp of why Barry Allen works as character than Johns has displayed in something like a year of comics. 

  9. i love the way you guy shot down users with a different point of views. i love it.

  10. no "a" sorry

  11. Yeah, we’re giant assholes. People tell us ALL the time.

    Am I right?

  12. Sure but that’s why we love you!

  13. i keep burning my hands on my stove top. I will continue to do what I am doing and hope that the nature of heat changes.

  14. Thanks for another great listen, gents.

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  15. And I have no idea what happened with the above post, I rarely carry font modifiers about my person. Apologies!

     Then again, maybe you can’t see what I see . . . 

  16. Hey Josh, it’s not that we don’t miss your comments on the show, we just understand that you have other responsibilities now; so we (I?) don’t blame you for missing an episode or not being able to travel those United States of Your’s to goto a con for 3-5 days. You gotta be there for the family man 🙂

     

    Plus there’s that NEW Josh guy on the site now, throw him on the show, the guys start saying ‘So JOSH! What did you think of such n’ such issue’, and people will just think you have a cold or something; be like a guest artist for a 1 or 2 issue arc, the character kinda acts slightly wrong, not everyone can quite place it, but then the regular artist returns are all is well 🙂

  17. @Mart – that’s the most impressive comment bug I’ve maybe ever seen.  I say, "nice work."

  18. Wait…so Buffy & Angel are having "pleasures" & stuff throughtout the entire issue right? Doesn’t Angel turn into his true evil personality Angeles after he experiences true happiness a.k.a. sex? Why would they be having sex if they both know he’s going to change into Angeles once they do?

  19. Is it a telling sign that an Aquaman fan wants to stay anonymous? 

  20. I’m glad that Ross is excited about writing comics.  And I’m excited that he’s a comic fan.  But Turf wasn’t just overwritten, it was badly written.  He seems like he’s very good conceptually, but his panel to panel text, in addition to there being too much text, it was also…really really trite.

    Also, I rarely agree with Ron about Pick Of The Weeks (which is why I like hearing his opinions, they’re so passionately different than the opinions of many of the people I talk to), but I’m 100% with Ron on this issue of Demo.  It was perfect.

  21. Also, can I go out on a limb and guess the anonymous Aquaman question is GLNancy?

  22. Should we have the ‘Explicit’ symbol on itunes for the Buffy discussion? 😉

  23. …you guys didn’t talk about Superman: Secret Origins?

  24. C2E2 is this weekend!?!? I thought it was next weekend, so I gave up, but I have a four day weekend this weekend.  Time to make preparations for the drive…

    You guys just made my weekend. 

  25. On Aquaman, if SubDiego is in trade, you should pick it up.

  26. great podcast guys! 🙂

     

    the tiki tour looked fun too.

  27. Hey, can someone take a pic of the ifanboy booth?

  28. @josh "Yeah, we’re giant assholes. People tell us ALL the time".  I haven’t seen any outright attacks towards you guys in months.  Am I mistaken?

  29. This was a classically excellent episode! Well done boys!

  30. Excellent episode chaps, and I got my Fear Agent tee this past weekend and it’s the pinnacle of awesomeness.

    So glad that you were cock-a-hoop for Flash Secret Files.  I wasn’t going to get it, preferring to wait for the main launch and kind of seeing this as a cash in.  Glad I picked it up though, as it was the bright, bold, Spring-like highlight of my week.  And those Manapul pages at the back – there’s something in them that kind of reminded me of a more polished Matt Kindt or something.  It’s going to look perfect.

  31. I would love a Plastic Man: Rebirth. Yes yes yes!

    I might be wrong but that Aquaman mini came from a question I had emailed in to the show also asking about where to find good Aquaman stories. Conor recommended Peter Davids run, I think. I need to go look that up again.

  32. @odare77: I made my thoughts about the writing of Flash pretty clear already but I’m totally with you on the art. Manapul’s Flash art has been beautiful so far and is probably the biggest reason why I’m willing to give the series a shot.

  33. I just bought myself the whole Peter David run of “Aquaman” on eBay a buck a book. Worth it! Sooooo good. I’d totally say they are worth the hunt

  34. haha, the Gambit defense rant that Ron goes on is classic X-Men fandom. I love it. 

  35. I almost fell out of my chair laughing when Ron said, "It’s not Gambit’s fault" so earnestly.  (Conor’s right, though, Gambit sucks). 

    Seriously, great show and I love the choice of theme music. 

  36. Just added Jonah Hex to my DCBS order. Convincing argument made on the podcast to just pick this up every month because its that dam good. I’ve picked up issues before but kept on jumping on and off because its not in any way connected with other books but also isn’t a great series for trades like Walking Dead. You guys convinced me that there is no excuse for not picking up a great book. 

  37. I didn’t pick up SHIELD for the exact reason Josh said– I don’t need SHIELD to be part of some Dan Brown-type conspiracy.  I’m cool with it being a Cold War, American espionage organization.  I’ve been disappointed with Hickman’s Secret Warriors for the same reason– he’s getting away from everything that makes Nick Fury great to do something New! and Different! that’s actually just really underwhelming.

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