Pick of the Week Podcast

Pick of the Week #132 – Pretty Baby Machine #1

Show Notes

Running Time – 01:01:00

Pick of the Week:
00:01:50 – Josh was surprised to love the historical fiction of Pretty Baby Machine so much that he made it his Pick of the Week!

Comics:
00:12:05 – Secret Invasion #2 treaded a whole lot of water. But Josh loved the Mockingbird stuff.
00:16:39 – Ron has a (misguided) freak out about The Mighty Avengers #13. And then they circle back around to Secret Invasion #2.
00:22:54 – Ron loved The Invincible Iron Man #1, Josh and Conor were kind of bored.
00:27:26 – Jon Favreau makes a respectable comics debut with Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas #1.
00:29:58 – Ron really loved Dynamo 5 Annual.
00:31:45 – Josh and Ron had so much fun with Nova #13.
00:34:03 – Logan #3 was a bit perplexing. Okay, more than a bit.
00:35:12 – Avengers/Invaders #1 was… okay?
00:39:14 – Josh and Ron can’t say enough about how good SCUD The Disposable Assassin #24 was.

User Reviews
0:41:10 – GungaDin loved everything about Angel: After the Fall #7 except the art.
00:42:09 – Neb thought that Action Comics Annual #11 was very much worth the wait.

Book of the Month:
00:43:55 – Hellboy: Library Edition, Vol. 1 is iFanboy’s Book of the Month!

E-Mail
00:47:39 – Carson from Calgary, Canada is looking for a particular kind of Batman story. Also The Flash and Spider-Man.
00:51:46 – Connor from Rochester, IL wants to know in what order to read certain DC events.
00:53:36 – Roch has a theory about the “Steve Rogers” that showed up in Captain America #37.

Music:
“When You Sleep”
My Bloody Valentine

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Comments

  1. That song made my NIGHT! Great, great song.

  2. Great Show. Love it! Love the pick of the week. Love the book of the month. You should do a little more on graphic novels. Book of the week coming soon? BOTW, BOTW, BOTW!

  3. Best iFanboy intro music ever. I doubt you guys will ever top MBV.

  4. Wow that’s REALLY weird that you had that MBV song when I just got done listening to Loveless earlier today…

    I thoroughly enjoyed the Marvel bitch-fest this time around, especially because I didn’t read any of those books this week (except Logan).

    Great show as always.

  5. I was surprised by how underwhelmed you guys were by this week’s comics. Most of the stuff I read seemed to range between good and great.

    The Action Comics Annual was a fantastic read, horrible delay aside and an excellent end to the arc.

    Buffy was a big improvement over last issue with a real shocking end that really has me looking forward to the next issue.

    I for one really enjoyed Secret Invasion 2 and I’m not even usually a Marvel guy and thought that Civial War was horrible beyond words.

    House of Mystery was quite excellent and a great start to a very promising series.

    Detective was almost as good as last month’s excellent issue. 

    The Boys was the only thing I read this week that left me slightly cold but it certainly had its moments.

    Maybe you guys just read the wrong things this week?  

     

     

  6. Ron, I had the same complaint about Layla Miller showing up in Mighty Avengers until someone pointed out this issue takes place 6 months in the past, meaning it happened BEFORE Messiah Complex.  She even mentions she’s needed there for the Mutants.

  7. no House of Mystery?!

  8. I think the Layla Miller stuff happened on the past. And she even says She can’t join because she will be needed somewhere else (the bishop future).

  9. Ron, you need to relax about Layla Miller, I sensed such hostility in the podcast today.  But yeah like Simon and Simps stated it happened in the past.  So the messiah complex events have yet to have an impact on Layla.  

  10. If Ron relaxed about continuity he wouldn’t be Ron.

  11. Someone turned the jadedness to 11 this week.  I’m a continuity whore too, but I read the "6 months ago" box and had no problems with Layla.  I also had no problems with Fury’s new Howling Commandos, because it seems like all of the main heroes are either stuck in the Savage Land, stuck in the Negative Zone, incapacited in some other way, or are Skrulls.  So the ones who’ll be saving New York are going to be the Young Avengers, maybe the Initiative (although there are Skrulls there who they might be having their hands full with), and the Howling Commandos.

    I’ll agree, issue 2 wasn’t as good as 1, but it was still quite good (you guys didn’t mention the epic last page).  And Mighty was an interesting back story on not only what Fury has been doing since he disappeared, but also a new team that likely will be important.  For Josh to say he’s wanting to drop either of them (I forget which book he said that about) is very premature.  Already more has happened in two issues than in almost the entire Civil War run.

  12. But I totally agree that Nova was full of awesome, Logan not so much, and Avengers – Invaders was ok. 

    Sorry for the multiple posts, commenting as I’m listening. =D

  13. I know you guys are upset about the lateness of Action Comics Annual and don’t want to buy it, but it’s a really good book, and you should at least find it online somewhere, or read it in the store.

  14. Whoa, any chance that the last email about Cap could be printed here?  I wanna go through that again.

  15. I’m kind of glad I’m sticking to the main SI series and not worrying about the tie-ins for now.  I liked SI 2, for the Clint Barton moments, and for where they seem to be going with Tony Stark.  I’m apparently easy to please at this moment.

  16. Ron, as everyone else had said. Might Avengers is taking place in the past. BEFORE Messiah Complex so Layla hasn’t gone to the future yet

  17. @HBD – SECRET INVASION #2 and MIGHTY AVENGERS #13 were extremely mediocre, in my estimation.

  18. Yeah, I want to add to the "House of Mystery" props. Pick it up!

  19. I enjoyed the show as per usual, good job guys.

    I too was a bit underwhelmed by SI2 and Mighty Avengers, though I too had no problem with Layla’s appearance and thought it was straightforward that the issue was catching us up on what Fury has been doing while in absentia. I had more of a problem with Nick Fury apparently having spent that time as a lead actor in Prison Break.

    On Luke Cage’s dumb response to Ares warning not to fight: baby with the green eyes, Spider-Woman calls him to tell him it’s begun, him leading the Avengers into the fight when it would have been correct to get out of there…I think there’s nothing arbitrary about his actions there at all. 

  20. Haha! Don´t take me wrong…even though Ron got confused with the Layla Miller stuff I really laughed and enjoyed the Fit. That drunk-like explosive passion is what balances and makes the Ifanboy team great!

    Even though Secret Invasion may not be the greatest thing going on (for some) I am really enjoying it… And the Sentry´s NOOOOO! got a new kind of life after your reenactment on the podcast.

     

     

  21. I haven’t re-read the issue yet, but I completely missed the flashback part – and I could make an argument that if *I* missed it then did the issue have problems?  but apparently I was the only one…

     haha – what else did I get wrong? 

  22. I would’ve thought the reason to bring up Layla Miller in the Mighty Avengers issue was to point out how jailbait-y Maleev drew her.  I didn’t think it was her for a moment.

    I didn’t think you guys would be knocking down Mighty so much either.  I can’t get enough of Nick Fury and am just eating the issues up with a spoon. 

  23. Regarding that Superman Annual, I was reading an online review of the issue and apparently Adam Kubert has had some health issues recently (what exactly, the article didn’t say). Thankfully, he’s apparently fine now.

    That still doesn’t explain why Andy Kubert’s been m.i.a. for basically year, though. Back in the mid-nineties those two could work on monthly titles no problem…

  24. Ron the entire Nick Fury arc has basically been a flashback.. it’s recounting everything he’s been doing since Secret War

  25. @Balefuego – I think that’s been made very clear in this thread by now.  🙂

  26. I just read the Action Comics annual. The only thing I have to say is that The Last Son arc is going to make a very beautiful Trade. Can´t wait till they release it.

  27. Thinking about the continuity thing, Conor (I think it was Conor?) made a good point during the podcast.  We say we want the ‘main’ crossover series to be readable without needing input from the tie-ins.  We say we want people to be able to keep reading comics without getting totally sucked into a crossover.  Then we complain that the tie-ins don’t matter, and that books not involved in the crossover don’t fit into continuity.  At some point, we get to be like the old lady on ‘The Simpsons’ who tells the grocery store checkout clerk ‘I want everything in one bag but I don’t want the bag to be heavy!’ 

    That’s not to say that the crossovers shouldn’t be critiqued for how well they work, but the truth is that any crossover is going to involve certain tradeoffs.  At least with SI (so far) Marvel seems to have decided which way they want to go and are sticking with it.  ‘Civil War,’ I thought, ended up skewing more toward trying to be everything for everybody.  

  28. Love the show.  Sometimes I think you guys like hating on the mainstream events to get the fanboys riled up.  I enjoyed the show, but if you’re going to rant about continuity, please make sure you don’t overlook the "6 months ago" at the beginning of the comic.  I don’t know if I’m in the minority but I am really enjoying the New and Mighty Avengers crossovers.  I do think you guys are flat out wrong about Maleev’s art, It has been great.  Nick Fury looks weird b/c he is in disguise. At least I think he’s in disguise.  Oh well, I look foward to next weeks show.

  29. @HBD – Here’s the e-mail from Roch about "Steve Rogers":

    *** 

    I believe the identity of "Steve Rogers" in Cap #37 is the Captain America from the 1950’s, who eventually became the Grand Director.

    A little history:

    When the real Cap disappeared in the 40’s, he had a few successors until he came back in the late 60’s. In the 50’s two men took on the mantle of Cap and Bucky. That Bucky was Jack Monroe, who eventually became Nomad.

    They were put through a version of the super-soldier serum that, of course, was flawed. They were also given plastic surgery to look more like the people they were imitating. They became increasingly violent and the government decided to put them in suspended animation until they could figure out how to cure them. They came back in the 70’s and clashed with the real Cap and the Falcon. They were defeated and sent to a mental institution that, unbeknownst to anyone, was run by Faustus. Faustus messed with "Cap’s" head and he eventually became the Grand Director, a Nazi type leader. He eventually committed suicide by activating a device in his belt which incinerated him and he was left for dead.

    In Cap #37, there’s a comment by Faustus as he enters Zola’s lab. He basically tells Zola to not be sarcastic and that he would not have this subject if it wasn’t for Faustus. Later in this issue, Sharon goes to rescue "Steve Rogers" but realizes that he is in fact NOT him. "Steve Rogers" is a little unsure himself, which totally plays with the storyline from the 70’s where he actually thought he WAS Steve Rogers. If you look at the art closely in the last panel, he has what looks like burn scars on his left shoulder.

    I rest my case!

    ***

  30. @krypto – As I said on the show, I don’t hate SECRET INVASION, I am just disappointed that nothing has happened since #1.  I am disappointed because I liked SECRET INVASION #1 so much.

  31. Hey guys, thanks for highlighting my Action Comics review!  It always makes me smile like an idiot when they get highlighted.  I agree on all accounts that the lateness was inexcusable.  But I’m weak.  Much weaker than the iFanboys.  Plus, in true nerd fashion, I kind of had a really good time digging the back issues out of my long box before the Annual came out. 

    As Simon mentioned, the Last Son story arc is going to make a beautiful collection, and I think it’s a HC that’s only going to be 20 bones.  Hopefully, that won’t see a year delay!  Huzzah!

    Great show as always guys.

  32. This was a fantastic show. Ron’s continuity rant more than made up for the lack of accents from Josh.

    Can’t wait to see what praise / rants Batman RIP will bring for next week’s show! 

  33. I hear you Conor.  I guess the main problem with these events is that they are normally one or two issues too long.  It would be nice to have an event that didn’t last 6 or 7 months and that’s barring any delays.  I wasn’t a huge fan of Messiah Complex but I did love that it was weekly.  That was a well done event even though it was a bit uneven at times.  Do you think rotating artists could work for something like Secret Invasion?

  34. MBV!

  35. I was the guy that had his question read regarding the DC timeline and whatnot and I also had something to say about Sandman.  I kind of feel like a shithead after the way I came off. For one, I like Sandman but I was in a mode where I almost liked it too much to the extent I wanted instant payoff and a trade of oneshots did not really rub me the right way at the time.  After going back and reading it again I have almost nothing bad to say.  Maybe A Dream of a Thousand Cats isn’t my favorite but I can definitly respect it and Neil Gaiman.

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