Pick of the Week Podcast

Pick of the Week #141 – Powers #29

Show Notes

A strong week for comics that includes labors of love, teases of the future, struggles with major stories and a creepy, creepy Gog

Running Time:  00:59:05

Pick of the Week:
00:01:43 – Josh got the most excited for Powers #29, which made it worthy of being bestowed Pick of the Week honors.

Comics:
00:11:27 – Captain America: White #0 delivers a strong tease of the upcoming Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale mini series.
00:15:30 – Joker’s Asylum: The Penguin #1 written by Jason Aaron made Conor long for Batman written by Jason Aaron.
00:19:17 – Conor has nothing to hold on to in Secret Invasion #4, but Ron is enjoying the ride.
00:24:03 – Final Crisis: Requiem #1 tugged at all of our heart strings with a dignified send off for the Martian Manhunter.
00:28:17 – Everyone enjoyed the Geoff Johns trifecta with Justice Society of America #17, Action Comics #867, and Booster Gold #1,000,000.
00:32:58 – Guardians of the Galaxy #3 is working for Ron as an old Guardians of the Galaxy fan, as well as Josh as a new fan.
00:34:02 – Josh found Ultimate Origins #2 to be really enjoyable with the Ultimate Captain America origin.

User Reviews:
00:35:39 – OrribleCabbage is loving Captain Britain & MI:13 #3.
00:37:04 – BrianBaer is looking for his Indy fix with Indiana Jones and Tomb of the Gods #1.

Book of the Month:
00:38:14 – The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 1 captured the heart and imagination of Ron, which led to it being Book of the Month

E-Mail:
00:47:32 – Jason Newcomb (JumpingJupiter) ponders the free pass Grant Morrison gets.

Voice Mail:
00:50:35 – Jeff from Texas is a little drunk, but he’s enjoying the 101 and Hercules.

Music:
“Diamond Suits”
Golden City

 

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Comments

  1. Great show, guys.

    @Conor: What is "the Luthor story where he destroys the waitress just because he can"?

  2. It happened in Superman #9.  He destroys her in a very different way than Penguin and the chef, but it’s just as evil and devestating.

  3. ^Awesome, thanks. You guys are so diligent and informative, you deserve to be paid handsomely (but I’m broke). I’ve never gotten around to checking out that Byrne run, so I finally should.

  4. Re: Morrison/"R.I.P." getting a pass until the story’s over.

    I’m completely enthralled with reading this story in issues. The whole joy of this series for me is based on the fact that the identity of the Black Glove cannot be unknown until the end. I talked about this in my review of the most recent issue, but I feel really bad for the readers of the future who will know the end of the story before they go in. In the future people will just be able to go to wikipedia, or they’ll inadvertantly find out about the "who","what","why", and "how" via word of mouth. I know some people find it too frustrating to handle, but I love the anticipation. It’s only made me reread the back issues looking for clues, of which there are tons. I wish it came out bi-weekly instead, but I’m so glad I came back to reading monthly comics just so I could experience this "Batman" run as it unfolded.

  5. Voicemail with musical score=awesome. Must go find my London Calling album…

  6. I loved this episode. Only the parts about me and my opinions, though. Everything else was terrible.

    … That’s sarcasm. Internet-style.

  7. Every time an issue of Powers comes out I want to read it, but I deny myself because I’m commited to the hardcover trades. But for some reason they just don’t ever come out. Ever! Dammit. I may just go pick up the soft trades and start reading in issue.

  8. Thanks for discussing my email. I still say if G-mo gets a chance everyone else should. I don’t like the double standard. Give the little guy a break! Ultimately though, I am more likely to be patient with someone who has not "proven themselves". They need a chance. But if you’re a big rockstar writer I say: "Hop to it!"

  9. If comic books were free, and there were 48 hour days, I might be inclined to agree with you Jupiter.

  10. great show guys, I am in agreement about Secret Invasion.  I’m enjoying it definately but I am also shelling out the dough for the extra titles which I think is why.  If I were reading the mini by itself I’d feel pretty frustrated at this point. 

  11. You know, I’m pretty much only reading the Secret Invasion mini — is anybody else actually doing that?  is the ‘reader who is only reading SI & no tie-ins a mostly hypothetical creature? — and I’m enjoying it fine.  Possibly, I just didn’t expect a whole lot, and I can absolutely see the structural problems people are pointing out.  I’m just getting pretty much what I expected to be getting out of this story, and it will either make sense at the end or it won’t. 

  12. @ohcaroline, are you reading the Avengers books too?  I can’t imagine secret invasion without them, and wondered if you included them, or counted them astie-ins.

  13. @CAM    I’m really not — I’ve never really enjoyed Bendis’ Avengers stuff and there’s nothing in the main series that makes me want to know more of the story.  I’m kind of just along for the ride in the main books to see what happens. 

  14. @ohcaroline- that’s cool to hear.  The mini has been fun for what it is so far but I was worried without the backstory minutia it wouldn’t be meaty enough without that stuff for most. 

  15. @Kimbo  — I don’t know how meaty it is, but I don’t feel like I need extra information about why Spider-Woman is a Skrull, or who the people on Fury’s team are, or whatever.  Possibly I’m just resigned to being baffled by continuity; I can just pretend I’m reading a DC book.  (Not that DC is worse than Marvel!  I just know less about it).

    BTW, I’m not boycotting the tie-ins on principle or anything; it just hasn’t really gotten to the point of affecting books I already cared about.  I did read one of the Avengers issues with fury, and the first Captain Britain book, and the first Frontline (though I’m dropping that for sure).  I’ll certainly read the X-men and Iron Man and Thunderbolts tie-ins, but I’d be reading those characters anyway.

  16. I have to agree that if something is released monthly, it should be held to the "I should be able to enjoy this in this month" standard. If you can’t enjoy Batman in the month unreservedly, it is a weak book regardless of Grant Morrison’s previous greatness. Some of this Batman problems I think can be held attributable to an artist who is weak on the storytelling skills Grant Morrison requires (illustrated CLEARLY in the lack of definition between Tim/Dick/Bruce), but also to likely lateness and half-assery on Grant Morrison’s part. Both Batman and Final Crisis stink of the same clarity problems that plagued the end of Seven Soldiers, much of which I think can be driven home by the LATENESS of that series. I don’t think Grant all of a sudden forgot how to tell a story. It’s possibly just overall poor editorial management.

    With regard to Starman, I think it is important to note, that likely without this book, there would be NO GEOFF JOHNS as his early works like JSA & Stars and STRIPE (and growth and attention as a writer) were direct lines from Starman. His Flash run owes much to this book.

  17. That’s a good point about Geoff Johns.  He really picked up the threads from Robinson and Goyer.  But of course, he then went on to be his own man, and arguably outstripped his mentors.

    Little known fact:  James Robinson also helped Joe Casey get his first break.  He knew him from going to Meltdown Comics in Hollywood. 

    None of this makes up for League of Extraodinary Gentlemen the motion picture.

  18. I don’t know, at the moment both RIP and Final Crisis are leaving me with an "Ooh! I wanna know what happens next" feeling, whether I’d 100% understood what I’ve just read. I know that’s just my reaction as a reader, but it’s like watching a great cliffhanger in Lost or Alias.

    Also, Geoff Johns is now officially my favourite writer working today. The man is hitting home-run after home-run. And I’m British and not even sure what that means, apart from a good thing. I’ll put it in my terms… GOOOAAAAALLLL!!!

  19. Yeah, sorry, I don’t mean to suggest that Geoff isn’t the student who has become the master. Just that so much of his early work was directly related to Robinson resurrecting the idea of LEGACY at a point when DC had purposefully relegated the JSA and other Golden Age heroes to Limbo, death, or retirement for a good several years (Zero Hour was a particular bloodbath for them).

  20. Nothing to apologize for.  I agree entirely.

  21. I am also kinda reading the Secret Invasion by itself. I had already been reading Ms. Marvel and Avengers:Initiative prior to the SI stuff. I’m Ok with that. I skipped Civil War and Planet Hulk, but thought I would give it a try…it’s "OK"…people on the net seem to cry foul that Final Crisis is inaccessible to those not stooped in a lot of DC lore/continuity…but really the same is true for Marvel. I love it when you can pick up a comic, not really know what has gone on exactly before, but still enjoy it. I am doing that for SI and Final Crisis. You may have to "work" a little at times, but sometimes that’s true for any medium, be it books, movies, and yes, even TV at times…but it’s work I’m willing to do!

  22. Excellent show, guys!

  23. You three are wong. The Grant Morrison 1,000,000 cross-over thingy was brilliant!

    The page where Superman realises in the distant future that he is still alive and living in the sun – priceless!

  24. By the way Josh, the mostly vacant arms market made sense to me. It’s not like a flea market but more like a big ticket items show that only the affluent minority attend. There are small groups of people mingling or listening to a sales pitch here and there… It really worked for me.

  25. I wasn’t complaining that it was vacant.  All I said was that I don’t see how they set that whole thing up without Batman figuring it out.  I realize that’s so not important to the story, and it was really a one off comment, and not a reflection of the story overall.

  26. oh I see. my bad.

  27. We were also discussing on our show the remarkable intertia of Secret Invasion, and decided that "the Skrulls have been hiding in society for a while, and now they’re invading" is a complete synopsis so far, halfway through. If that holds for the next four books as well, oy.

  28. Bob Lob Law

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