Pick of the Week Podcast

Pick of the Week #227 – Uncanny X-Men #522

Show Notes

The results of the voicemail contest are in and we’ve got an extra long show so we can bring you the Top Five Voicemails from the deluge that we received this week! Were you the winner? Also, we love My Blue Heaven and Ron has no idea what day it is.

Running Time: 01:09:45

Pick of the Week:
00:01:48 – Ron’s Pick of the Week, Uncanny X-Men #522, made him so happy!

Comics:
00:13:07 – The New Avengers #63 brought out Josh’s inner nitpicking geek.
00:17:00 – The Guild #1 was just about as good as the show, which is to say it was okay.
00:18:32 – Are we sure that was Steve McNiven drawing Nemesis #1?
00:22:30 – Scalped #36 is one of the best single issues of the year.
00:27:06 – Josh really didn’t like Green Lantern #52.
00:29:02 – The Amazing Spider-Man #626: Fred Van Lente + Michael Gaydos = Awesome!
00:30:10 – Power Girl #10 was bittersweet for Conor.
00:31:35 – No one is sure what to make of Captain America #604, but very little of it is good.
00:33:54 – Josh loved Hellblazer #265!

User Reviews:
00:34:43 – piscespaul applauded Justice League: Rise of Arsenal #1!
00:36:26 – JoeCom got a kick out of Orc Stain #2!

Voicemail:
The results of the Best Voicemail Contest are in!
00:39:22 – #5: Brian B. didn’t talk to the iFanboy at Emerald City Comic Con for two reasons.
00:42:19 – #4: Daniel from Arkansas asks about good super hero comics for indie comics fans.
00:45:32 – #3: Kevin from New Hampshire wants to know which character should get general public recognition.
00:48:04 – #2: Ron from Detroit, MI asks for thoughts on an ideal digital comics world.
00:51:50 – #1: Dave from Massachusetts asks about the new trend toward shorter story arcs.

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

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Music:
“You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb”
Spoon

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Comments

  1. Ya know, I never was a fan of My Blue Heaven, always felt it was a better concept that movie.  I tip everybody is a funny line though…..

  2. I am the one!

  3. Poor Kitty, isn’t this exactly what happened to her just before the X-Men vs. Fantastic Four?  This isn’t a nitpick, I’m just curious to see if they can’t just call Reed and say, "Hey remember that time on Muir Island when you helped Kitty get out of her permanent phase?  You, uhhh, you saved your notes for that, right?"

  4. Is that what happened to Kitty? She’s back but she can’t get out of her phase powers?

    If that’s the case….how does she not phase to the center of the earth? Another nitpick.

  5. thanks a bunch for the responses to my question. i think i’m going to start by pushing Starman.  A couple of my friends have way too much Jack Knight in them to not like it if i can actually get them to give it  a shot.  Plus since i was lucky enought to get most of the run in issues on ebay for cheap when the new hardcovers started coming out i don’t have to scare them off by handing them the whole first ominbus to read.

  6. @ Ron from Detroit, MI
    For me it’s a matter of sampling. I want to read a lot more comics then I can afford. This way it’ll be cheaper (crossing my fingers) and they won’t clutter up my home.  Conor is right when he says that it’s a pain when you have to move houses. I’ve done it a few times and it royally sucks. Ron is dead on when you want to bring an iPad like device on a plane – music and comics on one gadget.
    Our generation has been a witness to the single issue comic to the six-issue storyline collected into a trade paperback. Not to mention all the reprints of golden and silver age material. Now we get to see another advancement with the transition from print to digital first hand. It’s going to be a hot topic for the foreseeable future and one that I’m glad to be a part of.   
    – Chris from Detroit, MI
    twitter.com/dgtlcomics
  7. if not why not?!

  8. I’m not the biggest x-men fan but i don’t hate them at all. so i was kind of interested in hearing ron discuss the Uncanny issue. however, he’s description of the book made it sound TERRIBLE. What are you going to do though, huh? 

  9. Agree with a lot of y’all’s opinions this time around. I thought this issue of Uncanny was really enjoyable. I’ve seen it criticized negatively, but I thought Portacio’s art was great on this. And the backup story had something most one-off backup stories don’t have…pathos. I’ve been hit-and-miss on Fraction’s run, but his "batting average" has really climbed lately, in my opinion. I was hoping he was going to leave the title soon…but now I hope he sticks around.

    I was also disappointed with GL 52. This is such padding and filler. The art was good, of course, and I appreciate what Johns was trying to do in making the issue sort of like a history lesson. But the new cosmic mythology that was revealed seemed so random and meaningless. And you also had pages and pages of my least favorite part of Johns’ GL: characters floating randomly in space (not "outer space", necessarily) saying random hyperbolic things. This was all so unnecessary.

    I think part of the "trend toward shorter storyarcs" (if this really is a trend, I’m not sure) could be because it’s easier to get people to buy $3.99 single issues that way. If something’s part one of six, and it costs $4, then I’m less likely to "sign up" to begin with, since that’s like a $24 commitment (if the story’s good and I stick with it).

  10. Nemesis felt like McNiven doing a hitch impersonatoin….

  11. So wait, Amamda Conner is only selling art at the 21+ party?  (not that I have any money….)

  12. OMG What the heck happened to my Font size? Feel free to edit that down guys.

  13. awesome! I made the podcast! thanks, guys, can’t wait to hear my response.

  14. Conor is intimidating.

    I never thought Ron was the ladies’ man. Can you give us some tips?

    Maybe a video show of how to flirt with girls in your LCS

     to Daniel of Arkansas, try Hickman’s run on Fantastic Four.

  15. and how about two of the top five being from New Englanders.  nice!

    I think I’ve heard somewhere, maybe a Word Ballon?, that some of the book distributors basically informed Marvel and DC that 6 issues was roughly the "right" page count for the average trade and that’s how we got to the six part arc anyway. 

  16. @Nathan: You sir won the ‘best user idea of 2010’ award.

    "How to get the Ladies: The Ron Richard Way". 🙂 

  17. @TNC Step One: SIDEBURNS

  18. @ Step Two: MORRISEY

  19. Step Three: ask how they feel about phoenix costumes 

  20. Step Four: The Laugh

  21. this is like a Zen question, isn’t it?

     

    Like what kind of steps lead to nowhere? 

  22. what was that movie, that brubaker never heard of?

  23. @kevsname72 "My Blue Heaven" – the fictional sequel to Goodfellas

  24. like Ron, I was nicely surprised by Gaydos on ASM. 🙂

  25. Step Five: Forget about meeting her at all 

    @TNC; awesome!

  26. great podcast this week guys

  27. Thanks for talking about the logo! I’m a graphic designer. Presentation is important.

    I like BN. No part of it is unpleasant to me.

  28. "Speaking of wastes of money…" Josh Flanagan, master of the segue.

  29. I didn’t like the Guild art except for the Wow-esque parts.

  30. The comedy came together in a really good way this week guys. 

    Glad that you brought up how noticable the shift in the inking in GL was.  As it was said, this can be the trade off when trying to get books out on a rigid schedule.

    Hate to say it, but Cap might be in need of a new writer.  I think that Brubaker’s pitch might have run out of steam, and it doesn’t seem as if he has found a new direction yet.  That much having been said, I am very happy to have gotten 30 to 40 great issues out of the run.

  31. Ron Richards: Font Avenger!

  32. I haven’t been too fond of Captain America lately either. I see that the current story arc is only 4 issues so I hope it gets back on track or takes a completely different direction with the Heroic Age. I kinda wish it was a Siege tie in, because these issues seem almost to be just killing time until that event is over.

  33. I side with Josh when it comes to the Cap arc actually being about (and against) Tea Party people, despite Marvel’s press release to the contrary. And that’s fine–Brubaker certainly has the right to do any sort of story he wants. What I really don’t like, however, is the branding of the whole group as "crazy" (despite some within the group being so, almost certainly). Even though I am a leftist, I have to say that if it were any other group in question then this sort of unintentionally prejudiced discussion would not be happening. Josh even used the words "those people" to describe them. And I understand no insult was meant, but it just amazes me–in this current media atmosphere where it’s Fox (too far) on one side and everyone else (almost too far) on the other–that this demonization of a group can go on without many people even realizing that it’s "unfair" and blatant. Most people don’t even realize how harsh they’re being to their opposition; it’s like we can barely take anyone seriously if their opinion doesn’t match our own. Again, I don’t even agree with "those people", but it just amazes me. I read another Cap review on another site where the reviewer’s focus was to call right-wingers stupid for thinking that the fictional group was supposed to be the Tea Party. There’s just so much confusion and justification of what Brubaker’s doing, but it seems that all most pro-Brubaker fans can agree on is that they think all Tea Partiers are universally bad and "crazy". Kind of sad to see the level of understanding stay at this level, because as it is there are too many sweeping judgments going on about many different individuals.

  34. After reading the finale to the last arc of Criminal, I’d say give Brubaker a chance. If he thinks he has more to show, than I’m sure he does. 
  35. Re: Kitty in space bullet:

    1) Relatavistic speed of bullet means 2 years our time = 2 weeks her time;

    2) She was phased, ergo less resource usage;

    3) She’s a ninja. Ninjae can go months without nourishment, probably;

    4) It’s a comic book. 

     

    Love the show.

  36. Uncanny Xmen’s variant cover was totally wrong, Kitty was riding the bullet like a rodeo?

  37. Josh’s comments about the Cap issue are dead on in describing my reaction to this arc.  I was fascinated by the beginning of it because of the political relevance (whether it’s specifically targeted at one group or not, I don’t care, but it does do a good job of targeting a particular mindset), and seeing Marvel and Brubaker publicly distance themselves from that took a lot of the wind out of it for me.  I was reading it, thinking, "If you’re insisting the story is meaningless, why am I supposed to care?"  I still thought it was a decent issue (I guess some of the panels weren’t great, but Brubaker’s action scenes are always so clear and thought-out, I enjoy reading them for that reason), but my reaction went from "awesome" to "okay" because of external factors.  Which might be my fault for paying attention, but still.

  38. @NathanNicdao – Hah! Hadn’t seen that cover until you mentioned it, but the variant is clearly an homage to Slim Pickens riding the bomb in the film Dr. Strangelove. That’s good stuff! 🙂

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