Pick of the Week Podcast
Show Notes
They got mixed up! Conor Kilpatrick’s in San Francisco! Josh Flanagan is… home! Ron Richards is, well you don’t want to know what Ron is doing. Things are hot, the hosts are beaten, and we all agree that some things are awesome, some things are awful. Consensus!
Running Time: 00:59:39
Pick of the Week:
00:01:38 – Beware the forests! Beware the seas! Everyone loved the adventures of Sea Bear & Grizzly Shark, Josh’s Pick of the Week.
Comics:
00:09:16 – Everything is explained in Hulk #23. Except the mustache.
00:12:38 – Things are different, but that doesn’t mean Power Girl #13 is bad by any stretch.
00:15:16 – Dynamo 5 #1 is a jumping on point, but might not be as good without the background.
00:17:59 – The Amazing Spider-Man #635 is Joe Kelly and Michael Lark and perfect.
00:20:29 – Nobody move. Powers #5 was the comic we were looking for.
00:23:50 – Detective Comics #866 was a great one-shot produced by skilled creators.
00:25:27 – Grant Morrison takes things pirate style in Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #3. Yes!
00:27:46 – We’re going back to Russia with Battlefields: Motherland #1.
00:29:27 – One of these iFanboys is oddly averse to The Avengers #2.
00:32:57 – Justice League: Generation Lost #4 just clicked.
User Reviews:
00:35:24 – marcusbrute starts the discussion on Straczynski’s story in Superman #700.
00:40:35 – neb wants to, but doesn’t quite appreciate 7 Psychopaths #2.
E-Mail:
00:44:28 – Rob asks about back issue pricing, and it kicks off a conversation with actual substance.
00:48:06 – Barry asks who’s gonna be reading comics when the current readers die off.
Voice Mail:
00:51:58 – Poserdude (?) wants to know if Ron is confused.
Bbrought to You By:
• In Stock Trades – get amazing discounts on all your trade paperback and collected edition needs from Instock Trades!
Music:
“Three More Days”
Ray LaMontagne
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Wow early up look forward to listening
Fantastic show. I laughed my ass off several times.
Whew, haven’t listened yet but this seems like it’ll be a great episode based on the shownotes.
Barry’s question in particular is a really great one. I always like it whenever someone brings up the point that, looking ahead, the comics industry just hasn’t been cultivating a next generation of readers. Personally, I’m just much of a digital revolution guy (digital comics are fine, but there’s no way it would make me switch over; I’d pay $5 easily for a single issue, because I really love what I buy, and I don’t buy much)…but if digital comics can attract a younger audience, then that would be great. Otherwise, it’s gonna be pretty sad once the average age of a comics reader is 40+. We’re almost there now.
Good to hear that Power Girl 13 was solid.
Everything else I’ve read on the internets has said that Denny O’Neil’s story in ‘Tec was very flat, though. I remember his post-RIP two-parter seemed really flat to me. Then again, I’ve been loving Len Wein’s stuff on Legacies, whereas I didn’t like the one-shot he scripted during Final Crisis. I guess vets deserve us not to write them off.
^Oops, I meant to say that "I’m NOT much of a digital revolution guy, but…"
Some hard-hitting questions this week. Does this mean we can expect a "Where do I start with Green Lantern?" question next week, to balance the scales?
Just a note about JL: Generation Lost. Giffen is apparently doing story breakdowns rather than art layouts so I think he has more to do with it than you guys seem to think. I don’t think his involvement is quite as in depth as it was in the classic JLI stuff but don’t forget, he didn’t script that either.
Either way, I’m loving the different but familiar feel that Winick has given the series. I do think that the otherwise very good Power Girl suffered from being too tied to JL: Generation Lost as a lot of it felt quite redundant.
As for Superman, I was really looking forward to JMS’ take on Superman but you’re right, that wasn’t a great beginning. Hopefully it will get better but this was way too overly familiar.
Best line from the podcast: "Are…they…doing…vaudeville…?" – Josh.
guilty pleasure.
Heh, liked that "supposed to be edited but wasn’t" moment.
Oh man. When an episode starts off with one of my all time favorite songs you know it’s going to be a good one.
This and the last episode have been classic iFanboy excellence.
‘The Ladies Man’ always gets +100 bonus points from me. Never fails to make me giggle like crazy.
Didn’t read it, but the homage to the famous painting of a diner in Powers? I’m guessing "Nighthawks" by Hopper?
Great episode. I’m gonna give the JMS Superman an issue or so, but I definitely agree with the assessment. I may have to drop the book. But at least we still have Action Comics.
That’s the one.
I know that yall are not the biggest fan of JMS, but I do think you guys are missing what his Superman run is going to be about. Superman literally abadoned earth for his own reasons, now of course while there are many hero’s on earth none of them compare to Superman. The entire point of this run is for Superman to reconnect with the very people he has protected all these years. I can understand that yall felt burned by JMS but give this story a chance. Remember and I’m sure Conner will agree that the best Superman stories are character moments, but that is just my opinion
I can guarantee you that I’m judging this story on the merits of this one story, and nothing else. I did make a JMS story a POW not too long ago, you know.
I dig what JMS did on Thor. I dig Superman. I really didn’t like this story.
And that’s okay.
I am fully aware that JMS is not for everyone. Me and my Dad are huge fan’s of his, but to each is own 😉
Do you like every story he’s ever done? Or do you think there have been some clunkers?
Again, I feel the need to point out, I didn’t hate Thor. I just didn’t like it all that much either. The Superman story, I actively did not like, and neither did the other 2 guys. When the 3 of us agree on something like that, it usually goes beyond whatever petty dislike people seem to think we harbor.
I will admit that while I enjoy a majority of his work, I must admit that his Gwen Stacy twins arc was in terrible taste and the Other was not good at all, but overall I like 95% of things he has done
@josh: I’m sorry it’s just really hard to feel like you don’t hate JMS all that much when you guys keep PILING on the hatred for this prologue for ‘Grounded’.
You didn’t like it? Fine, I understand that. But to keep joking about it and giggling like it’s the worst thing since Sentry: Fallen Sun…..that’s where (I think anyways) people keep complaining about your ‘hatred’ for JMS. But that’s just me…..personally I cannot wait to see this humble take on Superman. Cause god knows I’ve been waiting for a good story since Geoff Johns left the series.
@TNC: Yeah, it was really clear that Josh hates all of JMS’s stories when he made one his Pick of the Week a few months ago.
I didn’t hear anyone complaining when we joked about Sentry Fallen Sun. Toughen up, and like what you like.
We’re probably going to keep doing our show the way we think is best.
@conor/josh Well whenever JMS is talked about, I’ll just skip over it. Cause it’s unbearable to listen to every time.
@TNC: Do what’s best for you. We’ll do the same.
Good show. I think I’m with Josh on "Avengers" (though I’m still enjoying New Avengers a lot). I hadn’t thought of it before he mentioned it, but the need to draw every character in every scene is kind of ridiculous. Though the thing that drove me to distraction was the number of word balloons that were spoken by off-panel characters, without any way to determine who was who.
@ohcaroline – The off panel word balloons thing DOES draw attention to the fact that, given Bendis’ characterizations, it doesn’t even matter who’s saying what. Which really is helpful in that sense, but problematic if you’re looking for something deeper. Now, if you’ll look at my pull lists, I think I gave both issues 5 stars. Because I am a horrible hypocrite, but also because the sensibility and collective voice of the characters just clicked for me and spoke to my lizard brain. It’s a total romp for me, but I definitely see the mechanical problems that readers like you and Josh are pointing out. Totally get it.
Paul, I think that’s true in this book but I don’t think it’s always true in Bendis’s writing. I get a lot of character continuity in New Avengers and while there are places where it doesn’t matter who’s quipping, there are other places where it feels like the character relationships matter. Here it’s like he just said "I don’t really know how these people relate to each other, aww screw it, I’ll make car insurance jokes."
Oh, yeah, I was just talking about this particular book, not Bendis in general.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Just a heads-up (pun intended for the following); the last few panels of the SEA BEAR story isn’t the Sea Bear’s decapitated head looking at you the reader, it’s a cub watching his mom’s grizzly death, much like the little boy at the start of the story.
I only caught that on the second read, and it made me happy to know the circle of life was continuing.
Although I thought you guys might be missing the point of JMS Superman, and I was shocked by the universal disdain for the ‘Grounded’ prologue, it’s all cool because it really doesn’t matter what you think about it. I don’t love everything he does, but I felt like this short story was on the money, with a great launch pad for a year of stories. On the flip side, I had zero fun watching the A-Team. It was clunky and boring with awful editing and bland acting. My opinion shouldn’t have any bearing on what anyone else likes or hates (as I’m sure you well know). So yeah, just my $0.02.
While you are correct that Superman being emo and remorserful for not being able to save everyone can be very dull, not mention has been done a dozen times, not everyone has read it. You guys are often proponents of retelling origins and various other stories. You often, rightfully, push back on the fanboy mentality that these stories are sacred. The story may suck, ir may suck badly, but I won’t judge it on the basis of just what kind of story it is likely to be. Now… if its written like shit, that’s another thing and I agree that this story was written very poorly. Anyway. fun show and I listen pretty much every week.
Personally I thought the Grounded prologue was a solid start with good art and I’m looking forward to JMS on Superman.
I do think JMS does get the rough end of the stick a bit from you guys (outside of that one POW) considering some of the stuff the does get crazy praise (*shudder* new avengers *shudder*), but as you say, different strokes for different folks and all that… I just skip over the one sided stuff and zip to the X-Men Forever update!*
*disclaimer: I don’t read X-Men Forever, nor would I advise anyone to do so, but the updates are amusing.
I’m done with Avengers, too. The story is painfully weak. Even though Strange, Iron Fist, and Voodoo are going to be key players in the magic arc going on in New Avengers, THAT is the kind of story that should be in a "classic," straightforward Avengers book.
JMS is a mixed bag. But that’s how it is with every writer. Or rather, every creator.
I’ve definitely felt luke warm about the Avengers proper book. I felt that New Avengers last week (or was it the week before…?) was much stronger. I’m going to buy this first storyline, and if it doesn’t pick up, I’ll definitely drop it. There’s just something missing from the book that makes it magic…
Regarding Hulk #23: I threw in the towel with ish’ #19 (had intended to do so with #18, but Marvel subscriptions always demand processing time). Just want to say that I’m less than thrilled by the reveal. In fact, I hate it.