Pick of the Week Podcast

Pick of the Week #157 – Battlefields: The Night Witches #1

Show Notes

This week, we did the show live with an audience as we recorded. But for you, basically the same thing. Luckily, that thing is excellence.

Running Time: 01:00:30

Pick of the Week:
00:01:55 – Conor’s Pick, and also Josh’s (for the record), was Garth Ennis’ Battlefields: The Night Witches #1.Β In Soviet Russia, war comic reads you.

Comics:
00:12:40 – Captain America: Operation Zero Point features a hard talkin’, authentic sounding Lower East Side WWII Cap.
00:17:00 – Mike Mignola is back on Hellboy: In the Chapel of Moloch, and Ron… didn’t care.
00:20:28 – Superman #681 continues the ascent of quality. Again, Ron doesn’t care.
00:24:45 – Finally Ron read one of the books, and wants to know why Rage of the Red Lanterns was not Pick of the Week.
00:29:38 – A new favorite Spider-Man artist is discovered as David Lafuente Garcia owns the art on Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3.
00:33:18 – Empowered #4 must not be overlooked!
00:35:38 – According to Ron, 1985 #6 was the best thing Mark Millar has ever written. Also, Galactus can’t find his hex key.
00:39:34 – Jack of Fables #27 was excellent, and is still being published.

User Reviews:
00:41:25 – Parker isn’t happy about his purchase of Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1.
00:43:35 – ali3nheadhunter is amazingly concise in his take on The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1.

E-Mail:
00:45:23 – Adrian Z. wants to know when we’re getting a break from these crossovers. Bad news on that one…
00:47:54 – Kevin thinks Christian Bale is the second coming, and we just talk about Reign of Fire.

Voicemail:
00:50:20 – Dustin wonders about the Ultraverse.

Music:
“We Both Go Down Together”
Colin Meloy

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Comments

  1. Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

    "We’ll do it live!!!"

  2. Ikea Galactus!

  3. Itunes link no worky…

  4. Which iTunes link?

  5. iTunes downloaded the show for me just fine.

  6. I get an Internal Server Error from libsyn on the link at the top right.

  7. Ah, the libsyn link, not the iTunes…

    I just tried it and it played fine for me.  It might be your system.  Give it a try again in a bit.

  8. Figured it out, apparently I had a bad ip in my hosts file. Yay.

  9. Are you guys gonna do a podcast on Joker HC?

  10. When Christian Bale eventually eats it and they stick him in the "Who’s Laughing Now, Dead Guys?" Oscar montage, they use a clip from Reign of Fire. 

     Or him flexing in the mirror…"behind" the hooker in American Psycho.  

  11. "…I HOPE they use a clip…"

  12. Oh Ali3nheadhunter, I need to teach you how to write a review. At least make a full on paragraph….all of his reviews are like that! lol I need to tell him he’s on the podcast, cause now he is will be remembered forever. (He’s my best friend btw)

    I’m shocked no one mentioned the terrible art in Superman. The artists that Robinson had for about 5-6 issues is just awful! There’s wrinkles and lines everywhere on the faces, the backgrounds are sketchy and not detailed, and the color….Oh god the bleachy color! I dont know if it was a printing mistake but the word balloons on my issue actually went faded and the color was running into them! We all know I’m not a fan of Robinson but even I gotta admit: he deserves better then that crap.

    Oh and we all got stabbed in the face when we saw Episode 1 Josh, we know the horrible pain your feeling.

  13. I like Renato Guedes.  And I love the coloring in SUPERMAN.

  14. @TheNextChampion – All due respect, but how old were you when TPM came out?  Because I was 22 years old, and had been a Star Wars fanatic for my entire life.  I’m sorry, but you cannot know what it was like.

    Jimski knows what I’m talking about.  And Simon Pegg from Spaced.

  15. I liked Darth Maul…

  16. @Josh: I was 10 at the time. I was on a Star Wars high right now. My uncle gave me all 3 VHS’s of the original trilogy and I ate it up like it was the greatest thing in the world. Then I kept seeing all the commericals with the NEW Star Wars and I begged my entire family to see it. It started off great! Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon fighting droids and it felt like the films I originally watched….Then it got into the Queen Amadalia stuff and it got boring….Then more fighting….then more talking, then lots of talking with the King of the Jar-Jars (still dont know the race)….then a loong sequence in Tattoine before the podrace….then the exciting podrace….then that city planet….then I feel asleep once we got into the politics.

    I literally slept threw the rest of the film. My parents woke me up and I missed the huge battle with Darth Maul. Of course now watching them I have more hate because of the horrible acting. I seriously almost stopped being a Star Wars fan until Episode III sorta made it all work out. But just because I was 10 and you were 22 doesnt make me not know what you were experiencing. I’m sure all generations of fans got annoyed and angered on how bad that film was.

  17. The point being you didn’t have two decades worth of disappointment from the thing that had dominated your life for so long.  I’m sorry, but you can’t know how that feels. 

  18. You mean Toad?

  19. Oh well (bleep) me. I didnt realise I cant decide whether I was disappointed of the film or not. Guess I’ll just not talk about my opinion and state how great it was.

  20. Dramatic much?  Who said you couldn’t be disappointed? 

    All we are saying is you can’t equate seeing PHANTOM MENACE at 10 with see it at 22.  It’s like the difference between getting dumped by a girlfriend and getting served with divorce papers.

  21. I still dont see your point. You say I cant be disappointed then you flip flop the next sentence and say I cant equate the feeling when I was 10. If I’m watching a film at 10 and instead of seeing fight scenes I see government borefest then I would call that a huge disappointment for a kid. Maybe you should read your posts before you enter them in

    Wait Wait Wait…..I finally get it, why Josh and now (yet again) conor bugging me…..It’s because I’m younger isnt it? Hearing that I’m 12+ years younger then you disappoint yourself doesnt it? πŸ™‚

  22. *I mean can in my second sentence not cant, damn lack of edit button!*

  23. I can’t tell you how you felt.  No one likes to be told that they’ll "understand when they’re older" but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do the same thing when people said as much to me.  But I can guarantee you that my "just graduated from tv and film school and have never been so intellectually insulted feeling" was not the same as what any 10 year old would feel. 

    So yes, you could certainly have been disappointed, and at the end of the day, you could have felt just as bad, but it could not have been the same set of emotions, because there is a vast difference between a 10 year old and a 22 year old.  This is why, right now in your life, you don’t have deep meaningful film criticism conversations with 4th graders.

  24. For me, Phantom Menace was worth the ticket price just to see the inventor of the Camberwell Carrot flying a spaceship.

    Reign Of Fire was awesome! As was Newsies. I don’t think we can blame Bale for Shaft though.

  25. Ric Olie was the dumbest action figure I ever bought.

    You might also remember him as the crazy roadie from Wayne’s World 2.

  26. Remember when, before PHANTOM MENACE came out, we were told that Ric Ollie was going to be "the new Wedge"?

    Fuck whoever said that.

  27. Wedge Antilles is the goddamned hero of the Rebellion, and I’ll fight any man what says different.

  28. Good show, guys.

    @nextchamp: I talked 100 people [this is not an exaggeration] into going to a opening day showing of Phantom Menance.  Several of us camped out to get tickets.  I was 6 when I first saw the original in the movie theater in 1977–my older brother had to read the opening to me.  I freaking owned the Mill-Falcon and every possible toy my parents would buy or let me buy until about age 10 or 11.  My parents took me to every opening day after that in 1980 and 1983.  My wife and I still consider the re-release period of 1997 [while we were engaged] to be one of the highlights of our relationship.  We walked into our reception to "the March of the Imperial Stormtroopers" after jokingly telling everyone we were going to have a Star Wars themed wedding.

    Sorry NextC, but no freaking way in hell did your disappointment at 10 match what I was feeling.  Stabbed in the face is a bit of hyperbole, but the defining pop culture event of my generation was destroyed by Jar-Jar and some poop jokes. No kid at age 10 knew what that felt like.

  29. I was 21 when I saw The Phantom Menace, and I didn’t hate it, still don’t. 

    Now, Attack of the Clones….Other than the last 30 minutes…Yeah I hated that one, and still do… 

  30. Humorously enough, I caught the last 30 minutes of Attack of the Clones some time ago and thought, "Wow, this is really, really bad."  I thought the dialogue and the performances were exceptionally atrocious there.  I think the only redeeming part of the whole experience was Pinball Yoda.

  31. I thought Thor’s issue would definitely get a mention this week.  It was a very good issue.

     

    the Tiki 

  32. attack of the clones was extraordinarily bad. i’ve watched the phantom menace multiple times, for better or for worse, but i’ll not sit through attack of the clones again

  33. None of us read Thor.

  34. Great show guys, and Im glad you didn’t fuck up with the live thing. Huzzays for all!

    I was interested to hear what you guys thought of the Joker HC (I heard Conor picked it up) – any thoughts?

  35. Glad to hear I wasn’t the only person who enjoyed Superman this week.  I was beginning to think I was crazy.

    And yes, you can’t judge a movie based on a trailer.  I remember the night that the Revenge of the Sith trailer premiered.  It looked like Lucas was finally going to get it right, and the nightmares that were Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones would be banished from my memory forever.  Man was I wrong.

  36. Ahhh, Phantom Menace action figures… the comics boom of the toy world. I bought every single goddamn one I could find. And so did everyone else, it seems. Watto was pretty cool though.

    Wedge was the man. How weird is it that he’s Obi-Wan’s uncle?

  37. Josh, like conor, pick a damn side within your own paragraph. First you say its ok to be upset, then again you say I cant possibly know how I fully feel cause I was ten. Listen, and listen closely cause so far it doesnt seem like either of you have:

    That Episode I was fucking disappointing. Whether you were 10, or 19, or even 40-50 years old when it came out. All generations of Star Wars fans got a dagger in the heart one way or another. For kids at my age or younger when it first came out got annoyed because Lucas decided to focus on long winded diaologue and government business then action packed scenes. I dont see why it fucking matters what age you were when it came out. Unless your expecting a 10 year old to have the mind of Roger Ebert then being a film critic makes little sense.

    I was upset at the film because it was boring enough to sleep through. I was upset because I was expecting yet another great film out of this franchise. I was upset because it didnt live up to the first three original films. I mean, if I lied about my age for this site….would it fucking matter if I hated the film or not?

    (If anyone is wondering why I’m being such a bastard right now, remember I didnt start this arguement. If josh didnt bring age up and conor didnt act all high and mighty saying I couldnt possibly felt the pain that they felt….then this rant wouldnt have happened.)

  38. I’m suggesting that while your experience was negative, myself and many of the others here, are also suggesting that it was not the same type of negative experience.  Those are not mutually exclusive ideas.  If you want to be offended (again), please feel free.  I’m not arguing the point with you.

  39. @TheNextChampion 

    No one is wondering why you’re being a bastard right now.  No one is at all incredulous.  

    It’s telling that you believe your ability to analyze something hasn’t at all changed since you were ten, and that it probably won’t change by the time you are thirty.  Paying yourself a great compliment there.   

     

  40. We Both Go Down Together’s an amazing song. Great song choice, guys πŸ™‚

  41. I made forts in junkyards and parachutes out of woven blankets at 10.  I tried to start a career in Chicago at 22.  I think my experiences were slightly different between the two ages.

  42. We Both Go Down Together is easily, easily, my favorite song ever.  

  43. See, the book was about some russian pilots going down in a plane.  See?!

  44. I just figured you’d use The Decemberists’ "Aunt Catherine’s Red Propellers."

  45. Fuck yeah, Ron! The Red Lateran kitty is one of the greatest new character in a long while.

  46. @Josh,

     

    If you find yourself near an LCS, pick up the latest issue of Thor (#11).  Interesting Captain America scene that is worth the price of admission.  πŸ™‚

     

    the Tiki

     

    PS.  BTW, great episode 

  47. god, i cant spell to save my life

  48. Ron, 

    Thanks for the Empowered shout out; It’s easlily my favorite book right now and more people should be reading it. Yes, it has just about the single most ridiculous premise ever put on paper but the execution is amazing. The depth of characterization alone makes it worth a purchase, but it’s also funny as hell and has some pretty cool art to boot.

    Slowly the word is spreading on this book. My shop sold out of #4 on the day of release (7 copies, I asked). Anything you fellas can do to further get the word out is appreciated by us Emp fans. 

  49. Who knew there could be such a passionate debate about who hates The Phantom Menace more?:)

  50. Great show guys.  A few comments

    -I can totally see Galactus trying to assemble his IKEA machine.  "What the hell?!?  These instructions are in Kree!!  And why are the wheels loose?!?!"

    -Ron, try Superman.  I don’t like Sups, but even I picked it up.  I don’t like that I have to pick up Supergirl, but I’m picking it up.  Give it a shot, for all of the ifanbase.  Pweety pweeese πŸ˜‰

    -Christian Bale as Plastic Man, I smell gold.

    -Great to hear that Josh also noticed those incredibly ripped abs that the blue cat has.  I am so jealous.

    Kudos again and keep them coming.  I believe I shall now actually start using twitter just for you guys…and Tom Katers of course.

  51. At 13 i thought phantom menace was ok but darth maul was a badass. Now at 23, i think phantom menace is pretty bad and still think darth maul’s a badass, that went out like a punk

  52. You guys should make a pitch to Marvel ware Galactus tries to assemble cheaply made Swedish furniture. I would totally buy it πŸ™‚

  53. @WinTheWonderboy-I also think Darth Maul was bad ass.  Mostly because they didn’t queer up the character by having him talk. 

  54. @TheNextChampion-So wait, you were 10 when TPM came out?  So that makes you…18?  It all makes sense now!!  No wonder you are so irritating!!!!!!   πŸ˜› 

  55. @drake: Hey I’m 19 actually, so I’m on the verge of being a 20 something douche….Get your math right. lol

    I feel stupid though, I didnt mean to sound snippy at you guys….it’s been a really tough week -_-;

    I’m just shocked overall Ron didnt like an Alan Davis X-Men issue! I think we’re making some headway on this site. πŸ™‚ Still those complaints are valid across the board. 16 pages of story and the rest scripts? Epic fail

  56. Sadly, being a 20-something douche is not all its cracked up to be

  57. My 20 year old self was way too smart for his own good.  To be honest, he could have used an asskicking.  Also, 25 year old Josh should never have gotten a credit card.  That guy was a real asshole.

  58. @josh: We dont even want to get into 22 year old josh. Those experiments in college are something we all dont wanna relive.

    Then again I already have a credit card….guess I’m screwed. (Yes I paid a a limited copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1 for $400 dollars on my credit. What of it?)

  59. 18 yr old drake needed a very very hard asskicking.  I had this wierd mustache and for the life of me can not remember why people let me get away with that.  Then again, he wasn’t dumb enough to get a credit card and charge $400 on it.

  60. I applied for a credit card on my 18th birthday. I’m probably a douche, and 30 year old me will probably want to kick my ass, but I think I’ve at least got the credit card thing down.

  61. I have that direct charge thing with no cutting the cost to several months. It also means that if there is some miniscule charge the credit company charges I have problems buying things and I have to wait till closing day for the charges to be calculated – they are estiamted until then but usually accurately. So it basically means that the 1.5 USD that the company charged might be 7 million euros and until the end of the day they can’t be sure so they won’t okay the card.

    That led to a problem with a comics store that didn’t want my money and asked me to go out of my way and spend extra just to buy from them – I’m now buying from a different comic store obviuosly. 

    Also it helps that I’m paranoid and that I don’t want to use it and prefer to use cash…and I just choke on my tea for no apparent reason. 

  62. A bit of advice:  If you don’t have the money to pay for something right away, then don’t buy it.  (With the exception of HUGE purchases like houses, cars, car service, etc.)  I tell that to every single 18 yr old I meet and they still don’t listen.  They always think they have a unique reason for getting a credit card that makes it so they don’t have to listen to common sense.

  63. I’m 22 and I have a credit card but I’ve only ever used it to pay for a computer (my laptop broke down in the midst of last year and my parents were pretty adamant that I had to get a new one) and when I had to buy gas to get out of the middle of a desert and even then I was agonized over it pretty good.  I’m always afraid if I use the thing, button men are gonna knock down my door six months later and break my kneecaps.

  64. Ron’s answer on the Ultraverse was a bit off. The lines did crossover towards the end of the run. Marvel’s Black Knight was even on one of the Ultraverse teams and some of the Ultraverse character’s ended up with infinity gems if IIRC. Considering how bad the books were by then, I can understand why Ron blocked that out.

  65. I can’t find the flickr group 

  66. Trailer to Spiderman 3 was awesome. 

  67. I want to see the Ikea Galactus, Bad Roommate Black Panther crossover:

    Galactus: "Black Panther, have you seen the instructions to the new bookshelf I just bought?"

    Black Panther: "Yeah, I think I used those to wipe up some coffee I spilled this morning."

    Galactus: "Dammit Black Panther! Now I’ll never be able to put this together!"

     

  68. Add in Middle Management Skull…

    Red Skull: Dang it, guys!  Keep it down! I have to sub for Carol in accounting tomorrow and if I don’t get at least six hours of sleep, I’m mustard gassing all you motherf–kers!

    … and we got the next Three Stooges.

  69. I like it your next video podcast will be about Image. I’m sure it’ll be as entertaining as all your other vids. But you gotta admit:

    5% will be about the early history and 95% will be about Robert Kirkman. Might as well title it ‘Yet Another Kirkman Podcast’ and get it over with. πŸ™‚

  70. Would you like to place a wager on that numerical breakdown?  πŸ™‚

  71. It’s like, he thinks he knows us, but he doesn’t know us.

  72. I’d like to hope that at least 5% will be Gordon?

  73. 7% Spawn pronunciation mayhem.  

  74. 3% Rob Liefield, Jim Lee, and the other founding members, 2% Spawn, and 95% Robert Kirkman.

    That is what I think the breakdown of the vid will be.

    (hides bincoulars) Why no Josh I dont know you at all….. 

  75. Hmmm, I’m guessin…

    -15% Faerber

    -10% Joe Kelly

    -15% Kirkman

    -10% Spawn

    -15% Johnathan Hickman

    -5% Richard Starkings

    The rest, a mixture of other minis and of course…Gordon

  76. Ron + Savage Dragon, anyone?

  77. FELL!!!!

  78. Never use a credit card at a strip club unless the girl is really somethin’ else.

  79. Heh

  80. Boy, have I ever learned that lesson.

  81. "Where the hell did Conor go?  It’s been like an hour…"

    I’ve said too much. 

  82. "Of course he was cocky, he was a New Yorker… from that time period."

     You definitely didn’t have to add that last part of the sentence. That apples to ANY time period.

    Superman: Meh.

    Rage of the Red Lanterns: Red. Lantern. Cat.  aka – Blood Kitty.  Fantastic.

    Jack of Fables: Best Babe the Blue Ox scene in a long time.  I did my surprised high pitched squeek laugh, much to the annoyance of the rest of the room.  Glad you mentioned it.

  83. I’d like to see Mark Millar integrate IKEA Galactus into his Fantastic Four run to take on Mr. Fantastic with his Sharper Image ™ Ultimate Nullifier.  Cosmic consumerism chaos ensues.

  84. Reminds me of Fat Dog Mandoza. Maybe an arc where the X-Men need to relocate since Obama will increase the tax on rich people and Xavier must be loaded to have those multiple mansions. They’ll stay for a while at a gay rights organization, NAACP etc.

    It will be doscovered that all those crappy X-Men are still around, and that Charles is making them work for him for minimum wage. All those chicken guys and fish mutants.

  85. This is Dustin, I asked the Ultraverse question perhaps I am the only one that still wants to see those characters, for those interested The Strangers written by Steve Engelhart is a pretty solid run that you can probably get pretty cheap. I don’t know if Bendis had a hard on for these characters like he does for 70’s Marvel Characters perhaps some of them would be on the Avengers. If creator rights is a problem why not have an Icon title featuring them?

  86. There’s only one reason and it’s that there’s no money in it.

  87. Solid Writer/ Solid artist and they could make money

  88. Josh, you were right, that wasn’t quite the Cap we were used to…but it was a great Ultimate Cap meets Classic Cap story.

    Cap is getting to be like Batman, different authors make him different things.

    And judging from Batman, that’s a good thing.  Goddamn Cap.

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