AJ Throws a P

Andrew Jackson Expresses Something I Feel Around the Holidays

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! Guess who was cleaning up the wrapping paper early this morning and suddenly remembered he had a post to write?  Don’t worry, it won’t be too horribly long (or…will it?) but just a little update of comics-related stuff going on around the holidays…. (more behind the jump because I went crazy with the images…) Continue reading

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When I was a kid, the holiday season (Christmas, we called it, because as I’m fond of telling Kate, when I was a kid everyone celebrated the same holidays because cultural diversity hadn’t really been created yet, with Britain preferring an attitude that was essentially “Like it or Lump It, It’s Happening Anyway”) meant annuals.

Annuals, when I was a kid, were an event. Unlike American annuals, they were season-specific: they only came out around the holidays, and pretty much as soon as the decorations went away, so did they. To see them appearing in stores meant that there were lots of comics to read, which was exciting in and of itself — especially because there always annuals for comics that you didn’t normally see any other time of the year, for some reason — but it also meant that it was almost Christmas, which was a whole other thing. It was a direct link between comics and a very particular time of year and experience that was sacred, in its own way, to me.

2706419-starwars80I have extremely vivid, fond memories of rabidly searching the pages of my grandmother’s mail order catalogs when they’d arrive in the mail — these enormous phonebook-sized monoliths that seemed to offer everything from clothing to DIY tools, bikes and video games and food (or, at least, chocolate; I remember there always being a lot of chocolate on show in there) — to see if the measly book selection at the back would have that year’s annuals. They normally did, although it wouldn’t be everything on offer; there’d be the ones you’d expect — the ones tying in to the biggest toy line of time, the Star Wars tie-ins — and maybe a superhero book or two, but that was it. I’d take it as a sign that I should start haunting newsagents and bookstores to find out what else was available.

My favorites when I was a small kid were always the Marvel annuals — there would always be Spider-Man, normally reprinting a two-part story seemingly plucked at random, but I remember a handful of X-Men ones that ran through the Roy Thomas/Neal Adams run — and the Star Trek annuals, which reprinted the Gold Key comics. I’m fairly sure that I read those annuals before I’d actually seen the show, although I couldn’t swear to it. I certainly read them enough times that they fell apart, the interiors falling off the spines and the covers getting lost afterwards.

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From there, I went to 2000AD’s annuals, and the accompanying Judge Dredd Annuals (I got obsessed with 2000AD annuals at one point, going to second hand bookstores to specifically see if they had copies, managing to get the entire run in a number of weeks; of all the comics I left behind in Scotland when I moved to the U.S., those are amongst my most-missed). The one-off Super Powers annual — which was published by Marvel UK, and only reprinted the first issue of the original Kirby-plotted mini, with a DC Comics Presents reprint and Brave and the Bold team-up filling out the rest of the book — was my introduction to Jack Kirby’s writing, and my first Darkseid comic, although I didn’t recognize it at the time. Similarly, I’m pretty sure that a Star Wars annual that reprinted stories between the first two movies was the first time I saw Walt Simonson’s art. (Then again, that might have been the Alien comic adaptation I bought at a worryingly-young age and remain scarred by.)

Annuals were weirdly important to me as a kid in a way that other comics weren’t yet. They were, in their way, as much a part of this time of year as fake snow and listening to Slade and Wizzard on repeat for far too long, and something that I still miss seeing under the tree every year. Old habits die hard — especially when they’re based around me getting something new to read.

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Yes, it’s practically Christmas, almost the end of the year, and although I’m pretty set as far as Christmas shopping goes, I’m finding myself distracted enough by the holiday parties and the family get-togethers and the slightly increased work pressures at the day job (traditionally, the amount of work goes down but so do the number of co-workers as those with seniority take weeks off at the end of the year—it’s kind of like those lab experiments where you can get water to boil at room temperature) that I can’t really string together a strong eleven hundred word post.  Well, most of mine usually crack two thousand because I can’t just get to the point but I can’t even make a mouthy post these days.

But since I’ve got a dozen little bits bopping around in my brain, thanks to the miracle of caffeine.  How about I try this: Continue reading

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The original Secret Wars, those with long memories or copies of Sean Howe’s Marvel Comics: The Untold Story may remember, came about purely to promote a toyline created entirely as an attempt to compete with another toy manufacturer’s plans to release a line based on DC’s superheroes. It is easily a contender for the comic book with the most cynical origins ever — and yet, somehow, next year’s revival of the title has managed to feel even more corporate and unnecessary. Continue reading

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It’s funny, the unintended consequences thing:  the youtube video was supposed to be worked into our podcast conversation as per the request/behest of Mr. Graeme McMillan, but I wasn’t able to do that because San Francisco had some rain.

Yes, because San Francisco had rain, we had no internet access in our home over the weekend, and while I was perfectly able to mix our recorded podcast, I wasn’t able to quickly pull otherwise easily retrievable  information, music, pictures, right off the web.  So instead you get a very forthright intro from the Blind Boys of Alabama right here in the show notes!

But…not a lot of pictures, still, because once the Internet came back, I decided my time might be better spent trying to get links for a lot of the various books Graeme and I talked about since this is our “Best Of” episode, and part of the point of releasing a “Best Of” episode is that it gives you, the listener, time to actually score some of the “Best of” titles should you so choose.

So!  That said!  Let’s hit the ground running.  Oh, but before we do, remember:  if you just want a link of the episode without having to deal with our wacky player, just jump to the very first comment where I’ll provide you with that direct context-free link.  Okay? (S’alright.)

00:00-26:06: Greetings! And get off our lawn! Graeme is cranky; Jeff is cranky, and also overcaffeinated. Do you dare listen to our opening section and learn the secret of…. M.O.D.O.P.? Also discussed: is the term “professional podcaster” suspect? And: Youtube and Vine (not an updated Tom Waits album). And: blood pressure. And: TrollCon. See also: fandoms in revolt.
16:06-22:06: Here’s where we sort of segue into talking about comics (kinda?) as we talk a bit about the reaction to Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Bitch Planet, and how fraught conversation can be in between the trolls, the boosters, and the naysayers.
22:06-28:36: And from there, Jeff starts talking about assembling his half-assed “Best of” comics list for this year, and we start talking about how ridiculously poorly read we are and therefore absurd that we are assembling these lists, our mainstream biases, the need for people to know these biases, and more.
28:36-45:36: All that in mind, with commentary and discussion, here comes Graeme’s Best of list for 2014! (But with Jeff butting and dropping some of his choices in the mix, too.) Mentioned: The Wrenchies! The Hospital Suite!Nijigahara Holograph! Lumberjanes (Boom!) by Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson, and Brooke Allen! Gotham Academy (DC) by Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, and Karl Kerschl! Boredom with the White Guy Narrative; a great post Jeff read about comics for queer ladies that Graeme thought was on Ellie Collins’ Tumblr, but was actually at Fantastic Fangirls; fiction as a kid reader vs. fiction as an adult reader; Lawless, the Dan Abnett/Phil Winslade strip from Judge Dredd Megazine; “Shooter’s Night,” “Titan,” and “Mega-City Confidential” from 2000 A.D..; and the year for 2000 A.D. generally (not to be confused with the year 2000 A.D. generally).
45:36-58:33: Just throwing a random line break to push these show notes out a little. We’re still on Graeme’s list but we do have a lot of titles that cross over for both of us such as: Wild’s End (Boom!) by Dan Abnett and I.N.J. Culbard; Transformers vs. G.I. Joe (IDW) by Thomas Scioli and John Barber; and Afterlife with Archie (Archie, natch) by Roberto Aguirre-Sacala and Francisco Francavilla . Also mentioned: The Wicked and the Divine (Image) by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (with spoilers for the end of the first arc); Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona, with additional chat about the Wilson’s appearance at the Marvel Creative Retreat.
58:33-1:15:14: The New Batgirl (DC) by Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher, and Babs Tarr! Jeff didn’t put it on his list but he’s very, very glad it’s around; Graeme did put it on his list and can’t bring himself to discuss the latest issue since it would spoil it for Jeff who hasn’t read it. (So, if you haven’t read it yet, make sure you do before the next episode, because we will probably talk the crap about that. But if you have read it, you’ve probably already seen, or might like to see this). Also discussed: the Batman titles; Marc Silvestri on a Batman title; Dark Knight 3 and an extended chat on the discomfort of feeling bad for Frank Miller; the influence of Steranko; the two line review of Citizen Kane

 

and more.
1:15:14-1:18:41:  Graeme still can’t get through his list because Jeff keeps interrupting so Jeff promises to stop (and then keeps interrupting).  Discussed:  Flash Gordon by Jeff Parker, Evan “Doc” Shaner, and Jordie Bellaire  (Dynamite)!  Zero (Image) by Ales Kot and collaborators!  Saga (Image) by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples! The Private Eye (Panel Syndicate) by BKV, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente!
1:18:41-1:26:19:  TECHPOCALYPSE  (boy, that hasn’t happened to us in a while. I almost miss ‘em.)  And then we’re back to talk about scheduling, the potential snake in the garden of this current strong crop of indie books…or rather we’re back to talk about how we should talk about scheduling, the potential snake in the garden of the current super-strong crop of indie books, and then we get back to Graeme’s list.  Amelia Cole (Monkeybrain/IDW) by Adam P. Knave, D.J. Kirkbride and Nick Brokenshire; Multiversity (DC) by Grant Morrison and various; Nobrow #9: It’s Oh So Quiet (Nobrow) by various; (In A Sense) Lost and Found (Nobrow) by Roman Muradov; Over Easy (Drawn & Quarterly) by Mimi Pond; and Southern Bastards (Image) by Jason Aaron and Jason LaTour.
1:26:19-1:38:10:  Okay, Jeff’s turn!  Even though it has fiscally wounded him, he loves the collection of Jiro Kuwata’s Batmanga, whether in print or digitally for the Kindle or on Comixology; Sexcastle by Kyle Starks (self-published); Copra (self-published and distributed by Bergen Street Comics Publishers) by Michel Fiffe (as both a trade and an ongoing); Michael DeForge’s Lose #6 (Koyama Press) and his collection Very Casual (also by Koyama Press); Oglaf Book Two (Topataco) by Doug Bayne and Trudy Cooper; Transformers vs. G.I. Joe (as mentioned above); Grayson (DC) by Tom King, Tim Seeley, and Mikel Janin, Scooby Doo Team Up (DC) by Scholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela and varios; Annihilator (Legendary) by Grant Morrison and Frazer Irving; Multiversity, Saga, and Wild’s End (as mentioned above);  and Alan Moore’s story in God is Dead: The Book of Acts (Avatar), illustrated by Facundo Percio.
1:38:10-1:56:51:  Jeff also wants to give shout-outs to those books he wouldn’t really call “the best” of the year, but are part of the strong crop of titles he keeps talking about that keep him coming into the shop (almost) every week:  Mighty Avengers (Marvel) by Al Ewing and various; The Fuse (Image) by Antony Johnston and Justin Greenwood; Sex Criminals (Image) by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky (with an extended chat about the latest issue); Pretty Deadly (Image) by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios, and Jordie Bellaire; Batman (DC) by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo; Batman & Robin by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason; Southern Bastards (as mentioned above); She-Hulk (Marvel) by Charles Soule, Javier Pulido, and others; The Walking Dead (Skybound/Image) by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Stefano Gaudiano, and Cliff Rathburn; Outcast by Kirkman and Azaceta (Skybound/Image) by (yes) Robert Kirkman and Paul Azaceta; That’s Because You’re a Robot (Image) by David Quantick and Shaky Kane; Judge Dredd Mega City Two: City of Courts (IDW) by Douglas Wolk and Ulises Farina; Snipe (Comixology Submit) by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen; Graeme remembers now that he wanted to mention Harbinger (Valiant)  and The Second Life of Doctor Mirage (Valiant?) which I should look up the creative teams for but I’m not going to because embedding this many links in one post has already made me want to lose my mind; Jeff has good things to say about the first few issues of Loki by Al Ewing, Lee Garbett and others; the lovely done-in-one goodness of Moon Knight by Warren Ellis, Declan Shelvey, and Jordie Bellaire; All-New Ghost Rider by Felipe Smith, Tradd Moore, and others; Hawkeye (Marvel) by Matt Fraction and collaborators (but most especially the epic of David Aja); and The Fade Out and the conclusion of Fatale (both Image) by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.
1:56:51-end: Closing comments!  Christmas cheer!  Apologies again for not having our Avengers talk but we promise we will finish our read-through of the first 300 issues in our very next podcast.  Also, next podcast:  a great giveaway!  And maybe some contributions from the wonderful people who’s contributed to us on Patreon where, as of this count, 87 patrons make this whole thing possible.) And don’t forget: A Charlie Brown Totebag Christmas!  Places to look for us at—Stitcher! Itunes! Twitter! Tumblr!

Keep an eye out for us since the final date of our podcast is up in the air (I’d peg it as being that last Monday in December, though), please have a safe and sane holiday season, and, as always, we thank you for listening!

EDIT:  Oh, crap.  I forgot I told Graeme to give me his Best of list so I could just reprint them right here at the end if you wanted an easy reference.  Check ’em out behind the jump!

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Mind control

Quality…but at what cost?

This should be a review but it’s not.  It’s really more of a rant.

I’m not cheap.  I’m not.  I’m quick to pick up the check, I like buying presents for people.  I like spending money—probably too much so—and I’m still down with the idea of using my money as a form of activism, whether that means buying books I believe in and giving them as gifts, or donating small amounts of money, or microloans through Kiva.  All that.

But I also appreciate a good deal and like saving money.  So allow me to give you an opportunity on a tremendous comics deal trembling quietly under your very nose…and while doing so, also grouse about my complete confusion about what the fuck DC Digital is doing.

When DC started digitally publishing Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga, I was in from the first issue.  In fact, I was so delighted paying ninety-nine cents for the first 34 page installment of Batman’s fight with Lord Death Man  (Lord Death Man!) that I signed up for a digital subscription via Comixology.

Of course, the next week wasn’t 34 pages for ninety-nine cents.  It was fifteen pages for a dollar ninety-nine.  As was the next.  And the next.  In my brain, I changed gears a little bit and part of me decided there was more than a little bit of consumerist activism in keeping my subscription.  Well, getting this stuff restored isn’t cheap, I figured, and there probably aren’t that many people buying the digital copies so the price I’m paying is help underwriting the project.

If you listen to the podcast, you know I’ve gibbered happily about the stuff Kuwata is doing here:  it’s great goofy Batman comics, stuff that looks like the “New Look” Batman from the ’60s but reads more like the wacky sci-fi Batman stories from the ’50s.  I mean, my favorite story here has a supervillain named Professor Gorilla who is indeed a gorilla with the intelligence of a professor.  He uses his new found genius to punish humanity for its cruel treatment of animals.  He’s kind of R’as Al Ghul crossed with Gorilla Grodd, except he also wears a cape and mask like a wrestler in a lucha libre.  I love Professor Gorilla with a passion that borders on the terrifying.

Marry me, Professor Gorilla!

Marry me, Professor Gorilla!

So about twenty minutes ago, when I started this post, I was going to tell you, “hey, good news, the first collection of Batmanga is in print and you should get it because it’s a fantastic deal.”

Best escape from a death trap EVER.

Best escape from a death trap EVER.

And, don’t get me wrong, it is a really good deal.  It has the first six stories (or nineteen issues) for $14.99 in a well-designed trade paperback.  Seriously, 357 pages for a hair under fifteen bucks!

And then I thought about it and broke out the calculator and did the math.

I paid $36.81 for that same amount of material.

Let’s take the glass half-full approach:  I got to read all this material on a weekly basis starting five months ago.  I didn’t have to go to a comic store for it; in fact I usually downloaded it on Friday night so I could read on my lunch break on Saturday, and all nineteen issues take up the same slot of space on a device about as thick as a slice of bread.

But you know what? If DC Digital had charged me ninety-nine cents an issue, I would’ve paid $18.81.  And while that would’ve saved me a lot of money, it would’ve still been more than the $14.99 they’re charging for the trade paperback.  As you know, the trade has a lot more hidden costs behind it: there’s printing costs, distribution costs, the costs of returns for the book in the bookstore market.  Somebody got paid to design the dress.  And if you buy this book on Amazon, you don’t even pay $14.99, you pay 12.99 for the paperback because Amazon is willing to work on a lower profit margin than your local comic book store.

And here’s where it gets weird, stupid, and kind of offensive: you can also buy this volume as a Kindle edition for $9.99.

Yep.  you can buy the Kindle edition of the trade, collecting all nineteen issues for $9.99.  In fact, you can buy the Comixology collection for $11.99, as opposed to buying all nineteen digital issues for $36.81.

So let’s look at that glass half-full approach again.  The only advantage I now have for my extra twenty-five dollars is that I got to read the material on a weekly basis starting five months ago.  I suppose if I divide twenty-five by five, that’s five dollars a month extra or a little over $1.25 an installment?  That’s really not so bad, is it?

I don’t know.  I feel like it kind of is bad?

I know I’ve bitched about this before but I feel the topic merits revisiting:  is DC’s Digital program an attempt to develop and test a new marketplace, or is it a big ol’ cash grab?

Seriously, DC:  now that you have a digital collection where every installment is basically sixty-three cents, why don’t you adjust the prices of the individual issues to ninety-nine cents to encourage more new readers to experiment, or for people who enjoyed the trade to gift issues?  Assuming you’ve made your nut enough to offer a print edition, with all the additional cost that entails, for something like seventy-eight cents an installment, what exactly are you accomplishing by continuing to offer eighteen of the first nineteen installments for $1.99? There’s not even the advantage now of being the first on the block to read it so what exactly is the reason for the price, apart from the idea you can fleece a mark who doesn’t know about the trade?  And even if that’s not the reason, you can see how it looks like that, right?  And what kind of consumer relationship do you think you build looking like that?

Anyway, that was to DC.  This is to you:  look, do you like Batman?  Goofy, pre-grim Batman with weird and occasionally really lame villians?  Then do yourself a favor: if you have a tablet, pick up the digital collection for super-cheap.  If you don’t, pick up the trade paperback for almost as cheap.  They’re Batman-shaped funhouse mirrors, reflecting a different time and a different country back at you. And if you do, let me know, so I can feel more like a successful proselytizer than just another rube, gulled again at the boardwalk.

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If there’s one thing that thinking about your personal Best Of lists at the end of the year means — and right now, I’m working on variations for three different outlets, including the podcast, so this is very much on my mind these days — it’s that you’ll realize how much time you spend talking about the things that you love. Or, in my case, how much time I don’t spend talking about the things that I love. Continue reading

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Kirby

How can something that feels so right be so wrong?

This will be a very speedy post and, as always, I apologize.  Unlike always, this isn’t because of my own personal scheduling shortcomings this time around, but because—as mentioned in the header—this post is kinda time-sensitive.  Through December 4, you can get a month of Marvel Unlimited for 75 cents. Exactly one year ago, a very similar deal got me hooked on the service, and I thought I’d return the favor to all of you.  In, fact, just the other day on Twitter we got this question:

(Which, me being me, didn’t realize was in reference to this tweet:)

so it does seem this is the kind of thing some of you might want to know.  What really could you read for your seventy-five cents?  I tried to do some quick research of stuff I could advocate for and here’s what I came up with.  Please note I stole a suggestion or two from Graeme who weighed in on the conversation above, and also note that I haven’t actually read all of what I’m about to list:  some of it is what I’m looking forward to reading, what I’m looking forward to re-reading, and, in a few cases, what I actually have read.

So!  Behind the jump so I don’t bump Graeme’s excellent Superman Unchained post off the page!

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There’s a sense of deja vu finally reading Superman Unchained in its entirety after following the Superman run by Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr. for the last few months — Superman Unchained is out in hardcover soon, and I was reading an advanced copy of that; amusingly, the back copy boasts that it’s got “COMICS’ BIGGEST WRITER! COMICS’ BIGGEST ARTIST!” which is arguably true, but feels like Johns is crying somewhere in response nonetheless. Both Johns and Snyder are clearly trying to… not reboot Superman, exactly, but trying to convince fans that he’s super cool and awesome, honest, and both do so using the same method: comparing Superman with a fake Superman created especially for the story. I’m not sure if “Superstrawman” was ever actually considered as a name for either of the Super stand-ins, but it probably should have been. Continue reading

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Hey, everyone!  Maybe you’re discovering this right in the thick of Cyber-Monday, busily hitting refresh for the opportunity to get a $1.99 DVD copy of Jonah Hex  (confession:  I did this) or maybe you’re ignoring all the folderol, and are busy hitting the web for what’s really important: podcasts of two grown men speaking in conspiratorial tones about comic books.  Either way, we decided to give you the hook up almost a day early so you can re-sharpen those forks and knives and tuck in to our two hour and thirty minute episode!  Remember: if you want just the straight link to the episode, check out OUR VERY FIRST COMMENT where I will give you the connect along with the bonus of MORE WORDS IN ALL-CAPS.

But first (for me, you can skip straight down there if you want): Show notes ahoy!

00:00-16:20: Greetings (of a sort)! Things are a bit wonky right at the beginning and, us being us, there’s even more conversational scratchings of the head than other podcasting teams might otherwise give you. And yet! We are talking about the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer almost immediately out of the gate so…take that, competent podcasters! We talk the trailers for the prequel trilogy; exposition versus imagery; the Jurassic World trailer (which I thought about linking you to or even embedding and then went nahhh); the charms of Chris Pratt; and the secret appeal of Zack Snyder movies; all of which leads us into:
16:20-1:11:14: Movie talk! Jeff has seen some movies so…let’s talk about movies! Discussed: The Wolverine; Baz Luhrmann and “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)” the most terrible songs or musical artists we can confess to liking; Jesus Jones; The Jesus and Mary Chain; Hugh Jackman pooping in the woods; The Lego Movie; and the glory of Lego Batman; the movies we’ve seen the most (incomplete conversation due to Jeff’s curiosity about the commentary tracks on the Scott Pilgrim movie); Wim Wenders; 22 Jump Street; Tom Cruise’s movie Edge of Tomorrow (with a brilliant stealth retitling as Live, Die, Repeat); and more. By contrast, Graeme has been catching up with the TV series Helix, currently available on Netflix Streaming; Jeff forgot to mention Le Quattro Volte in his list of recent movies and somehow (don’t ask us how), that brings us around to:

pax
1:11:14-1:55:11: Pax Americana! Yes, 70 minutes in and we finally start talking comics on our comic book podcast. The spoiler warning here is at Defcon Full Spoiler Jacket, because we discuss this remarkable Grant Morrison/Frank Quietly meditation on Watchmen from just about every possible angle including the stalker love letter angle; the critique of formalism angle; the hole in things angle; gnostic and Christian interpretation angle; the misremembering of Watchmen angle; the digressing about From Hell angle; the incomplete Bleeding Edge anecdote angle; the “but isn’t Alan Moore paranoid?” angle; the “where does Obama play into all this?” angle; and the “maybe Jeff talked too much and Graeme didn’t get to talk enough” angle; and then…

gmo
1:55:11-2:10:45: Annihilator! Grant Morrison and Frazer Irving’s strange twin to Multiversity. Graeme has a great take on the idea that Pax Americana is Morrison on Moore, and Annihilator is Morrison on Morrison. Jeff thinks maybe it’s Morrison on Morrison’s influence? (Spoiler: Graeme’s take is much, much better.) Also mentioned: Flex Mentallo; The Filth; Wanted; Change; Grayson: Future’s End; and more.
2:10:45-2:32:21: Graeme quick-reviews Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #4 by Tom Scioli and John Barber; Superman/Wonder Woman #13 by Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke; Supergirl #36 by Mike Johnson and K. Perkins with art by Emanuela Lupacchino; Dr. Spektor, Master of the Occult #4 by Mark Waid and Neil Edwards; and then there’s some talk about the holiday that might make you think we are getting ready to get to our closing comments, but don’t be fooled because Graeme also has a comment or two up his sleeve about the Flash Gordon Annual! And Jeff blurb-blabs The Fade Out #3 by Brubaker and Phillips; Southern Bastards #5 by Aaron and LaTour; Batman & Robin #36 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray; Wytches #2 by Scott Snyder and Jock; and Justice League of America issues #139, 140, 141 by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin. Also, why are gifs so hard to search for? There’s a related gif I’m having trouble finding. Oh, no wait, here it is!

bert-book-reaction-sesame-street
2:32:21-end: Grame begins his transformation back in to The Fly, so the closing comments are mighty, mighty hasty! But of course, we have nothing but love for you listeners, especially everyone who’s contributed to us on Patreon where, as of this count, 85 patrons make this whole thing possible.) Tote For Your Life, Charlie Brown! Places to look for us at—Stitcher! Itunes! Twitter! Tumblr!

Thanks for listening!  Follow our posts here and/or come back in two weeks for more!

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