Hello, Whatnauts!

Here’s episode two hundred and thirty-nine for your yuletide ears!  Due to some tech problems, the episode ran short (and turned out to be even shorter once you cut out the “Hello, Graeme, hello?” “Jeff?” “Graeme?” “Hello?” joshery).  Nevertheless, it is our hope we will scratch that hard-to-reach comic book podcast itch.

Topics discussed in today’s episode:

Our statement about the upcoming changes to Patreon’s fee structure;
*Jeff’s epitaph;
*An annotated readthrough of the lead story of World’s Finest #251, “Invasion of the Deathless Brain,” by Bob Haney, George Tuska, and Vince Colletta (oh, and good catch by Walter!  Here’s that amazing fan-drawn facial hair on Speedy below);


*The roundtable by Matt and Graeme about Justice League #34 by Priest and Pete Woods, and Batman #36 by Tom King, Clay and Seth Mann, with some additional commentary here by Jeff;
*But Jeff also read and wanted to talk about three kinda recent first issues: John Wick #1 by Greg Pak, Giovanni Valletta, David Curiel and Inlight Studios; Fence #1 by C.S. Pascat, Johanna The Mad, Joana LaFuente; Ninja-K #1 by Christos Gage, Tomás Giorello, and Diego Rodriguez; and the (not a first issue by super-excellent) Rock Candy Mountain #6 by Kyle Starks, Chris Schweizer, and Dylan Todd.
Also:
*The 2000AD 2017 Christmas Special;
*Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! 2000AD and Judge Dredd: The Secret History… by Pat Mills;
*The 2000AD Sale currently on their website (update: and thanks to editing this episode, Jeff now also has a digital copy of the Complete Harlem Heroes);
and more!

We will return in two weeks for the last Baxter Building of the year!  Read Fantastic Four #s 322-327 and come join us!

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

22 comments on “Wait, What? Ep. 239: Deathless Brains

    • Martin Gray Dec 17, 2017

      The disintegration pit was established as far back as 1971’s Action Comics #402, which gave us Superman vs Supergirl: Feud of the Titans, which really upset me as a kid – Leo Dorman (as Geoff Browne) had Clark and Linda really vicious towards one another. It’s worth seeking out – I think you’ll find the lead feature fun too!

  1. Walter Dec 10, 2017

    Do we get to see a picture of the fan drawn Speedy facial hair?

  2. I had that issue of World’s Finest. The White Kryptonite bit is what stuck in my head. (And if I’m remembering correctly, the gag at the Fortress was that the Batplane had enough lift to handle the key. Why do I have brain cells dedicated to this?)

    I give to Patreon to get money to artists, not to credit card processors, so I’m cutting way back, especially on the $1-2 pledges. Some go up, some go away, keeping my total giving around level, but to fewer people. It’s not ideal, but that’s where I am for now.

    • I always got the impression that low donations don’t make a lot of sense, so I give higher amounts to fewer donees instead of spreading the love.

      • In terms of fees, the aggregated system that Patreon was threatening to take away doesn’t penalize small donations.

        In terms of how much you feel like you are helping? Personal preference, I guess. Spreading the love widely feels better to me, and I’m glad that Patreon decided to keep the current system.

  3. Glad daddy and daddy aren’t breaking up our happy podcast home!
    I enjoyed Graeme’s Cliff’s Notes version of the Bob Haney World’s Finest story. It was a nice and unexpected departure from the usual. Maybe you should consider annotating and reviewing similar types of stories/one-shots/miniseries/graphic novels when Baxter Building finally wraps up rather than tackle another long uneven series run?
    I’m with Jeff on the new Justice League creative team. I was excited at the news Christopher Priest would be writing Justice League but that excitement was quickly dashed when I saw the Pete Ross art. Priest’s Justice League is the Justice League that I want to read about, but this is not the Justice League I want to have to look at. The artist’s layouts are dynamic and the perspectives compelling, but his inks are thick and muddy. Priest’s storytelling needs more realism and less cartoony art. Ugh. The faces. So much of a book’s success is a combination of art and story and they need to compliment each other. This simply doesn’t do that for me.

    • Voord 99 Dec 15, 2017

      Pete Ross art

      Superman’s childhood friend is now a comics artist? That’s a real comedown from the days when he was a Congressman. I suppose they wanted to protect him from the taint of being associated with politics at them moment.

      (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

      • Good thing I didn’t call him Bob Ross. He would have painted happy little trees and such.

    • Seriously, your read of that World’s Finest issue made me laugh out loud on the street like a crazy person too many times.

  4. John Q Dec 12, 2017

    I loved those Dollar Comics! Seems like one of the last Super-Sons stories also featured the disintegration pit as a plot point.

  5. Bruce Baugh Dec 12, 2017

    The parsimonious explanation is that someone clearly wanted Speedy to be a Mike Grell character. :)

  6. Tim Rifenburg Dec 12, 2017

    Curious if you both have a favorite Bob Haney story, since you mention him a lot. I have two. Teen Titans #16. A trippy dimension hopping story, with really bad 60’s teen slang dialogue and great Nick Cardy art. The other is Brave and Bold #115 which teams a brain dead Batman and the Atom. Great Aparo art complements a crazy Haney story. One of my all time favorite comic stories.

    • Mike Murdock Dec 14, 2017

      I would hope you listened to the wonderful Teen Titan Wasteland Podcast discussing these issues?

      • tim rifenburg Dec 16, 2017

        Had not heard of the podcast but will definitely seek it out. Thanks for the heads up! Sounds like something I would enjoy.

        • Bruce Baugh Dec 19, 2017

          They do things like blow an airhorn whenever they encounter protest signs. Their love of Haney’s work is deep and strong. :)

  7. Voord 99 Dec 15, 2017

    In Adventures with Accents: I had no problem with understanding what Graeme McMillan was saying, but I thought that Jeff Lester was asking him if he’d said “Maryland’s Lair.”

    I mean, the State of Maryland might have a lair. How would we know?

    • I went back and forth between hearing “Marilyn’s Lair” and “Maryland’s Lair” — hit the 15sec button any number of times. Delightful imagery, either way.

  8. Martin Gray Dec 17, 2017

    That Wonder Woman story was definitely Earth One, hence Poison Ivy, Steve Trevor in dark-haired Steve Howard mode, Di Prince with hair down etc.

  9. I’m with Graeme on the Starlord segment in the 2000 AD Christmas special. Totally bonkers in the best way.