Jon and I normally will go to the Boston Comic Con (now called the Fan Expo Boston) and that is being held this weekend (8/16 – 8/18) but we will not be attending this year. :0
The reason we are not going is nothing that Fan Expo Boston did; they have always put together a good show. The real reason we are not going is that we found a better Comic Con called TerrifiCon. It was held last weekend (8/9 – 8/11) at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut and it had 3 times as many comic creators than the Fan Expo Boston!
This con has been going on for a few years now and this was our first trip there and also to Mohegan Sun. We had a great time at both!
In the podcast, we talk about the trip from Boston to Connecticut and our experience in the Mohegan Sun and meeting all the writers and artist that were at the con.
We really enjoyed ourselves and look forward to 2020 lineup. Go to www.terrificon.com for more details.
The X-Men soft rebooted again last week (is this like the 4th one so far? I lost count) but I ain’t even mad at you, Marvel for doing it.
I was really enjoying the last incarnation of the Uncanny X-Men that started up last year and then I heard that they were going to stop Uncanny again (Ugh!) and restart with 2 new books: House of X #1 and Powers of X #1.
Now the names aren’t so great – House of X sounds like a 1990s fashion show and Powers of X sounds like a math book, but I was very excited about the creative teams on these books.
House of X is by writer Jonathan Hickman with art by Pepe Larraz
Powers of X is by writer Jonathan Hickman with art by R. B. Silva
Having read other Jonathan Hickman Marvel projects like Fantastic Four, Avengers and Secret Wars – I knew that the X-Men were in good hands and we can expect a really compelling story.
This is exactly what we got. Jon and I review the first 2 issues of House of X and the 1 issue of Powers of X that have come out so far. What I like best about these 2 series is that if you are new to the X-Men or a long time reader (like us), you start on the same page by getting introduced to familiar characters but in a new situation and trying to figure out where the story will go next. Sit back and enjoy the ride.
Spoilers on this podcast – we talk about the story in both but since it is only the beginning, there isn’t much to spoil. Jon and I take guesses on what the creative teams will do next.
At this time each year, there is the San Diego Comic Con – one of the oldest, largest comic cons. At this comic con, writers and artists get together to celebrate their peers with the Eisner Awards.
We like to cover the nominees to find out about stories that we may have missed during the year and to see if what we recommended in our “New Comic Review” podcasts get nominated. Here is a list of the categories and order that we cover in this podcast…
Best Short Story
• “Get Naked in Barcelona,” by Steven T. Seagle and Emei Olivia Burrell, in Get Naked (Image)
• “The Ghastlygun Tinies,” by Matt Cohen and Marc Palm, in MADmagazine #4 (DC)
• “Here I Am,” by Shaun Tan, in I Feel Machine (SelfMadeHero)
• “Life During Interesting Times,” by Mike Dawson (The Nib),
• “Supply Chains,” by Peter and Maria Hoey, in Coin-Op #7 (Coin-Op Books)
• Winner: “The Talk of the Saints,” by Tom King and Jason Fabok, in Swamp Thing Winter Special (DC)
Best Single Issue/One-Shot
• Beneath the Dead Oak Tree, by Emily Carroll (ShortBox)
• Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise, by Jeff Lemire and Emi Lenox (Dark Horse)
• No Better Words, by Carolyn Nowak (Silver Sprocket)
• Winner: Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #310, by Chip Zdarsky (Marvel)
• The Terrible Elisabeth Dumn Against the Devils In Suits, by Arabson, translated by James Robinson (IHQ Studio/ Image)
Best Continuing Series
• Batman, by Tom King et al. (DC)
• Black Hammer: Age of Doom, by Jeff Lemire, Dean Ormston, and Rich Tommaso (Dark Horse)
• Gasolina, by Sean Mackiewicz and Niko Walter (Skybound/Image)
• Winner: Giant Days, by John Allison, Max Sarin, and Julaa Madrigal (Boom Box)
• The Immortal Hulk, by Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, and Ruy José (Marvel)
• Runaways, by Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka (Marvel)
Best Limited Series
• Batman: White Knight, by Sean Murphy (DC)
• Eternity Girl, by Magdalene Visaggio and Sonny Liew (Vertigo/DC)
• Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, by Mark Russell, Mike Feehan, and Mark Morales (DC)
• Winner: Mister Miracle, by Tom King and Mitch Gerads (DC)
• X-Men: Grand Design: Second Genesis, by Ed Piskor (Marvel)
Best New Series
• Bitter Root, by David Walker, Chuck Brown, and Sanford Green (Image)
• Crowded, by Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, and Ted Brandt (Image)
• Winner: Gideon Falls, by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino (Image)
• Isola, by Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl (Image)
• Man-Eaters, by Chelsea Cain and Kate Niemczyk (Image)
• Skyward, by Joe Henderson and Lee Garbett (Image)
Best Webcomic
• Winner: The Contradictions, by Sophie Yanow
• Lavender Jack, by Dan Schkade (WEBTOON)
• Let’s Play, by Mongie (WEBTOON)
• Lore Olympus, by Rachel Smythe, (WEBTOON)
• Tiger, Tiger, by Petra Erika Nordlund, (Hiveworks)
Best Writer
• Alex de Campi, Bad Girls (Gallery 13); Twisted Romance (Image)
• Winner: Tom King, Batman, Mister Miracle, Heroes in Crisis, Swamp Thing Winter Special (DC)
• Jeff Lemire, Black
Hammer: Age of Doom, Doctor Star & the Kingdom of Lost Tomorrows,
Quantum Age (Dark Horse); Descender, Gideon Falls, Royal City(Image)
• Mark Russell, Exit
Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound,
Lex Luthor/Porky Pig (DC); Lone Ranger(Dynamite)
• Kelly Thompson,
Nancy Drew (Dynamite); Hawkeye, Jessica Jones, Mr. & Mrs. X, Rogue
& Gambit, Uncanny X-Men, West Coast Avengers (Marvel)
• Chip Zdarsky, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, Marvel Two-in-One(Marvel)
Best Writer/Artist
• Sophie Campbell, Wet Moon (Oni)
• Nick Drnaso, Sabrina (Drawn & Quarterly)
• David Lapham, Lodger (Black Crown/IDW); Stray Bullets (Image)
• Nate Powell, Come Again (Top Shelf/IDW)
• Tony Sandoval, Watersnakes (Magnetic/Lion Forge)
• Winner: Jen Wang, The Prince and the Dressmaker (First Second) [Also won for Best Publication for Teens]
Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
• Matías Bergara, Coda (Boom)
• Winner: Mitch Gerads, Mister Miracle (DC)
• Karl Kerschl, Isola (Image)
• Sonny Liew, Eternity Girl (Vertigo/DC)
• Sean Phillips, Kill or Be Killed, My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies (Image)
Last week, we reviewed the 1st story arc to Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic: The Boys. This week we are reviewing the Amazon Prime version of the TV Show that launched on 7/26/19.
The first season is 8 episodes long and we are talking about the first 3 episodes because that is all that we were able to watch so far. We will be watching the rest of the series because we like it so much.
The Seven
In the podcast, we talk about how the show introduces the Boys and The Seven differently than the comic. The way that Butcher (leader of the Boys) and Homelander (leader of the Seven) behave in the show and the comic are much different. This is not a bad thing. Things change when translating written work to a TV series.
Some things are different but somethings do remain the same like how Butcher finds out about Hughie and how Starlight is introduced to The Seven. If you are a fan of the comic, then I you will like the show.
At the end of the podcast, we talk about Carl Urban’s English accent and how he uses some of the Cockney Rhyming Slang. Then I put Jon to a test and see if he can decipher a Cockney Rhyming Slang sentence I put together.
Hello again and welcome back to Comics Misremembered. In this week’s podcast, we focus on The Boys. This comics was created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson. It originally came out in 2006 under the Wildstorm Imprint – this was Jim Lee’s imprint that was published through DC.
The Boys put out 6 issues under Wildstorm before it was cancelled. We explain the reason in the podcast. Luckily, it was picked up and published by Dynamite Entertainment for the rest of it’s run which ended with issue 72 (Nov. 2012).
Here are some of the covers of that run. The image on the far left is the cover for the 1st issue and it was also used when it when the first 6 issues were collected as a trade. The next image to the right is the newest recruit to The Seven – Starlight. Poor Starlight. We talk a little about her initiation into the Seven and it was nothing that she was expecting. The final image is of a mysterious man and his connection to all of the superheroes in The Boys universe. We don’t talk about him in this podcast but maybe we will talk more about him next week when we review The Boys TV show.
Jon only just started reading this comic when he heard Amazon was picking it up as a show. He was pleasantly surprised by it and wants to read all of the series. I originally read the series in issues when it came out.
We go over some of the story and characters that you will meet in the first 6 issue and there are no spoilers in this podcast but we do swear a bit describing some of the situations in the comic. Be warned!
See you next week as we talk about the show and how much of the comic were they able to use.
Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 2nd Spider-Man movie came out July 2nd 2019 and it is titled:
Spider-Man: Far From Home
We went and saw it last Sunday. I was very excited for this movie because the previews had Jake Gyllenhaal playing Mysterio, a long time villain in the Spider-Man comics. This is the first time he will be brought to the big screen and I thought they had perfect casting with Jake.
I thought the movie movie was near perfect (listen to the podcast to find out why it’s not flawless). Jon on the other hand had 1 big plot point that he could not get over so it made the movie less enjoyable. I tried to talk him out of this sticking point but he will not budge. Does he have a point? Listen and let me know.
The things I like about the movie:
Humor – there are tons of funny scenes and situational comedy which is a hallmark of Spider-Man comics and previous movies.
Romance – Peter is a young romantic and he tries his best to win the affection of Mary Jane.
Mystery – who is Mysterio? Is he friend or foe? Watch the movie and find out!
Action – Spider-Man has some intense battles. Does everyone survive? Find out!
I feel, if you liked Homecoming then you will definitely like Far From Home and hopefully you will like the 3rd movie: Spider-Man: Home Alone. 🙂
Welcome back to the 2nd half of our discussion on Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s seminal X-Men storyline: The Dark Phoenix Saga.
In this podcast, we pick up were we left off: The X-Men escaping the clutches of the Hellfire Club and heading back to the X-Mansion. During their flight back, Jean Grey loses control of the Phoenix and the Dark Phoenix emerges…
As you can tell from these covers, the X-Men do not have a good time when the Dark Phoenix is around. The Dark Phoenix attempts to kill all the X-Men, then she goes and snuffs out a galaxy and finally the X-Men have to fight for their lives and the fate of Jean Grey…on the moon. There is a lot of story and we try to cover all of it and more in the podcast.
We also take a look behind the scenes to find out what decisions Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter and co-plotters: Chris Claremont and John Byrne made to come to the epic conclusion of the X-Men story.
Towards the end of the podcast, I explain why the Legion of Superheroes (group on the left) look a lot like the Shi’ar Imperial Guard (group on the right).
If you have never read the Dark Phoenix Saga, we highly recommend checking it out. You can read it digitally through Marvel.com or buy a trade paperback like we did. Thanks for listening and we will see you next week.
Since the movies have tried to do a version of the Dark Phoenix Saga twice (X-Men 3 and Dark Phoenix) and have failed both times, Jon and I have decided to talk about the original comic series the story is based upon.
The original Dark Phoenix Saga is officially considered to be issues #129 – 138 (Jan – Oct 1980) of Uncanny X-Men. The creators of this story are:
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: John Byrne
Inker: Terry Austin
The unofficial start of Jean Grey’s transition into Phoenix.
This story originally starts as a subplot with Jean Grey in issue #101 (Oct 1976) when Marvel Girl rescues some astronauts. In saving the lives of these people, Jean Grey unwittingly allows a cosmic entity called the Phoenix Force to enter her body. Over the next few years, the X-Men (specifically Scott Summers and Charles Xavier) will notice changes in Jean Grey’s behavior.
It won’t be until issues #129 – 132 when Jean drastically starts to behave differently and is seduced by Jason Wyngarde (Mastermind) of the Hellfire Club. Jon and I go over the history on how Chris Claremont and John Byrne were inspired by the show The Avengers for the concept of The Hellfire Club and the characters.
Here is how they appeared in the comic…
left to right: Jean Grey, Jason Wyngarde, Sebasitan Shaw, Harry Leland and Donald Pierce
But did you know that these characters where based on real life actors? It’s true. Here are John Byrne’s inspiration…
Peter Wyngarde is Jason Wyngarde
Robert Shaw is Sebastian Shaw
Orson Welles is Harry Leland
Donald Sutherland is Donald Pierce
We explain the connection of these actors to their comic counter parts and how Byrne came up with their comic character names.
We go over some history and some of the story on why this is one of the greatest comic stories ever told. This is only part 1 of the conversation. We will continue this next week with the conclusion of the Dark Phoenix Saga and why TV and movies always get the adaptation wrong.
Last week, we did a podcast on the 2008 Dark Horse series, The End League by Rick Remender. This week we continue to talk about rest of the series (issues 5 – 9). We have 2 different artists during this part of the run: Eric Canete and Andy MacDonald.
These issues can be bought in the trade, The End League Vol. 2: Weathered Statues.
Overall, Jon and I really enjoyed this series. We continue the discussion picking up were issue 4 left off: our heroes are in dire straits and the villains seem like they will win. It is up to Codename: Black to try and turn it around. Codename: Black is the figure on the cover of issue 9 above.
We keep the discussion pretty spoiler free – so you can listen and still get a sense of how the story plays out without revealing the multiple plot twists at the end of issues 8 and 9.
We highly recommend listening to part 1 and then coming back and listening to this part. Then you should go out and pick up your copy of The End League!
Normally, we would be doing a review of the latest comic related movie this week but Jon and I decided that we were not going to see Dark Phoenix in the theater (we explain why in the podcast) so this week we will be doing a retro review.
We have decided to review the apocalyptic comic, The End League. It is written by Rick Remender with art by Matt Broome. It was published by Dark Horse Comics in 2008 and is collected in trades.
This is a 9 issue series and we review only the first 4 issues. Those 4 issues are collected in a trade called Volume 1: Ballad of Big Nothing.
The story revolves around the last remaining super hero group in a world that is controlled by evil madmen. How did our heroes end up in such a situation? We review why one of the bravest heroes of this world, Astonishman is also one of it’s worst enemies and how his righteous actions condemned the world! Remender and Broome do some great world building in these 4 issues and set the reader up for a ride with heroes that are flawed and villains that are ruthless.
Check out the podcast and then do yourself a favor and check out The End League.
There are new comic series that are coming out all the time. We are reviewing 4 new books that have come out in the last 3 months that you definitely want to check out.
I review 2 new comics and Jon reviews 2 new comics. Jon starts…
Review 1 – Jon Review
Last Stop on the Red Line #1
Writer: Paul Maybury
Artist: Sam Lofti
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
The story takes place in Boston, Massachusetts about a murder on the local subway system called the Red Line. It is a murder mystery with supernatural elements set in and around Boston.
Review 2 – Jim Review
Dark Red #1
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Corin Howell
Publisher: Aftershock Comics
The story is centered around Charles “Chip” Ipswich who is a night shift gas station clerk that lives in a rural area. He is also a vampire. Chip is bored with his life until a rival vampire enters his town and then he realizes how good he actually had it. It is a horror comic with political satire undertones.
Review 3 – Jon Review
Batman: The Last Knight on Earth #1
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Greg Capullo
Publisher: DC/Black Label
This is the last Batman tale. How can Batman stop the end of the world? Why can’t he remember what happened? How did the Joker’s head end up in a lantern and how is it still alive? These and many more questions will be asked as you read this last, big adventure of the Dark Knight Detective.
Review 4 – Jim Review
Superman: Leviathan Rising Special #1
Writer(s): Marc Andteyko, Greg Rucka, Matt Fraction, Brian Michael Bendis
Artist(s): Yanick Paquette, Mike Perkins, Steve Lieber
Publisher: DC
This one shot special features the shadow organization know as Leviathan. They have been taking down all the governmental/UN organizations in the DC universe on the pages of Action Comics and now they have set their sights on the Man of Steel. But how do you take down Superman? By capturing his best friend, Clark Kent! This is a great comic that gives you 3 stories: The continuation of the Leviathan event from Action Comics and a jumping on point for the upcoming Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen comics. It will also prepare you for the upcoming summer event Leviathan miniseries. Get aboard now! This will be the comic everyone is talking about in the coming months.
Superheroes are very popular right now, so why not throw them into a horror movie? That’s what you get with the new superhero horror sub-genre movie, Brightburn.
Technically, Brightburn is not a super”hero” movie. More of a super”psychopath” movie but the marketing is saying superhero so that is what I am writing. Jon and I saw this new movie, from producer James Gunn, and we talk about our expectations of the movie and what we actually thought about it after viewing.
*Spoiler Warning! We talk about plot points about the movie in the podcast*
The mask is a dead give-away that there is something not right with that Brandon Breyer boy. Glowing red eyes and that stitched up maw. He doesn’t look like he will be doing much “superheroing”. He looks like he wants to eat your liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
Now the “Evil Superman” genre has been done to death in the comics medium. After we talk about the movie, we go on to talk about how DC has done multiple bad guy superman stories featuring characters like…
from left to right: Superboy Prime, Superdoom and Ultraman. Don’t know who these baddies are? We break them down for you and rate them against Brightburn.
We don’t stop there! We talk about Evil Superman pastiche that exist in other comics such as Irredeemable, The Boys and Marshal Law.
Then there are bad Supermen characters that I totally forgot and just remembered as I am typing right now like Nuclear Man from the Superman IV movie or Kid Miracle Man from Miracle Man (we did do a podcast on Miracle Man and do discuss Kid Miracle Man there). Our podcast is not a complete list of Evil Supermen but we just wanted to show you that this genre has been used so much that it is pretty cliche.
In 1994, New Line Cinema took a chance on a small comic publisher, Dark Horse Comics and one of their new properties, The Mask. The risk turned out to be a sleeper hit for them and it made Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz over night stars.
Last week, we talked about The Mask comic series. The week, we talk about the movie, which celebrates it’s 25th anniversary this year, and how much of the source material was used in making it. We also go over the long, strange trip the movie took from early scripts to final product and our thoughts on the movie then and now.
The movie was one of the first to use a combination of practical effects (The Mask itself) and computer generated effects like this one:
This still looks pretty good 25 years later and this was bleeding edge technology back then. The Mask character still looks great today:
We take a trip down memory lane and talk about what was popular when this movie was being made and how some of it ended up in the movie. We also talk about how seeing a trailer for a movie was near impossible unless it was a week before the movie came out.
The Mask movie is still great, even today. Jim Carrey went on to become a big star and turned down $10 million dollars to do a sequel which disappointed millions of fans (and 1 Nintendo Power winner). The only other person to have a career after this movie was Cameron Diaz…
In fact, she had just as long and diverse a career as Carrey. We end the podcast by briefly talking about the terrible follow up, Son of the Mask.
Do you think there should be a soft reboot of this franchise? We go over this too.
Jon and I are celebrating our 4th year putting out Comic Misremembered Podcasts! It was on May 19th 2015 that we created a website and posted our first comics oriented podcast and we have been putting one out every week for the last 4 years. Thanks for sticking with us and continuing to listen!
Now, on to the reason you are here. To listen to us talk about comics and comic related items. This week we are taking a step back in time to review the first Dark Horse Comics The Mask series.
Let me talk about the above images. From left to right: The Mask character made his current incarnation debut on the pages of the short lived Dark Horse Comics Mayhem anthology series. Images 2 and 3 are the actual covers for The Mask miniseries for issues 2 and 3 that came out in 1991. The Mayhem shorts were collected together as a #0 issue when the Mask was collected together in trade paperback form.
The Mask was created by Dark Horse Comics founder, Mike Richardson. The character would be written by other writers and artists but is mostly remember for John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke‘s version which is the Mask from Mayhem and the first 3 miniseries.
Jon has never read a Mask comic and I only stated reading The Mask with the follow up sequel: The Mask Returns (1992). I recently bought the 2nd printing of The Mask Omnibus so that we could read and review the 1st Mask series. This will be a 2 part podcast – Next week we will be reviewing the Jim Carrey movie, The Mask and see how much (or how little) of the comic source material was used in the movie.
Interesting story on the new comic we are reviewing in this week’s podcast. I received a tweet from a website called Suspicious Behavior Productions (direct link here: http://suspiciousbehaviorproductions.com/) asking if we would like to review a couple of issues of their digital comics, Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia.
At first, I thought it was a web scam with a name like Suspicious Behavior Productions but it turns out that they are a legitimate indy comic company and not a late 80’s R&B band. I agreed to have them send us a couple of copies of their comic and I was pleasantly surprised.
The comic is written by Ed Kuehnel & Matt Entin, the art is done by Dan Schkade with coloring by Marrissa Louise. All parties involved are very talented.
Premise: A popular wrestler, Rory “Rock & Roll” Landel in 1999 is told by the America Wrestling Federation (AWF) Promoter, Dick Drasin that he will be losing his title to new comer, Bob “Boy Scout” Schultz. Rory is not down for this so he decides to quit in style by cutting one of the greast promos of all time where he declares himself not only World Champ but The Galaxy Champion.
This promo gets beamed out to the stars until it reaches the attention of Planet Wrestletopia’s Ruler and current reigning Galaxy Champion, Manifest Destiny!
Manifest Destiny is dismayed that an Usurper would try to lay a claim to his title so he travels to Earth to challenge the fake Galaxy Champion, Rory Landel to a one-on-one planet cage match. WINNER TAKE ALL!!
Jon and I thought this comic was fantastic and we urge you to give it a try. We are not getting any kickbacks from SBP on this comic. We think it is a really good book that everyone should be checking out. Listen to the podcast for more details on why we think it is so great. We kept the conversation mostly spoiler free.
