0:00:04the incomparable contest number already
0:00:07made 2011
0:00:11we are back on the incomparable podcast
0:00:14and it is once again time I know that
0:00:16you're gonna find this hard to believe
0:00:17but it is once again time for the comic
0:00:20book club the comic book club is back
0:00:21its back in session
0:00:24alright art so joining me are my
0:00:27faithful members of the comic book club
0:00:29will we're gonna maybe we'll find a way
0:00:31to add somebody else at some point I
0:00:32don't know but we've got a solid three
0:00:34we went not need anymore
0:00:36Joyce joining me as always jason reitman
0:00:39hello hey and Lisa Schmeisser i'm
0:00:42already plenty initiation rites for the
0:00:43new remember oh yeah yeah we're going to
0:00:45have to make him read everything we've
0:00:47already read something horribly thats
0:00:48good know how to read the entire run of
0:00:49micronauts to satisfy me how bad I just
0:00:51for punishment
0:00:52wow that was probably the club the
0:00:53fastest mentioned in the microphones in
0:00:55any of if you have one minute and the
0:00:57over-under you if you if you chose one
0:00:59minute you win the lottery and the
0:01:01drinking game
0:01:02yes that's right i had to I had to get
0:01:03in there what better recognize me
0:01:05because micronauts really has nothing to
0:01:07do with planetary um so planetary was
0:01:10the choice that we made like a million
0:01:12years ago to talk about and we're
0:01:13actually going to talk about it
0:01:14especially not it's still feel like we
0:01:16should wait another 10 years just met
0:01:18yeah you can see how long they took
0:01:20planetary to come out with the 26 issues
0:01:21yeah i was shocked to discover that it
0:01:23took them
0:01:24it took them tell you we had 10 years to
0:01:26go 27 issues 26 issues something like
0:01:29that yeah shocking because i read it all
0:01:31i think i read the last date issues
0:01:33today and it's sort of unfair you do get
0:01:36the sense that I I did realize at some
0:01:38point when i started reading it it was
0:01:40clearly set right before the turn of the
0:01:42millennium and then as i'm reading the
0:01:45later issues they're talking about how
0:01:46it's already past and I'm like did I
0:01:48miss that or did this just takes so long
0:01:50to come out which which brings up some
0:01:52interesting continuity issues with the
0:01:54Millennium babies that were characters
0:01:56in a lot of war analysis stuff that kind
0:01:59of glossed over because I actually meant
0:02:00to the Millennium babies because that
0:02:02was a huge component of the Holy that
0:02:04was a huge component of a whole universe
0:02:06when they first started you had Jennie
0:02:07sparks with the authority and Elijah
0:02:09snow and the two of them obviously know
0:02:11each other right and there was a
0:02:12potential and they had the one crossover
0:02:14comic with the two of them but they took
0:02:18that really great idea of of a planetary
0:02:20defense system and just dropped it so so
0:02:22let's back up a second because as
0:02:24somebody who you
0:02:25guys really know this stuff and I have
0:02:28I'm a babe in the woods when it comes to
0:02:31this as with many things I I never I
0:02:33never I think I've heard of this but i
0:02:35knew nothing about it so it's it's a
0:02:40wild storm in print book right which is
0:02:43DC basically but it's a specific like
0:02:45what do you see misty significant yeah
0:02:49while slamming mr. me and wild storm was
0:02:52Jim Lee's studio that was part of Image
0:02:54Comics huh and everything started that
0:02:57way at some point many years ago DC
0:02:59bought wildstorm so they left just moved
0:03:02over to DC they were their own universe
0:03:04a year or two ago then DC folded the
0:03:07universe into the DC Universe and just
0:03:10last year they I or maybe was earlier
0:03:12this year they've cancelled all of the
0:03:14wild storm titles
0:03:16ah alright so so started image move to
0:03:19DC its own universe
0:03:21I've read something in this universe
0:03:23before because i read the authority
0:03:26yes which is any sparks and then this
0:03:28has a large snow which is an another one
0:03:30of these Millennium Bridge century
0:03:33babies are essentially baby yeah we
0:03:34could there be rolled on New Year's Day
0:03:361982 almost to live a hundred years and
0:03:41I yeah right so yeah which is
0:03:43complicated because you know is the
0:03:45planetary ends up being after the end of
0:03:48the century but Elijah's still ok i
0:03:51thought well he didn't he obviously
0:03:53skated on that one so so 26-27 something
0:03:59like that issues over the course of 10
0:04:00years we state by warren ellis and John
0:04:05Cassady who I actually first saw his art
0:04:07with Joss Whedon be starting actually
0:04:10yes and that's one of the reasons
0:04:11planetary took so long as he left to go
0:04:13do that Mary started before that and
0:04:16finished it
0:04:16afghan planetary started and then there
0:04:18were 24 issues of astonishing x-men and
0:04:20then they finished the 25 issues of
0:04:22planetary wow so i have to say have
0:04:26being the one who just read this this is
0:04:29this thing you had me read this is one
0:04:31of the craziest things I have ever ever
0:04:34read crazy as comics certainly really it
0:04:36is it is crazy in a good
0:04:38way but it is because it's this I mean
0:04:42how many layers are going on here
0:04:44let's let's let's break it down because
0:04:46otherwise I my head will explode a whole
0:04:49underlying thing here is that we're
0:04:53looking at analogues of other not even
0:04:56superheroes other heroic kind of
0:04:59archetypal let's not even archetypes
0:05:02they're like ver altered versions of
0:05:05heroic famous characters but they're
0:05:07archetypes I mean is there's the
0:05:09superman and wonder woman right we ready
0:05:11right and the reason to send the spoiler
0:05:13horns or something similarly the floor
0:05:15spoiler horn
0:05:19because there's that one mission where
0:05:20they kill Superman and Green Lantern
0:05:22Wonder Woman same issue
0:05:24yeah all right and it's a great she
0:05:26wanted when I realized they're not like
0:05:27they're not actually Superman right by
0:05:30your side just be a benefit from outer
0:05:31space who comes down to earth and make a
0:05:33woman from island to come yes save
0:05:35mankind bracelets so some of them are
0:05:37are are analogues their parallels to
0:05:40existing ones and then you've got some
0:05:41characters a character who is kind of
0:05:42like the shadow but he's also kinda like
0:05:44the green hornet right and there's a
0:05:46ghost writer and all alone the lone
0:05:48ranger is the one that blew in and then
0:05:50there's a where where I'm sitting there
0:05:52was reading the story thinking wow this
0:05:53is pretty wacky he's out in the desert
0:05:55and his body's been dumped but he's not
0:05:56quite dead and the Indian pumps him full
0:05:58of hallucinogens and all of a sudden
0:06:01he's like the biggest rally make silver
0:06:03bullets and put sash around his eyes and
0:06:05he's the ghost Ranger Wow
0:06:09and then what was the other one of the
0:06:11other crazy one main antagonist of the
0:06:12Fantastic Four well thats oh so we
0:06:14always comes back to the Fantastic Four
0:06:15with us so i find it funny that that I
0:06:18assume would be another one of these
0:06:19analogs in me and go there with the are
0:06:22our friends at home listening to this
0:06:24the the way planetary setup is each
0:06:27issue is a self-contained story
0:06:28essentially and that up to still be
0:06:31until the end and all these characters
0:06:33that were talking about these analogs
0:06:35they introduced it's like one issue
0:06:37typically sometimes more but it's sort
0:06:40of there's a complete story line there
0:06:41where the the planetary is a planetary
0:06:44organization planetary agency planetary
0:06:46group with governing body whenever they
0:06:48yeah they are
0:06:49explore archaeologists of the unknown
0:06:51they're weird about discovering the
0:06:53secret history of the planet
0:06:55their job is to curate mysteries
0:06:57basically yeah and so each time they
0:06:58they find this mystery like in the the
0:07:00Hulk story it was this town in New
0:07:02Mexico that was used for bomb
0:07:04experiments and then they find this very
0:07:06deep pit that this person who became the
0:07:09incredible hulk analog the government
0:07:12dug a really big hole and put it in and
0:07:14then it was about how it took him 60
0:07:15years to starve to death and you know
0:07:17essentially most of these analogs end up
0:07:20dying tragically as if they if Godzilla
0:07:23and logged eyes tear it another terrible
0:07:25way
0:07:25yeah it's sort of if these people really
0:07:27existed what would d write the governing
0:07:30bodies do to them and literary world
0:07:32helbred kill them right away I and then
0:07:35it turns out that the people organizing
0:07:36this or that fantastic for analog which
0:07:39have been sort of retarding the growth
0:07:43of humanity for the last 60 years or so
0:07:46in like taking all these extraordinary
0:07:48things that could be gifts to mankind
0:07:50and either burying them killing them
0:07:53hiding them
0:07:54yeah i think it's interesting because
0:07:56they introduced the Fantastic Four
0:07:58analog and I kind of expect again that
0:08:00will be a one-shot deal and I and I say
0:08:02oh I see what they're doing and there's
0:08:04a4 and there's the scientist and his
0:08:05girlfriend and a rough-and-tumble test
0:08:07pilot and the kid brother and they go
0:08:08and then they they come back and and
0:08:10they've got you know some recognizable
0:08:12powers that's like clearly the Fantastic
0:08:14Four and look and they're they're
0:08:16horrible and they're not just horrible
0:08:18they become again we've already fired
0:08:21the spoiler horn here they are the
0:08:23villain of the of the story arc of this
0:08:2525 issue limited series there the super
0:08:29super bad guys and which I thought was
0:08:32kind of brilliant because the whole rest
0:08:34of the run i'm sitting there kind of
0:08:35laughing as i read thinking oh the
0:08:37Fantastic Four very very bad people
0:08:39because there's also the identity
0:08:41mystery that starts off for Elijah snow
0:08:42is just trying to figure out why he's
0:08:43lost so much of his memory and who is he
0:08:46what is what is he doing what is this
0:08:48connection and said it was the fourth
0:08:50man
0:08:51yes the planetary is made up of three
0:08:53right three individuals and then the
0:08:56fourth man is the mysterious benefactor
0:08:57who runs the planetary organization and
0:09:00then you find out a lot of snow is the
0:09:02fourth man and it was actually just like
0:09:04this on memory yeah and the question is
0:09:06who's the real fourth man and that's
0:09:07when they have the the very last issue
0:09:09which is sort of here and now the gang
0:09:10is back together right and i have to
0:09:13admit i love this series III love this
0:09:15series as a whole but the last issue is
0:09:16kind of problematic for me because it
0:09:18feels a little bit too like the rear is
0:09:22well it's like it's like a reunion just
0:09:23like a seasoned it's like a cedar sonali
0:09:25we're all shocked is getting married and
0:09:27we brought back this guy from his
0:09:29international totally how it felt to me
0:09:31is it's the coda where we get to see
0:09:33everybody and everybody gets a kind of
0:09:34an ending and
0:09:35and an ACN being a huge fan of time
0:09:38travel all that meta discussion about
0:09:39that was so the world could collapse in
0:09:42time machine was built in and going into
0:09:44kind of the pseudoscience of that is
0:09:46awesome so create a speaking of crazy
0:09:48one of the things that I thought was
0:09:50really crazy as this idea that that is
0:09:53based on some if not scientific facts
0:09:56and some valid scientific theory which
0:09:59is that they're you know it's a
0:10:01snowflake in a several thousand
0:10:03dimensional universe and that we're
0:10:04actually not in a three-dimensional
0:10:06universe but our holographic projection
0:10:08on a two-dimensional universe i just
0:10:10read a book which I mentioned on the
0:10:11previous podcast by brian greene that's
0:10:14about parallel universes that talks in
0:10:16detail about this idea the holographic
0:10:18theory that that three dimensions are
0:10:20actually just an effect of a
0:10:23two-dimensional surface and that's in
0:10:25planetary throughout they keep talking
0:10:26about the two-dimensional information
0:10:28set and there are a bunch of a stack of
0:10:30universes and it's pretty you can read
0:10:33it as just being sort of like ridiculous
0:10:35comic mumbo-jumbo except is actually
0:10:37isn't and it's kind of fascinating on
0:10:39the idea that the drummer kinda can tap
0:10:41into the information source and that
0:10:43they're all sort of the reason there are
0:10:45the the century babies is because
0:10:48they're kind of generated out of the
0:10:50information playing in order to protect
0:10:51things and be error correction and it's
0:10:54it's it's crazy but it's not just like
0:10:57ridiculous flight of fancy it there's
0:11:00something to it it was that's the two
0:11:02points with that the first is it a lot
0:11:05of great writers are able to do that
0:11:06sort of thing like the warren ellis alan
0:11:09moore back to the original comic writers
0:11:11in the sixties he doesn't like
0:11:13Frankenstein Mary Shelley trans person
0:11:16because the Invisibles has a lot of that
0:11:17to where there's the extra dimensional
0:11:19black brother extra their extra
0:11:23dimensional worlds that are basically
0:11:24pure information and a lot of what goes
0:11:25on to the Invisibles comes down to who's
0:11:28trying to control the information and
0:11:29alter reality as we understand it and
0:11:31the last issue of that series pretty
0:11:33much ends with them having effectively
0:11:35hacked reality change the whole world
0:11:37perceptions and then the last the last
0:11:40page is one of the characters holding
0:11:41his hand and saying oh where we go what
0:11:43we do and so when I was reading through
0:11:46planetary over 10 years i would add
0:11:49uh-huh I thought they were actually kind
0:11:52of a lot of parallels to the Invisibles
0:11:53in the sense that there are structures
0:11:55within structures things that you can
0:11:56perceive things outside your perception
0:11:58and what happens this was something
0:11:59outside your perception ships into your
0:12:00perception it's dealing with the reality
0:12:02Fallout and the i was reading some meta
0:12:05stuff into it as well we're talking
0:12:07about the the two dimensional planes 3d
0:12:10people standing on them i was thinking
0:12:12the two dimensional planes were the page
0:12:14that i was looking at them on and that
0:12:16information stack is the stack of papers
0:12:18making up this comic book i'm reading
0:12:19now and that they were sort of at some
0:12:21level talking about where characters in
0:12:24this book the same way grant narrow
0:12:26Morrison always talks about characters
0:12:27in a narrative and what makes it more
0:12:30exciting is what you bring to it is i'm
0:12:32excited about your idea because there's
0:12:33what you bring to it as a reader to as
0:12:35you're reading it you're also thinking
0:12:36about different comics you've read and
0:12:38have it all ties in so you're bringing
0:12:40even more dimensions of information as
0:12:41well and when I have to reach that level
0:12:44there is not level to where they talk
0:12:45about the though the realm of fiction
0:12:47which is actually a little bit similar
0:12:49to the the unwritten we talked about in
0:12:51our first comic book club where there's
0:12:53a realm of fiction and there's somebody
0:12:54who comes out of it and they go back
0:12:56into it there's like a universe that's
0:12:57created and and they they tie that in at
0:13:00the end and they say well you know if
0:13:02you've got this kind of two-dimensional
0:13:03Arizona of information from which
0:13:05everything is all the universes are
0:13:07generated then you're not just it's not
0:13:09some necessarily fantastical land of
0:13:12fiction it could you know writers create
0:13:14a universe it could be a real universe
0:13:17that created that it is reality it's not
0:13:20just a flight of fancy
0:13:21it's real which is which ties into that
0:13:24which is a like I said crazy but it's
0:13:26it's really cool
0:13:27um time-travel you mentioned and that
0:13:30was another on my list of things that I
0:13:31i just took my head was like wow there's
0:13:33so much here is so dense that you you
0:13:36you mentioned it in in the finale
0:13:39basically there's this whole idea about
0:13:42you can create a time machine but when
0:13:46you create a time machine
0:13:47you can't travel further back than the
0:13:49creation of the time machine which is an
0:13:51idea i don't know if you guys have seen
0:13:53the movie primer yep which is a
0:13:55low-budget brilliant crazy also crazy
0:13:58low-budget sci-fi movie about these
0:14:00these guys in a office
0:14:02parking rocks austin texas who build a
0:14:04time machine invented a time machine and
0:14:06it's a it's a you can watch it like 10
0:14:09times and still not know what's going on
0:14:11because they keep on going back over
0:14:12each others time lines but I that I
0:14:16thought about that because it's a
0:14:17similar kind of premise but what they
0:14:18take it to is the next level and say
0:14:20right now it's all possibilities but
0:14:23once you create a time machine it
0:14:25flattens all the possibilities and just
0:14:27creates a single true reality because
0:14:30they can all travel back and and they
0:14:32all will travel back to the earliest
0:14:34point they can and you know there's no
0:14:37real resolution to that other than maybe
0:14:38that's not the way it works and Elijah
0:14:40snow doesn't care he's gonna we're gonna
0:14:42do the time-traveling anyway and then
0:14:43suddenly analogues of themselves
0:14:46dozens of analogs of themselves from the
0:14:48future appear to watch them as soon as
0:14:50he presses the button which is you know
0:14:52a great scene again i'm not quite sure
0:14:54whether I parsed how much sense it makes
0:14:57or not but it's sort of chilling to
0:14:59watch it in a way that the way they are
0:15:01laid out very very artfully about how
0:15:03they do the time sequence where you see
0:15:05them appear which I was impressed
0:15:07throughout i think that the the way that
0:15:09it's the way that it's drawn in the way
0:15:10the sequence of the panel's even our are
0:15:13so cinematic and that there's lightning
0:15:15is really i mean sometimes there's a
0:15:18page in one of the latter issues which i
0:15:20thought you know this is just brilliant
0:15:22timing it's four panels and the dialogue
0:15:25is on the third panel and it's entirely
0:15:27built so that you have that pause where
0:15:29where
0:15:30pause for the joke and then the joke
0:15:32it's or the punchline um kind of amazing
0:15:35but the time travel was the one that
0:15:37really impressed me there and I read
0:15:38that seen similar to when we did the
0:15:43first nuclear bomb tests and there was a
0:15:45very real possibility that there be a
0:15:48chain reaction and it would ignite the
0:15:50atmosphere and all life on earth would
0:15:51end and you know they thought it was
0:15:54worth the risk and Elijah snow knowing
0:15:57that during the time machine
0:15:59there's a very real possibility flattens
0:16:01all of reality and the universe
0:16:03attention implodes and everything is
0:16:05over the minute you turn on the time
0:16:07machine but it was worth the risk to
0:16:09save the third yeah and he was like I
0:16:12don't care
0:16:13push the button and it turns out they
0:16:15were wrong
0:16:16to yeah right right he would take the
0:16:18risk and that was just great i mean it
0:16:20is feel like a series finale but I a and
0:16:22it's weird because the main arc is over
0:16:24but at the same time I kinda like the
0:16:25the whole idea of its a guy who can
0:16:28control physics and so he stops time and
0:16:30he creates a little bubble bubble where
0:16:31time doesn't move but how do you get him
0:16:34out of it if you can't go into it
0:16:36because there's no time inside the
0:16:37bubble and so it was like well now that
0:16:39we've had the end of our series and
0:16:41we've reached this exalted position
0:16:43what do we do there and rather than take
0:16:46that you know for another 20 issues over
0:16:48the next 50 years they decide well
0:16:51here's an example of the kind of stuff
0:16:52that is in the life of planetary now
0:16:54that they've defeated the four is
0:16:55they're gonna do stuff crazy stuff like
0:16:57this and you can kind of only imagine
0:16:59what other crazy stuff they do when you
0:17:01the one not one but one of the redeeming
0:17:04graces of the last issue tues at one
0:17:07level planetary is also about Elijah
0:17:08snow emotional journey right because
0:17:12either he deliberately regress tour
0:17:14there was something kind of broken him
0:17:16when he did agree to be mindwiped by the
0:17:17four and over the course of the series
0:17:20you find out the things that drove the
0:17:22young man the heartbreak he endured with
0:17:25to keep his mom and by the end of it
0:17:28he's the kind of guy who's like I have
0:17:29no problem like the University it means
0:17:31saving a friend and that's something
0:17:33that Elijah snow would probably not have
0:17:36done it earlier points in the in this in
0:17:37the story but over the course of 26
0:17:39issues you see how he begins to put in
0:17:44heavy emotional lifting and work on on
0:17:46how i feel about these people that I'm
0:17:47working with and and what kind of steak
0:17:49do I haven't been in their happiness in
0:17:51mind and they comment on that
0:17:52like that whole last issue all of his
0:17:53friends are actually the last couple
0:17:55issues friends are like all right he's
0:17:56changed so much but they were kind of
0:17:58afraid right him and what he's seen so
0:18:00much the mind wipe and he says no no you
0:18:03know i have changed but that's not why
0:18:05yeah right yeah and it's actually one of
0:18:08the one of the characteristics about
0:18:11wildstorm I always felt is that it's not
0:18:14a warm and mushy type of universe is not
0:18:16overly emotional or filled with a lot of
0:18:18sincerity it's it's characterized by
0:18:20kind of a reflexive irony and grim sense
0:18:22of purpose and that can be a lot of fun
0:18:24to read for example when they had storm
0:18:26watches a series of the the
0:18:29a dialog and the the crazy ambitions
0:18:32people had were two of the feelings with
0:18:34the characters about storm watches the
0:18:36storm watches with Christian Sabbath or
0:18:38authority right and then an authority
0:18:40you have one of the things that was
0:18:42driving that was the rock-hard
0:18:43conviction all the characters that hey
0:18:45we're superheroes we we can clean up the
0:18:47world and no one's going to stop us so
0:18:49let's do it which is actually one of the
0:18:50reasons why i wasn't disappointed at one
0:18:52point at which planetary ends yeah
0:18:55because you could do it another series
0:18:57about what happens when they read reach
0:18:58that exalted position if they did it and
0:19:00it's the authority that's what that's
0:19:02about
0:19:02yeah right one is also that in this case
0:19:04the ones who had reached an exalted
0:19:06position where the four right and
0:19:08initially it was in right because they
0:19:11make this deal in the morning race to
0:19:13that will return our planets growth rate
0:19:15lock twist and we'll set you guys up and
0:19:17we'll set it up for easy invasion and oh
0:19:18by the way let's without another planets
0:19:20population to store our weapons right
0:19:22like that's one of the most indelible
0:19:24panels of the series for me is when
0:19:26they're standing and they realize that
0:19:27they're just standing in a sea of bones
0:19:29because the four had such contempt for
0:19:32life of any form they couldn't even be
0:19:33bothered to clean up their mess they
0:19:35just left it right there and right but
0:19:37in a way because one else created the
0:19:39authority as well yes and you know in
0:19:42some ways I think planetary was a almost
0:19:45an admission that if the authority
0:19:46existed like the four ya another group
0:19:49would have to take them now like that
0:19:50you can't be allowed to continue
0:19:52there's a planetary authority crossover
0:19:54just there is one option yep and you see
0:19:58that the authority has turned into just
0:20:00this horrible collection of cyborgs and
0:20:02Lynn reptilian figures that goes from
0:20:05universe to universe destroying the
0:20:07planetary organization everywhere it
0:20:09goes huh
0:20:10and so in planetary finally shuts them
0:20:12down so it does play out that tension
0:20:15between unchecked power versus idealism
0:20:18but you know looking back round the
0:20:20original point actually think I'm
0:20:21planetary is one of the most humane
0:20:22books when you think about it in the
0:20:24wild storm universe because again you've
0:20:26got people who are doing things added a
0:20:29genuine sense of compassion and
0:20:31curiosity and wonder as opposed to I can
0:20:33shoot fire from my fingertips
0:20:35how can I use this against genocidal
0:20:37dictators right there is that the the
0:20:39whole idea of an archaeologist and there
0:20:41is a detachment and the
0:20:42sort of observation of of that all that
0:20:45kind of cynicism and we've you know we
0:20:48found this woman who came to save
0:20:50mankind so we kill her
0:20:52yeah like they the book and get that
0:20:53across but not lose any of that hope
0:20:55your idealism because the characters who
0:20:57are sort of discovering this are doing
0:20:59it from the outside
0:21:00Yeah right there their job is to me the
0:21:03story arc is a hole right you start
0:21:05their job is done on earth the the
0:21:08evidence of what happened and observe it
0:21:10right and and the story arc really comes
0:21:14from the fact that by collecting all of
0:21:16that information their route something
0:21:18is revealed that they can't not take
0:21:21action so so you know in the end they
0:21:24can't be just observers of this stuff
0:21:27but that's sort of the initial thing is
0:21:28that you know they're not they're not
0:21:29really rendering judgment they are just
0:21:31discovering what happened and then
0:21:33putting into their planetary guides
0:21:34right right we should then accumulates
0:21:37to the point where it becomes quite
0:21:39clear that something is going on that
0:21:42they need to do something about it and
0:21:43that kicks off the ark it's quite clever
0:21:45because you you think what you're seeing
0:21:47is almost an anthology series and then
0:21:50it turns out that it's actually you've
0:21:52actually been seeing huge just seeds of
0:21:54story arc that will then largely get
0:21:57paid off right i mean it
0:21:58most of that stuff does get paid off its
0:22:00not just sort of there for fun generally
0:22:02you get toward the end of an issue and
0:22:04you realize oh that's why the story is
0:22:06important instead of just being like
0:22:08well that was interesting as an huh well
0:22:11with the spaceship is my favorite where
0:22:13they send the thing character away
0:22:15well and not just that you've got the
0:22:17guy who agrees to basically give up his
0:22:19humanity in his life to write to steer
0:22:22the ship as well and even when they do
0:22:24do that the issue where they said that
0:22:25thing away they have the recording
0:22:26angels who are going to go to their
0:22:29deaths and all the all the expresses
0:22:32gratitude for the opportunity to be able
0:22:34to record the experiences they go and
0:22:35there's all these little humbling
0:22:36moments that are just scattered to the
0:22:38whole series where the there's kind of a
0:22:41sense of joy of discovery throughout it
0:22:43where we have all these people who were
0:22:45like yes they're all this is not the
0:22:47life I would've chosen but think about
0:22:48what I'm going to get out of what I'm
0:22:50doing now and it's incredibly optimistic
0:22:52it is
0:22:53yeah you know for those
0:22:56I I imagine they're probably some people
0:22:57listening I would cut quite who haven't
0:22:59read it yet and that's okay because I
0:23:02mean hey the good guys one of the end
0:23:03big shock but home but how they do it is
0:23:06it really is about the journey what I'd
0:23:08say is that this is this book really
0:23:10hits the sweet spot if you're somebody
0:23:12who likes superhero comics and likes the
0:23:17kind of sci-fi website my comics or
0:23:19other side kind of sci-fi stuff which i
0:23:22always i was loved to and for me this is
0:23:25this great combination of that because
0:23:27they are these crazy science fictional
0:23:29concepts throughout and yet it's also
0:23:31all about iconic heroes not just
0:23:33superheroes but you know like The Lone
0:23:35Ranger and things like that too and
0:23:37Tarzan and you put it all together in a
0:23:39in a blender and it's you know it's a
0:23:41great combination to get both of those
0:23:42things I think it would appeal to people
0:23:44who like some of those sort of mysteries
0:23:46like x-files or lost because there is
0:23:49that that that discovery aspect in that
0:23:52on yelling kind of always think this is
0:23:54almost the x-files done right where
0:23:55you've got the you've got the soft
0:23:57contains stories but there's a myth in
0:23:59an origin story that artists throughout
0:24:00and there's an actual satisfying pay off
0:24:02as opposed to and now we ended in a cave
0:24:04yeah right lost its like lost in the
0:24:06sense that that all the TV shows that
0:24:09try to replicate lost made a mistake of
0:24:10having crazy sci-fi art stuff happened
0:24:12in the first episode we at with lots of
0:24:14time discontinuities and stuff like that
0:24:16and if you look at the first season of
0:24:17lost what got people hooked on lost is
0:24:19that it was slow there were very few
0:24:22genre things introduced at all and it
0:24:25was all about characters and telling
0:24:26stories and then they would continually
0:24:29Ratchet it up and you know and they lost
0:24:31some people and other people in the
0:24:32audience stayed fair you know there's a
0:24:34whole argument to be made about lost in
0:24:36a different podcast but that's what
0:24:38struck me about planetary I now that you
0:24:40mention it is it it takes its time like
0:24:44that and whatnot you don't you don't say
0:24:46this is going to be a complicated story
0:24:47arc about this group and this group
0:24:49battling each other over the fate of the
0:24:51planet instead you say hey there's this
0:24:53group who learned these interesting
0:24:54stories we're going to tell those
0:24:56stories and then as you see the stories
0:24:57it starts to come together and you
0:24:59realize there is something bigger that
0:25:00you know that sort of stealth approach
0:25:02if you did the story you're reading is
0:25:04not a story you think you're reading so
0:25:06much more effective and you know I go
0:25:08back to the lost knock
0:25:09I swear they didn't get it that you know
0:25:11go jumping to the end doesn't make you
0:25:14get to satisfaction faster it destroys
0:25:17all the satisfaction because you you
0:25:19know you don't have that moment of
0:25:20discovery because I freely admit as a
0:25:22reader reading the back third planetary
0:25:23was really really exciting I mean I got
0:25:25into a pretty much when it started and
0:25:271600 it's fun to read whatever but when
0:25:30i would say in the last six or seven
0:25:32issues for coming out i was i would
0:25:33practically skip home from the comic
0:25:35book store because I was just so excited
0:25:37to see what the payoffs would be those
0:25:38last six issues came out over the course
0:25:40of seven years
0:25:41yes it was but it was the race between
0:25:45that and rising star is honestly to see
0:25:47which one would address so i was so
0:25:49bitter about that but it was the if
0:25:53reading through that series is so
0:25:55satisfying especially if you did sink in
0:25:56again ten years by the time you're at
0:25:58the end of it you're like oh my gosh
0:26:00they think they've pulled this reference
0:26:02out they've tried this back in and you
0:26:03see all these pieces fall into place and
0:26:06i'm not sure how much of that is a side
0:26:08effect of well they've had this leisure
0:26:09of time and space to wrap things up and
0:26:11really thinking through and how much of
0:26:12it they had planned out and then
0:26:15surprise other projects got in the way
0:26:17but either way it makes for really
0:26:19gratifying experiences a reader it
0:26:21didn't I would think of all the comics
0:26:23I've read and then when you are asked
0:26:25that desert island question if you have
0:26:27one series you know for the rest of your
0:26:29life this is the only comic you're ever
0:26:30going to read I think planetary would be
0:26:32it
0:26:33wow it to meet has certainly a lot there
0:26:35right a lot they're entering the the
0:26:37tone was just so pitch perfect and
0:26:39you're talking about it earlier with
0:26:40like the art and the pacing in this
0:26:43cinematic miss of the whole thing it's
0:26:44just pitch perfect tone and it's so
0:26:47beautiful to look at I mean Cassidy's
0:26:48art is just sublime that he's great i
0:26:51recommend buying it in the the two
0:26:53absolute collection CM because then you
0:26:55have the large oversized start it's just
0:26:57gorgeous and the good news is when you
0:26:58order those they come and they don't
0:27:00wait 10 years right
0:27:01that's seriously from for those who who
0:27:04didn't see it all the way through
0:27:06now you can just watch it I mean that
0:27:08that is the advantage of of waiting the
0:27:11disadvantages that you don't get to see
0:27:12a while it's happening because you can
0:27:14get it all wrapped up
0:27:15that was my philosophy my stock much
0:27:17battlestar galactica was I wanted to
0:27:19make sure the whole series wrapped up
0:27:20and people are satisfied with it before
0:27:21it started
0:27:22did wrap-up and some people were
0:27:25satisfied and some people some people
0:27:28well I say that about loss to write lost
0:27:30wrapped up in a lot of people were
0:27:31dissatisfied I thought it was both of
0:27:33those series I thought the last season
0:27:34was a disappointment and at the end i
0:27:37thought you know i wasn't as down on the
0:27:39end I I guess I must be forgiving of
0:27:42series finales because you know it's
0:27:45tough to do a big finish and I didn't
0:27:46think they completely either of them
0:27:47completely blue and I thought the state
0:27:49i thought that the last episodes of both
0:27:51of those shows were were maybe good unto
0:27:54themselves but perhaps failed in living
0:27:57up to the series that came before so
0:27:59that as an episode was like oh I see
0:28:01it's not a bad way to end it but you
0:28:03know then I'll look back on all the
0:28:04stuff that they had set up and and and
0:28:06then you kind of get disappointed by it
0:28:07bindings are really really hard they're
0:28:09really hard because witnesses talking
0:28:11about the very last issue of planetary
0:28:12right but to me although it's the
0:28:14next-to-last issue that sort of the
0:28:16climax right here in the last issue is
0:28:18cool that the the next-to-last issue
0:28:20I you know the kind of wrap up the whole
0:28:22story arc in 33 pages right that's where
0:28:25there's a he snaps his fingers dropped
0:28:27the body and write that I don't know
0:28:29what the the last two members of the
0:28:31four were dispatched a little too easily
0:28:34considering how built up it was for so
0:28:36long I felt an unbeatable enemy right
0:28:39that but he has a plan exactly which is
0:28:42it is interesting thing about the
0:28:43character the entire time allows us know
0:28:45once he figures out who he is that he is
0:28:49the guy with the plan
0:28:50yeah I'm and things through the angles
0:28:52and and at the end is willing to take
0:28:54risks but it did seem those last three
0:28:57pages of the the second-to-last issue
0:28:59kind of was oh they need to wrap this up
0:29:03because they're ready to end the series
0:29:04right and kind of abrupt it was abrupt
0:29:07the that's why i was happy that they had
0:29:09the last issue because the last issue
0:29:11actually redeemed a lot of it because I
0:29:13got to see sort of the aftermath and if
0:29:15it had just ended with that you know
0:29:17that the final resolution it would have
0:29:19been actually a real downer because it's
0:29:22been like really that's it and now
0:29:23you're done that's the whole that's how
0:29:24you tell the story right because it
0:29:27doesn't generally resolve Elijah's arc
0:29:29right i mean you need to see his
0:29:30emotional resolutions hit in the last
0:29:32issue and to me that's the last issue i
0:29:34liked so much more than this
0:29:36second-to-last way which is a nice trick
0:29:39right they so they didn't quite stick
0:29:40the ending but it wasn't the ending they
0:29:42got to do a little bit more as like Lord
0:29:45of the Rings there are several and like
0:29:48your adventure with the endings you're
0:29:49not quite that bad right
0:29:51I don't know because it made sense there
0:29:53without it there was the plot ending in
0:29:55a second to last issue where they
0:29:57dispatch the bad guys and then the sort
0:30:00of more emotional character arc ending
0:30:02of the last issue right if you view the
0:30:05next-to-last issue from the character
0:30:07perspective that's about the other two
0:30:09members of planetary coming to accept
0:30:14that Elijah is gonna do what he's gonna
0:30:17do when they need to trust him
0:30:18yeah that's that's the the character
0:30:20thing that happens in that episode is
0:30:22like we're gonna I you know we're going
0:30:24to invest our trust in this guy and it
0:30:27pays off
0:30:28you know but plot-wise yeah it was it's
0:30:31always the danger that women biggest
0:30:32danger on on TV shows to you know with
0:30:35this happened are you a lot you create
0:30:37this huge villain you know dr. Buffy
0:30:40means having lots of TV shows huge big
0:30:42bad you build them up and then you got
0:30:45to resolve it and unless you will have
0:30:48an incredibly ambitious you know
0:30:50multi-part TV episode or issue or
0:30:52whatever you know teardown takedown of
0:30:55that big bad if you're doing it you know
0:30:58in in the rear regular format it's going
0:31:00to be yeah 56 pages of the takedown the
0:31:02and you're always almost always left
0:31:04with wondering how big and bad were they
0:31:07if that's what this is it what you want
0:31:09and you get this like on the what's
0:31:11widely considered one of the best
0:31:12episodes of Doctor Who that Castro lava
0:31:14which dispatch the fifth doctor
0:31:17oh no caves of Androzani case of a yes
0:31:19thank you yeah managers on everybody
0:31:21dies right well I think that's something
0:31:22like if you that it's not about taking
0:31:25down the bad guy or how fast or how hard
0:31:27it's what were the consequences if you
0:31:29brought up the bad guy there has to be
0:31:31consequences there has to be sacrifices
0:31:33and actually really thats they're doing
0:31:35this in fables though where they have
0:31:37the war and they dispatched the the big
0:31:39bad Emperor the the enemy and Bill
0:31:42Willingham has been basically playing
0:31:44out what happens afterward where people
0:31:46are like okay the photo was conquered
0:31:47oak rap what we do now
0:31:50recommendation building is really hard
0:31:51yeah and and if you had a sense of
0:31:53purpose where my sense of purpose is to
0:31:55vanquish this evil force and all of a
0:31:57sudden the force is gone and there's
0:31:59still these things that are broken in
0:32:00your life you have nothing to blame that
0:32:03those problems on anymore so what do you
0:32:04do and you know i'm i'm i'm delighted by
0:32:09what they're doing with fables right now
0:32:10and in that sense where against the
0:32:12nation building there's always different
0:32:13factions that are not either coalescing
0:32:15are splitting apart as people try to
0:32:17regain their moral footing and try to
0:32:19reconfigure their futures and I wish
0:32:22more comic books would do that or or
0:32:24more or more series in general because
0:32:26as you said so many times it's we have
0:32:28this this force that we have two more
0:32:29this person we have to vanquish that we
0:32:32have triumphed and smash cut fade to
0:32:34black as opposed to tonight we have
0:32:36triumphed and then along comes an
0:32:37insurance adjuster who's like okay and
0:32:39who's gonna clean all this up
0:32:40well actually one of the things I liked
0:32:43about Babylon 5 which I watched
0:32:46religiously was they had a couple of
0:32:50story resolutions in the middle
0:32:52basically the end of the third year they
0:32:54resolve this entire story arc with the
0:32:56earth government being you know turning
0:32:59into a kind of a dictatorship and what
0:33:02was interesting about that is that they
0:33:03that allowed them to play out what the
0:33:05aftermath of that was and then I think
0:33:07more or less by accident they ended up
0:33:09rushing their story resolution and their
0:33:11fourth year because they were afraid
0:33:12they were gonna be cancelled and they
0:33:14got a fifth-year was a great season but
0:33:17it was still kind of fascinating in the
0:33:19sense that it was about what happens
0:33:21when the battles that you spent the last
0:33:22years fighting are over and it's what
0:33:25you're left with is a mess and you're
0:33:27the ones who have inherited it how do
0:33:29you put it back together and they didn't
0:33:31you know the execution of that wasn't so
0:33:32great but the execution of the aftermath
0:33:34of the the Civil War episodes they did
0:33:36actually pretty pretty cool and I like
0:33:38that approach of saying you know when
0:33:40the when when the big bad is defeated
0:33:43it's not the end it's the beginning and
0:33:46the some of the best drama isn't how you
0:33:48cope with the aftermath and so this and
0:33:50like he always did that to where they
0:33:52would usually have the big bad defeated
0:33:54in the penultimate episode of the season
0:33:55and in the last episode was you know
0:33:57rather than doing a season-ending
0:33:58cliffhanger they did that sometimes but
0:33:59they also did it where the last episode
0:34:01was the fallout it was it was a
0:34:03the characters like planetary and not
0:34:05really about the the story arc which I
0:34:07already was going to point out in
0:34:09planetary they don't just barely do that
0:34:10as well then because they the last issue
0:34:14doesn't deal with the aftermath of what
0:34:15is community do now they're not being
0:34:17repressed anymore
0:34:20it deals more with the individual
0:34:21characters and right
0:34:23however they change right but like I
0:34:24said I'm sorry for land i sort of feel
0:34:26like those themes were so we're so done
0:34:28in the authority that it's almost like
0:34:30they were saying well you know we're not
0:34:33gonna talk about that here that would be
0:34:35at that's a whole other that's a whole
0:34:36other series also don't think we don't
0:34:38have a really strong narrative tradition
0:34:39in in serial drama of any type that deal
0:34:43look deals with the aftermath I mean
0:34:45most of the strength of narrow of serial
0:34:47drama tends to be here is a situation
0:34:48here is an antagonist here is how we
0:34:51build our case and here's how we will
0:34:52ultimately prevail and the series ends
0:34:55but you never have one that starts off
0:34:56with well we've got a mess we we no
0:34:59longer have a common enemy so how are we
0:35:01supposed to bond with each other
0:35:03there was a peter david has a comic
0:35:06writer Ellie Alex other things
0:35:07xfactor i love his ex factor yeah he
0:35:09will he wrote a series of Star Trek
0:35:11novels called the new frontier and was
0:35:14like a whole different crew and stuff
0:35:15and with the interesting thing was the
0:35:17main character the captain was from this
0:35:19planet or something and he his people
0:35:24were slaves or something and he'd led a
0:35:26rebellion on the planet when he was like
0:35:2720 21 and became the whole leader of
0:35:30this rebellion that overthrew this
0:35:31entire empire that had been there
0:35:33forever and you follow that up and then
0:35:36the the joint Starfleet poorly he he
0:35:39tried anything because essentially like
0:35:41his life had peaked at ya 21 and now he
0:35:43was in his forties and you know he
0:35:45wasn't part of the government he wasn't
0:35:47that wasn't his thing and I those
0:35:51aspects of the character were so
0:35:52interesting to me because it was sort of
0:35:54what do you do after yeah you've you've
0:35:57done this
0:35:58yeah how do you top it where you go on
0:35:59with your life and and the thing that
0:36:01you succeeded at is done and they don't
0:36:03need that anymore
0:36:04yeah i think it's now president
0:36:06president mean George Washington
0:36:08thumbs-up good job is generally the guy
0:36:10who leads the revolution is probably not
0:36:13who you want as your leader after a
0:36:15razor revolution right
0:36:17what he's good at it yeah they're good
0:36:19at the the you know organizing the
0:36:21factions and and for overthrowing the
0:36:23bad guys not necessarily governing I'd
0:36:26love to see a series about someone who's
0:36:27trying to figure out what the heck
0:36:29they're doing now that the revolutions
0:36:30over or now that they vanquished um I'd
0:36:33read The Hunger Games that the Y a
0:36:35trilogy while i was on maternity leave
0:36:36and then I went and read other people's
0:36:38reactions to that book and a lot of
0:36:40people really hated the ending of the
0:36:42third book which makes total sense from
0:36:46a purely logical and practical
0:36:47perspective I feel like we should do the
0:36:49spoiler horn for this too I can hear the
0:36:51spoiler horn now
0:36:54she lives but she basically has put out
0:36:58to pasture by the government because
0:36:59she's no longer politically useful and
0:37:00she goes back to her village needs a
0:37:02very quiet life and people are
0:37:03complaining all my god and i thought no
0:37:05this makes perfect sense you have a
0:37:06highly unstable 17 year old killer
0:37:09you're not gonna make her the minister
0:37:11of culture
0:37:12I mean you're basically going to make
0:37:14sure that she can't embarrass you and
0:37:16and be sure to wish you don't
0:37:17necessarily want to be in that position
0:37:18anywhere she really messed up and we can
0:37:21just go home but it's it's winston
0:37:23churchill like this happens in the real
0:37:25world in a minute world war two was over
0:37:27they got rid of him
0:37:29oh yeah they came back later but it was
0:37:30pretty disasters i said you know I
0:37:33vaguely remember i read a book of
0:37:35British history also maternity leave but
0:37:36that's just a big Pink's there to arrive
0:37:38blur everything which people in it
0:37:40that's how we know something about a
0:37:42blitz no apparently yeah but maybe that
0:37:46is a strength of this series is that
0:37:47they really don't show you that the
0:37:48cleanup effort is at words it's it's
0:37:50just it's one man's emotional journey
0:37:52from point A to point B he creates the
0:37:54surrogate family and oh by the way they
0:37:56happen to overflow the sinister cabal
0:37:58that's been 40 humanity's progress 119
0:38:01immortal super-powered man's emotional
0:38:04hey I guess what's gonna happen to him
0:38:06now it is the 21st century so is he just
0:38:08going to keep on going
0:38:10evidently he see dual century to century
0:38:12guy while he's he's supposed to be the
0:38:14ghost of the 20th century which I always
0:38:16felt was like a nice cheat where they
0:38:17could say he lives on me because he's
0:38:20the ghost of the 2000s watching guy
0:38:21yeah because back in my day that's right
0:38:23ballparks dies and she the jet engine
0:38:26stops dead and turn of the century yet
0:38:27another shitty quantum and they had a
0:38:29plotline think authority where they went
0:38:31back and they got to meet Jimmy fire and
0:38:32Jenny steam engine ecole power and data
0:38:35not Jenny coal power which any fire was
0:38:39a cro-magnon which I thought was just
0:38:41delightful
0:38:41Jenny Jenny paddlewheel they believe
0:38:45that they may have actually had
0:38:46something like that the idea was that
0:38:47all of that the cognitive and
0:38:49technological leaps that shape
0:38:50civilization there was there was a
0:38:52general like figured that helped put all
0:38:54the pieces together the concept behind
0:38:55that the planet is a sort of living
0:38:58organisms that creates the creatures on
0:39:01it in a way and that the planetary
0:39:02defense system is these century babies
0:39:05yeah it creates its own immune system
0:39:06effectively
0:39:08and that was only that's actually
0:39:09another thing about planetary and
0:39:10authority the rest of the hell these
0:39:11beautiful throwing ideas out there they
0:39:14just kind of casually mentioned where
0:39:15you could spin entire series right more
0:39:17analysis like an idea factory in these
0:39:20amazing
0:39:21yeah so any other last words about
0:39:25planetary before we move on I will never
0:39:27ever get the image of those children's
0:39:29heads blowing up out of my mind
0:39:30oh that's such a crazy again cinematic
0:39:33to right where the row of children
0:39:35working at the computers and they all
0:39:36got these kind of the controllers around
0:39:38their necks and they press day they have
0:39:40a fight and try to keep the guy from
0:39:41pressing the red button and press the
0:39:43red button and they but basically blow
0:39:44up all the kids heads except the one kid
0:39:46who is close enough that they can pull
0:39:47it off yeah where his head but yea
0:39:49horrifying and i will never forget it i
0:39:51think it's interesting that we've been
0:39:52talking about the whole series we didn't
0:39:54talk about the fact that the three main
0:39:56characters have powers are we briefly
0:39:58mentioned but it's almost like a side
0:40:00thing the fact that Elijah snow can
0:40:03makes free stuff
0:40:05yeah I would never think of him as like
0:40:06an analog to the Iceman or something
0:40:08like that is just add whatever that's
0:40:09not his
0:40:10what's the functional house is that he's
0:40:12got power and that he's old and knows
0:40:15stuff right right name it was yeah like
0:40:17you said the function personally the
0:40:18same way where chiquita Wagner may have
0:40:20superhuman strength and and on your
0:40:22invulnerability to pain but a real power
0:40:24is the fact that she's just relentlessly
0:40:27fearless and and for the drummer who I
0:40:31just stuff is really opaque yeah he was
0:40:34a hard character to get a grasp on for
0:40:35me
0:40:36well he in some ways he's the exposition
0:40:38character yeah he he knows stuff when
0:40:40they needed to know stuff and you can
0:40:41explain stuff when he needs he was comic
0:40:43relief because there's that all you kids
0:40:46today
0:40:46yeah fast but like I said I felt like he
0:40:48was the hardest one to get a grasp on
0:40:50but still the same time it wasn't the
0:40:52fact that the man is basically living
0:40:53breathing computer it's it's that you
0:40:56know he can actually translate what he
0:40:57knows to to language that people can
0:40:59understand i like when they treat the
0:41:01powers its just oh he's left-handed he
0:41:03can shoot fire from the fingertips right
0:41:05now it's gonna be gifted graphic artist
0:41:07and he has laser vision as often happens
0:41:13in so I'm what else are you guys reading
0:41:16these days haha
0:41:18well it turns out there's not a lot of
0:41:21good things out there really so it's not
0:41:24just me then
0:41:24no I did just finish literally this
0:41:27morning the y the last man
0:41:30oh you finally finish that I finally we
0:41:33should do a whole which is doing all the
0:41:34Oddcast about what about what about that
0:41:36last issue and i was so disappointing
0:41:39for me it that stuck with me for days
0:41:41but probably not for the intended reason
0:41:43alright so we'll say that yeah I think
0:41:45maybe that could be our next topic in
0:41:46fact yeah I would love to go back and
0:41:48read those again because I those a
0:41:49couple years ago
0:41:50why is not a recent series didn't know
0:41:52it's not know but that's ok i actually
0:41:54think they're there they're ongoing and
0:41:56their their stories that are kind of
0:41:57playing out and there are things that
0:41:59are out there and some ways i would
0:42:00think for the great incomparable
0:42:02listenership as well that you go out and
0:42:04get and read write instead of trying to
0:42:06find back issues and future things and
0:42:09wait around for six months or 10 years
0:42:11for it to finish you can just go out and
0:42:13buy the book and read it
0:42:14there's something to be said for that
0:42:15and y the last man is what 50 issues yes
0:42:18and and has a resolution whether it's
0:42:21satisfying or not it has an ending and
0:42:24that's the end of the story i really
0:42:25loved that book but yeah the ending and
0:42:29eggs are hard right things are really
0:42:30having a hard
0:42:31yeah and it's did you did you did you
0:42:33read ex machina forex market everything
0:42:35I I haven't finished it I haven't
0:42:37finished it either
0:42:38ok cuz they should do that too yes I'd
0:42:40really interesting never shies away from
0:42:41the ending and I've heard that the
0:42:43ending had really mixed reactions and so
0:42:45I'm dying to take when it comes out and
0:42:46train i'm gonna grab it right and that's
0:42:48another bryan cave on buck right
0:42:50y the last man right the super mayor yep
0:42:52yeah the Delta hint at the ending in the
0:42:54beginning they do like basically that's
0:42:56it supposed to be forced foreshadowed is
0:42:57a tragedy and right I've been driving
0:43:00myself kind of crazy because I'm right
0:43:02now at the part with the the crazy Pope
0:43:03conspiracy around not there yet only
0:43:07read the first not really giving away a
0:43:09whole lot of crazy Pope conspiracy
0:43:11what else is new another crazy Pope
0:43:13conspiracy and of ongoing series is I
0:43:16picked up the new moon night number one
0:43:21sonu night series which made a great
0:43:23character from the 7d lovely little sick
0:43:26of it
0:43:27yeah I'm like at night and an
0:43:29interesting in a superhero archetype
0:43:30that he's kind
0:43:31the Batman character but also has
0:43:34multiple personalities just like Batman
0:43:36except even crazier than he had the
0:43:38mercenary guy the mark Specter the Jake
0:43:41Lockley who drove a cab and the rich guy
0:43:45Langley or something was his name
0:43:47so he's had a lot of a series and
0:43:50cancellations in series at one point he
0:43:52was in moon knight armor and you know
0:43:55crazy stuff so Brian Michael Bendis has
0:43:59a new series out with that artist he did
0:44:02careful with his name is escaping me
0:44:03right now but the whole idea is they've
0:44:05taken multiple personality and they've
0:44:07gone further with it so now he's got a
0:44:08spider man living in his head and a
0:44:10Wolverine living in his head and a
0:44:11captain america living in his head
0:44:13huh and he can mimic all of their
0:44:15abilities who as well as other
0:44:18personalities and then they've hinted
0:44:19there may be more and so that aspect is
0:44:22really interesting social economy
0:44:24picking up in the artwork is beautiful
0:44:25but the first issue I what's the word
0:44:30not good bad only because it's it's sort
0:44:33of like the opening paragraph of a book
0:44:37like it's not a complete story it's not
0:44:39like planetary did so well at having
0:44:41complete satisfying story / issue you
0:44:44have been just basically write some
0:44:45groups of four issues right so i don't
0:44:47recommend picking it up because yeah
0:44:49although there was some neat hints and
0:44:51stuff but overall nothing happened right
0:44:53no real sense of what the point is just
0:44:56terrible
0:44:57this is why it off by single issues
0:44:58anymore right I know i-i-i try that too
0:45:01I i made a mistake I i started flying
0:45:03single issues on my iPad that's where
0:45:07I'm that's where i'm buying single
0:45:09issues now and i'm reading because there
0:45:11are some day and date comics on the ipad
0:45:13now i'm reading invincible day and date
0:45:15on the ipad and thank you Lisa for for
0:45:18turning me on to that and i'm reading
0:45:20ultimate spider-man Marvel's one of
0:45:22marbles marbles i'lli'll have ultimate
0:45:24Spidey day and date is they decided more
0:45:27they're gonna try it and trying it with
0:45:28a couple of the ultimate titles and
0:45:30ultimate spider-man is one of them so
0:45:31i'm reading those as they come out now
0:45:34and they're there now in this weird
0:45:35death of ultimate death of Spiderman arc
0:45:37which is like they did they how many
0:45:39times they already said they were going
0:45:41to kill him and didn't kill him and this
0:45:42is next they're going to also say they
0:45:44are
0:45:45to kill them and they're not really
0:45:46gonna kill them and when they really
0:45:48gonna kill him
0:45:49I've got of course not you know how
0:45:52could they do that they'll find maybe
0:45:54this time it's real
0:45:55they'll fit about it but actually that
0:45:57this arc has been funny and tying it in
0:45:59with this avengers vs. Ultimates thing
0:46:02thats that's terrible i bought a couple
0:46:04of those issues and those are those are
0:46:06just embarrassingly nonsensical but that
0:46:09part of the arc that I liked recently an
0:46:11ultimate spider-man which i love
0:46:13I mean there and very similar to
0:46:14invincible in some ways is that after
0:46:18all this time of shield being aware of
0:46:20Who Peter Parker is that he spider-man
0:46:21and that he's this kid and they've
0:46:23always had the attitude like this kid is
0:46:25spider-man you know he's too young he's
0:46:27too powerful
0:46:28he's kind of you know not trustworthy
0:46:30loose cannon at some point carol danvers
0:46:34i think is in charge of shield now says
0:46:35says basically we don't trust you
0:46:39anymore
0:46:40you are gonna were either gonna shut you
0:46:42down lock you up or you're gonna take
0:46:45superhero lessons from The Ultimates and
0:46:48so and and they have a vote about like
0:46:50what to do in Captain America's like no
0:46:52no just just just lock him up and and
0:46:55and some of the other like Iron Man
0:46:57really likes him in and tony stark kind
0:46:58of relates to him so that silly them so
0:47:01they said well yeah and so there's no
0:47:03it's it's pretty funny and they send
0:47:05Tony Stark and Iron Man 2 repeaters
0:47:08house and he just iron man appears of
0:47:09peter's house and people like in order
0:47:11here I have a secret identity getting
0:47:14out i'll meet you somewhere go away and
0:47:17Captain America was very reluctant he
0:47:19shows up at one point and and and you
0:47:22know give him a hard time and says how
0:47:23he shouldn't be doing this and you
0:47:25really need to be more responsible and
0:47:26all these things that's a great arc
0:47:28that's actually really enjoyable because
0:47:29it's playing off of this fundamental
0:47:31idea that series that i love which is
0:47:33heated he's a kid he does have these
0:47:35powers
0:47:36he's trying to navigate his complicated
0:47:37kind of kids social life as well as the
0:47:40bigger adult world of the superheroes
0:47:42that stuff is great now this and then
0:47:44yet every issue is got death of
0:47:46Spiderman slapped on it and I just roll
0:47:48my eyes and think you know you're
0:47:50telling good stories do you need to to
0:47:53lay these kind of crazy story arc stunts
0:47:57on top
0:47:58and the storytelling are actually pretty
0:47:59good but they're going to mess it up and
0:48:01it's gonna take me a year to get back to
0:48:03status quo
0:48:04presumably they will mean like the big
0:48:05flood like the big flood was totally
0:48:08changed everything about the ultimate
0:48:09universe except didn't do anything ever
0:48:12had some troubles you got it put jonah
0:48:14Jameson in charge of a website instead
0:48:15of a newspaper
0:48:17they've just got you a job offers yeah
0:48:20since we lost our print analog a while
0:48:24back
0:48:24that's that's right you and you and
0:48:26jenna jameson by the way follow I a
0:48:29healing my favorite twitter twitter
0:48:31twitter twitter yesterday morning always
0:48:33follow jenna jameson on twitter you nod
0:48:36to all of his tweets are in all capital
0:48:37letters and he basically yells at this
0:48:39brand this brand and and they they
0:48:42changed without his avatar to me but I
0:48:44don't like his new avatar like the old
0:48:46leather I love it because that's the
0:48:48Egyptian from the nineteen sixties and
0:48:49spiderman cartoon and when they did that
0:48:52they also did some tweets where he
0:48:53complained about teenagers which is
0:48:54actually all that jonah Jameson does in
0:48:57the original Spiderman animated show is
0:48:59is complaining about you know this brand
0:49:01I'm tired of these teenagers like Parker
0:49:03getting in my way
0:49:04sample sample point is i have just found
0:49:06out what-what a lady gaga is kill it
0:49:08kill it with fire haha there was one
0:49:11after Osama bin Laden was was was killed
0:49:13he tweeted the attention President Obama
0:49:16i can think of another menace that now
0:49:18also needs your attention
0:49:19he's in New York i can tell you where he
0:49:21is nice
0:49:24the only follow of comic characters on
0:49:26Twitter I only follow drunk hulk drunk
0:49:29hulk is good
0:49:30jenna jameson matter all right Jenna
0:49:33James delightful i'm going there now
0:49:35anything Lisa that you're that you're
0:49:36reading my of newer old when i read the
0:49:38second volume of unwritten or the second
0:49:40train i should say haha
0:49:41and that actually continues a lot of the
0:49:43themes where it's the idea that when you
0:49:45remake stories you can remake history
0:49:47because they end up in a bunch of Third
0:49:49Reich propaganda and yeah i'm gonna read
0:49:51that soon because as a hugo voter i will
0:49:54get the hugo packet with all the hugo
0:49:56nominees and becoming you get it and it
0:49:57got nominated for four Hugo word for
0:50:00actually to be a hugo voter all you have
0:50:02to do is become a supporting member of
0:50:04the world con science fiction convention
0:50:05which is in reno this year so i'm
0:50:07actually going but you can also add the
0:50:10last couple years I've been up
0:50:12older you pay sort of half price of the
0:50:14convention fee 22 so you don't have to
0:50:17attend if you don't want to but you can
0:50:19vote so easily by your bed yeah at you
0:50:22you buy you buy a vote and and you get
0:50:25you by voting you get uh the packet and
0:50:29the packet usually contains all of the
0:50:31novel's better nominated all the short
0:50:33stories and all the all the graphics not
0:50:36always all but most of them so i got
0:50:38fables as a PDF last year and I got ya
0:50:41the Batman art by a by Neil Gaiman last
0:50:44year as it turns out i am also reading
0:50:45fables i highly recommend becoming a
0:50:49supporting member and getting the human
0:50:50me so I'll read the unwritten black to i
0:50:52get to vote for the eyes nurs but we
0:50:54don't get free comics shameful ice it's
0:50:57wrong
0:50:58yeah it is absolutely wrong if you're
0:50:59gonna vote on something you need to hold
0:51:01the digital the digital revolution has
0:51:03changed things where you know i'm sure
0:51:04they didn't give out free books before
0:51:05but now that now they can just simply
0:51:08afternoon about ya of a nominated book
0:51:10or a PDF of the nominated comic and so
0:51:13it works pretty well and no unwritten
0:51:14fables and i have a bunch of gail simone
0:51:18books on my Amazon wish list i'll
0:51:19probably go through and clean out soon
0:51:21because I follow her slavishly alright
0:51:23so next up let's talk y the last man try
0:51:26to do that so read that if you haven't
0:51:28and until then and we're going to try to
0:51:32do this every month now we're gonna
0:51:33we're going to set something up so we'll
0:51:35be back sooner than this last gap was or
0:51:38the one before that I thought that gap
0:51:40is appropriate for planetary it was very
0:51:43mad
0:51:43that's it was all intentional folks yeah
0:51:45all intentional in the next one it's
0:51:47just gonna be the women
0:51:49ok i'll be talking to myself the whole
0:51:51hour until then this has been the comic
0:51:57book club for the uncomfortable not the
0:51:59planetarium
0:52:00comfortable I'm Jason snail and thank
0:52:03you to jason reitman thank you very much
0:52:05and too leishman is always a pleasure
0:52:07until the next edition of the
0:52:09uncomfortable and the next
0:52:10soon-to-be-released edition of the comic
0:52:12book club we promise
0:52:14thanks for
0:52:14[Music]
0:52:23[Music]