You can listen to the episode by clicking: Episode 105
New series….Continuing story…..sort of…. But let’s talk about this awesome cover! I mean, I am a sucker for 80’s movies, and there is no more 80’s movie than a John Hughes movie….Holla if you hear me!
Oh, you are a little preocupied to answer right now. I understand. This is a little more complex than your normal comic, what with it dealing with……uhm…hey….I think I know what he was looking at in that picture.
Fine, throw a disk in my eye, see if I care. Let me get back to talking about addiction and recovery. We have some former super-hero kids that are trying to not wear the tights anymore and trying to get over their trauma of the drama of their youth. But why do we, your silly bearded boys care? Because of Julie Power.
We love our flying girl and her pink onesie and her bookish ways…..What’s that? Seventeen….actress…halter tops and low ride jeans….blond hair…..Nope….Nope this is not going to do at all. Wait….that is her flying!!! BURN THE EYES!
OK. The cleansing is done. On with the goofy narrative and derivative non sequiturs. How about seamstresses? We do not appreciate the work they do or the skills they have creating the clothes we wear. Let’s just take a moment to review an average Marvel character on the street and evaluate their clothing choices. How about Nekra?
Wow…..That is a choice. I mean, don’t ya get cold….or ever run out of double sided tape? Just have to take a minute to stare and ponder that costume for a bit….
I am getting tired of getting hit with things or blasted with Darkhawks purple beam of purpleness. I do not have to take it, and neither do you nice people. Run away while you still can!
And that was the story of how I killed all of our listeners.
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Eighties Action by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3703-eighties-action License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Sheep May Safely Graze - BWV 208 by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4345-sheep-may-safely-graze---bwv-208 License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Jeff and Rick Present 
Good evening gentlemen!
I just finished your latest installment and as always you boys were thoroughly entertaining! You gave me a small world moment Rick, when you were speaking about the JLA/Avengers Hero Initiative print run and the raffle being held at Books With Pictures. I have had a small pull list there for the last couple of months and I have been quite impressed with their knowledge, their quality customer service, and their patience with me.(I had to re-route my emails from them to another inbox because the gmail has multiple accounts and I have stuff present but lost.) I chuckled at your setup regarding the initial crossover and then dropped it given that you know your audience! (I had that prestige miniseries when it was published but it has been irretrievably lost between moves! It was a gorgeous event!)
So the journey has now come to the Akira Yoshida tale of The Loners… I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought this miniseries came in front of True Believers. Logically it made more sense from a story perspective that this would be the lead in to the groups turn in Runaways and not like a soft reset. On the plus side is the nice line work from Karl Moline to give the book a distinct look. I remember first seeing his pencils over at Crossgen back in the early 00’s. The title was called Route 666. I think he did some work with a Joss Whedon property back then as well. The covers for this miniseries are what really stand out. I know that you guys mentioned Jason Pearson’s work on Deadpool and other Marvel comics as well as DC. I don’t know if you ever checked out any of his creator owned title Body Bags but it is so worth a look! There’s some great action sequences as well as general movement in panel to panel to be admired. The story is a bit rough in spots but the art picks up the slack.
I know time and place is to be remembered when re-reading books from any era, this period being no exception. However, there are parts in the story, while compelling in a different setting, feel weird in the superhero genre to me. I have always championed characters getting more depth or nuance outside of the established parameters but this felt like towing the demarcation of Mark Millar regarding the Marvel Universe at the time. Added to this is Spider Girl coming off the mature readers only Bendis book Alias and well, I feel it more like a stunt to blur lines of fantasy and reality when it comes to comics. It seems to age the material over time as well to me. Your opinion may vary in this regard. It is not a horrible misfire by any stretch, and the intention feels pretty original. It’s a bummer because rolled out as a maxi series The Loners could have been a better read to me.
I’m glad Jeff and the clan we are able to vacation this year. Sounds like a fun experience! As of this writing I noticed Portland received snowfall. Prince was indeed right when he wrote the song “Sometimes It Snows In April.” Well, I hope you guys and your families stay healthy and safe. Looking forward to the next episode!
Jeremy
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Hey dilly hey!
Glad to know that we entertain, very kind of you to say so. Thanks.
Sorry you lost your copy of the JLA/Avengers Hero Initiative prestige miniseries during a move. That stings when that kind of thing happens.
Hmmm, Body Bags…can’t say that I have heard of it. Lot of good creator owned content out there, just hard to find it/know about it sometimes. Always cool to have someone pass along info on gems like this. I will have to keep an eye out for it.
I loved reading Alias, but I have to admit that it has been a number of years. I don’t remember Spider Girl being in them though. That doesn’t mean much though, as the shear volume of stuff I don’t remember anymore scares me a bit. I will just chalk it up to parenthood and move on from there. I do like it when characters get to stretch their wings and mov in interesting directions, and a super hero support group speaks to me on a very joyful level. As the series progresses though, I realize that what I want is for them to be a support group for heroes and what they go though instead of a repress your heroics and power use addiction allegory. This little self realization gets discussed in the most recent show we recorded…sooooo….Loners #3?
Getting out and being in the great wide open was so nice. We have been shut down pretty hard for the pandemic due to aging parents and a can’t get vaccinated sub five year old. That and an overwhelming amount of life that keeps happening that we are struggling to get through. Enough of that, it was a good trip and I would go do it again in a heart beat.
We did in fact have some record breaking snow out here today. First snow in April in 82 years. I didn’t have much here, just enough to look nice but it washed away quick with the rain so I didn’t even get out to enjoy it. Peeked at it from time to time while doing chores. Friends north of here got a good six inches and power outages though, so it was not a trivial matter at all.
Talk at ya next time, and hope your life is amazing.
-Jeff
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