Warning, Today's episode contains spoilers for slight spoilers for a bunch of different Superman stories from the DC Comics canon, which Rosie and I enjoy, and some different Marvel comics center around Marvel Rivals characters such as the very cute Jeff the Lantrop be warning. Hello, my name is Jason Concepcion and I'm Rosday Night, and welcome back to x Ray Vision of the podcast where we dive DPD favor shows.
Movies, colleagues of pop culture, comedy.
From our podcast where we're bringing you three episodes a week, every Tuesday, every Thursday, and Wednesday, or maybe a different.
Day, maybe a different day, who knows. Today's episode, we are kicking off our very first book club this month. For book Club, we wanted to start with some recommendations featuring two big properties that you've all been asking us about, the Man of Steel, Superman and comics inspired by the
new smash hit Hero Shooter Marvel Rivals. And then we are going to introduce you to what our first ever interactive book club book will be for next month, giving you plenty of time to find a copy for yourself from your local library, local comic shop. Then you can be ready to discuss it with us then, but first we're going to do some Superman Rex. Get ready for the Year of Superman. We're going to do some Marvel
Rivals Rex. What should you read if you love Luna Snow or Jeff de Landshark, We're going to be here to tell.
You, Okay, twenty twenty five is going to be your Superman Rose it feels like it. The Superman trailer is currently the most watched trailer in Warner Brothers history. It is currently the movie when you look at the Warner Brothers slate specifically and then the movie slate in general for twenty twenty five, it's kind of the movie that with the most riding on it. And I think the metrics we have right now, meaning the trailer, are pretty good. That said, a lot riding on this movie, and you
might ask yourself coming into this. God, you know, I think I know Superman. I watched the I watched Man of Steel, I've watched the Justice League stuff, and I've maybe I've seen the eighties the Christa Reeves Superman things, and I know generally about Superman, but I kind of want to know a little bit more about Superman. I want to maybe hit up my comic shop and read some stuff.
Well, we've got you you.
Let's start with I think the pick that people who are fans of Superman, fans of comics would probably pick first when saying where do I start with Superman?
And it is Grant Morrison and Frank.
Quietly super creator duos All Star Superman from two thousand and five and the else world stories and not a canon story, but a wonderful exploration of Superman at his most good.
Yeah.
I think originally it was going to basically be the kind of launch pad for the All Star imprint, right, and it was the second one after All Star Batman and Robert They've done other ones, and the idea was, Yeah, it was like, it's not a fully crazy else Worlds story like Batman, Dracula or whatever, but it is still unconfined by the ongoing continuity at the time. This is one of the books that James Gunn has directly said
will be an influence. We've seen images of it in his production room, We've seen him post about it online. This is one of the books where when he posted about it, it ended up selling out off certain online order sites, which I just absolutely love when that happens.
I think the reason that this is a very important influence on the story is not only is it kind of as the name may imply that it is, as always with Grant Morrison and Frank it is like a very sci fi space about this kind of aborted mission to the Sun that was kind of had some lex luthor fingers in the pie of why it might not have worked. And if you know where Superman's power comes from, you may understand that All Star Superman is kind of a pun on the idea of the sun and the
yellow rays of the Sun that charged Superman. So it's a great sci fi story and it has a really cool high concept idea. But the real reason that people love this is that it is about Superman's humanity because he's put in a situation where he only has a certain amount of time left and he wants to spend time with Lois, so he has to reveal who he is,
and he's very famously. I think the most famous page from this is Superman stopping a young teenager from jumping off the side of a building and kind of reassuring them, And I think that it's an unbelievable testament to Grant and Frank that that is what people take away from the book, because when you actually reread this book, as I was before this podcast, it's like bonkers.
It is very insane. Here's the quick synopsis. Superman saves scientists who are on a mission to study the Sun. In the course of doing so, Superman has bombarded with the energy from the sun so that his powers go like fucking crazy. His strength already you know, beyond measure, becomes even more powerful. His powers grow to insane levels, but also his cells go into overdrive, and he's going to pass away.
Essentially like what if Superman got cancer? Almost like what if he got some cancer? What if his and that kind of changes how he perceives.
So he spends a lot of time saying goodbye to the people that he cares about and setting he hopes setting the world up to survive and thrive without his protection, and in doing so, you know, there's a lot of crazy twists and turns. It is a Grant Morrison story, but like really, what it is is an exploration of the soul of Superman and why he is such a good what makes him so good? His sincere and unique
goodness and will to do something really good. And the reason why I think this is a great story for people to read is.
It's a great Lex Luthor story.
Yeah, it is. I think it's a I think the relationship between Lex and Superman here where Lex is a super scientist who wants to use his super science brain to take down Superman in this kind of extremely high concept way. But it also has moments of understanding and almost like awe from Luther towards Superman when he kind of sees what Superman's real vision for the world is.
And also for me, this is very important because I have been theorizing this since well really since I went to the trailer launch and they kind of wouldn't really talk about Lois. I do think there is a world where Lois ends up with powers in this movie, because they're currently Lois is Superwoman. In this book, Lois takes a synthesized version of Superman's DNA and kind of becomes a superwoman, you know. So I think there's I think there's some interesting notes here. But yeah, it's a great
Lex story too. It's interesting, I will say, and this is always what I say when I talk about this book. It's not my favorite art by Frank. Like Frank sometimes draws some of the stuff that I think is legitimately the best stuff you can get. The coloring on this one always kind of there's something about it that doesn't hit in the same way as some of his other work for me. But I do just think it's such a fantastic story, and I also think it's an incredible
science fiction story. And I think sometimes we can forget that Superman at its heart is a story about an alien, a science fiction character. The end of this story is completely wild. I just yeah, I think this is such a great book.
Next up is the classic two part story from the eighties, which appears in part one in Superman four to twenty three and then part two in Action Comics five eighty three called Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
Give us the quick synopsis, Rosie.
Well, yeah, I mean this is crazy because this is alan more with Julie Schwartz, who was like a classic Batman and Superman editor at DC, came up with a lot of the characters that we know and love, and essentially the idea of the book is what if Superman didn't exist, like what it's kind of got when you start to read it, it's got that feeling of like, why isn't this the universe that we know and love? And then you realize, well, Superman did exist, but he disappeared.
It's kind of like it's a wonderful life.
It's a wonderful life, but it's kind of like.
With Suan in the main role, but he doesn't come.
Back, but it's he's gone, and then you sort of wonder, well, where is he? And then you there's all these kind of wild, like kind of bizarre moments. You get some really great stuff about Clark Kent and why he gave up being a reporter. And this is just a really interesting,
almost like puzzle box kind of story. And I think that it showcases Alan Moore often would do these weird small stories in the DC universe, like he did a really famous short Green Lantern run that was very much in this same space and really interesting kind of big reveals at the end that will stick with you. So this really does feel more like a classical Superman story. You're learning about how he stopped toy Man and a prankster and oh he got but he did he stop them,
are they going to reveal his secret identity? And it kind of leads to this moment of oh wait, this is actually what the story's been about, because the whole setup of the story is Lowess being viewed by somebody from the Daily Planet about her husband, about her new life with her non superpowered husband, Jordan. But there's kind of a great reveal at the end. This is another
one that James Gunn has kind of pointed to. It's a good short one if you just want a story that kind of throws you into the world of Superman and gives you a lot of the law that Superman has, including stuff like Bizarro Bizarro World, the Fortress of Solitude. You know, you've got Jimmy Olsen, You've got Perry White, You've got Superman still crypto who knows going to be really important. So I think even super Girl, I think this is a great kind of wild Alan Moore take.
But that still, like most of the books we're going to recommend, has at its heart a romance between Lois and Clark and Lewis and Superman and why that matters so much and what Superman would do to protect that and be allowed to have that as part of his life as well as being you know, a super world saving alien and these This is one of those crazy books too, where you have someone like Julie Schwartz, who was in the era of Batman sixty six of some
of the biggest Batman stuff, and you have Kurt Swan, who was an original Superman cover art it's very famous
for being and he's still doing covers for this. So it's that kind of wild whole history of Superman that you could still get to the point of nineteen eighty six where you still had men who'd been working on the Silver Age and we're now here And it's basically in a way, it was Alan Moore's response to crisis getting rid of the Silver Age, right, kind of comics era before John Burn would do The Man of Steel.
But yeah, this is a it's kind of wild. When I was rereading this, this really feels like you're just reading some comic issues, you know, it's not all star feels like a great novel when it's all put together, you know.
Yeah, that's the thing about a lot of the stories, both at Marvel and DC that are have become classics when you look back at them. It's like one or two issues, three issues over there. You know, it's these very encapsulated storylines. It's it's quite interesting to look back and see how self contained a lot of stories used to be, and how much they used to do in just one or two issues like over you know, back to back issues, either on one line or jumping across titles.
It's really very different from a lot of what we especially are er Jason, But like even readers today, they do a lot of what's called trade waiting, where it's like you're waiting to read the trade paperback. And with massive books like Saga, right people would be reading, they'll be waiting for the trades, waiting for the trades. So sometimes that feeling of a singular issue being the experience, Yeah, it's it's boom boom boom, and you need the end
to have a cliffhanger. And a lot of bigger books now you'll read a six issue trade and it doesn't necessarily have that cliffhanger feeling or that kind of tightly packed old school feeling that this has. And it's really just a lot of fun.
To miss that old school feeling me.
Too, man. I will always respect and love a comic that make sure there's always a reason to read the next issue. That's why The Walking Dead was so popular. Every single week.
I say, Days of Future Past, Days of Future Past.
There's two issues of X mind blowing, and if that storyline had been pitched in the two thousands, they'd be like, Okay, well let's make it a crossover and blah blah blah. But it's just two like Killer Killer Killer issues. Next up is the four issue mini series by Jeff Lob and Timson.
Oh.
I love this book.
It is great Superman for all seasons, with a really wonderful and original structure by which each season, like the seasons of the calendar Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer, are narrated by someone with a special relationship to Superman, so Jonathan Kent, his dad, Lana Lang, Lex Luthor, and you know, it's like it's like a great coming of age story.
It's just really good.
I love this book. I have to say I was I was a late coming to this book. This book is from the nineties. I'm sure I did read it earlier than this, but a few years ago I got a hardcover version of this in the comic shop and was just totally blown away. It's got big Norman Rockwell vibes.
Like it does, like this big vistas and like landscapes.
It really feels like that corn fed Clark Kent Superman story. Also, interestingly, this was the book that Tim Sale and Jeff Lope did after Batman The Long Halloween, which we talked about a lot when it was with The Batman and also The Penguin, and this is just couldn't be more different. And I love that huge double page spreads with these kind of gorgeous massive skies Beyond Hanson was like the
colorist and it was just unbelievable. And I loved the notion of what is it like to be in Superman's world rather than this story that's from the perspective of Superman. How does it feel to be Superman's dad? How does it feel to recall the first time that he flew and why it was and what does it mean to be the person who's in love with him? And the
lowest and Clark stuff here is so great. Also talking about great Lex Luthor stories, the Lex Luthor segment is so good, and I love there's this moment where he talks about he's in control of Metropolis and he talks about it like a love story between a man and a city. I'm like, I feel like I could see that coming into the James Gunn space for me.
Like with Lex in particular, he's such an iconic foil to Superman.
But I also have, like.
I have often felt reading silver Age stuff that, like, I'm like, why does he hate Superman so much? Like other than he's a megalomaniac. Yeah, Superman keeps fucking with his various schemes. But all the stories that we picked that have Lex in it, I think are really good. The Lex parts of it are great because it brings you into Lex's thinking.
I'll start somethings like that.
Red Sun is another one that's like that. And I think, you know, like any great villain, any well written villain, you kind of understand where he's coming from. And I think this Lecks, even though he's piece of shit, you kind of understand where he's coming from.
Yeah, I do think that's the case, and I do think that's what makes like such an interesting villain. And you know, if you are a fan of the TV show Smallville, which all of the cast of James gun Superman are for David Cornsweapt for Nicholas Holt, both of them. Smallville was really one of their first interactions with Superman. And this book is the influence that created Smallville, because then Jeff Low went on to produce Smallville, and this was kind of that vibe of like small town boy
growing up, what does that look like? And I always thought that Smallville for all its you know, WB channels, c W stylings and whatever that must mean to other people. The relationship between Clark and Luther in that is so good, and yeah, friendship turned enemy turned kind of occasional.
Ally.
I just think that there's so much interesting stuff there and I really hope At the trailer launch, James Gunn talked a lot about it being a movie about three characters, you know, Lois Lane, Clark, Kent and Lex Luthor and how they kind of interact with the world. And I would just I think a story like this has a great set up for that. And yeah, I just I love this book. I think it's really beautiful. I think it should be easy for you guys to find a
copy of this book. It's in most libraries. I'm sure that they're probably reprinting every Superman book right now, and yeah, this is another This is another classic James gunpick. He loves this one. He's got a lot of images from this in his post production pre production rooms. And also lettered by the iconic Richard Starkings, who's won like so many Eisner's for lettering you can't even keep count. So it's just pure talent and skill. I love that book.
Next up is Forever Evil. Forever Evil is a New fifty two Senior era crossover mostly written by Jeff John's with others. Artists include David Finch, who's the main artist for like the main storyline.
Every fifty two arts like a very iconic look, and.
This story does branch out into other titles, but you can just like read the main crossover event Forever Evil. The setup being an evil version of the Justice League invades a universe and they fucking take over and get all the super villains to basically work for them. Only thing is Lex Luthor of this world is like fuck that, I don't want to work for these guys, so he basically it becomes like the leader of the resistance against this evil gl JL.
And what's cool about this is it's.
Just a great Lex Luthor. It's a great Lex Luthor story. It's from his perspective most of the time. You really get into his head and understand, like what he's thinking.
He wears the Power Suit.
Which I was like when Lex, I love the power get real active where he also.
Me his team is like the Injustice League, which I just think is so fun, Like I love that he does that. Also, I think you make a great point. This is a story about Lex almost like it's him protecting what he loves, but he would never put it that way, Like he comes at it from this egotistical place of like I don't want to be working for you, I don't want to work for the crime Syndica. But really we get to see Lex in this space of uh, you know, an anti hero or kind of on the right side.
And I love the story.
I do love stories where Lex and Superman have to kind of team up. But I think the thing that you're absolutely right. The thing that's cool about this is, you know, to me, Lex at his most convincing is when he's like Superman is actually holding us back, like he's in Frutch, We're depending on it. He keeps saving our ass all the time, and we're not progressing, like as a society and as a species, we just depend on Superman to like do everything for us, and we're
becoming infantalized by this guy. And in his way, he's like defending Earth, although he would not put it this way, he's like defending humanity from what he feels is like the uh, you know, this invasion of an alien force which is Superman and really in Forever Evil. That's he's just doing that a much more straightforward kind of way.
Even though he's still a very bad guy and an evil guy, it's also just much more clear that the thing he's fighting against right now is bad, and so it's just an interesting story.
This we also get, like soup, we also get Lex Luthor Batman team up in this, which I think is very quite under under explored under kind of exactly because they're very similar, Like if you actually very they're very very very similar. They're super smart, they're super rich, they're doing their own version of saving the world inverted commas, you know. So I think that I remember thinking that
was like really cool. And if you also are just we've talked a lot about you know, emotion and and and these kind of coming of age stories and this kind of beautiful art and heartwarming moments, and we love
all of that. But you know what, the New fifty two is really good for just crazy action and wild stories violent if you want to read a story that has like every kind of DC character in from Alman to Aquaman to you know, the Nation of Conduct, which is where Black Adam comes from, the Teen Titans, Firestorm, Dick Grayson, like everyone is in this book, Captain Cold. This is just a completely wild, classic kind of multiversal
madness story which DC is so good at. And I would also say Forever even number one has like such a legendarily great cover with Lex kind of leading you know this team, and yeah, I mean there's a there's a lot of different people who worked on this book, but I think you really did showcase the best of them. So I think it's I think this is going to be a really fun read for for our readers, especially
if you were not. It seems crazy now because this was you know, four eleven years ago or something, which does not it does not feel that long ago.
Getting older by the second second, quick aside, what did your I think on balance? I New fifty two, Yes, it was the point where I got serious about reading DC. You know, I've I've read various trades of the important stories all throughout my comics reading life, but there was the time where I was like, I'm going to be up to I'm going to be up to the path.
And it felt like you could because in case you didn't know what the New fifty two was, because you're not old like us. The New fifty two was a line wide relaunch by DC where they stripped everything down and they relaunched fifty two books. You know the book is, that's it, No. Two hundred five tiber. Everything's renumbered new origins for a lot of people. I remember their fifty two at the time in the comic shop very controversial.
Were people like it? Did they not like it? I would say of all the relaunches in my you know, lived memory of being in the comic shop, I would say it's actually aged pretty well. People do love a lot of the stories.
I think it was hit and miss, but I think they hits are pretty good. Yeah.
I also I was also I was working in the comic shop when they did the next line wide relaunch, which, as you'll learn listening to us, is very common, which was Rebirth and actually same, I think when you're in the moment, there's always controversy about those kind of things, but there are actually great books from that era and
this era. And I would also say as well, congrats to DC because actually they just did a new line wide relaunch with all In and they had the all In relaunch and the Absolute Universe are coming at the same time, and that actually has been widely accepted and
seen as a great choice. So I think that it's interesting to see a relaunch that wasn't universally kind of hated and we haven't had to wait to see what comes out of it that's going to be kind of seen as a historical book or an important book because we've already seen that like Absolute Batman obviously biggest selling
comic of the year alongside Ultimate Spider Man. So very interesting, and yeah, this is one of those great weird New fifty two books where the line wide relaunch allowed people to do stuff that was really really fun.
Yeah uh.
And then finally, as a from my perspective, a great Lex Luthor story also is Red Sun, the book what the three issue else World mini series by Mark malar In a variety of pencilers, including Dave Johnson, Andrew Robinson,
Walden Wall and Killian Plunkett. Is You probably know the synopsis if you've heard of Red Sun, but here it is Superman lands in the Soviet Union instead of America, and you know, becomes basically their symbol, their Superman and eventually kind of the leader of the communist world and the.
World written large.
What I like about this story other, you know, beside the fact that it's a really cool kind of what if kind of thing, is Superren is still the good person that he was when he landed in the US, but he has to fight against different kinds of bureaucracies and red tape and influences, although that goodness does eventually emerge at just the right time. But also, more specifically,
I think this is a you know, Lex is America's superhero. Basically, he's America's Superman who is tasked with trying to keep America surviving in a world in which Superman is their enemy. And it brings you into the ambition, the drive, the talent of Lex Luthor in a really interesting way and makes you root for him in a story, you know, in a way that maybe you don't root for him almost in any other story that exists.
Yeah, also as well anow the one. Like we said, it's like a three issue mini series. Now that Prestige issues, they're longer, but still this happened over a short period of time, you know. It's from two thousand and three. Was nominated in two thousand and four for the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series. Hilariously, this is also for
a little bit of comic book drama here. So written by Mark Miller, you know, had a ton of artists on this, Dave Johnson, Andrew Robinson, Walden one Killian Puckett, and but I will say this is some good controversial drama because.
Mark millerk controversy, controversy. I know him.
He was once friends with his fellow Scott Grant Morrison, who was also kind of his entry point into comics. And Grant has done interviews implying that some of the ideas in this book may have been ideas that he gave to Miller, And when you read the book you can definitely feel that. So I always love a little
bit of comic book drama. But yeah, this is this is a legendary book for a reason it's a simple concept, but it also kind of has that it's kind of a throwback to that Frank Miller era Dark Knight, where you kind of have fictionalized versions of characters like Joseph Stalin and John F. Kennedy, And it's definitely interesting to see. Also, like the notions of how people think of Russia and how they think of.
It makes you think of it, makes you think that way about geopolitics and propaganda, etc.
Etc. Also, Superman, I mean Luther Batman, we get a little bit more of that in this. We get some really weird fun version of Batman. You get like Superman Robots, you get Green Lantern's, but Green Lantern's that crashed at Roswell. He's really fun, kind of old history and very cool version of Lewis that I think people will be very interested to see. And I also wonder if that aspect of the book will end up being something that we see brought into I hope so, because I love a
little like the romantic triangle. But yeah, I think it will be really interesting to see how James Gunn, who clearly is a student of comics and loves comic books, how he even brings in influences from completely out their books like this, which I mean is such a popular book that they did a animated movie version of it recently, and I think is the kind of book that we could see get adapted at some point. But yeah, I'm
very interested to see what he does. I mean, Wow, what a season of fun books we just recommended for you. There lots to read.
We'll be back after a word from our sponsors to talk about some Marvel Rivals inspired books. Okay, Mack, Marvel Rivals the hit hero shooter free to play video game that recently hit I think four hundred thousand plus concurrent players, and.
How levely you out on that game right now?
I am a Platinum three. Thank you for asking competitive. I'm mostly maning Mantis, but I will play the Winter Soldier, Magneto, Doctor Strange, Luna, snow Cloakagger as needed.
Groots as needed, as needed.
That said, many people have been asking I love these characters, some of them that I you know, I'm not aware of where should I start? And I think the top of that list is this Jeff of the land Shark, the Little fagged QTKA two D Shark, who is a strategist in Marvel Rivals.
He heals with his stream of.
Water, and he also heals with little bubbles, and he also can do some pretty good damage. Good good pick, although players are getting better at countering his alts where he swallows everybody.
Now the wonderall the Ledger.
Jeff the land Shark was created by Kelly Thompson and Danielle Dinicuulo. Also, I would say You're a Hero is the person who's most well known for drawing him. I love that creative team. They're incredible. First appeared unnamed in West Coast Avengers volume three, issue six, yes was named in issue seven, and he was originally the pet kind of shark land Shark of Gwen Paul and Kate Bishop, and has also worked with Deadpool and Elsa Bloodstone, which
I love. I would say for this one, the best option you have is Marvel do these comics called Infinity comics, and there is an Infinity comic called It's Jeff, which is You're a Hero and Kelly Thompson book, and it is wonderful and fun, and I think if you want to know about Jeff the babyland Shark, that's probably where to go. Though I will say that Kelly Thompson twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen West Coast Avengers book is great, So if you want to check that out, to go for it.
But yeah, It's Jeff has won Eisner's for Best Humor Publications. It won, it was nominated for Best Digital Comic, and I'm assuming that it will be It's Jeff is probably going to be collected and released after the success of this movie, but you can read it online.
The thing I love about It's Jeff is as a fan of superhero hangout scenes. I love, as we have talked about. I love when the X Men played baseball. I love when the Avengers are hanging up by the pool. There's a lot of that in it It's Jeff.
Where Jeff.
Yeah, he's just like living with Kate Bishop, just like chilling, and he is the darling of a superhero pool party. Like who doesn't want to see that? That's like very very fun Gwen and great Gwen and Kate moments in the second part, So that one, I would say, is your easy go to And you can kind of understand how he became the fan favorite character that landed him in his position now as an unexpected rival fave.
The next is Luna Snow, an other strategist healer from Marvel Rivals Great pick with a like basically a game shifting ultimate. She heels people all around her. She's very memorable, has a very interesting character creation paths exactly. That's why I was gonna say she's very unique.
Tell us about it, Rosie.
Yeah, she was essentially created for a game called Marvel Future Fight, which I believe was able game from twenty eighteen. And then she debuted in the comics kind of Harlequin style in War of the Realms New Agents of Atlas, which was really cool because you had the new iteration of that famous team which is Asian American usually or
globally Asian superhero team. And then she was also if you want to read something where you can just go and read a series where she is kind of a prime player is an Atlantis Attacks, which was in twenty twenty.
That series came out, And I think the thing that's really interesting about her is this is actually the first time that, especially in North America, most players are actually meeting her, and also most comic characters because they probably haven't come across this character before, they might not have realized she was a new character when they were reading her in the books that she was in, So yeah, I'm very interested in this. I think it's very cool.
And the Atlantis Attacks book is a Greg Park story, who's so fantastic, you know, we love him with the art by Ario and detO, and it's basically like Agents of Atlas versus name all the Samarana, so really interesting stuff there. And I think, my gut, says Jeff de land Shark already kind of a fan fave of character, He's going to be in that same cozy, cute space until someone does like a great Jeff the land Shark.
But.
Like, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it.
But but I feel like Luna snow in the way of who is going to now break out into the comics. I feel like she is the breakout character that we will probably see in more recent comics in a way that is less just like, hey, this is a synergy thing from this game to this. I think she is going to be someone who really comes out and kind of just makes people excited to see more of what she can do. On the pages of the Marvel comics were so many of these characters first debuted.
Now let's talk about some characters that have been around a while. First up Cloak and Dagger, Tandy Bowen and the two for one. Now, let me just say one thing about Cloak and Dagger, Tyrone Johnson and Tanny Bowen. This is the thing about comics sometimes where you're like, is this good? So let me get this straight. The black guy is scary and well the white girl is like, what is in bodies Light?
Can you tell it was? Can you tell it was ran in like nineteen eighty two?
Let me get this straight. That's said.
You know, I think one of the things about comics is it's constantly reevaluating itself and being like, Okay, this sucks, but how do we make it better? And I do think that Cloak and Dagger is a character that they've they've significantly made it better from the original idea of it.
What are some good Cloak and Dagger?
I would I would say that interest definitely. If you are someone who's open to reading like an old comic, I would say the original Peter Parker issues Peter Parker Spectacular Spider Man sixty four when they first debuted nineteen
eighty two. You gotta read them because it is really outrageous, like they aren't there like injected with synthetic heroin that gives them twins superpowers, you know, but it's a It is Bill Mantlowe, who's like a famous writer who created a lot of your favorite characters, and Ed Hannigan exactly,
so like I would say, those are interesting. They also had their after that, They had a four issue limited series with the Create, which was Bill mantlow writing and Rick Leonardi who I love inked by Terry Austin obviously we love him X Men legend, and that was kind of where they would start getting more into the world of the X Men, who they're very regularly affiliated with.
Although they are always saying it's it is true that definitionally they are not. No, that said, they're for my taste, and this does make it. This does strike me as like very I think this is actually good writing. They're a little too strident in there. Yeah yeah, yeah, they're a little man actually mutants.
Yeah, there's there's something there definitely, And interestingly there was ironically, speaking of that, there was a series called The Mute and Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger, which was very interesting because Dagger was actually rendered blind, like she was blinded in the first issue, and he and there was a lot of work with the American Foundation for the Blind to like try and do a story about blind superhero,
which is very interesting. I don't know if there's like a definitive Cloak and Dagger story, but I would say if you go into your comic shop and you went into a and just said, hey, I would love to read some Cloak and Dagger, any collection is probably gonna give you a good selection of Spider Man issues, X Men issues, that first mini series. And I do think one of the things that I do really like about
this is whatever the power dynamic, which is dodgy. The origin of Tyrone is actually like he is, he's got a stutter, like he's just a normal black kid who is essentially like horrified and seen when he sees like
his friend get shot by the police. So there's like they're trying to do interesting stuff there, even if they didn't necessarily like or is that it also that they do have a lot of really funny stories from this era because for some reason they would always use them for like the PSA stories, So they have like a war on drug story where they're like killing they're like killing drug dealers.
Team Titans was another one that like, I think generation of comics readers who first encountered various teams, I think Cloak and Dagglers like that. Yeah, via these say no to drugs type issues of that they would give away in school.
Yeah, very very funny. So yeah, that was just a wild ride, Jason. We should definitely like deep dive because I was just like, Wow, that was crazy.
Yeah.
Up next a character that actually made her debut in we seventies but then started getting more fleshed out in the eighties magics. So the sister of Peter Colossus of the X Men. She's a big player in a lot of really fun storylines that has a story and then basically there was an eighties late eighties crossover that is heavily that heavily features her. She is a really dangerous damage dealing character in Marvel Rivals. Tell us about magic and what are some good magic storylines?
I would also I would say, like one, I think magic is like really notable because I love anime and I feel like she's like the Marvel character that we really saw get like a Berzarker sword, she got the bust A sword. She yeah character, yeah, like she was somebody was definitely looking there, but yeah, Illiana reputing Giant Size X Men number one one of the most important comics of all time, where Lemwin and Dave Cockrum where they introduced her as Iliana Resputina and she was kind
of always just Colossus's little sister. But it would be in the Chris Klamont era where Cliffs come on and Sabashemma introduced her as Magic and we had I would say, the Magic Mini series, which is from nineteen eighty three
in December. That's where we kind of learn about her history in Limbo and her origin story where she was stuck in Limbo, she had a battle in this space and survive and then she basically just imagine immediately joins the New Mutants, and I would say that that New Mutant's era, that's probably what she is still most known for. And obviously we love that era and some of the I have these the Magic Limited series issues and the covers are like so crazy. She's like in Limbo and she's.
A bil shinkevto did us no.
This was prior to that so I actually I don't even know who did the cover for the second one, but I remember that she is on the cover like levitating over a pentagram holding her sword. It's such a dynamic, strange cover. But obviously Sinkovic did the New Mutant stuff that she is.
I think it's a.
Yeah, it looks so great and I I love this character. Again, you know, not always done the best way she was. Definitely, she was killed off by the most hated X Men storyline, the Legacy virus. You know, There's Luckily she comes back and it's okay, it's comics, no one ever really dies. But I would say that Original Magic limited series is really fun, and also obviously the Bil Synkovic New Mutant space. Definitely, but There's Magic is still very popular. Understandably, lots of
creators like working with her. She's currently in the Blood Hunt series. I think she like killed a bunch of vampires, super badass. Love that for her. I really loved the weird ex of Sword storyline they did in twenty twenty where it's kind of like it's just like what if all the X Men had like a badass like like I love that, Like she was a bit in the krakoa eras she was there one of X. You know, I am just a big fan of this character. I
do hope. Though the New Mutants movie was terrible, my dream is that Anna Taylor Joy will continue to play Magic.
So she is fantastic as Magic, Yes, fantastic. And then finally, Penny Parker, Penny Parker is I love her, a bank our character, a very defensive tank. This is a young girl named Penny Parker in a spider mech from an alternate to mention tell us about Penny Parker.
So Penny loves.
Let me tell you.
If you love my chemical romance, You're gonna love Penny Parker.
Penny Parker is a wild character created by It's True Jerard Way with Jake Quiet and Ian Herring in Edge of the Spider Verse issue five, the first volume of those and she is in a cool ass mech suit, the Spider exosuit, which she's always been in. And she is I believe another daughter of Peter Parker from a different era. I believe that is her origin. Story is that she was if Peter Parker had been Yeah, Peter
Parker was her father. But she is Japanese in an alternate universe, and that she had to carry on the work of her father, Peter Parker from when she was like nine. Uncle Ben and Aunt May were like, Bro, you're the only one who can keep doing it, Like Bill, You've got to be a nine year old genius building this this sick mech, which is I think a very irresponsible thing to do. Uncle Ben and aren't May, But I understand it, and that's how he got this call
Baby with the big mech. I will say I would just go for that original volume of the Spider Verse because those are very fun stories and she has yet to have like a big breakout story of her own, but I do hope that changes after this because she is just a really cool character and she's very She's been in the Spider Army, you know, she's for Peter Porker and Ezekiel Sims, who you know, famous villain from the beloved movie Madam Webb. And yeah, so she's just
a really cool character. I'm excited to see her hopefully get a little bit more shine, especially because with her Spider Mac she is very powerful. And also the suit is inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelian, which I love because I'm an RD and I'm excited to hopefully see her kind of break out in the same way as Luna Snow and get a few more of those kind of iconic books on her own after.
This up next, we're going to take a break, and then it's time for book Club.
And we're back, Rosie.
Welcome, Welcome all to our inaugural book club selection.
Space, in which.
We're going to be reading stuff that both we really enjoy but also that hopefully we'll be getting us ready for other things perhaps that are coming. And I think our first selection does that. It is nineteen eighty six is Daredevil Born Again by the incredible creative the very iconic and influential creative team of Frank Miller and David Massicelli. You know, see Batman Year one for more of their collaborations.
Very a very influential team of creators walking together.
Yes, and Born Again is a storyline that appeared just in the main run of The Daredevil, a title I think it was ten or twelve issues, maybe the year of issues for Daredevil.
Hilariously not even it's like two twenty six to two thirty three. So it's another one of those where you're like, wow, this is just happening. Like they they put this as a weekly comic and they had no idea that it would go on to become this kind of legendary arc for Daredevil, especially for Karen Page. And I will say this is a controversial book that has.
We'll get that.
Yeah, we'll talk about it, but just put it. Just have a little does agency is a see if this is a book pore ful, comfortable reading. But it is an important book because not only is it seen as one of the best Dead Level runs of all time and one of the most influential it and Mazakelli's art is so iconic that even in the you know, much maligned Daredevil movie, they were doing exact replicas of his
pages from this book. Also, this is the namesake of the TV show which will be coming out on March fourth, so we know it's why we're just going to be
taking a little bit from there. So this is going to be very interesting because we will essentially be looking at this book, reading this book, reading it along with you guys, and then we will as we revisit at the end of February, you guys will be able to send in questions like kind of tell us your feelings about the book, and then straight after we're going to get that March debut of Dead Evil. So it's going
to be very interesting. This is also another This is nineteen eighty six, right, so this is that dark era, gritty era of commedy.
This is the beginning.
I think that's that's the important thing to mention is in the eighties, the eighties was really kind of the death of the Silver Age, the death of a lot of the seventies kind of things. And what made it that was this kind of turn towards more street level, more violent, more personal kind of storytelling. And I think Frank was obviously spearhead a lot of that through his miniseries, He's Wolverine miniseries, through his work with Daredevil, his later
work with Batman. And I think that this is one of those stories that kind of redefined for a while, Oh definitely, and not always for the better, not kind of stories could be told in comics. And so the brief synopsis to get you started is, you know Matt Murdoch, the Daredevil. He's been fighting crime in Hell's Kitchen for a long time and being mostly successful. Also, he's you know, got his secret identity where he is a lawyer for the community and takes on a lot of cases pro bono,
but as a very active love life. All the while, all of a sudden, the kind of pillars of his life start to be taken out. He's being sued, his
law office is under siege from these various cases. His people around him start to be kind these kind offarious falling apart different threats, and the one thing that he can do when he wants to kind of feel like he can take control of his life again, becoming daredevil, is also becoming much much more complicated, and it all comes to a head rather quickly, and he finds himself basically at the lowest point that he's ever been in
his career. And what's behind this the kingpin? We think, maybe perhaps Matt becomes fixated on that idea right that it's the kingpin that is behind all of this, and that kind of journey to the bottom for Matt, and then that arduous climb up is the best parts of this and what makes it worthwhile.
And I would say, if you've never read a Dead Levil book, you can still join us for this one, because this is the kind of story where when people say, hey, what comics should I read? This is one of those books where people will give you this book and say, hey, this is essentially a showcase of especially nineteen eighty six
was a crazy year. You have Watchmen in thatrazy year, you know, you have this, You then have the Dark Knight returns, and you essentially end up in a situation where comics is turned on its head for the next twenty thirty For still now we're still feeling the ramifications of the grittiness, the massive success.
Yeah, this is the beginning of the era that would give us like the Deaths of Superman, that kind of like this is the beginning to that movement, and so it's an important book from from that regard. Now, the current page stuff is bad.
Yeah, it's hypotheta. Let's just put out there the treatment of women in this book not good. So if that's an issue for you, understand, but you know us, we
will be talking about that honestly and thoughtfully throughout. So okay, so we are going to read the entirety of Born Again, and we will be revisiting it at the end of February, So be sure to get your copy and read this very iconic and very controversial story before then, so we can look back at it and chat about it together before the debut of the Disney Plus series.
On the next episode of xtra Vision, we're diving into the finale Skeleton Crew and then we'll be visiting where it'll be Werewolf time, folks. The moon is rising.
You've been bidden.
Or scratched or otherwise impacted by a strange beast in the night, and what has occurred? You've turned into a werewolf. We'll be talking about werewolves. That's it for this episode. Thanks for listening, by.
Bye x ray Vision is hosted by Jason Kenseepsion and Rosie Knight and is a production of iHeart Podcasts. Our executive producers are Joelle Smith and Aaron Kaufman. Our supervising producer is a Boo Zafar. Our producers are Carmen Laurent and Mia Taylor. Our theme song is by Brian Basquez.
Special thanks to Soul Rubin and Chris Laude, Kenny Goodman and Heidi A discoored moderata