Warning, this episode contains spoilers for a bunch of the comic books that we are going to discuss. And these are comic books from across a spectrum of publishers including Marvel, DC, Image and Onny and much more. So you have been warned. Hello, my name is Jason Concepcion. Welcome to episode ten of X ray Vision, The Cricket Podcast, where we dive deep into your favorite shows, movies, comics and pop culture.
To mark our first.
Double digit episode, we're bringing on a double hit of co hosts. Today up, first on Previously On, I'll be covering all the news that's happened in the past week, and then it's time for an extended airlock where we talk about comics, comics, comics, and to do that we're bringing on our comics connoisseurs, writer Rosie Knight and Cody Ziggler. First, let's hit the news on today's previously on. First up,
the Book of Boba Fett trailer is out. How best to describe this, So it's like Boba Fett in his role as the new crime lord of tattooing now that job is out of the picture. I kept wanting to hear the Sopranos theme under it because it's like a lot of you know, Boba Fett meeting with the various coppos of Jaba's former crime empire and getting them all in line with the help of mgno Win's Fenixshand This will start streaming December twenty ninth on Disney Plus. Of course,
ep'd by Dave Filoni and John Favreau. This looks super fun. Next, the trailer long awaited trailer for Morbius from Sony in conjunction with Marvel Studios has been released. It stars Jared Leto as the famed Spider Man villain Morbius, the Living Vampire. He is a physician who has a blood disorder. Then he is like, how do I cure this thing? So he goes down to an area where there are a lot of vampire bats and guess what, he becomes a fucking vampire. It stars Matt Smith, Jared Leto, Jared Harris,
Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson. It is directed by Daniel Espinoza from a script by Matt Sazama and Burke Sharpless. This trailer has come out two years after the first teaser trailer was released. In four years after the project was announced.
Obviously a lot.
Has changed in that time, and it is laden with references from Sony's various Spider Man offerings, including an appearance by Michael Keaton's Vulture. There is a shot of the Oscorp building. There is a mention of Rhino and Black Cat from the cover of a Daily Bugle. There is a mention of that thing that happened in San Francisco, which is clearly a reference to Venom. So lots of Spider Man from all versions of Sony's Spider Verse happening here. Be interesting to see how this ties into the MCU.
If at all I mean, I'll watch it.
And then finally, nine employees of Image Comics have announced that they are going to form a comic book workers union called Comic Book Workers United. The decision announcement reads, in part quote, our workforce and the comic book and publishing industry as a whole is over taxed and undervalued. This is detrimental not only to general staff, but also to the creators. We were paid to serve in the
audience as they entered work to entertain. We love what we do, but loving what you do doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't ask for improvements to your working conditions. And it was signed by the Image staffers Ryan Brewer, Leanna Counter, Marla Isaac, Drew Fitzgerald, Melissa Gifford, Cloos, Trisha Ramos,
John Schlaffman, and Erica Schnatz. Somewhat ironic since Image was formed in nineteen ninety two by disaffected comic book creators from DC and Marvel who wanted to benefit from the success of their creations in a way that working at the Big two simply wouldn't. So the fact that this is happening with Image is interesting and I hope they succeed.
I hope they succeed.
This builds on a history there's been a lot of like aborted attempts to kind of unionize the comics industry, going back to the Academy of Comic Book Artists from the seventies, which was an organization that stan Lee created that in his mind was would act as like a promotional arm for the comics book industry, but for younger creators, more militant creators at the time, including Neil Adams and
Archie good One. They thought, okay, we should turn this into basically a comic book union that will go out there and fight for the interests of creators for better pay, more equitable profit sharing, better work hours, better working conditions,
et cetera. And that one kind of broke down because there are a lot of disagreements obviously, one about what the ACBA would actually do, and then two how best to share those benefits, Like would it just be writers and pencilers, What about the inkers, what about the colorists, what about the letterers? And it's so I'm hoping that this union succeeds one and doesn't break down along those similar lines. If you're going to be inclusive, you got
to include everybody. That means writers, artists, pencilers, colorists, and everyone. I hope it succeeds some.
Of the goals. The stated goals.
That this union has put out there in their announcement says they want to foster a more competitive industry through salary workload transparency for all existing and proposed job titles, more transparent company culture stuff in there, for allowing employees to continue to work remote, et cetera. It's a long time coming, and I hope this. I hope this works up. Next we go into the airlock with Rosie.
And zig.
Welcome to the airlock today, where we are joined by the Great Rosie Knight and the Great Cody Ziggler. Folks, how were your respective Halloweens?
You know they were good for me? On my end, I was a very I was a very adult about it. I got my booster shot for pis or being chot out. So I spent literally all of my night of Halloween on my couch nursing a gnarly headache.
So that was very serious though. I like that, you know, thank you.
I did what I can. You know this this is thirty four. You know, twenty seven year old me would would rich at the idea, But like at thirty four, I'm like, yeah, we hang out my couch, play some Guards of the Galaxy and watch some TV. That that's what I got going on.
No, I feel that at thirty three it was lay on the sofa and watched like a ton of bad sequels. I watched like every I know what you did last summer movie. Two of my favor with late stage hel raise of sequels, which is Bloodline and Hell well both of them absolutely foncused ten out of Time would recommend. But that's that's the life. When you're in your face, you got to.
Be chilling that I get eying, knowlse to prove I've done it all?
What did I do?
I went to an improv show at Largo, and then I went to a friend's party that was already cashed out, so we just sat with their dog and talked and hung out. It was actually quite chill and delightful. And that's it.
And then I went home.
Folks, I can't wait to talk about comics today because people ask all the time whenever we delve into comic books, where do I start? I want to get into comics, and I don't know where to start, and I don't know what.
To read, and YadA, YadA, YadA.
Folks, this is for you. If you are one of those people, this segment is for you. Zig Rosie and I are going to get into such topics as where do I start, what's a good comic arc? And we're going to do that across Marvel, across DC, across Boom, across Image, across top Cow. We're going to talk to you about some of our favorite comics and great places to pick up and start.
If you're new to it. Are you ready?
I'm ready, I'm ready. This is the one.
Yeah, give way for it.
Our first prompt, what are good entry arcs for new comics readers?
And let's start with Let's start with Marvel. Who wants to go first? I guess we'll go. We'll just go down Zig Would you like to start?
Oh? Yeah, you know this. I've been yelling about this particular run since it came out maybe a year a year some change ago. Kelly Thompson and Elena or Elena Cussa Grande's Black Widow is for me.
Yes.
It's one of those stories that I think defines the characters, sort of like how Matt fact fraction in David Aya's Hawkeye became like, oh, this is what Hawkeye should be like. This is very much in the same vein as what what they've done with Black Widow. Fantastic character moments with with that, that that that Kelly wrote, and the art is amazing, Like car Kelly has has sort of this staple where she can do some really beautiful double spreads
that conveys so much action. Uh, and this usually sent it around like a center point frame. There's something crazy going on if you're looking for some amazing art as well as some beautiful, touching storytelling. I highly recommend Black Widow. It's such a fun run. It's funny, it's heart wrenching and also has the fun stuff with like you can we give the combooks like oh, there's a there's a there's a dude in a hovercr like.
Every day and it's grounded but.
Everything. Oh right, there you go now, I'm yeah, Harry recommend Rosie.
Yeah, I'm gonna like, I'm thinking of something in that would be like a similar vein because I love the idea of this being like a reading list for me, like something you really those double page spreads. The way Kelly can write them and Elena can bring them to life is the twenty thirteen Young Avengers run. They're Kieran Gilla, Yeah, Matt Wilson on colors. Those colors are vital to the books. Like,
this book is so good. It's like I love the original Young Avengers, Jim Chung's like the best, and but this is like this was my thing, Like I love this book. I got the first issue with a Brian le O'Malley variant cover, and it's basically like Team of young heroes and it's cosmic and it's weird, and it's what we're basically about to see in the MCU two looking at the team, know America, Chaves, Patriot, You've got
like Kate Bishop, Hawkeye. You know, there's and it's and it's queer and it's funny and it's inclusive and there is there are these double page spreads and these things that Jamie does with Paneling, Like there's this one double page spread where they're having a fight, and all around the edges there are like little kind of like outtakes where you're seeing different people fighting the number the fighter and it is like I remember reading.
That and being like, ship it broke my brain. The first time I read that.
I was like, this is what comics are, Like, this is what you can do with them. And it's like it's fun, it's sexy, it's like silly, but and it's kid Loki. Wow, big kid Loki storyline. If that's your thing. So I think that is like a really and that's from this era of Marvel that I just loved when they were doing Marvel. Now you know that Miss Marvel, Kamala Kahan, Like there was a lot and that is just like, that's peak I when I work in a comic shop, I used to recommend that book to everyone.
Gillan, uh mckelvy, Matt Wilson. That is an elite, top level creative team, so clean, the writing is musical, it's romantic.
I love that one. That's a great one.
So there's a lot of x Men out there, there's you know, forty fifty years now of x Men history. I am going to select for the new reader. X Men Grand design Ed Pisker's three volume compendium of X Men history, done as like almost like a zine. So it's not gonna give you like the granular detailed stuff like about you know, it's not gonna give you everything, but it's gonna basically catch you up in four or five decades of X Men history in this really fun, almost like indie art style.
That I super love.
Whether you're a X Men fanatic or someone who's just like wants to know all the stuff that happened before diving in. I think it's a great pickup. Listen, bar the first one from your library or if.
You have comic compony, yeah, library, yeah, and if you like it, go pick it up. From your from your local comic shop. Next zig another one, give us another one, you.
Know, since we're since I'm coming off that I'm dismounting from from your pick. For X Man, I gotta recommend zeb Wells and Steven Segovia's Hellian's I Love My Boys V. We work together on Cheehak. He's super funny guy in this comic is very very funny, also very dark. He's he the way that he's able to have a character like mister Senator have actual bits and I have punchlines in his comics is missed.
The sinister is like the I want to do this is so funny, like and you can. Hellien's is a brilliant choice because it seems like maybe it's a little bit more heavy because it's just been off sea. But it's not like you can jump into this book and just absolutely love it and if you really love it, you can go to House of X all the other stuff like this is like the and it's what's fifteen issues.
And yes, easy easy and easy out. It's one of those things that also, like the Sculturals, I guys like we know what the Thunderbolt told in IR like we know what Suicide Squad is, so like taking that team and couching it in like the X Men world, and also being like, oh, I'm gonna have some of the funniest jokes you've ever read, also sandwiched in between some really traumatic stuff going on, much of the same way that I think that Black Widows sort of redefines a
black widow for this sort of modern age. I think if Helions could be redefined, I think in the year's twenty twenty one, like, this is definitely the book that I would recommend if you're looking for something that's new at currently being made. It's also funny and has hits all the different tiers of like action, like the dramatic bits. It also a really really really funny book, and it.
Comes out regularly as well. For a big two book. I rarely have big two stuff like on my pull list for a long time. Yeah, this is in our house. That is that that's like Helen's is just so good. I'm so glad you included that one. It's just it's so good. It's so funny, but it's.
Also like really yeah, yeah, the mister Sinister aspect is fantastic because you know, for mister Sinister, classic X Men villain has a very tangled history within the X Men lore, but like you don't need to know any of that. It's like so campy and funny and weird. Yeah, it's a great pick, great pick.
And he has like an incredible cape, which is like one of my all time favorite.
I do love their bits that revolve around the spindles on his cape. They dive into very fun stuff.
H Rosie.
Okay, I'm gonna go for a let's think. I'm like, oh, that was just so good. Okay, let's go old. Let's go old because you went there. Okay, So I'm gonna recommend We've talked Infinity Gornela, which is on my list because I just think that's such a great comic. But we've talked about that before people know it. That's your MC. So I'm gonna go for Silver Surfer Rebirth of Thaos, which is from nineteen ninety. It's Ron Limb, whose Absolute Icon also was artist on Infinity Gone and Jim stalin
the career of Thanos and Infinnity Go. This is just a really cool, weird ninety story about Silver Surfer and Thanos and it's what led into Infinity Gorne lit. So this is a great place to if you want to know how Thanos ended up on the Quest for the Gems. This includes really great art called Danos Quest and it is just so much fun. Run them is one of my absolute favorite artists, just absolutely stunning, brilliant, weird, cosmic art.
If you're looking for something where it's like you want to be someone who can go into them SEU and you have a little bit more context on what's going on, and maybe you want to make up some fan theories or you want to chat to your friends about what happened. I feel like this is a relevant book. I feel like this is a good direction to go to, and
it's just really cool. And they actually have this book wasn't collected very often, but there is a silver Stuff of Rebirth of Thanos collection which is really easy to just grab as a trade.
I love it. That's a great one.
Let's see where will I go? Okay, so let's jump to DC. I think if you're listen, this is dead easy. You want to know about Batman? Right, Batman? You're one Frank Miller, David Matsucelli, first of all, that creative team in that year did Batman You'r One and Devil Born Again, which is just two of the top top top greatest arcs ever. And Batman Year one. It tells you right in the title.
What it is.
It is the first year that Bruce Wayne put on the cape, put on the cowl, and started skulking around at night trying to be Batman. And it's the ups and downs, the ins and outs, the trial and error of what you need to do and what you experience when you're trying to become a masked vigilante in the most crime burden city in DC comics America.
And the art is just Yeah.
Maza Kelly's as like Conreal. There's so many moments you'll recognize even if you haven't read the comic. When you see it, you'll be like, oh, that's what I ass from.
Yes, it's just like iconic stuff. The pacing of the art, the framing, it's just absolutely beautiful. And it's everything you need to know where Batman comes from and what he has to face as he meets a bunch of people from his Rogues gallery towards the end of the story. Really really great. Pick it up as a trade perfect next zig Once again, what's next.
You know, I don't have any DC because I'm a company man through and through. But what I do have, you know, if you're look at him, that's little bit different flavoring from I think traditional Cape superhero comics. You gotta check out hell Boy. I highly I mean any Hellboy.
Yeah, just so much great stuff.
There's so much great there's I mean, the good thing about Hellboy is that it's not very serialized, especially this first couple of comics. You can just pick up their basically folklore, So you know, I highly recommend Hellboy, The Chained Coffin and others like that's the first one that I read for Hellboy, even.
Like Seed of Destruction, which is volume one, Like that's you you can just jump on, like that's such a good thing. And it does kind of link to DC because a lot of Mike mcnoll's original work was at DC, like he did a little bit Batman, you know, so I think I think that's a really cool course. That's also I think one of the best if you like superhero comic and you want to dive into something that's more independent creator around, but still has that folkloric, mythological
epic scope. I think Hellboy is like a really good choice.
Yes, that choice of words is I think is what really draws me to it is that you know there most of them are myths and fairy tales and folklore, and because just human beings have been telling those things for a thousand of years, Like it instantly feels familiar but also grandness of scale, but like you could have a story that lasts you know, ten pages, that is in and out, but it feels very complete because we've heard versions of that as long as I for fort
since we've been going up forever. But also they are fantastic, Like the use of colors and shadows that he does is just next world. And also it's very nice different spin if you used to like I think the Eight Head the Eight Heads of like Comic Web, like superheres, everyone's like jacked and like they're like all six foot five.
It's nice seeing a different take on that. And it's also a nice seeing some things that are made outside of like the Big too, if you're looking against some more independent comics.
Yeah, and I think as well, like something that could really I think is a good another good inroad for people who are mostly into Big two is like it's almost like a it's a shared universe of folklore, so you have all these different characters from all over the world, and instead of it being like Batman teaming up with you know, the Justice League or whatever, or founding Justice League, it's instead you've got like Barba Yaga and like all these different but also you know hell Boy and all
these other like Lobster Johnson, like these characters that Mike created as well. I just I think those books are so wonderful and really cool to see a creator who got to do a book for such a long time kind of end it on his own terms and then he does dip back into it. But that is something if you want to get into something and just do it, it's you can do that. That can be your seat dive.
Yeah, there's a there's a breaking bad aspect too of hell Boy, where it's like Mignola keeps putting hell Boy into situations where you're like, how's he gonna get out of this way? And he gets out of it and it ends up mattering and changing. The story is as they move forward into it, where things just get worse and worse and worse and worse and worse for hell Boy, who's you know, entire struggle as a character is trying
to avoid the fate laid out to him. And each time he each time he like puts the fade off for a little while, it comes back stronger and he has to resist it even stronger again, and it just it's a great, great arc all the way through.
Could not agree one, Rosie.
Okay, So I'm gonna use you know, Zigg's very good deflection to go back to his distinguished competitions. So if you if you read, if you read, if you read hall Boy, and you love it, and you're like, what is dark and weird and similar? But what exists in this this DC space that I love with this? So I'm gonna go for Saga of the swamp Thing the nineteen eighty four to so from Sagara Swamping twenty one, which is when Alan Moore, Stephen Besset John Tottlebin and
that is like the weirdest best stuff ever. So this is really where the swamp Thing. The Swamping was created by Lem Wayne and Bernie Wrightson, and it's this great horror character. But here basically just before this they kill swamp Thing, he gets shot in the head and so Alan Moore basically was like, wow, he's made of plants. So he just comes back to life, and it really
it reinvents it. It introduces a lot of the stuff that we know about swamp thing, and it has this absolutely incredible issue called Rights of Spring, which is like super notorious because it's basically this super trippy swamp thing, basically like giving a tuba off himself for his girlfriend to eat and then they trip together and like unbelievable, And I just think that is That's the kind of
comic you can give to anyone. Like if someone's really really into horror and they love Talboy, for example, you can give it to them. If you've got if you want to get a comic for your parents or someone older and they just really appreciate more classical style art, that's a great election. If somebody's read Watchmen and they want to know other Alan more stuff to read, like, there's just it's just so much fun, and they've really done a great job of collecting it. It's also a
good back issue comic. If you're a collector, you can go to your local comic shop. You can probably find that issue twenty one for kind of ten to fifteen bucks, and you can sort of start a fun collection. So I think it's a really nice comic for a lot of different reasons.
Wow, this is great.
Okay, So I am going to say, gosh, I'm Ultimate Spider Man.
I just think, Jason, that is not decenta.
I'm sorry.
Going back to going back to Marvel, Marvel's Ultimate Universe. So the Ultimate Universe was a initiative that Marvel put into place early two thousands that was basically like, how do we how do we bring the Marvel Universe into the modern world, right?
And so.
It's it's just great. There's I think it's about one hundred and sixty issues all told, I want to say, And you know, just read it all the way up through spoiler, the death of Spider Man, the introduction of Miles Marnallas.
Good.
It's so good.
It hurts so so so good, Mark Bagley, Stuart Immanen and others, and it you know, it puts Peter Parker into early two thousands New York. You get to see it's and it is a real like Peter Parker as a teen figuring it out. You feel the danger of what could happen. If these various villains find out about Peter Parker's secret identity, and you know, because it is Ultimate Universe, there are real stakes which again lead to Peter Parker's absolutely heartbreaking death.
Great, great run.
It's so good. It has to one of my favorite Spider Man moments of all time. Yeah, there's the absolutely, there's the there's the I always remember, like post the death of Spider Man, there's a scene with Miles and he's like remembering Peter with all these different family members that is that has like there's a scene I think it's Gwen or someone who's remembering and that she like imagines what their whole life would have been. Like, Yeah, it's like a silent page with and it is so good,
and we talk. We talk about Clamont a lot, and this was actually I think Bendis overtook Clamont as the longest writer on one run during on a Spider Man. So that's like also a milestone.
And there's a handoff, like to hand off from an iconic character Peter Parker two Miles Morales and do it in a way where it honors both characters and you're like, Miles Morales immediately enters the pantheon of comic.
Immediate like it.
That is so hard to do and they absolutely pull it off.
And also a character built as a clap back to all the they were like, yeah, we don't want to yes, a non white Spider Man, Like, oh, we're not only going to make one, but he's going to become like the face of like the generation of Spider Man going forward. Now, that's who.
Kids dress up as. Now, like, that's who my nephew dresses up as. That's who kids that con dress up as. It doesn't matter who it is. Miles Morle has that suit, that beautiful red and black suit, the sneakers like that is and obviously into the Spider Verse. Just the best Spider Man movie of all time. And yeah that I think that's such a great recommendation because that's another one too, where like a lot of times, getting into comics, it's sporadic issues. Yeah yeah, but oh I'm a Spider Man.
That is like Jason said, like one hundred and sixty issues. You can just dive in there and go on a journey, like a decade long class journey, and you'll be in a really good space to understand Miles and where he comes from. And then the best thing about comics, there are other great Miles stories told by people more like Miles now, so you kind of get to see the evolution of that character. That's so cool.
One more round of entry arcs for new readers, and then we'll go to some of our favorite art and trade zig Uh.
You know what, I think I've tapped out my Marvel like I got I'll shout out for Hawkeye, Fractured Idges, Hawkeye just because Hawkeye is dropping. It's fantasic, fantastic art, really really funny, great stuff. But for another non DC, non Marvel, Kirkman's Invincible, much like like Ultimate spider Man Businesses spider Man is also I think it's like one
hundred and twenty something issues like that. I truthfully, I just re read them all, like not too long ago when an Invincible TV show came out, so like it's a nice modern take on on like this Peter Parker story subbed in for like little mix of Peter park
a little mix of Spider Man or of Superman. Yeah, and beautiful art Ryan Yes, just artist fantastic, Like the the way that they also sort of have a running theme of their jokes where they'll just have love repeated panels like I love that, Like I I steal that from my own work because I think it's very fun. Also, it's very economic if you're trying to.
Get a story fun, because it's a really met a joke where it's like it's partially done because of economy, but it's also sometimes done as the joke of you thinking it's economy, so you're like it's cheaper to just and quicker to just. So it's like a comic about making comics as well, which is really fun.
It's really fun. I really recommend it. It's great seeing an anyhow, any comic like that that has also sort of broken too the barrier, not unlike Spawn or Boy. And it's also just getting a nice fresh take like most of the comic calls up, there's some stuff that is like, oh boy, this was obviously not written in this point, but it's it's still still really really fun
read and highly recommend. If you're going to get like a new sort of span on like the Spider Man, Superman Lore, the fresh fresh eyes.
Yeah, I'm going to go for something that's like a
farm more out there. But if you if you grew up on like a Calvin and Hobbes or you like strip cartooning that kind of stuff, but you also like too There's this unbelievable book from twenty fifteen called Super Mutant Magic Academy, which is by Jillian Tamaki, who's the most incredible cartoonist, and it's basically it's a series of one or two comics that are interlinked about a group of kids at like a magic school, and it's kind of Harry Potter meets Xaviers, but it's super funny, and
it can go kind of like Kellyn's. It can go from these really humorous panels about like teenage weirdness to a character who he's just he never dies and it's like this existential nightmare throughout the comic. And that is like one. The book is beautiful. It's like this big, chunky, square book and that you can get that in most local comic book shops at your library. Libraries love that book and it is just so much fun and it's really kind of weird and smart and silly and totally independent.
And I think that is just a really cool space if you want to start dipping your toes into more kind of like experimental cartooning or indie comics. And Jillian has done a bunch of amazing books, including this one Summer with Marico Tomki. So there's just it's a great place to start. But it is so fun, especially if you like X Men, You'll just be living life because it is like it's like the funniest, weirdest X Men parody.
I will I'm putting that on my list right now.
It's so good. It's like, I will go to the book is beautiful, Like if you love to have a nice book on your shelves, just go and buy it. It's like it's so good, it's so so good.
I'm literally buying it right now.
Jillians, I love so to jump in and learn about stuff.
I am going to pick.
You know, early two thousand's Marvel was kind of like defined by certain creators. I think Brian Michael Bendas is probably the big one, And so I'm going to say Avengers Disassembled into which is like a self contained arc. You can get it as a trade into. Brian Michael Bendis with David Fintion and Steve Mcnivin's new Avengers run, which is so the Avengers have broken up, one of
the many many many make the country. But it's so The great thing about Avengers Disassembled is you you read it great art, and you feel like, wow, this is this is this is it.
The Avengers are no more. I can't believe it.
There's like people holding up candles outside the Avengers mansion. This is this is first, this is a cataclysm.
Meanwhile, it's like the Avengers.
Have broken up like a dozen times.
Don't worry, don't worry about it. But running into new Avengers, you get this. You get a new team as Earth's mightiest heroes try and figure it out. They don't have the kind of financial backing of Tony Stark anymore. It's gonna look more rough and ready.
Uh.
And it's a really cool mix of characters including you know, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, you know Clint Barton in the Ronan costume
for some reason. But it's super fun and it threads through a lot of the big events that happened during that era, Civil War, siege, etc. And so you get like this kind of smattering of big events and it takes you basically up to the stuff that's happening now as a launch Pad, really fun run with you know, big fights, lots of stakes and that kind of like bend to see a lot of words coming at you, but in a great way. So check it out. Let's go to our favorite graphic novels and or comic runs.
Usually these runs are going to be contained in trades that are easy for people to pick up.
So let's start with Musig What do you got.
I'm going to go with a truly indie indie book as a series called Very Near Mint by Justin Peterson. I think think I found it when I was in art school. Uh. He had like a random Kickstarter. I was like, it's basically Clerks in a comic book shop. Was like I got to read this, uh and and and it's great. It's super super funny. It has that indie spirits like it's a it's a black and white comic.
And my first one to one with that is with Clerks because it was also, yeah, they couldn't afford to pay for color films, so they did it black and white. It's super super funny. Justin has got a very funny sense of style. I love his art. I love anything that that that that that sticks the landing on being a piece of indie art made for a very beach audience, which is comic book fans, but then also combook fans that are aware of how other combook fans actually and and like.
How comic shops work, and like that kind of interior, the kind of stuff that we talk about between off friends, like and ann your local shop and stuff that's really hard to capture.
Yeah, I I I think you can. I know that you can buy I think it might be mostly out of print, but you can buy a PDF of it from Justin's website. I think it's probably like volume one maybe on Amazon or something like that. But I highly recommend I looking for something that's like a little bit off the beaten path, and also if looking for like as flat out comedy graphic novel series very near man. I think there's three volumes out and I think you may have done a couple like shorts and stuff too.
High recommend that if you can find it, really really great series. And also it's a nice just a different take, and I think on what a lot of people think comics of being like capes in superheroes.
Yeah, yeah, mine, I'm going to go for another black and white comic too, and this is We've been talking a lot about these arcs that you can just jump into and have like four years. So mine is Love and Rockets by the Hernandez put Yeah, I love them so much. This is like the ultimate indie comic. It's been going on for decades now. And the cool thing is it's if you want, it's very easy to collect the first like fifty issues of magazine size. It's really
fun thing to collect. But Fantagraphics has a ton of really cool story collections where they collect together arcs about different characters because it's kind of nonlinear in that way. But there's two major aspects of the story. There's the Maggie and Hopie, who are two friends slash on time like lovers on and off, and they're in the punk scene in La the Mexican punk scene in La in the kind of seventies eighties, and they grow up real time, so now they have grown up as you read the book.
And then there's a Palomar, which is kind of this small town and the lives of people who live there and they are just like this is some of the best cartooning I have, Like multiple Love and Rocket status, the Henandez Bros.
Are La Edges.
You can go to any convention, Yere and Hi May Will and Gilbert will just be their chilling sign in. Like I almost died the first time the first time I went to Comic On. They were at the fanographics table and Grant Morrison was at the heavy metal table, and I was like, what the fuck is this? What? What?
This is? What you guys get at San Diego? You can just go and and yeah, they're really great if you love rock music, if you love punk, if you love comics, if you want to read a queer comic that's been going on for like forty years, the early stuff Maggie the Mechanic that's very sci fi, very influential on like Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, stuff like that. And I just I cannot sing the praises of that book enough. And it's the kind again kind of book you can give to anyone.
This this is just tangerous with that. But have you read The Queen of the Rings the right wrestling drawings?
Of course ten ten was waiting for that for so long.
It's just if you're looking for just like a nice art book by her behind me her Nandez. It's just him drawing a bunch of fantastic female wrestlers from from all the decades. It's a nice little material.
Yeah, and I think it's like it's like thirty five dollars or something from panographics. I thought it was gonna be like one hundred and fifty dollars art book. But I went to hiding her comics and I was like, Wow, this is afootable and I love it. Yeah, that's and that's another thing. There's a whole bunch of wrestling and kind of like the like female wrestling characters throughout. So it's just a really eclectic, wonderful set of comics.
I am going to pick I'm going to go India as well. I'm gonna pick Fantasy Sports and I volume and three volumes one, two, and three, Like how to explain it?
So that it is.
It follows the adventures of Wiz and Mug, a young girl and her her muscle bound friend, and they take on various sports themed challenges and it's just an absolute delight. The art style is like the best way I could describe it is when I was a kid and I was and I was drawing a lot this.
Is what I wish. It's like.
Just so detailed, beautiful, like manga meets Mike mgnola kind of style. And yeah, it's an over It comes in an oversized hardcover three volume edition. You can get it. You can order it through your local comic shop, you can order through a bookshop. You can order it from Amazon.
If you wish.
And it's just beautiful and all ages. If you're not a you don't need to know a lot of lore to read it. You can give it to a kid and they would love it. As an adult, you will love it. It's just fantastic. You can't I can't recommend it Highland.
Rare English language sports comic and it's that mixture. Yeah, and it takes that manga sports comic vibe that puts it in this really extreme like fantasy. I love that. As soon as I saw that, I was like, I hope that's what It's so good. That is just so good. I love those books.
You know what I'm gonna You know, since you mentioned the the sort of manga inspiration for fancay sports, I gotta do. Scott Pilgrim.
Uh.
It was one of the first first non superhero DC Marvel comics that I read or graphic novels that I read. I also was like a little punk shithead when I was in when I was younger, so like I could very much relates. I was very much. Oh yeah, I've played at those type of shows and met those type of people. Like it very much captured what I what I thought my twenties was being in like a shitty, shitty band. Scott does not hold up too much.
Now, I think that's the point there, right, Like you grow and you're like, yeah.
Scott's an asshole, like anyone else should Kim Pine really should have been the hero of this. Yeah, but it's great, it's great. I think they released some colored versions.
Now, have the beautiful Brian actually I think colored them himself as well.
Yeah, so like if you want to get a text for either one, like I personally love the black and white stuff.
And only then they're all like manga side. Yeah, it's really nice, easy to read. Yeah, that is such a great And if you like the movie, which obviously is like so iconic, the book is really great because it just expands. It's so similar, but it just you get more time with Kim, you get more time with Ramony, you get more time with Knives obviously Justice for Knives like the best character. Like I just I love Scott Pilgrim. I'm so stoked you picked that because that is like
I love Brianley, O'Malley. I love Seconds as well. It's like one of my favorite books. But Scott Pilgrim is that's another great give it to anyone.
But yeah, yeah, anyone can get it, especially now that like people are into these things now it's not just niche as being like, oh I'm into video games, but also you know music and all that stuff, like everyone's doing that. Yeah, it's great. It's a really fun easy into that. And also you can see like like like like like she said, you can get a bigger expansion like what was sort of pair down from the film that I think, you know, eggar Wright knocked out of
the park. I could really captured the spirit of pokem books as well.
Yeah, well we did a lot of like manga influence. So I'm going to do I got three manga books on my list. Okay, so I'm gonna go for the classic because we're doing kind of good in way, So I'm gonna go for Kira by Cats Heiro Tomu at Tomo. It's like one of the best comics ever made. It's super easy to read because they have these huge telephone book sized collections that you can get any comic shop.
It is a dystopian, sprawling sci fi masterpiece. If you've seen the movie, that's literally like one book, if not a little bit less than one book. So there's a lot to deep dive into. One of the most influential aesthetic of all time, movie and book. The art is so dense and incredible, and you could look at those I've got the full set that Dark Horse did with all of the books. You can look at them for days.
I hate so much going on, what's going on?
And and you can literally if you commit to it and you buy those collections, you could enjoy that for years. Like you can read one, you can take it in and then you can take a break and you can read another one, and like it is just so good and it is obviously always just go back and watch a Carror as well. It's like one of the best movies ever made. But that is such a great place
if you want to get into. I wouldn't say, like, oh, read that if you just want to get into manga, because you could probably read like Bleach or or a Ramd Mahalf or anything that's a bit more accessible. But if you want to get something, you can just totally lose yourself in and read one of the most like influential sci fi a different tier.
It's a different tier of like yeah, of of a book that you're reading. When it comes to that, it's not just like dragon Balls your Hunter Hunter, it's like, oh, this is yeah.
You know what's gonna happen. They get have some sick fight, like go and find some gems, like yeah.
Maybe there's a monkey that has any exactly.
But the other thing about a Curreror as well is I think if you are an American comics reader or even just a fan of American sci fi movies, and that is a book where you will read it and you'll be like, oh, I see that's where they got that from. Like yeah, even and if you love like an artist, like I know me and Jason talking about a lot, but like our Adams is such an incredible artist.
There's a lot of similarities. They're they're dense, like beautiful, intricate in depth work that you can just look at for hours. So Akira is always Oh and you know what else, I actually do love that, I always do shout. Marvel did a really weird thing in the nineties where they put a ton of money and got mobius like the icon, and they bought everyone in to make these for Epic, their imprint Epic. They made these colored reprints of Akira single issues, and so they changed the direction,
which I never agree with, but they made it. Basically, they spent the time and effort to take this Japanese comic and translate it in a way that they would hope would make it accessible for American readers. But if you can get your hands on that, the colored art is so cool and it was all done like Catsira was involved to an extent. I have I have actually had got that whole collection of the single issues because
it's just so cool to look at. So any version of a Kira you can pick up American reprint single issue versions, you can pick up those big dark Horse telephone books, which are probably also at your library at this point, and yeah, just just have some fun with that, because that is a that's a fucking.
Cool book, man. I Wow, these are also great.
I am gonna pick Uh We Three by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly for issue limited series UH trade paperback. You know, like listen, if you got into comics, if you like nerd stuff, if you like comics, you you're an outsider. At one point in your life you felt like I needed, I need I need a different perspective. I feel like I am I'm not in a I'm out of step with the world. Is probably a feeling you felt, and.
We Three captures that. It will break your heart.
Jason's trying to make you cry. It is trying to make you cry.
It will break your heart.
It is about It is about three animals who is who uh escape from a military testing facility where they were turned into weapons and they just want to live a peaceful life and they are such close, loving friends to each other.
Uh.
And this story will absolutely it will crush you happy ending, but on the way there it will fucking.
It's so basical like that. That is the comic where when I worked in a comic shop, and if i've if I have relatives or someone who's been given it, that is the number one comic where people go, oh, when's the next part? Because you can't believe like the four, you get so absolutely connected and invested. It's like it's heartbreaking that there's no more, but it's also perfect.
Yeah, so yeahful.
It will crush you.
Yeah, you will Frank quietly, Frank quietly and Morrison together. It's like the perfect melding of immense creativity, like like grounded fresh flesh and blood, uh, imagery and textures and just pure imagination.
And again, this book.
Will bres It will break your heart if you are the if you are the type of comic book reader, slash nerd person who's.
Like I've always felt outside of things, get ready because three is going to stab you in the chist and.
He hasn't, like Jason hasn't even half prepared you, Like, thank he's being hyperbolic.
This is actually soft to go through. Yeah, if you're trying to have a bad week, check it out.
It will give you a bad week.
But but again it will end in a place that you will feel good about it. But it will it will destroy you. Okay, what comics are that are ongoing? Are we excited about right now? Zig?
This is uh from an artist in Peach Momoco Demon Days. She's a fan best and absolutely fantastic. She's like, her art is amazing, her storytelling is amazing. It makes me jealous reading this stuff. Uh So, she's a Japanese artist. She has a series called Demon Days, which is we've talked, we've touched on like other manga and like inspiration like
you know, mangan and in American comic books. This is a great, a great amalgamation of those two art style, beautiful watercolor paintings that are retelling classic Marvel heroes in the style of like a Japanese folklore. So their only their demons, like there will be a you know, instead of Thor being the god of thunder, he is like a thunder demon. He carries like little little little storm on her shoulder. Fantastic art. I think there's like it gonna be six or seven books in the next one.
Storm, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, not wait for that, Like they're so Peach is so good? How are you? Probably if you haven't read her like Demon Days, you've definitely seen her covers. She is like the comics cover artists right now. Like the way that she has inspired fans to be caring about comics covers is just it's like Tom mcfalland and Greg Coppolo in the nineties, like, these are the covers people want to have, Like, yes, she's incredible.
Have you ever been in a coup Bok shop and you start to like, what the fuck is that? She's probably Yeah, she's the one who drew that. He's the one that made you start. But I got it. I've never read this comic, but I've picked up because the cover is so cool.
One hundred percent she she is that. I'm sure when I worked in a shop, everything was like it was a Scotty Young cover and everyone would bring it, like ninety percent of people would bring it back if it wasn't in their pulse and be like, why doesn't the inside look like that? I am sure that Peach is the curse of shop. I'm sure people pick up like and then they're like, wait, why doesn't the inside? But don't worry. Read Demon Days.
They'll give you everything. It's a great high recommend, fun new from a from an artist writer that's killing the game right now.
Demon Days Enough, Yeah, Rosie, So I'm going to go with there's this Viz has been doing the because you talked about Demon Days. It just inspired me. Vis has been doing these unbelievable manga re releases. So they just did a fist of the North Star.
Oh, let's go.
It's so good. The cover, it's like the version you always wanted. It's got like a it's like a matte, blood splatters on the frog. And they also have been reprinting Lam and mazony Kuku by Ramiko Takahashi. Who I feel who is an icon made in a Yasha ramahalf all the manga and anime you loved as a teenager. And I just had to bring that up because one, the copies are so stunning. If you are someone who loves a nice book on your shelf, you got to
go to those reprints. And two, when I read Demon Days, I was like, this is like Remiko Takahashi doing Marvel Like it's that make sure of folklore, cute faces, like iconic characters, designs. So those and the kind of continued re releases that Vis are doing of these kind of classic mangas is something I just can't get enough.
Of at the moment. That is great.
Gonna pick gosh, I'm gonna pick The Department of Truth by James Timmyan and Martin Simmons. It is a I don't know how this is gonna turn out, like, maybe they don't stick the landing. But I'll just say this as an ongoing book that is in the zeitgeist right now because it is about conspiracies and what if conspiracies are real and how do you deal with that? And what is truth? It is a very paranoid and very
creative book. It's on image the art. I would describe it as like Bill Sankowitz, like the in his like most darkest tendencies. It is twisted and always interesting to look at.
It can be a little naughty.
And confusing, but it feels like that's by design. And again I hope they stick the landing. But it is a crazy book currently an image something I really like. Okay, one more for for both, for all of us, and then we'll move on.
You know. I almost keep in the vein of indie comics. There's a new comic series called The Antagonist by Godhead Comics or a Black owned Black Runner Black Ran Studio out of out of Atlanta. I believe. I think there's only three issues out for The Antagonists. There's another four that they're kickstarting at the moment, but that got on my radar just through Twitter. I found their kickstarter. I
supported them, and it's a fun book. You know, It's just you can tell from the name that's from the point of view of what would be General Zodd, their version of like a black General Zod and like his wife, and there's sort of a dismantling you know, a racist nation, capitalist nation. And it's just been an interesting point of view and like what I think, you know, every I think we've seen a lot of like what if Superman was bad? Like what if the bad guys ran the country?
And it's interesting seeing that just from a point of view from you know, the thing built on something that's I think a lookit more tangible and grounded, like you soruld relate sort of like how you can relate to Killmonger a lot in the Black Panther movie. That can relate to these characters a lot in this series. I highly recommend support you know, some some new upcoming artists and comic companies that are independent also you know, ran by some people of color.
Yeahs, I'm going to go. So this is going back to a big two DC again, but it does include some really really incredible cartoonists of So basically DC is bringing this huge event called Trial of the Amazons. You got Marie Javins as eic now an iconic comic book editor, who is heading up this thing with Brittany Molsher, who's another editor who's really behind bringing Diana and Nubia, Diana's sister,
to the forefront of DC Comics. Currently there's a newbier in the Amazons series which is leading into this issue. One just came out, so it's a great time to jump on. It is an unbelievable team. Steph Williams, I love her, one of the funniest indie cartoonists around, just absolutely the best. Did a Marvel story about Monica Rambo, Like just absolute wonderful persona ayala, absolute g comic book superstar,
the best. So they're the co writers and it's Alitha Martin, who is a Martinez who's one of the absolute most legit Black Big two artists, And it is just so badass. It reintroduces us to the Amazon's Themisca introduces the idea of the Well of Souls, which is basically a way of opening up and blowing up who can be an Amazon?
So you have all different kinds of new people coming through those doors, and that is really the jumping on point to this bigger trial of the Amazon's event alongside the Wonder Woman book, which is written by Becky Clunan. Another absolute g love Becky Klunan so much, someone who really got me into comics, Big two and indie. So yeah, that is just something I think is really exciting, and that's going to be the big DC event going into
the kind of next few years. So it's a great time to jump on right now because just those first couple of issues are out there. You can go to your comic shop, grab them, and you'll be in from the beginning of this really cool event that has really focused on inclusive new heroes. Nubia is a queen of them scart now Nubier is an all black creative team on that book. So that's just really cool to see that happening.
Damn it Rosie making me spend money.
Okay, my final pick.
My final pick is let's go to Image The Good Asian biopor Sick Pishit showt and Alex Tefaneggi. It is a noir set in nineteen thirties Chinatown in San Francisco, and it follows the adventures of a Chinese detective having to deal with, you know, solving mysteries and a racist society that doesn't really accept him and his culture. And it is It's great, it's ongoing right now.
Get it.
Image wonderful art, you know, like I just love Noir. I love that it really evokes a kind of like Batman Year one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that vibe origin of so many of these characters.
But really really exciting, you know, obviously an all Asian creative team. Check it out at Image Comics. Love it and I think it only started in when did it start? Like it is nice and far into it like May, like May or June of twenty twenty one, so not hard at all to jump right in.
Up next, let's go to the end game.
Okay, folks, we are in the end game now, and today we're playing some assembly required in which Rosie Zig and I will be randomly assigned a mission and I have to assemble a character or a team of characters from any comic from any comic company to accomplish this mission.
And we have selected the randomly assigned mission, and it is to compete in Mario Now this is a real quote unquote real life Mario Kart, So like Mario Kart with an actual vehicle, in the reality of the of the adventure that we are taking.
So let's see.
Uh, let's let's keep it the same way we've been doing it. Zig Who will you select to compete in real life Mario Kart? What character from any comic book, franchise, company, whatever.
My first draft picked will be a one Kate Bishop aka Hawkeye. I think if you're in a game of Mario Kart, think you give a Mario card, you need someone the accuracy, the dexterity. I think Michael Cake can hold it down. Get her any honestly, any turtleshell becomes a red turtle shell in the hands and exprest archer. So she's doing mad work with blue with green turtle shells.
Yeah, we're in trouble.
That's a good one, Rosie.
Okay, So I'm gonna go for ghost Rider. Obviously, I'm gonna go said I'm gonna go Johnny Blaze just just for fun. I mean, you know, anything he gets on. Really, let's be real, let's getting possessed by the devil. He's flying down there. There's flames. It's gonna be chaos if anyone gets in the way, just throw some chains at them. It's probably not gonna be the e for everyone Rate and marire Car like Let's it's probably gonna be some toasted toads out there. But I think I think ghost
Rider Johnny Blaze. That's that's the winner.
Wow, that's a good one.
Okay, since I don't want to lose, I'm good to take a character who has never lost and has come away with surprising, world shaking victories.
Squirrel gol.
Driving the cra van, Craven the Hunters airbrushed van, the unbeatable squirrel Girl. Uh so driving Craven's van and listen, we gotta throw shells out the back, so helping squirrel girl is this cheating?
Like?
Can Howard the duck be in the back to throw shells and stuff out the back? So it is squirrel Girl in Craven, the Hunters van, the cra Van.
I mean she's unbeatable.
Yeah, yeah, I didn't think. I didn't I didn't plan that far ahead. I didn't think about that monkey in.
Uh, this has been super fun. Folks, What do you think who would you select as a comic book character from any comic book series, any comic book company to compete in Mariya Kart let us know. Send us your answers at hashtag XRVN game. That's XRVN game, and shout out to at Marcus mendes One for his end game of top five fictional Billionaires. Continue to send us those, Rosie zig This has been fantastic and I'll see.
You out on the streets.
Big thank you to Rosie and Cody Zigler for joining us on another episode of X ray Vision. Next Wednesday, we'll be covering Marvels Eternals, So if you want to learn more about what we explore in each episode, check out our listener's guide in the show notes or on our website. Also, five star ratings. Please give us the five star ratings. We desperately desire them, We want them from you. Please give them to us. X ray Vision is a Crooked Media production. The show is produced by
Chris Lord and Saul Rubin. It is executive produced by myself and Sandy Garard. Caroline Reston and Carlton Gillespie are our consultant producers, and our editing and sound design is by Vasili's fittupulus. Also thank you to Brian Vasquez for our theme music.