81: Are Comic Fans Just Bored?

Summary
Matt and Dave discuss malaise in the comic industry, particularly among readers, publishers, and creators. They explore the role of Marvel and DC in perpetuating this malaise and the need for them to do something different. The hosts also highlight alternative publishers and platforms that offer opportunities for risk-taking and creativity. They critique the practice of slabbing comics and share their recent reading recommendations.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Social Media
01:15 Malaise Discussion
25:12 The Need for Change at Marvel and DC
28:19 What We've Been Reading
34:57 Closing Remarks and Call to Action

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Original Music by Alex Productions
Show notes include some AI generated content

Transcript

Local Dude (00:02.859)
Welcome back to the Comic Dudes, a podcast about comic books and comic book related things. My name is Dave. With me as always is my best friend and co -host Matt. Matt, how are you?

Matt - CDWA (00:13.494)
Aw shucks, I'm good Dave, how about yourself? Yeah?

Local Dude (00:16.747)
I'm doing great. Since I didn't do this at the beginning of last week's or two weeks ago's episode, I'm going to remember this time. If you'd like to follow us on social media, there are several ways you can do it. You can follow us on TikTok. I post on TikTok now three times a week. We are regularly posting on TikTok. There's content on our TikTok that is not in the podcast. So there's a reason to go there. Also hot off the press this week, we created an Instagram account to.

Matt - CDWA (00:21.262)
Hahaha

Local Dude (00:45.227)
which will also have content that is not on the podcast. So if you're not a TikTok person, you can steal the TikTok content on Instagram in the worst version of TikTok, Instagram Reels. So we have something for you. I mean, no offense. I just don't like Instagram Reels. I'm a TikTok guy. What can I say? You can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter handles will be in the description of this episode. Also in there is our side piece host, Eric. You can follow him on Twitter as well. Cause I keep forgetting to add him in.

So even though he's not here for this episode, he's in the description of this episode. If you'd like to follow him on Twitter, he won't know because he can't log in, but at least you can follow him. You can read all of his old tweets. How about that?

Matt - CDWA (01:23.698)
Yeah, yeah.

Local Dude (01:28.331)
So this week, this is a bit different for our usual content, but I was reading, I was actually, I was catching up. I was catching up on some paper comics that the stack got out of control. So a couple of weeks ago, I was powering through one of my favorite current comics, Local Man by Tim Seeley, published by Image Comics. And in the back of issue number six, there's a blurb in the image info section.

from Tim that struck a chord with me. So I'm going to read that and then we're going to talk about it. Matt has already read it. I'm reading this for you, our dear listeners. So you know the context behind the conversation. Also, if you don't know who Tim Seely is, he's the guy behind hack slash revival, local man. Obviously, he's worked for the big two Marvel and DC. He's done a lot of work with G .I. Joe. He's currently doing he man also.

And there's a bunch of other stuff. I think he's a Nightwing. He did Batman Eternal, which is one of my favorite Batman stories. There's a lot more. I think man's been in the industry for quite a while. Credits to his name are too long for me to list, but those are some of my personal favorites that he's written. Or Geron, he's an artist as well. He does a lot of art for comics too. Anyway, that being said, anything you want to add to our Tim Seely preamble here?

Matt - CDWA (02:28.814)
Okay.

Matt - CDWA (02:54.798)
Nah, I think you covered it. Just kind of want to hear what you have to say about it. So yeah.

Local Dude (02:59.467)
All right, so I will read this this little write up. It's in Local Man number six, which you can't see. I'm holding it up. You might see it if we put this clip on TikTok or Instagram. But for now, yeah, it's a great cover. It's an homage to Bloodstrike number one published in 1993 by Image Comics, my favorite era of Image Comics, I might add. But enough about me and my likes. Let me read to you what Tim had to say.

Matt - CDWA (03:13.39)
It's a great cover. It's a great cover.

Local Dude (03:29.067)
This is the general take on the current landscape of comics. Malays. I keep reading that word lately in and around the world of comics. Publisher, malaise, creator, malaise, reader, malaise. It's meant to refer to the distinct sense that comics people are just kind of bored and frustrated, that everyone's unsure about the future and they don't know why. I do not like this word malaise, not just because it sounds more like some kind of sauce.

but because I resent this idea that people don't know why they feel that way. Because I think everyone does. Comics readers, publishers, creators, journalists, et cetera, are chock full of malaise because they keep on doing the exact same thing over and over again and then don't know why it isn't giving them the same feeling anymore. Publishers keep doing the same kind of marketing plan, churning out big events, selling comics to the same aging crew. Kill this character, bring that one back, new costume.

old ideas. Readers keep buying stuff that makes them unhappy, chasing that high from when they were 10 years old, complaining because at least that gets the clicks on YouTube. I won't take offense to that, that one part. Just based on the tone of this podcast, I'm choosing not to take offense to that because he's not talking directly about us. And creators are looking at their bank accounts and workloads, deciding it'd be much easier to just draw a bunch of variant covers than get weird.

Matt - CDWA (04:38.67)
Heheheheh

Local Dude (04:54.601)
The malaise is overflowing the ramekin here. But there's a really easy solution to malaise. Do something different. Sell comics to a new audience, publish some other genres, dredge up that story, squatting in the basement of your brainstem like a forgotten cousin. There's nothing wrong with the medium. It survived much worse malaise. Trust me, I started publishing in the nadir of 2001. Because comics as a medium and business is so flexible, you can sell, read, or make

different genres, regional styles, formats, any damn time with just a little effort and a whole lot of curiosity. And you can do that without throwing it all away. Hated the latest line -wide superhero crossover? Don't quit comics. Dive into invincible, I agree. Or ElfQuest or reprints of Tijuana Bibles and or Chick Tracks. Getting sick of bagging up the 40th variant cover for some dudes who are definitely gonna slab it.

Open a corner of your store up as a kid's comic shop and double up on Dog Man. Or drawing in the same slick style? Get crazy and spill ink on your iPad. Whatever. Get into it, change it up, get lost, discover, and leave that cup of malaise in the kitchen.

Matt - CDWA (06:00.91)
Yeah.

Matt - CDWA (06:09.87)
Shots fired by Tim Seeley.

He took a shot at retailers too, comic book retailers at the end there. Yeah. Yeah, you're not, you're not published in that, that work. Yeah. No.

Local Dude (06:16.779)
He did. He did. I mean, so have I. Not that I, I don't have the clout that he has, of course. I am just some guy.

Local Dude (06:28.811)
So I need to get closer to my mic here. So I think first question, Matt, do you agree with Tim's take? Is everyone kind of bored and frustrated and unwilling to admit why? What do you think?

Matt - CDWA (06:36.238)
Okay, yep.

Matt - CDWA (06:46.798)
Yeah, I think I think a lot of well I Guess I can only speak to the demographic that I am in I guess which is a little bit older of a demographic now I would say yeah, a lot of those individuals are definitely in the malaise. I definitely I've I've done it myself. But when I go to the LCS I've definitely heard guys like And I have like a pretty I have like a short box of comics I haven't read that I'm working through, you know, there's guys that have picked up

that have stacks of comic books, listeners, I'm showing my hand, like a huge stack of comic books that they pick up every month and they don't make any effort to read. They just buy covers. Like that statement that Sealy made like really resonated with me. Cause like, I was like, oh man, you got all these comics, like do you read them? And he says, like, no, I just like collect them. And I'm like, for what? Like, what are you, what are you doing this for? Like hundreds of dollars.

Local Dude (07:38.507)
Yeah, those, I mean, those, those that to me is like that's that's comic hoarding, not comic collecting.

Matt - CDWA (07:44.366)
Yeah, but that's the demographic that Marvel and DC, if you look at their solicitations and for this, for me, when I hear this malaise, I can't help but connect it to Marvel and DC because they're the industry leaders. Is the industry leaders like we need them around? Unfortunately or fortunately, or this industry doesn't survive. I wish that Boom Studios or Image could really, you know,

Local Dude (07:59.019)
Oh yeah.

Matt - CDWA (08:11.918)
take up a 20 % market share, but that's just not the reality of the situation. So yeah, I'm rambling, but yeah, I think there's definitely a malaise. I've noticed a little bit of a malaise with myself. And like Mr. Sealy said, for me, I leave the malaise in the kitchen. I got to a point where I finally just dropped out and I'm just like, I can't do these comics anymore. I'd rather get five comics a month that I really enjoy than 50 comics a month that I don't enjoy and don't read at all. So.

Local Dude (08:41.675)
Right. Yeah, I mean, I think that that's an extremely accurate assessment that he makes with that that write up. And he's definitely talking about partially you and I. And I know I'm guilty of it, but I also did something about it by dropping the big two. And I am chasing comics that give me that high from when I was 10, but I'm doing it in.

Matt - CDWA (08:57.13)
Yeah, yeah.

Matt - CDWA (09:02.772)
Yeah.

Local Dude (09:11.635)
spaces where the content being produced is something that's worth spending my time and money on. And, you know, it's just transformed a little bit since I've started to age. You know, that high that I got when I was 10 through 20 or whatever, whatever the age was when I started to, you know, really, really get deep into comics.

Matt - CDWA (09:17.644)
Exactly.

Local Dude (09:40.747)
Um, that was with Marvel. It was always with Marvel and you know, I. Nothing they do excites me anymore. And. Well, I know that a lot of what what Tim is saying kind of lays this at the feet of everyone involved in the industry. I would place the blame and you kind of already alluded to this, but I would place the blame more so on Marvel and DC.

Matt - CDWA (10:10.568)
I agree. Like if you look at the solicitations, dude, like, I don't know. There's always been like an inherent skepticism. Even in like 2011, I can like remember when I was like towards the tail end of college, DC, new 52. I can remember getting into arguments with like some of the old curmudgeons about Miles Morales and the race swapping and all that stuff. And I, and I, I bring that stuff up on the comment on this podcast. Cause I think.

Not that I'm some authority on race or whatever, but like, you know, I push back on that sometimes in regards to that. But like you look at the Marvel and DC solicitations, dude, like there's like Cy Wolverine, like Cyclops and Wolverine mixed together. And it's just like Nightwing and Spider -Man. Like these are just amalgamations of previous incarnations written by expert writers. Like we have lost.

Bendis or whoever said, when Miles Morales comes into the main universe, we have lost the plot. They have lost the plot. Like, they might as well print, that's why I say, we got no fight. I'm like, you might as well print facsimile editions, because that's the best stories you got going. I'm not trying to get you fired up tonight, but I'm like, you might as well just do that. Like, I don't know.

Local Dude (11:24.875)
We'll get you started. We'll get you started. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's, yeah, that's, that's fair criticism. You know, go ahead.

Matt - CDWA (11:35.694)
But then you see, I was like, yeah, like you're saying, we're laying this at the feet of Marvel and DC. And cut me off if you're going here, but like, there are so many other comics out there if you look at them, but visibility is just a huge issue. Like Boom, people don't know the good stuff that's going on with Power Rangers or something that's killing the children or a lot of the books that are going on in Boom or Image like.

Dude, I want, I want to send you something about Spawn, how they're having 15 comics in their line. I would say Spawn, I swear to God, Todd Mc, 50, like you called it. Cause I was like, Oh, I'm just going to get these four. And then I, I'm pretty sure I saw an article from like incredible sources. Like we're trying to expand this Joker to 15. We'll get that on a different podcast if that actually is true and credible. If not, Todd, I apologize. But the good stuff going on an image like local man, uh,

Local Dude (12:06.283)
Shut up! No way!

Local Dude (12:24.203)
Ugh.

Matt - CDWA (12:29.806)
I know we dropped off on, but like Radiant Black, Transformers, like there's good, there's good comics out there. It's just, it's not a whole industry problem. I just think when Marvel and DC suffer, like we kind of all suffer because that, those should be the standard bearers of the industry and they just, they're struggling.

Local Dude (12:47.851)
Someone's got to be buying that stuff. Dude, the Marvel's solicitations, it can't all be covers. Because they're putting out they're putting out four and five issue minis of stuff that doesn't have there's no variant solicited. It's just like a straight up like here's a mini series like they don't do variants for every single thing.

Matt - CDWA (12:49.998)
It's covers dude. It's covers. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Dude, but, uh, you don't look at F O C's on a weekly basis like I do because when it's solicited in a magazine, you might just get those covers. But when final order cutoff is due like three weeks before the book comes out, then variant covers get tacked on and added.

I'm not saying everything. I will say a large majority of it though is hit on final order cutoff, which you don't do, which I do. Like that's just another point, just another, another pain point. Like share it, our buddy Sheridan, he orders ASM. He does it online like you do. And every week I'm like, here's these seven covers that I know you collect damn near everything ASM. Like, do you want any of these? And he's like, I had no idea these were even out. I'm like, that's.

Local Dude (13:31.595)
Mmm.

Hmm. Hmm.

Matt - CDWA (13:50.99)
because it's final order cutoff and it's three weeks out. I just rattled this man's work. Like I'll take a, I'll take a picture and screenshot it to you, bro. It's crazy. It's crazy. No, you're not thinking. I think you do need to see it. But yeah.

Local Dude (13:58.569)
UGH

Local Dude (14:03.595)
I don't need to see that. I got an Apple watch now. I monitor my heart rate. I don't need, don't send me that. Is it gonna, I'm just gonna watch it spike over a hundred BPM. I don't need that. So going back a little bit, when you talk about like Marvel and DC kind of losing the plot, what's really interesting about this to me is that, you know, one of the, one of the cures to this, the Tim...

Matt - CDWA (14:21.554)
Yeah.

Local Dude (14:32.971)
mentions is do something different. But I would argue that Marvel is doing a lot of different things than from when I was younger and fell in love with the comics. And it just happens to be that those different things are not working. In fact, if they were just managing the line the way they were in the late 80s and early 90s, I actually would probably still be buying a lot of Marvel stuff.

Matt - CDWA (14:41.07)
They are. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt - CDWA (14:59.724)
Bingo. It's...

Local Dude (15:01.875)
My my malaise is related to all of the change that they have made that I don't like at all.

Matt - CDWA (15:09.678)
I agree. It's, it's to me, it's, it's, this is my, this is my argument. And it's always been with the pushes for diversity and inclusion. We don't have the right people writing these stories at those companies. We just don't. I've said it from day one, though that the stuff that is this where it is written properly is on the independent comics, which is done properly in saga.

It was done properly like, like Miles Morales. I actually did really like Miles Morales at the beginning, but they've lost the plot. They don't have gone are the days where you have someone on a comic series for a hundred issues. Like that just doesn't happen anymore. And we were talking about like, uh, which is fine. Which is perfectly fine, but you need a good steward bingo. And if you re number like VC 52, which I love personally, like we both kind of went in on that in the beginning.

Local Dude (15:39.625)
Yeah, me too.

Local Dude (15:52.587)
Which is fine, that's fine, but we don't have to renumber every time.

Matt - CDWA (16:05.088)
DC New 52, they rebooted everything to number one. But you know that Batman story, right? All that stuff happened. Batman, all that stuff happened. And you know that Green Lantern story with Jeff Johns? All that stuff happened from before? That all happened. That didn't change. So like, either you're in or you're out. But yeah, that's what they don't know. So.

Local Dude (16:25.355)
Yeah, they don't know. That's the thing. They don't they really don't know. But it's it's an interesting discussion to have because all of this change that DC and Marvel are trying to affect. I think some of the domino effects of those decisions are what's creating this malaise in the older fans, in my opinion. And that's an opinion of one, because that's how I feel about it. But.

I -I -

I also want to talk a little bit about.

Local Dude (17:03.723)
the independent side of this. So image and smaller started image is as big as I'm going to get in terms of a publisher that. So while they do a lot of different things, I would challenge a little bit that they're also image particularly is a little risk averse.

Matt - CDWA (17:04.986)
Okay.

Matt - CDWA (17:12.718)
Yeah.

Matt - CDWA (17:28.926)
Oh yeah.

Local Dude (17:30.091)
You often see new image number ones get solicited as an ongoing and after one or two months all of a sudden it's a maxi series. Now it's eight, it's ten, it's twelve. It's no longer an ongoing because we didn't like those pre -order numbers on issue number one and issue number twos were even lower. So sorry, no longer an ongoing. Now when something hits, they double down on it and they will give it the life that it deserves. But I think they're there.

Matt - CDWA (17:34.83)
You

Local Dude (17:58.827)
I think image is just a little bit better about just sweeping some of that stuff under the rug and hoping no one notices.

Matt - CDWA (18:07.278)
Do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing? I can't tell. Or is it just a thing? It's just a... Yeah. Yeah.

Local Dude (18:10.059)
I mean, it's a, you know, you have to, it's a, it's a business decision, you know, like they're running, they have to run a profitable business. If I get it and I want to keep getting high quality creator owned comics, cause some of my favorite stuff is published by image. So I don't have an issue with it. However, I do think that they're not, their hands aren't fully clean in this. That's for sure.

Matt - CDWA (18:35.086)
Yeah, I bring up to you like all the time about, and it was the pandemic and I get it, but like a little towards the end of the pandemic, in the pandemic, how they're like, we're not going back to print on any, you know, number, we're not going back to print on any comics, but GI Joe, they have these white silhouette covers of all these characters and they have you buy them. Part of that could be because it's licensed. I don't know, like that could be, just thinking about that now, that could be.

Local Dude (18:50.505)
Yeah, yeah.

Matt - CDWA (19:03.726)
part of the licensing thing and they know they need to make money off of that. So like, I do understand that, but they're, I hope they don't get to a point as they're, as being as egregious and marvelous as DC. They're, they're clearly not there, but yeah, I just thought, I just find that funny. That whole, like we're not doing second printings and then their second printings of a hundred second printings of the first come, um, Gio Gio comic book. Yeah. I'm stuttering. Yeah.

Local Dude (19:26.259)
Yeah, yeah Now that's okay. We that's okay. You can stutter. Yeah, it's a passionate stutter When you go below image in terms of size this conversation I think it's a little bit more difficult to have because it and I don't want to I don't want to sound like I'm going after Tim Seely here, but I

Matt - CDWA (19:33.228)
I'm passionate. Yeah, yeah, I'm passion -spirited.

Matt - CDWA (19:42.604)
Yeah.

Local Dude (19:53.867)
I do think that it is a little easier to say just do something different when you're a very successful creator, own guy who has the privilege of a steady paycheck and can be risky with creator own stuff. Not everyone has that ease of risk or ease of creation. And the smaller the publisher, the harder that is to accomplish. But.

I fully recognized that his message is altruistic and it reminds me a lot of things that I would have said About not just the comics industry, but it's a the entirety of that write -up It resonated with me in a very large way because it sounds like something that I would say or do Which is why I want to talk about it. That's why there's an entire episode about this, but also we've talked about without really

Matt - CDWA (20:39.47)
Yeah.

Local Dude (20:49.267)
Defining hey, this is malaise or whatever other Synonym you want to apply to it. We've talked about this sentiment on the podcast so many times, but I've never seen it Summarized in a way that I was like, oh, yes that exactly that that is what I meant. That is what we talk about so That's why we're talking about it, but I'll pause there. I want you can react. I'm sorry. I kept talking

Matt - CDWA (20:58.136)
Yeah.

Matt - CDWA (21:10.894)
I'm dead.

No, I'm just picturing Tim Seely taking this like manifesto like Martin Luther and pinning it on the door of Valiant Comics offices while they alternate one or two books a month. And he's talking about doing something weird and getting different. And they're like, we're trying Tim, we only have one book.

Local Dude (21:30.099)
Yeah, they can barely they're literally chopping down the trees in their backyard to get the paper to print these comics on like they are Well, not anymore there now that the alien books thing is complete There's health at valiant because now they're an imprint of alien books not an independent publisher anymore Yeah, yeah There's also there's one other thing that he said About

Matt - CDWA (21:47.502)
Okay, I didn't know that. Awesome. All right.

Local Dude (21:57.103)
Obviously, I loved the hey go read invincible if you're bored with giant crossovers at the big two like yes Everyone should read invincible if you like superhero comics and you haven't read invincible you're doing yourself a disservice and I do not like you rectify that immediately But there's a line about guys buying multiple variants just to slab them like when I tell you that I Instantly was like yeah, man. Fuck that guy because I hate slabbed books and

Matt - CDWA (21:59.638)
Yeah.

Local Dude (22:26.379)
so goddamn much. I collect comics to be able to read them and have them in my collection and go, I have this complete series. And when I have a hard time finding a low print copy of a comic that I am searching for, particularly with Ninja Turtles, it's harder and harder to find raw books because everyone wants to have something graded because then they can sell them for more money. This is like.

Matt - CDWA (22:53.23)
See you guys.

Local Dude (22:54.473)
The slab thing is like such a resellers tool and it drives me insane. And while he doesn't come out and say it, I'm just gonna assume Tim Seely hates those guys. Cause that makes me feel better. And if for some reason Tim Seely ever listens to this podcast, then I am wrong. Allow me to be ignorant. Don't tell me, don't correct me. Just let me think Tim Seely is a guy that hates these fucking slabbing resellers just like I do. And that's awesome.

Matt - CDWA (23:08.91)
I think.

Matt - CDWA (23:19.886)
I feel like you've been writing under the pen name Tintcelee for all these years. Like this is... right?

Local Dude (23:25.033)
God, I wish that he's written some of my favorite like independent comics Dude revival is awesome. I've been working through revival for about a year now It's the comic that I go to when I like need a change of pace I go. Okay time for time for another revival trade. I think I'm on seven or eight right now Nine so I'm clearing the end and obviously, you know, he's some of the stuff he tweets I know he's like an 80s kid. He's into like GI Joe and transform

Matt - CDWA (23:29.102)
Yes.

Matt - CDWA (23:37.582)
Yeah.

Matt - CDWA (23:42.574)
How many of them are there?

Local Dude (23:54.251)
and he man stuff like that and obviously that's stuff we talked about before I respect that so I feel like he's a bit of a kindred spirit so you know not to glaze him too much but

Matt - CDWA (24:01.996)
Yeah.

Matt - CDWA (24:06.798)
No, I get it.

Local Dude (24:10.411)
Any closing thoughts on this before we move on?

Matt - CDWA (24:14.222)
Yeah, I mean, I've really thought about, well, not extremely deeply, but like, how do we get out of this? And I don't want to be like nihilistic, but like, it really starts at the top because I don't know how the smaller publishers that are doing the good work, like they'll get visibility from me and people word like from word of mouth in the comic shop. And, you know, people like you that look at

you know, solicitations, but on that mainstream large level, it's unfortunately for me, but unfortunately the stewards of the industry are Marvel and DC and until they get their act together, this doesn't get, it doesn't get better. And I don't know if they want it to get better because if you truly wanted it to get better, it's been long enough where you can make it.

Local Dude (25:11.659)
Yeah, I agree. No, no, that's, it's a fair opinion. Yeah, it's a fair opinion. Yeah, I mean, I think Marvel's a bit of a lost cause. It's all about Disney money and movie money. That's where the mind shares at that company. So I don't see that changing. I agree with you.

Matt - CDWA (25:11.982)
I don't mean to be a downer, but like, it's just how it is. That's how I feel.

Matt - CDWA (25:32.174)
As a side tangent, I'm gonna learn a lot with this X -Men 92 project. Originally, I was not looking forward to it. I'm kinda looking forward to it to see what directions they go, because this has the ability to be good, but if they go the direction that their movies have been going, I don't know. So I'm interested to see where it goes.

Local Dude (25:44.619)
Mm -hmm.

Local Dude (25:57.387)
I think my to.

complete your thought, not complete your thought, to take that thought like one step further when you talk about the smaller publishers and really not sure where some of the risk taking can happen. There's also a chance for me to plug our own content. There are two places where I think risky creator -owned things are very easy to accomplish. We've done episodes on both of these things.

Matt - CDWA (26:12.014)
Yeah.

Local Dude (26:28.427)
One less easy than the other one. So I'll start with that. There's a publisher called Distillery. We talked about them last year, early in the year. They do digital and print at the same time. They're building a really interesting digital ecosystem where you can resell digital comics within their world of Distillery comics online. And there's limited amounts of digital comics released. I think that's an interesting experiment in consumer behavior.

and with the sale and resale of comics. So I'm watching that from a distance. We've done an episode on that. You can go check out that episode if you're new here. And also Global Comics. We've done Global Comics, two episodes now on Global Comics, one of which was an interview with the CEO of Global Comics. And you can publish on Global Comics as an independent creator pretty easily. And they have a really great payout model. So I think,

Matt - CDWA (27:24.334)
Awesome. Yeah.

Local Dude (27:28.901)
Again, this is you know aimed at people that are digital only or at least digital first and if you're self publishing digital is probably the cheapest way for you to do that That does exist that is an option So things to consider and ways to accomplish ultimately what Tim Sealy is talking about which is Get off your ass and do something different like be the change type of a thing. So Yeah, that those are our thoughts

Matt - CDWA (27:50.606)
Yes.

Local Dude (27:58.163)
Before we close this episode completely in the spirit of kind of what we've been talking about and the general malaise of, I'm gonna say Marvel and DC, one thing we haven't done on the podcast is talk about what we've been reading. So I know, Matt, you haven't been reading all that much, have you?

Matt - CDWA (28:19.63)
Yeah, I'm pretty malaised right now. I've read some Energon stuff, but like outside of that, for the podcast, no. I've read The Boys, I'm not even including that in what I've been reading, but yes, I did read The Boys. Yeah.

Local Dude (28:28.171)
You read the boys.

Local Dude (28:37.547)
All right, well, then I'll talk about what I've been reading. Some some some good stuff, some recommendations for our dear listeners who maybe want to try something a little bit different. These aren't recommendations of like things you should read. This is stuff that I have been reading lately that I am very, very much enjoying. I'd be remiss if I didn't say Local Man by Tim Seeley. I've talked about this book before. I will probably talk about it again. It is a 90s type of throwback.

Matt - CDWA (28:39.054)
Yes, please.

Local Dude (29:05.995)
In the vibes of this comic, but it's set in present day. The main character was in a 90s style image superhero team. He gets kicked out of the team and is essentially forbidden to be a superhero or use his powers, likeness or costume anymore because the copyright is owned by the team he's been kicked out of. And he goes back to his hometown and hijinks and Sue. It also is like flip book style. So at the end of every issue, you flip it over and you get.

A story that's set in the past. A lot of that stuff is 90s style image superhero past and it ties to the issue that you just read. It's a phenomenal book. It's a very creative take on the superhero comic. Very refreshing, highly recommended. I've also been reading a comic called Astrobots. It was published by I want to say it's massive. Or maybe it's whatnot.

Or maybe those are the same thing. I don't remember. I didn't have time to go check because I was running very late before we started recording. It's by Simon Furman. If you don't know who Simon Furman is, he used to write Transformers comics for Marvel way back in the day. Astrobots is about robots that have been sent out into the world, into the universe, and they go and they find planets and they're supposed to prepare the planet for the arrival of...

Matt - CDWA (30:20.526)
Okay.

Local Dude (30:31.241)
Humans because they can no longer live on earth. So they're like in this big ship in like hyper sleep stasis Whatever the astrobots are on the planet trying to get it ready. It's like it's got some Transformers vibes Ended up being a really cool comic. It was a five issue miniseries. It's coming back. I think this year for a second series I really dug it It's a little dense But you know, it was still good Obviously reading all the energy on stuff and GI Joe real American hero. We just did an episode about that. I

still loving all that stuff. And I also mentioned this earlier, but Valiant is back, baby. They're putting out comics. Yes. So they finished Exo Manor Unconquered. I read that. It was by Becky Clunin, I think. Phenomenal six issue story. They just released the Ninjak series that Valiant was supposed to publish before this merger started to happen and Valiant was literally in shambles.

Matt - CDWA (31:06.846)
Are they though? Are they?

Local Dude (31:29.841)
So they finished that They just solicited bloodshot. They did a Valentine's Day one -shot that had Five four or five different little mini stories in it that brought back a lot of our favorite valiant characters faith archer Doc Mirage was in there bloodshot was in there They've also got more stuff coming there's a punk mambo one -shot coming but I

I'm reading all the value and stuff. I'm in, I'm all the way in, both feet, I jumped in. I'm loving it. They've got backing. I think this lasts for a little while. That's my bold prediction.

Matt - CDWA (32:09.678)
Who is the backing again you said? You said it earlier. Alien books. Okay.

Local Dude (32:12.435)
Alien books?

Local Dude (32:17.291)
Also, I've been very, very behind on TMNT, the one remaining thing propping up IDW Comics. I'm like eight trade paperbacks behind. So what's that? Like four years?

Matt - CDWA (32:25.742)
Hehehehehe

Matt - CDWA (32:31.246)
Yeah, pretty much. Yeah.

Local Dude (32:33.003)
So I've been catching up on that stuff. I've read TMNT Reborn, which is like, I forget what volume that is, it's like volume 23 or something. I don't know, somewhere in the 20s, but they've renumbered, they started renumbering it for some reason. I don't know why. If you picked up reading the IDW TMNT series with TMNT Reborn volume one, you would not know what the fuck is happening.

Matt - CDWA (32:42.902)
Yeah.

Matt - CDWA (32:56.206)
The funny story is that's where I did. That's where I did.

Local Dude (32:59.733)
Of course you did. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Did you know what was going on? Were you confused? I bet you were.

Matt - CDWA (33:06.19)
jumping at me. I had to go back and get, I collected from like issue 100, cause I was like, what happened to Splinter and what happened to Shredder? So I had to, I had to go back and like read it a little bit, but I got, I figured it out. I figured it out.

Local Dude (33:14.993)
Yessss

Local Dude (33:24.073)
Anyway, I've read the first two and I'm in the middle of the third one right now. I'm enjoying it. It's not my favorite. The stuff before Reborn was way better. Um, but I'm trying to catch up on all this stuff before they relaunch it.

Matt - CDWA (33:27.298)
Yeah.

Matt - CDWA (33:31.36)
Yeah.

Matt - CDWA (33:35.95)
How do you feel about this relaunch? Because I'm kind of into it. Jason Aaron. But he's not on Marvel and DC, though. OK, done.

Local Dude (33:37.611)
I don't like it. You know I don't like it. Who's doing it again?

Exactly. Don't care. He's still gonna he's still relaunching something near and dear to my heart. You think I'm on board for that after what happened the last three times? No, thanks. I'll still buy it. I'm a piece of shit. Sorry, Tim. I'm gonna.

Matt - CDWA (33:52.238)
That's true.

Matt - CDWA (33:55.854)
This is very self -deprecating. Yeah, you're bagging a board in 40 covers.

Local Dude (34:06.443)
This is borderline embarrassing. The final thing on my what I've been reading lately list. I've been trying to read some DC stuff, but I still can't fucking download anything on the app. So that's been an exercise in frustration.

Matt - CDWA (34:15.086)
Okay?

So loud.

Local Dude (34:24.875)
Okay, all that being said, that's it for us for this week. We're back in two weeks with part three of the boys. If you haven't listened to the first two episodes, I urge you to do so. We're slowly seeing Matt's descent into, I don't know if apathy is a strong enough word, but we are going to break this man by the time December comes around and we finish this series, I can tell.

Matt - CDWA (34:47.022)
Yeah.

I'm gonna be broken by a rock out

Local Dude (34:56.139)
Well, I hope you can soldier through it. Appreciate everyone taking the time to check out our little podcast here. If you can, go follow us on the socials I mentioned earlier. Share the podcast with a friend or family member, somebody you work with that might like comic books. It helps us grow. The more we grow, the more we can keep doing the podcast. So we'd really appreciate it. We really appreciate you just for listening, even if you don't share it, that's still okay. We'll see you in two weeks. My name is Dave.

Matt - CDWA (34:57.774)
I'll be all right.

Matt - CDWA (35:25.87)
And I'm Matt.

Local Dude (35:27.243)
Take care of yourselves, everybody.

Matt - CDWA (35:28.59)
Peace.