Funny Book Forensics 384 Flexing Our Mental Muscles

[00:00:06] Speaker A: Oh, why did you pause? Like, I was doing the Wayne's World thing. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Oh, I. I was trying to clear the thing that said the recording is happening. [00:00:13] Speaker A: The recording is happening. [00:00:15] Speaker B: Well, I know, but the. It pops up a screen on my. It pops up a whole entire screen thing. [00:00:19] Speaker A: It covers the whole entire recording's happening. It's just letting you know it's being courteous. [00:00:23] Speaker B: I know, but it. It won't go away unless I clear the button. I gotta. I gotta clear a button on my side. [00:00:28] Speaker A: Gotta click buttons. I thought I was the only one that had to click. [00:00:31] Speaker B: No, I have to clear a button. [00:00:32] Speaker A: That's why we do it this way. [00:00:33] Speaker B: I know, but I have to clear a button to clear a button. [00:00:37] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Well, you know, the cool thing is this podcast. I figured out how to make these podcasts go on video, and pretty soon I'm gonna actually start putting them on YouTube on video. So you're gonna be able to see us in person. [00:00:48] Speaker B: Oh, God. [00:00:49] Speaker A: This new cool thing, and it, like, makes us, like, talk back and forth and changes things. This is crazy. [00:00:54] Speaker B: No. [00:00:56] Speaker A: Yeah. You're going to be on video, so be ready. That's why we're all on our funny book. Forensic stuff. Well, you are. I am. You've got everything. [00:01:04] Speaker B: I've got it all. [00:01:05] Speaker A: Well, I was working out. Okay, so I do have time. You're not working out, so you all have time in the world. [00:01:09] Speaker B: I. Well, I mean, I was cooking dinner for Grandma. Baba wanted fish and oysters, and then she was like, why aren't you eating with me? And I was like, I can't eat all that food with you because you're trying to kill me slowly. [00:01:22] Speaker A: That's fair. [00:01:23] Speaker B: I mean, you know. [00:01:24] Speaker A: But you are gonna start working out. [00:01:26] Speaker B: I am. Yes. It's true. I'm back on. [00:01:28] Speaker A: You had a little health issue, but now we're gonna start working out. You pledged that a couple podcasts ago. [00:01:33] Speaker B: I did. [00:01:34] Speaker A: Well, actually, I believe one podcast ago. But we've. Been. We've been silent for two weeks. [00:01:38] Speaker B: Yes. Yes. And then when I did come down to Tacoma, I was not in any. Any shape to do anything with. With you and fall, so. [00:01:46] Speaker A: That is true. But you're almost there now, so. Or you are there now. You probably are there. [00:01:52] Speaker B: I think so. I think I'm over the gout and the kidney stone has passed, so. [00:01:58] Speaker A: That's a lot. That's a lot. That sounds like if you could just flex a muscle and make all that go away, you would have been happier, guy. [00:02:09] Speaker B: I would have been A happier guy if I could just flex and just make it go away and. [00:02:18] Speaker A: Well, if you could do that. [00:02:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:21] Speaker A: You would be a special character from the Doom Patrol. [00:02:24] Speaker B: Oh, who would I be? [00:02:26] Speaker A: Well, most people know him from the television show because obviously, yeah, comic books are really old, but there's a whole character named Flex Mentalo and when he flexes muscles, superpowers happen. [00:02:39] Speaker B: Whoa, whoa, whoa. [00:02:40] Speaker A: And I thought in honor of your pledge to work out and my journey to abs at 50, which we'll see, we should honor the Flex Mentalo character and our pledge to work out. It seemed like a. And it's like the first of the year where everybody makes all these New Year's pledges to work out. [00:03:02] Speaker B: Right. [00:03:02] Speaker A: I thought the world has come together for us to do this miniseries. [00:03:11] Speaker B: Yes, it's, it's perfect. It's, it's like, it's, it is, it is the two things coming together all at the same time. I, I'm looking for a healthy option, but the only thing that seem. Seems right is peanut butter and jelly or, or peanut butter and chocolate. [00:03:28] Speaker A: Mm, chocolate. [00:03:30] Speaker B: I know, right? You take. [00:03:32] Speaker A: So delicious. [00:03:33] Speaker B: And you take the chocolate, you just dip the chocolate into the peanut butter, just eat it. [00:03:39] Speaker A: Well, you know, if you want to just have those four dips for your whole meal for the day, then that's fine. [00:03:45] Speaker B: I might. [00:03:46] Speaker A: As I say on abs at 50, the other podcast that I do with Paul Boudreau, that's a lawyer, I say you can eat anything, but not everything. I mean, if that's the choice you want to make, I'm not. I mean, I can't control you. I don't know if that's the best choice. You would probably be looking for more food, cuz you would use up your calories very quickly. [00:04:05] Speaker B: That's true. That's true. I think I'll stick with my salads and, and, and my, my apples and my other things that, that, that fit into my, my, my nice vegetables and, and fruits and other things that I'm doing. [00:04:23] Speaker A: Well, I think you should do that. And the other thing I think we should do is we. Before we start talking about this comic book, I think we have to talk about Charles Atlas. [00:04:36] Speaker B: Charles Atlas? Oh, yeah. I mean, you flip open a comic book anywhere back in the day, he was on every other page. [00:04:45] Speaker A: Now, what year do you think the first comic book ad featuring Charles Atlas appeared? [00:04:51] Speaker B: Um, I'm gonna say probably somewhere in the 50s. Yeah. [00:04:58] Speaker A: 1949. Okay, so interesting. So it's very interesting. So right at the end of Superhero comics, the golden age. Right. So they don't really come back till 57. [00:05:11] Speaker B: Right, yeah, yeah. [00:05:14] Speaker A: So as superhero comics were going away, Charles Atlas was appearing in Western comics. [00:05:21] Speaker B: Western comics. [00:05:22] Speaker A: Comics. And which is. It's really interesting. Right, like that, that would thing but a little bit. So Charles Atlas, if for those of you that don't know, he is the guy that was in all those comic book ads where the guy gets sand kicked at him on the beach. [00:05:40] Speaker B: Yeah. And in the face, in the kisser. [00:05:44] Speaker A: And apparently the beach bully advertisement first appeared in 1953, though it lasted well into the Silver Age. Oh ye 60s. And you could send away for the book and Charles Atlas would say for 15 minutes a day you can look just like Charles Atlas. [00:06:03] Speaker B: Just doing all those exercises that are outlined in the book. [00:06:07] Speaker A: Right. And in the original ad he wore a. The original one. Well, I shouldn't say the original ad, but one of the ads he wore a leopards. Right. A leopard print bikini. [00:06:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:22] Speaker A: And he says, and give me 15 minutes a day and I'll give you a new body. Here's some things I didn't know about Charles Atlas because I'd only seen the 97 pound weakling ads. Right. Yeah, yeah, Charles Atlas. There was a magazine in 1922. No, sorry, in 1921 called Physical Culture. I had no idea. I don't know if. I don't think it's around anymore. [00:06:52] Speaker B: I don't, I don't think so either. [00:06:54] Speaker A: But it dubbed Charles Atlas America's most handsome man. And in 1922, America's most perfectly developed man in a contest, early bodybuilding contest held at Madison Square Garden. [00:07:17] Speaker B: Because he had all the, the physique that, that just made everybody weak apparently. [00:07:26] Speaker A: And I mean I'm looking at a young picture of him. I, it makes me weak. [00:07:31] Speaker B: I mean this is his, his traps are trapping you. [00:07:34] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean he's a good looking gentleman. Yeah, A very, very good looking gentleman here. Oh yeah. [00:07:46] Speaker B: Yes. [00:07:46] Speaker A: Yeah. So not a bad looking gentleman. And you can see some of the ads here for Charles Atlas and there's the one in the. [00:08:00] Speaker B: Oh yeah, yeah. [00:08:01] Speaker A: You've seen these before? Yeah, I've seen these before. I don't know if the listeners have seen these before. [00:08:06] Speaker B: So you can pick up almost like. I mean I, I remember seeing them. They, they were, they were in like it was. I always find it funny because they were in your, like you'd get them in a lot of like the kid books too, you know, so they would be in like your, your Richie Riches and Your Beada Baileys and stuff like that. Stuff that, you know, you're like, you'd be reading through it and you're like, oh, yeah, no, I want to. I want to get big like that, you know, Or. I don't know. We didn't have words like swole and stuff like that back then, but it was like, oh, yeah, you don't want to be that skinny guy in the beach. You want to be big like Charles Atlas. [00:08:43] Speaker A: Well, and here's the classic ad here that you see. So this is the classic, classic Charles Atlas ad right there. And we get. It's interesting because Charles Atlas sort of becomes a comic book character, right? He's in all the comics. [00:09:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:03] Speaker A: He's not just in one comic, he's in every comic. So to your point, right, he wasn't just in superhero comics. He wasn't just in Richie Rich comics or Archie comics or wherever. He's everywhere. And so Grant Morrison in Doom Patrol decided to make Charles Atlas in Doom Patrol 36. And he ran in a short story line from like 36 to 37. I was doing a little bit of back research right, as we were talking to start the podcast. I'll do a little bit more research on this too. But he lived on Danny the street. So if you're not familiar with Danny the street, I. I don't want to get too far into Danny the street, but Danny the street was a street. A living, sentient street. Uh, Danny became Danny the alley at one point. Danny became Danny the city. But he is a non gender binary day. Sorry. Or a non j. C. Like I said it wrong already, he is a street. They are a gender non binary street. And that's where the men from Nowhere, if you watch the television show, they do a fairly accurate representation and first appearance of Flex Mentala too. He just appears. And in the comic he saves Jane, Crazy Jane from something. And I don't get too far into that story. [00:10:27] Speaker B: Okay. [00:10:28] Speaker A: They do, actually. Danny's treaty even becomes Danny Land at some point. Danny the land or Danny Land. So, I mean, but they had these. This group called the Men from Nowhere. And the Men from Nowhere wanted everything abnormal to be taken away. [00:10:45] Speaker B: Oh. [00:10:47] Speaker A: And so at some point, they convinced Flex Mantalo that they convinced him to forget who he was, that he was a circus performer, that he was a strong man, and that he had the power to. Of muscle mystery. [00:11:05] Speaker B: Oh, the muscle mystery power. [00:11:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And so now on the show, he flexes and it gives a sexual reaction to all the people around him. [00:11:18] Speaker B: Ooh. [00:11:20] Speaker A: Yeah, well, yeah. More than a little. Little stronger. [00:11:23] Speaker B: Ah. [00:11:24] Speaker A: Yeah. So I don't know if that's going to happen in the comic. I don't know. We'll find out. But we decided to go back and read the miniseries that Grant Morrison and Frank quietly did, and I believe this was before their X Men run. [00:11:41] Speaker B: Okay. [00:11:43] Speaker A: Right around the same time. I think it's a little bit before. I think I'll have to confirm that. [00:11:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:50] Speaker A: But obviously, Grant Morrison and Frank quietly become very famous for their run on X Men, most famously for showing that Cyclops is the worst human being and the worst, most terrible, disgusting human ever. [00:12:08] Speaker B: Not a good leader. [00:12:10] Speaker A: Well, and also sleeping with Emma Frost in her brain while still being married to Jean Grey. [00:12:18] Speaker B: Yes. [00:12:21] Speaker A: So. Because he's scum and we all knew that, so that's where. Agreed. And by the way, shout out to Travis Webb, co author of Starlight and upcoming author of many cool comics that are and projects in the works all along the Cyborg, the Nemesis line franchise. And once again, Travis, you are incorrect. Cyclops is the boringest, stupidest, most terrible, grossest, worst X Men ever. He's boring, he sucks, he's not a good leader, and you're not here to rebut me, so I win. [00:13:02] Speaker B: So you win. [00:13:04] Speaker A: Yeah, that's how this works. [00:13:07] Speaker B: I. And I can't say anything against anything against it, in Travis's defense, because I agree with you. So it's, you win, Dan wins. [00:13:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, Travis, New X men ran from 2001 to 2004, and this was in 96. So. Yeah, and we're going to get a JLA run with Grant Morrison too, at DC, a more mainstream one. I have a problem with Grant Morrison comic books, though, much like I have a problem with Travis's love of Cyclops. Most of the time. I consider myself a decently smart human. [00:13:48] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. [00:13:49] Speaker A: But not that smart, because I can never figure out what the hell Grant Morrison is talking about in his comics. [00:13:56] Speaker B: Because it's. It's. It's all this over here and this over here and a little bit over here. It's a lot to track, a lot to follow. Yeah, yeah. You have to. You have to move around a lot. [00:14:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Sometimes reading a Grant Morrison comic book is like eating a five course Michelin star meal. And sometimes reading a Grant Morrison comic book is like eating five plates of. [00:14:27] Speaker B: Whoa. I, I would, I would. I would not say that. I would say it's like going and getting like one of the Taco Bell box meals, which I would. [00:14:38] Speaker A: Which is like Eating five plates of. And then five plates of shit. [00:14:42] Speaker B: I, I was gonna say. And then going to Jack in the Box and getting one of their jack boxes. [00:14:52] Speaker A: Those are actually good. Taco Bell is not good, you know, and it's quite frustrating because the, the Jack in the Boxes down here in Tacoma have been so mismanaged by the people that own them that they've closed, like half of them. [00:15:10] Speaker B: Oh, that's depressing. [00:15:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Like the one on 6th just closed. It's all boarded up. Because they're so bad at managing their restaurants, they managed to get them closed. And I've noticed that the rest of the Jack of the boxes around the Northwest are doing fine. [00:15:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:25] Speaker A: But they can't manage their own businesses, so I don't have access to Jack of the box anymore. [00:15:29] Speaker B: Come to camp. [00:15:30] Speaker A: It's probably good for my weight loss journey. [00:15:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, that's true. That's true. [00:15:34] Speaker A: But not so good for just in general because if I was going to have a cheat mailman Jack in the box, that's go to right there. Those late night munchy meals, if you were using a certain substance and then they're called munchy meals for a reason. [00:15:52] Speaker B: I don't understand. [00:15:54] Speaker A: No, it's okay. You don't need to. I mean, it's kind of like reading a Grant Morrison comic book. You read it and you basically are told that if you don't understand, you're not very smart or you don't get it. This is brilliant. But is it really brilliant or is it just a Bunch of self MassPad. I can't even say words. You know where I was going with that? [00:16:21] Speaker B: I know where you're going with that. Well, it's like when this book came out. If I had read this when this book came out, I don't think I would have, I, I, I would have picked it up and said, wow, this book looks really cool. But I wouldn't have gotten it. [00:16:35] Speaker A: Oh, I definitely wouldn't have gotten it because I might have, I definitely would have picked up on the Charles Atlas piece. And I didn't read. I read the Doom Patrol books in the early 2000s. So I think it was when I was teaching out in Kentucky when I picked them up off ebay, you know, because I was like, this is something I need to read. And I've, I need to go back and reread them just because, like, I missed out on a lot of that too. I love, I like the Doom Patrol run. It's weird and wacky. Sometimes it goes beyond My scope, though, I don't think the. Like, the show has helped, honestly. I did love the show. It's different than the comics, but there are. They keep a lot of the concepts. I do really enjoy the show. Uh, I. I think when you're reading this, sometimes there's also, like, he did. I'm totally blank. Blanking. Did he do Seven Soldiers of Victory? I think. And then he. I know he did the. He did the. With the multiverse. Multiversity and With Multiversity, man. I don't know. Sometimes I feel like if I have a cold or a headache and I just want to read a comic, man, it's rough to read Grant Morrison because it's like digesting a comic. So I have to think about so much stuff. Sometimes I just want to read a comic, and then sometimes I want to read Grant Morrison. [00:17:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:58] Speaker A: Because there are days, like, I would just like to sit and read a Superman comic and have it be fairly straightforward and simple. [00:18:04] Speaker B: You know what you're getting into. By. By age 15, you already know what the story is going. I. Right. With a. With a story like this, you're like, I don't know what's gonna happen next. [00:18:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Grant Morrison did do that 7 soldiers of. 7 soldiers of victory book as well. I mean, Grant Morrison's prolific. He's done a ton of. Ton of stuff. And I kind of think, you know, it's either. I don't want to say you love him or you hate him, but it seems that way in fandom. I kind of am in between on him. Like, I really like some of the stuff he does. He did the Authority, too, right? And Keith Giffen followed him on the Authority. [00:18:46] Speaker B: Yeah. I think you have to be in the right mood to pick up one of his books to really get into it to. It's not something you can just grab and go, yeah, let's do this. You have to be like, all right, let's do this. [00:19:03] Speaker A: Well, and I'm just coming off of reading, so I just finished up the JLI omnibus number three. [00:19:11] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. [00:19:12] Speaker A: Read all of them. So I just came off of that. And if you. If you. If you don't know, there's a lot of text in a Keith Giffen and Mark dematteis book. Yeah, there's a lot of text. A lot of text. And so then I went right into this. So, yeah. I mean, Farah, you know, I. I'm getting my reading in. [00:19:36] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:19:37] Speaker A: I've. I've been getting my reading in. The one thing I will Share from you that I forgot from the. The JLA classified run with formerly known as the Justice League with the Super Buddies. Is that. Do you know Hell's Phone Carrier? [00:19:54] Speaker B: No, it's Verizon. Oh, it makes sense. [00:19:59] Speaker A: It does make sense, doesn't it? [00:20:02] Speaker B: I've gone to the mattress with them many a times. They're. [00:20:07] Speaker A: It makes sense. [00:20:08] Speaker B: They are not. [00:20:09] Speaker A: Yeah, it made sense. So they knew it even back in the 2000s. So there you go. But just finished up that run, that book. It finishes with breakdowns in JLI and then gives you the formerly known as the Justice League miniseries and their five issue story or five or six issue story in JLA classified before it finishes off. And then it has the tribute at the end to Keith Giffen that ran in all the comics when he died. So I got to relive that over again too. Little tear out on that. But yeah, it was great finishing it up. So a lot of text has come my way in comic book land. So see, we may have took a. We took a couple weeks off from the podcast, but I did not take a couple of weeks off from comics. [00:20:55] Speaker B: You took no time off from comics. [00:20:57] Speaker A: I had a lot of comics going on. So let's jump in. Yeah, finally. So we've got the Flex Mentalo cover and there is a lot going on this cover. [00:21:11] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:21:13] Speaker A: My favorite is you buy this comic now or the earth is doomed. So we've got classic of Silver Age. Is cover more. More Marvel than DC on that cover. [00:21:24] Speaker B: Feels like it for sure. [00:21:26] Speaker A: But, you know, cool to bring in. I love that. That's fine. No reason not to do that. [00:21:32] Speaker B: Right, Right. [00:21:34] Speaker A: And because that's kind of be the nature. We've got Flex Balo in a. Looks like a robe. We got a little graphic down indicating it's a four issue miniseries now. 24 pages of full color comics. [00:21:48] Speaker B: Whoa. [00:21:49] Speaker A: The World Book Bodybuilding approved by the World Book Body association as opposed to the Comics Code Authority. [00:21:56] Speaker B: So love it. [00:21:58] Speaker A: This is a Vertigo book, so it didn't have to get approved by anyone, which is always nice. [00:22:02] Speaker B: Perfection. [00:22:03] Speaker A: All new. It tells us on the COVID there will be no reprint. They must have known. They must have known this wasn't going to be a big seller. [00:22:12] Speaker B: You're gonna love. [00:22:13] Speaker A: And I'm not sure why they know that already. [00:22:16] Speaker B: They're like, hey, we're putting it out there. If, if you're picking this up, you're getting gold right now. [00:22:22] Speaker A: I mean, it's. Well, you know, I mean, when this is published, you know, this is Published in. Right in the middle of the collapse of the comic book industry as well. So this is published June of 96. So the comic book industry is collapsing around itself. So congratulations. Comic book industry probably was going to be zero. There probably was going to be nothing going on there. [00:22:49] Speaker B: So they, they were in a vacuum. [00:22:52] Speaker A: Yeah, it was, it was, it was not going well at the time. That was. I mean, if they just killed Superman one more time, maybe they would have sold five more books. But you can only kill Superman so many times, so that would be the problem. What are you thinking of the COVID so far and the colors and the art. [00:23:14] Speaker B: I love the colors. It just brings you in. Like, I mean, when I opened this up and I saw this, I was like, oh my gosh, this looks amazing. Like, just the colors, the font of Flex Montalo, like everything just pop, pop, pop. It just. Yeah, it just looks so neat. The stars down the side, everything just the, the pinks and purples, everything is just so great. It just has that. It, it's. [00:23:43] Speaker A: I. [00:23:43] Speaker B: It just screams at you. Like, open this book. [00:23:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean I, I love it. You know, it's. It's a, it's a. It's a neat book. It's definitely something. And it's got the very silver age feel to the COVID Yeah, but with the purples, which wouldn't have been there in the silver age. [00:24:06] Speaker B: That's what makes it so neat. [00:24:08] Speaker A: Well, and then we flip the page and we get an ad for Terminal City, which I have never read. [00:24:13] Speaker B: Me neither. Looks cool though. [00:24:16] Speaker A: It does look cool. And then we go to the first page and there is a nine panel grid. [00:24:25] Speaker B: No lie. [00:24:26] Speaker A: Yay. [00:24:28] Speaker B: Pretty cool. [00:24:29] Speaker A: You know how much I love my nine panel grids. There is no page number on this page. But I would like to you to note the fine use of page numbers throughout this comic. [00:24:38] Speaker B: I did note that. I knew you'd be happy. Dan would be happy. Everyone, there are page numbers throughout this whole entire book. [00:24:47] Speaker A: True professionals use page numbers like Grant Morrison. Well, we've got a nine panel grid and we have a bomb and it's thrown by a guy or a gal, I don't know. [00:25:02] Speaker B: It's not a person, a non. [00:25:05] Speaker A: And it blows up and it looks like it creates the universe. [00:25:07] Speaker B: Oh, wow. [00:25:08] Speaker A: And the bomb is a like cartoon bomb from like. And it says bomb on it. So you know it's a bomb. [00:25:16] Speaker B: Sometimes you just can't get rid of a bomb. Dan. [00:25:20] Speaker A: Are we going back to Batman? [00:25:23] Speaker B: Yes. [00:25:23] Speaker A: Like, yeah, that's, that's. That is honestly that is one of my favorite scenes ever when he's carrying the bomb and, like, did he run into nuns everywhere he went? Everywhere there was. There was something keeping him from getting rid of that, mom. And. Yeah, that. It's one of my favorite scenes ever. In every. In all of anything. [00:25:44] Speaker B: Yes. [00:25:45] Speaker A: Well, this bomb looks like it creates the universe. [00:25:49] Speaker B: It's pretty. [00:25:49] Speaker A: And we flip the page and we get sort of this blue thing, and it says through the canine doorway. The K9 doorway. Is that a drug reference or is that. [00:25:59] Speaker B: I. You know, could. You could take it any way you want. A dog door? [00:26:03] Speaker A: I would say use a dog door, but. Yeah, I'm deferring to your knowledge of illicit substances. And maybe we do need to have Travis on here. He can probably tell us. He could. [00:26:13] Speaker B: He would take us down a K hole and. [00:26:17] Speaker A: Yeah, well, that's. [00:26:18] Speaker B: Explain. [00:26:19] Speaker A: Maybe Travis should be on for one of these issues, because I'm already lost. I have no idea what's happening. [00:26:24] Speaker B: There's. I mean, there are lots of references in here. [00:26:30] Speaker A: We get to a page where a nice man is making breakfast. [00:26:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:34] Speaker A: And. Oh, I don't know if he's a nice man, but he looks like it's at a diner. And he's doing that. This is your brain on drugs joke. So that's why I was thinking it was a drug reference. [00:26:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:48] Speaker A: And he's cracking the egg into the pan, and he's like, eggs? Who wants eggs? Because we're in the 90s coming out of the 80s when eggs were bad for you, and now nobody can buy eggs because they're $9 million a dozen. [00:27:03] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Yeah. No. Grandma wanted eggs for. For all sorts of things. So salads, breakfast. And I was like, eggs are so expensive, Baba. Eggs are so expensive. [00:27:14] Speaker A: I wanted eggs, too. It was $24 for five dozen eggs. [00:27:17] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. [00:27:18] Speaker A: At Winco. [00:27:19] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Eggs are nuts. [00:27:24] Speaker A: Apparently, all the birds are dying of egg flu. Bird flu. [00:27:27] Speaker B: Yes. So the prices are going up everywhere. That's. [00:27:32] Speaker A: Well, I had to eat chicken instead, which I don't know why. Chicken costs nothing. Eggs. Well, anyway, so I guess. Well, I guess it sort of does make sense. If you're eating the chickens, the chickens can be dead, but if you need eggs, chicken needs to be alive. So that. That does make sense. I guess it. [00:27:52] Speaker B: It is. What came first, the chicken or the. [00:27:55] Speaker A: Egg or the bird flu or the. [00:27:57] Speaker B: Egg, you know, or the price gouging or the. The egg. [00:28:05] Speaker A: Well, we get to a page, and we get a very Charles Atlasy Looking Flex Mentalo here doesn't look like the young Charles Atlas. He looks like the ad straight from the comic book. [00:28:15] Speaker B: Yes. [00:28:16] Speaker A: And Charles Atlas. I don't know if I said the beginning, but was a circus strongman too. So that's where part of the outfit and everything comes from. [00:28:23] Speaker B: Yep. [00:28:24] Speaker A: Uh, and yeah, imagine seeing Charles Atlas in a vaudeville act. [00:28:29] Speaker B: Oh, man, that'd be amazing. Just doing cool stuff, stunts, picking up stuff, bending bars and stuff like that or whatever he did. [00:28:41] Speaker A: And we get interesting group. Grant Morrison, writing Frank quietly. Artist. Tom McCraw, Legion of Superheroes, Archie version of the Legion, writer and colorist as the colorist of this book, which I was like, oh, hi, Tom. Okay, you were doing Teenage Legionnaires and this at the same time. That's cool. Ellie deville, letterer. Carrie Kowalski, assistant editor. Art Young and Stuart Moore, editors. So pretty nifty here as we get started in Flex Metallo Number one. And it says, after the fact, part one. Flowery Atomic Heart. Again, it's a Graham Morrison title, so I have literally no idea. But he gets his egg sandwiches. I don't think Flex would be eating the sandwich food part. Personally, I think he'd be eating the eggy part. [00:29:40] Speaker B: You know, maybe he's on a cheat day. [00:29:45] Speaker A: Oh, he might be bulking. [00:29:47] Speaker B: He's bulking. [00:29:48] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm gonna assume he's bulking. Well, he says, boy, I've been waiting for this. Nothing like the protein and goodness in. And then people start yelling, it's a bomb. It's a bomb. Don't get him. Let him away. And Flex goes into action. He leaps over a table and he notes, here's something you can't do anymore. I like to go down to the airport once a week. I usually take a taxi there and just sit for most of the day watching the planes. We can't do that anymore. [00:30:18] Speaker B: No. [00:30:21] Speaker A: Thanks. 9 11. Thanks. [00:30:23] Speaker B: To be able to do that. [00:30:24] Speaker A: No more Flex Metalla. Plane watching. [00:30:26] Speaker B: No plane watching. Just got to the. Watch the planes on the tarmac. [00:30:31] Speaker A: Well, we flip the page and we get an ad for Descent. And Descent too. [00:30:38] Speaker B: Ah. On PlayStation and PC. It's a fun game. It makes you very sick. It's a very dizzying game. [00:30:47] Speaker A: I don't think I'd like that. [00:30:48] Speaker B: Oh, no, it's. It's a. It's. It's. It's a very. Gives you motion sickness. [00:30:57] Speaker A: And then we get an ad for the best movie ever made. [00:31:08] Speaker B: No, no, no, no. [00:31:11] Speaker A: We get an ad for a movie that never should have been made. The Crow City of Angels. When somebody gets shot in your movie, you probably should just. [00:31:22] Speaker B: Not make a sequel. [00:31:23] Speaker A: Not do a sequel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:31:28] Speaker B: And then, I mean, make a. A movie with none of the returning cast. [00:31:34] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, for that story, you don't really need a returning cast, admittedly, but. [00:31:41] Speaker B: Yeah, No, I know, I know. [00:31:43] Speaker A: But when your cast really can't return. [00:31:45] Speaker B: Yeah, this is true. [00:31:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, anyway, artifact of history here. Like, this whole book. [00:31:54] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. A fact of history. [00:31:58] Speaker A: Well, we get. He says today was different, and he says, let me handle this. He goes reaching after the bomb, and people are saying, what a build. He's famous for it. Yeah, that's what I'm gonna be known for right there. [00:32:14] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm gonna flex and make some mystical magic. [00:32:20] Speaker A: I don't know. We'll see. And, well, he flexes, and hero of the beach goes above him. He has his own special, like, icon that shows up every time he does something. [00:32:31] Speaker B: That's pretty sweet. [00:32:33] Speaker A: And. Yeah, I need that for me. Like, I need it to tell people when I'm upset or happy. Yeah, yeah. [00:32:41] Speaker B: Like a. [00:32:41] Speaker A: Like, I should, like, have emojis above me so people know when to, like, leave me the F alone. [00:32:47] Speaker B: Bloop. [00:32:48] Speaker A: Like, when. I have to go to the office now all the time. There should be a big sign over there, says, like, Dan is concentrating on work. Frowny face. Don't talk to him right now. You're going to come over and distract him, and then he's not going to be able to get back to work for 20 minutes. And then when I get back to work, then somebody else is going to come say something to me. Oh, wait, sorry. Back on the book. Yes. So I was doing it to myself in the podcast. [00:33:14] Speaker B: For me, it's just my headphones are on and people just leave me alone. So. [00:33:18] Speaker A: Yeah, Yeah, I tried that. Somebody still came and tapped me on the shoulder. So it was. Anyway, then he says he realizes it wasn't a bomb at all. It was a key. [00:33:32] Speaker B: Oh, a key. He's in a video game, apparently. [00:33:38] Speaker A: And then we flipped the page, and. Wow. [00:33:43] Speaker B: Whoa. [00:33:44] Speaker A: Who is this guy? And what is he not on? [00:33:48] Speaker B: I know. He's got everything there. This is why we need Travis. Yeah, he's got everything on this table. [00:33:57] Speaker A: He looks like he's an English writer. [00:34:00] Speaker B: He does. He does look like an English writer. [00:34:04] Speaker A: He kind of looks like an English writer that wrote the comic. [00:34:11] Speaker B: He does look like an English writer that wrote the comic. [00:34:14] Speaker A: He's not bald. [00:34:16] Speaker B: Well, I mean, this. [00:34:17] Speaker A: He has lots of hair. [00:34:18] Speaker B: This Would be. This would be time frame appropriate perhaps. [00:34:23] Speaker A: I don't know. Grant Morrison has been hairline bald for a lot. I mean, there is a younger version, though. [00:34:33] Speaker B: Yeah, well, you know, that hair. [00:34:39] Speaker A: Well, this caption here, as I do. My Reddit says. Reddit claims that young Grant Morrison was hot as hell. [00:34:52] Speaker B: That is a great picture of him with a cat on his shoulder. Wow. [00:34:59] Speaker A: Yeah. So, I mean, that's, that's. You all may be more familiar with the, The. The more recent Grant Morrison. [00:35:09] Speaker B: That's. [00:35:11] Speaker A: That has. Well, you know, I used to have hair too. I mean, I get it. And at some point, I. I actually admire Grant Morrison. Both of us took the. The choice to become Lex Luthor instead of fighting the hair loss, which I think is. I think is the right. The right. Yeah. I'm not taking my hat off. I don't know why you have to show off. [00:35:33] Speaker B: I just. Showing off this full head of hair that I have. It's. [00:35:36] Speaker A: Were you feeling the need to brag or. No. I mean, is that some sort of flex? Are you trying to flex your eyebrow muscles? And then if you flex your eyebrow muscles, you can. You have some sort of superpower to like, grow hair? Like, what's the move? [00:35:51] Speaker B: The whole head and all the hair. [00:35:53] Speaker A: Just goes like, what's, what's the. What's the flex here? [00:35:58] Speaker B: I mean, it is a fresh haircut covered by a hat because my grandma said it was too long. [00:36:04] Speaker A: Flex says the key is about to open the strangest door of all, and we get a guy who needs moose. So maybe it is young Grant Morrison. I don't know. [00:36:13] Speaker B: Yeah, he's got a. He's got a moose. [00:36:15] Speaker A: He's got a. I don't know. [00:36:16] Speaker B: This guy got a water pipe. [00:36:19] Speaker A: He has a phone that you would have owned. [00:36:22] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a pretty sweet phone. [00:36:24] Speaker A: It's like a. A car phone. [00:36:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it looks like a car, but. [00:36:29] Speaker A: It'S a phone shaped like a car, not a car phone. Yeah, we got some vodka. This could have been your apartment. [00:36:35] Speaker B: It. I mean, I'm. I'm sitting there looking at it. I mean, I don't think I had all of that stuff. [00:36:43] Speaker A: You got a lot of these things. I mean, you are a children's book writer, so I don't want to say everything that's in here. [00:36:48] Speaker B: I. At this time frame that this book was. I mean, I think Matt and Josh and I might have had this stuff. Some of it you did not have. [00:37:01] Speaker A: English plugins that you had to adapt, though. [00:37:03] Speaker B: You had regular American. We had some of this stuff. Some of this stuff. Well, that's why I had to move out of that apartment. [00:37:13] Speaker A: The unnamed person is saying, how am I supposed to find anything in this mess? Look at this stuff. It must be here. I know it was here. He's like, shit, I can't believe all this. Paper's everywhere. Muck. This is fucking my life. Piles of papers and boxes. There it is. It's like your living room. I knew the bastard was here somewhere. There it is. Well, you just said your living room is full of those things, right? [00:37:37] Speaker B: Yes. Yes. [00:37:41] Speaker A: Well, we flip back and it looks like the police are hauling in. I don't. This guy with somebody with. In a red suit. I don't know what's going on there. Got a red ones. They're examining the bomb, which he said might be a key. And the officer saying, these things have been turning up all over the place. First one appeared on the altar of the cathedral and then since then we've been finding them at hospitals, schools, banks, offices, you name it. Cartoon bombs. Look at this dumb thing. They're not even explosive. They're just hollow black balls left places where real bombs would damage the foundations of establishment. Oh, oh. Clue number one. Grant, thank you for helping guide Dense Dan along your. Your story here. [00:38:36] Speaker B: Uh huh. [00:38:40] Speaker A: And he says it's like taunting us, showing us the fragile. How fragile the system is. And he says, so who are they? Terrorists? Pranksters? What does faculty X mean? Does faculty X mean. [00:38:57] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:38:59] Speaker A: And he says, beats me. They keep sending his us all kinds of weird shit. Glowing rings, X ray goggles, star scepters, yellow boots with ridged fireproof treads. I got a drawer full of this crap. Oh, it's like the ads in the comics. So that's kind of cool. [00:39:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:21] Speaker A: So it'd be the. Are we gonna fight the ads in the comics that were in the comics with flex? [00:39:26] Speaker B: Maybe. [00:39:29] Speaker A: That would be kind of interesting. [00:39:31] Speaker B: That would be interesting. [00:39:32] Speaker A: Did you ever buy anything out of the. I think I've asked you this before. [00:39:35] Speaker B: No. [00:39:36] Speaker A: Buy anything out of the. [00:39:38] Speaker B: I never did. [00:39:40] Speaker A: Out of the pages there. Like so they would get like. For those who've never seen it, I was trying to pull up one really quick. Ah, you get a whole page. There we go. It's a great example. You get a whole page of these things. [00:40:00] Speaker B: All these great. [00:40:00] Speaker A: And it'd be all sorts. There's. See the X ray specs on there? A giant balloon. Usually whoopee cushion was somewhere on that page. I don't see whoopee cushion on this page. [00:40:10] Speaker B: Let me choose. Switch. [00:40:12] Speaker A: Slot machine. Not for gambling. [00:40:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. For looks and keeping your money in. [00:40:17] Speaker A: Yeah, it's police handcuffs. Wonder where those were used for. [00:40:24] Speaker B: Like home tattoo kit. But it wasn't a tattoo kit. Like a tattoo gun. It was like, you know, rubbing. No needles. No, no, but it was like a rub on tattoos or, you know, look. [00:40:36] Speaker A: You can get your comic. Bald head, rubber mask. [00:40:38] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. You could be Max. Max. [00:40:41] Speaker A: Grant Morrison and I both needed this early in life. But not later. How about this? Spy pen Radio. [00:40:50] Speaker B: Ah, yes. [00:40:52] Speaker A: How to throw your voice. [00:40:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:54] Speaker A: Oh, here's one down here. Beat up big bullies. [00:40:57] Speaker B: There you go. Yeah, that's how to learn. [00:41:02] Speaker A: Sorry, we cannot ship cod. Canadian or foreign orders. Know that's. That's a bummer. Apparently limits their audience. Yeah, well, yeah, it's. That's a. So it looks like all these things in these ads are coming back to. To. To taunt somebody. They said they even got a slogan. Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't paranoid too. We're all the way to page seven and I'm reading a whole bunch of this book. He was. [00:41:38] Speaker B: Oh boy. [00:41:41] Speaker A: This could be a long podcast. There. There's a crazy kind of. Notice I didn't try to do two of the books in one day. [00:41:48] Speaker B: I know. [00:41:48] Speaker A: There are crazy kind of logic to it, don't you think? A kind of Zen thing. No, I. I didn't think that at all. I don't. I don't know. I'm glad he thought that because as the reader, I. I didn't. You want my opinion? I think it's some kind of hoax going on. Like crop circles or UFOs. Nobody's ever managed to get a picture of one of these faculty ex jokers. All we get are eyewitness accounts of figures in black cloaks. Oh, so this means. Okay. Running from the crime scene. Oh, so they're part of faculty X. I guess. Millennium fever. You know, maybe that was something that was in the Doom Patrol book. It's been a long time since I read them. I don't know. Well, he. And then the. The officer says some more stuff and concludes with if the bomb doesn't get us, the plague will. I thought that was his conclusion, but he keeps talking. He says there's some kind of clue that's no clue at all. He says, take this. And it's a card that says the fact is. [00:42:49] Speaker B: Oh. [00:42:50] Speaker A: And he said, my God, that is a fact card. This is impossible. This is a Fact card. Do you remember these fact cards? I don't know. [00:42:58] Speaker B: I don't. [00:43:00] Speaker A: Well, we flip the page, and we get a Lord of the Rings ripoff game card game. And we get our own updated version of this ad called Cold Craze. [00:43:17] Speaker B: Whoa. [00:43:18] Speaker A: Where we get, like, Reservoir Dogs movie and X Files cups and Star wars stuff and. Okay. Do you think we should call this number on the podcast 1-800-E weekly, see. [00:43:32] Speaker B: If it's still active? [00:43:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll go ahead and let's see what happens. I don't know if I can read those numbers down there. Pretty small. All right, I'll try this here. 1, 803. I mean, I need to get some of this stuff. I need to be. I need it to trick you. Like they're doing with. With Flex Metallo right now. [00:43:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:55] Speaker A: 1-800-393-3559. [00:43:58] Speaker B: I think so. [00:43:59] Speaker A: All right, let's see. [00:44:01] Speaker B: They have an online estore. It's on. America Online cannot be completed and dialed. Please check the number and dial again. One, one, boom. Yeah. Your call cannot be completed and dialed. Please check the number and dial again. [00:44:18] Speaker A: I guess they didn't make it. Well, that's. That's unfortunate. I mean, with all this fine stuff here, I can't imagine why they didn't make it. I mean, they were clearly positioned to leave the 90s. [00:44:31] Speaker B: Well, I mean, you could find a lot of that stuff at the Retro Emporium. [00:44:36] Speaker A: That is true. You might. Can you find. On Ameeka street in Kent, Washington, can you find Mystery Science Theater shirts? [00:44:45] Speaker B: Not shirts, but you can find Mystery Science Theater stuff. Like, we have. We have some stuff you can find. X File stuff, trading cards. You got. I do think we have copy or two of Reservoir Dogs on VHS and maybe dvd. I think we have copies of the Crow. [00:45:07] Speaker A: Okay. [00:45:08] Speaker B: X Files. So, I mean, and Star wars toys. So, I mean, there are. You could get your cult craze on at the original Emporium on Meeker Street. [00:45:16] Speaker A: Well, there you go in Kent, Washington. [00:45:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:45:20] Speaker A: Home of your childhood. [00:45:21] Speaker B: Yes. [00:45:22] Speaker A: And Froot Loop smell. [00:45:24] Speaker B: That's all true. [00:45:25] Speaker A: Well, when we flip the page, it looks like the fact thing is from a comic. [00:45:31] Speaker B: Oh. [00:45:32] Speaker A: It says, boss, you okay? You look kind of pale. You know, what's up, Box? And there's a card that says, the fact is the game's up, Waxworks. And he goes, the fact here and looks like the shadow. I mean, the spirit. I mean, the shadow attacks Waxwork, and it becomes a comic page of sketched pencils. [00:46:01] Speaker B: That's pretty cool. [00:46:02] Speaker A: And then we have somebody else that says, when you're a kid, you just do it. You don't even think about it. It's pure. It's totally pure shit. I got to stop looking at all this. Being here all night. And we're back to our writer, presumably slash artist, who's tearing around his apartment again looking for the right thing. And he says, it's not what I want. Where's the phone? Where's the fucking buzzer? Where did I put the thing? I had it a minute ago. And he says, out. Out of the way, Tibert. Come on. Where is it? Where is it? Do you have any idea what that reference is? [00:46:43] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:46:44] Speaker A: Okay, well, that's good, because I definitely don't know. And then he's like, shit. Oh, shit. What a total mess. I can keep. I can't keep. It's all right there. And then we see FL at the police station. This is a trip. Yeah, okay. [00:47:04] Speaker B: It just keeps cutting back and forth between the two different stories. [00:47:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And he's like, you're telling me the fact is a fictional character, right? And so now Flex is talking to the. The thing in the comic story about the fictional character that we just saw. Whoa. [00:47:23] Speaker B: Whoa. [00:47:26] Speaker A: Because he was digestible, like, it's hard. Like, I don't know, I struggle sometimes with this because it's hard. [00:47:33] Speaker B: Gotta put yourself into the comic, Dan. [00:47:36] Speaker A: He also, I mean, was a fictional. [00:47:39] Speaker B: Character, but he was brought to life. Flex himself. [00:47:43] Speaker A: But so we've got the real character who's high on something, writing the fake character. [00:47:50] Speaker B: No, no. Flex was a fake character, but now he's real. [00:47:54] Speaker A: What? [00:47:55] Speaker B: He became real, but he's not real. [00:47:58] Speaker A: Because he's still on the story page. [00:48:01] Speaker B: Is it a story page or is it real life? [00:48:04] Speaker A: This is some sort of Inception bullshit. And you know how much I hate that damn movie. [00:48:09] Speaker B: You are now incepted by the Inception. And if you keep going, what you're going to find out is this whole thing has been set up to incept you. We're going to find out. [00:48:23] Speaker A: We're going to find out that Joseph Gordon Levitt, it was never a good actor. [00:48:27] Speaker B: Oh, you, you, you hold on a second there, my friend. You hold on a second. He is a good actor. [00:48:36] Speaker A: He probably is. I should quit seeing on all these actors. Somebody. Somebody's going to be like, what actor do you like? [00:48:42] Speaker B: Have you. Have you watched all of his movies? [00:48:46] Speaker A: No, but I'm just gonna say this. I'm gonna change the subject, okay? John Cena is a better Actor than Dwayne Johnson. He has more depth. [00:49:02] Speaker B: He does have depth. It's true. But a lot of people just call Dwayne Johnson the Rock, and that's his character. Therefore, he is a better actor because they only call him by his actor name, the Rock. [00:49:19] Speaker A: I think because John Cena was not that good of wrestler that they pushed so hard playing that really stale character that he, when he goes and acts, has to do different things to actually be a character where. You're right, the Rock didn't have to. [00:49:31] Speaker B: I think John Cena is a better rapper than he was around. Than he was a wrestler. [00:49:35] Speaker A: Whoa. [00:49:36] Speaker B: Oh, I said it. [00:49:37] Speaker A: Some terrible shit right there. That is not possible. [00:49:43] Speaker B: I mean, he had to have the trademark to help him become the better rapper. [00:49:47] Speaker A: But that's the trademark. Is that like the fact? [00:49:53] Speaker B: It is like, the fact that's the fact is if it wasn't for the trademark. Go listen to the album again. [00:50:02] Speaker A: The trademark. [00:50:03] Speaker B: The. No, the. So, no. If you listen to the album and anyone listening, it's like, first of all. [00:50:11] Speaker A: John Cena, first off, the assumption that I would have listened to that album. [00:50:15] Speaker B: It's so good. So John Cena and the trademark, they're like, so good. Yeah, it is, actually. It's. It's so good. So good. [00:50:23] Speaker A: I don't believe you. [00:50:24] Speaker B: Oh, you gotta listen to that. And then. And then the Macho man album, back to back together. [00:50:30] Speaker A: Be a man, Hulk. [00:50:31] Speaker B: Yeah, be a man. Be a man. [00:50:34] Speaker A: By the way. [00:50:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:36] Speaker A: I don't know. What a quick aside. [00:50:40] Speaker B: Yes. [00:50:41] Speaker A: Wrestling is thinking today in 2025. [00:50:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:47] Speaker A: But apparently they put Hulk Hogan out on Netflix and he was booed for three or four straight minutes until he gave up and left. [00:51:01] Speaker B: As he should have. [00:51:02] Speaker A: As he should have. Yes, but why would you put that human ex. Can I. Why? I'm trying to. You know what I'm trying to say fancy cuss words I've tried twice on this podcast and can't say them. [00:51:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:17] Speaker A: Yeah. It's like my brain just shuts down. Why would you put that human shit bag on television? [00:51:23] Speaker B: Oh, I don't know. [00:51:26] Speaker A: It seems silly and good for the result, but yeah, like. Anyway, I don't know. Well, here we go back and they're talking and we see Flex talking to. We see Flex talking to the officer again. And then the writer is on the ground. Nobody's home. Nobody's home. Well, that's it then. Nothing left to do. The cat looks very angry because there's no food. [00:51:58] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe that's. [00:52:00] Speaker A: I have no idea. What's going on? And then we get like a flat, yellow, flat Stanley. Stealing money? Stolen your memories. I've stolen your hopes for your future. How I dare you to uncover the shocking secret identity of or Origami the Folding Man. [00:52:19] Speaker B: Oh. [00:52:22] Speaker A: And Flex is fighting this guy. And then we see pinball heads. Pinball heads. Pool. Pool ball heads. Pinball heads. Pool ball heads. Pool ball heads. One for sorrow, two for joy. Your number's up, Flex Mantalo. Long live the Lucky Number Gang. Is that like the Royal Flash Gang? Yeah, yeah, yeah, kind of. Well, that's cool. Okay, well. And he says, what have I done? I've opened the baffling box and let loose the power of beyond. [00:52:53] Speaker B: Oh, no. [00:52:55] Speaker A: Suspecting world. So we're going back and we're seeing quick. So is this the writer going back and seeing the old Flex stories he's written? [00:53:02] Speaker B: Perhaps. [00:53:04] Speaker A: Is that what's up? [00:53:06] Speaker B: Maybe. [00:53:07] Speaker A: And then Flex says. And then Flex is temporarily Damon Damian Wayne. And he's thinking, what happened to the good old days? Remember, the heroes and villains team up and dream up. Seems terrain, seems terrain all the time these days. Oh, he's advertising for the crow now. Never seems to get light. Maybe the lieutenant is right. Maybe it is the end of the world and there's nothing left to do but play, play with our old toys. I agree. You know, I've. I've been embracing the end of the world by just reading comics. So. Yeah, I've read more comics in the last few weeks than I have in months because I don't want to deal with reality. So I'm. I. I feel this. [00:53:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:58] Speaker A: And then he turns on the TV and he says, it's weird. All the cable stations these days, hard to tell what's news and what's not. Hey, he must be watching Fox News. And then we get a nice cut from like the own network and get some guy saying that he's going to send his boy in a rocket ship away from Earth because it's all terrible and the world has ended. And then we get a Lex Luthor esque figure saying, not of this world. I was sent here a long time ago to teach you, to show you the wonders. But it's too late. So it's super. We lock Superman away. Apparently. [00:54:45] Speaker B: No. [00:54:45] Speaker A: And then there's just a lot going on here. [00:54:49] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:54:53] Speaker A: And then he says, a snow while stinging my palm red. A certain tree at a certain hour of the day. Human memories have invaded my head. He said, candy striped skies. Can you imagine? And a child smiling weightless Each floating strand of hair tiny as its tip. What is going on? Why is this guy going off swinging, massive blinking lights. And then the thing says, and give your cat food. Wait, is this all from the writer, like, having a drug induced coma here? Like, what's up? I said you're gonna have to help me with this one. [00:55:32] Speaker B: I don't know, maybe it's a mixture of both things. Because it's like there's a cat on the screen of the tv. Yeah, that's right. Food. Cats love it. [00:55:42] Speaker A: Well, that's the cat wanting food. Yeah, give it to me. [00:55:47] Speaker B: What? [00:55:47] Speaker A: The cat says, cat. And then. And then wait, then it's the. Wait, then the writer's watching that same TV though. What? [00:55:56] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe. [00:55:57] Speaker A: I'm so lost. [00:55:58] Speaker B: Maybe the writer is Flex Montal. [00:56:01] Speaker A: What? That doesn't even make sense. [00:56:04] Speaker B: In his mind. [00:56:08] Speaker A: He's just. Well, your co author, Travis has said that he has to hear the character speaking to him to write the character. [00:56:16] Speaker B: Yes. [00:56:16] Speaker A: Is this what's going on? [00:56:18] Speaker B: Maybe. Maybe he is. He's writing and he's feeling it and writing it, and he's gotta feel it to write it, to get it out. [00:56:30] Speaker A: Well, we're only to page 14. [00:56:32] Speaker B: I know. That's. [00:56:34] Speaker A: How long have we been talking about this comic? 56 minutes. Okay. [00:56:37] Speaker B: Yes. And that's. That's. That's what I said earlier. Was I. This, this is the kind of book that you can read and get to the 15th page and you're like, okay, I don't know what's happening. I don't know where it's gonna go. [00:56:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I do not know what's happening at all. I don't know what's happening at the end of the book, so. Well, I probably should skip ahead a little bit and not read all this text on here. Flex Mentala number one, grab this and read it. Our writer ends up in an alley. He says, course is not real. It's him. It's my secret identity. It doesn't matter. So maybe it is. [00:57:17] Speaker B: Maybe it is. [00:57:18] Speaker A: But he says he's Wallace Sage. But he says that's a secret identity. Okay. While Flex Metallo is back walking on the street. I don't know if it's Danny, the street, or just the street. But he says we hear from around the corner. I don't know where I am. I'm not sure. Somewhere in the city. It's raining. I don't mind it. It's so hot. I'm so hot. And then we find out there's a guy passed out being taken away. They say the guy is not making much sense, but from what I can figure, a gang of boys did this. So they beat up the poor old man and they left a bee with a chick on it. [00:58:09] Speaker B: Yeah, it's like. Or a bird. [00:58:15] Speaker A: Okay. [00:58:16] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:58:17] Speaker A: Birdman. Maybe Birdman beat him up. Maybe he's just a small town bird lawyer. [00:58:26] Speaker B: I know. [00:58:29] Speaker A: Well, he wouldn't do that. [00:58:31] Speaker B: He might. [00:58:31] Speaker A: For justice. [00:58:34] Speaker B: You never know. And in the court, you never know. You never know. Dan, what could be going through the mind of a Birdman? [00:58:43] Speaker A: Well, on the next page, we find out from the officer's perspective, the neighborhood is gone to hell. Oh, he says, there's an old abandoned school about two blocks from here. And they head over to a school for boys. And Flex is thinking maybe the questions he's had are just staring him in the face. And he's like, remember when we turn member. [00:59:11] Speaker B: Remember? [00:59:12] Speaker A: Remember when we turned the world on its axis to save the life of one child? Remember how we flew to the limits of the unknown titanic galaxies to petition the gods for humanity's survival? Seem. Those seem slightly different. Remembered when we rescued kittens from trees and asked for no reward. It all came back to me in that place. Ah, he said, it's a haunted school. And he sees. He walks in and he sees young kids sitting there doing different things. And then we cut back to our friend Wallace, or whatever he is. He says, sorry, I'm just rambling. I wanted to talk to someone for a little while and no one was home, so I phoned the Samaritans. Somebody gave me this phone. Yeah. So ridiculous. That phone has a long distance to it. [01:00:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:00:04] Speaker A: See what I did there? [01:00:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:00:06] Speaker A: You should see this thing. Do you think you used 18 Android collect? It's in the shape of a Stingray from the King Sting series. Remember they had the buzzer phone in that? Maybe it's a bit before your time. Yeah, definitely. Or it's English and I don't know what they're talking about. You've got a friendly voice. I wish I could sound like that. It's a skull, isn't it? It's funny. I can't think about it being a kid. All those memories of comics. Comics everywhere. I can smell them. Yes, you can definitely smell them. Did you ever read comics? No. American comics. Thick comics. Mando the Mysterious. That was my uncle's favorite. I don't know about Mandy the Mysterious. And then we flip the page. There are a lot of damn advertisements in this book. [01:00:55] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [01:00:58] Speaker A: And here are some classic albums for you. Hog and Love and Rockets. [01:01:07] Speaker B: Yeah, you can get them at Sam Goody at Musicland. [01:01:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Which are the same store, consequently. [01:01:13] Speaker B: Yes. But on different ends of the mall. [01:01:17] Speaker A: And different parts of the country, usually. But I, I've never heard of this Hog Band. I don't think. [01:01:26] Speaker B: I, I, I, I don't either. [01:01:30] Speaker A: But you own a music store. [01:01:32] Speaker B: I've never heard of the band. [01:01:34] Speaker A: Wow. They must have been a. This must have went really over well. I have heard of Love and Rockets. [01:01:40] Speaker B: Yes. [01:01:42] Speaker A: Well, we flipped a page and we find out that our author spent some time in the hospital as a kid reading comics, but that he also liked the Blazer, the Flaming Flag, Lord Limbo and the Golden Agent. [01:02:03] Speaker B: Mm. [01:02:06] Speaker A: And he says, why do people get so ashamed of things? I mean, I really love those comics. I agree. I am not ashamed. We host a comic podcast. So obviously we are in 100% agreement with this character here. [01:02:20] Speaker B: Gotta love comics. [01:02:22] Speaker A: But he talks about this horrible operation he had and where he was just left, and he just keeps looking at the green and red lights in his room and he says, it was all on my own with a fucking light. Hours and hours, like years. Poor little me on my own. And then somebody from behind Flex says, can I help you? And we meet this old janitor figure. And I'm going to say who he looks like in a second, okay? Because I don't want to spoil the end here. But he shares, there's nobody here but me. He shares with Flex that this used to be a school for sidekicks until they closed us down. And then all the sidekicks are now out on the street. They're roaming the street, armed to the teeth, trained to kill Beast boys, daring young athletes, super fast Mercury boys in chrome trimmed suits, Archer boys with trick arrows and devil may care grins. But no one to look up to anymore. No future, no hope. Oh, their heroes are gone. They're just sidekicks and they're running wild in the streets. And Flex asks him who he is, and he says, me, I'm the mightiest man in the universe, son. Got a secret origin, too. He walked past a homeless person gave him his last money that he was going to use to buy the Convoy Terror Battle game, which I assume is a World War II game. I just finished listening to a 37 hour on double speed. Of course. FDR biography. [01:04:04] Speaker B: Oh, wow. [01:04:05] Speaker A: So I know all about the convoys right now. And in return, he got a crossword puzzle. And if he said a magic word, does it sound like Any hero you've heard of, if he says a magic word, he comes a superhero. [01:04:20] Speaker B: Oh. [01:04:21] Speaker A: But he doesn't like it, and he doesn't want to look down at people. He wants to be of the people. Now, the interesting thing is, of course, the hero that said the magic word was one Captain Marvel, now known as Shazam. And the person he is on Earth looks a lot like Dr. Savannah from the Shazam Comics, which I thought was really interesting. It's almost weird. It's almost like he chose to be the janitor version of Dr. Sivana than be a superhero. [01:04:57] Speaker B: Interesting. [01:04:59] Speaker A: But he tells Flex to go to the railroad station, and he hands Flex his crossword puzzle. Maybe Flex can use it or somebody else can use it instead of him. We get advertisement for a book club, as in the DC Comics Vertigo Book Club, where you can pay the price of $21 for a year's worth of comics. [01:05:26] Speaker B: Oh, that's a good deal. [01:05:28] Speaker A: And you could get Hellblazer. Never heard of that. Yeah. Sandman Mystery Theater. Definitely heard of that. Those were awesome. Books of magic. The Dreaming, Essential Vertigo. The Sandman. Because Sandman was already done. Preacher. Is that. Was that a good book? Did anything come out of that? [01:05:47] Speaker B: No. [01:05:49] Speaker A: And Seekers into the Mystery Man. Vertigo was hot in the 90s. I mean, it's almost like. I think that one of the big problems with Vertigo or with Image was that Vertigo was so hot. All those books we just listed now, with the exception of Sandman Mystery Theater, because that was Wesley Dodd, Sandman and. And Hourman would have been a. Probably now would be an Image imprint. [01:06:20] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true. [01:06:23] Speaker A: And. But Image at the time was still do. Trying to do superhero books. Right. And of course, you. You know, they take off much later, but yeah, it's. It's just interesting. I'm just wondering how much that hurt Image to have this DC doing all of the indie imprints. [01:06:42] Speaker B: Right. [01:06:47] Speaker A: So, anyway, I mean. But it's good that we had good writers getting to do things that were creative and outside of the normal standard realm, too. So out of the box and good on. And we've mentioned Karen Berger a long time ago in our podcast a lot, but, I mean, what an amazing job Karen did to bring all of these really creative folks together and give them a chance. Right. [01:07:13] Speaker B: Right. [01:07:14] Speaker A: Inside. And give them a paycheck. Right. Like, I know that, you know, some of our true artist doesn't need a paycheck. Yeah, it's. Yeah, they do. [01:07:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:07:25] Speaker A: And allows them to be free to. [01:07:27] Speaker B: Create things like this to continue to make amazing stuff. Yeah. [01:07:32] Speaker A: Well, we get Flex back walking around at the railway station where he was sent holding his crossword puzzle. And somebody yells, jumping Jehoshaphat. A bomb. [01:07:44] Speaker B: Oh my. [01:07:46] Speaker A: And we get Nidrich von Schwarz schmeared. So that's what the bomb dropper guy says. He says, and Flex says time seemed to slow down. As he turned and looked at me, I saw that he was fuzzy and. And indistinct, like one of those UFO photographs pictures or the Loch Ness monster. [01:08:07] Speaker B: Uh huh. [01:08:07] Speaker A: Suddenly I was moving into action and the crowd is like, gasp. It's Flex Mentalo, man of muscle mystery. [01:08:15] Speaker B: Whoa. [01:08:16] Speaker A: He flexes a bicep. A bicep. A bicep, bicep. A biceps. Oh, my biceps. I need to rip off my shirt right now. [01:08:29] Speaker B: Crap. [01:08:30] Speaker A: Well, you know, I mean, you can, you can just keep going right now. [01:08:35] Speaker B: Oh my gosh. He's doing this for the viewers that are. That may watch this. Wait, when he posts. There he goes. And, and he, and he, and he does his, his, his Flex imitation impersonation. [01:08:52] Speaker A: There we go. I had to flex because Flex. Flex. See? [01:08:56] Speaker B: Oh, it's Flex Luther over here. It's Flex Luthor. [01:09:04] Speaker A: There we go. That's the best thing we've ever seen on podcast ever. Sleeve flexed and the ground broke. [01:09:14] Speaker B: Oh my gosh. [01:09:16] Speaker A: Concrete splitting. That was not planned. I don't think either of it was planned. [01:09:24] Speaker B: No. [01:09:24] Speaker A: And then we get back to Wallace, who's looking at his. And by the way, my shirts aren't fitting. So now I'm. Now I'm self conscious because I'm like trying to pull my tank off of. They're too loose, which is a good thing anyway. But then, yeah, then we find out that he's taken like two ecstasy tabs, some acid pot, vodka, whatever, cigarettes. [01:09:54] Speaker B: He's done a lot. [01:09:55] Speaker A: Yeah, this guy's messed up. And he says, I just want to talk about comics. See all those shitty, amazing comics. You don't have to, you know, just a fair message to the listeners. You don't have to be on all those drugs to talk about comics. We do it without comics all the time or without drugs all the time. [01:10:14] Speaker B: Yes, we do do it. [01:10:15] Speaker A: We also do it without comics, but we do it without drugs all the time, so probably should put my hoodie back on, but, you know, we're almost done, so. That's kind of cold. It's also a little cold, so. [01:10:30] Speaker B: It is a little cold. [01:10:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's what you say when things are smaller than you want them to be. Right. So. [01:10:41] Speaker B: Oh, Dan. [01:10:42] Speaker A: But I almost had him. I reached out for his cloak and he gets a picture of him. So the guy runs into one of those photo machines and we get four photos of the mystery person. Except it's the fact. I mean, the shadow. [01:11:00] Speaker B: No. [01:11:02] Speaker A: And he said, I read the name of the bar printed in green ink on the back of the photo strip. And all at once that strange door swung wide open. And I have no idea what that word is. So it says, next, the Menace of the Mentalium. [01:11:26] Speaker B: Man. Mentalia, Man. I don't know. [01:11:31] Speaker A: We get a pin up of Flex. We get an ad for the Big Book of Little Criminals from Paradox Press. Oh, wow. Illustrated by Glenn Barr. Rich. Dave Gibbons. [01:11:49] Speaker B: Mm. [01:11:51] Speaker A: Paul Gulacy. Russ Heath. Klaus Johnson. Jansen. Geez. David Lloyd. Kevin McGuire. Kevin McGuire. Wow. Ty Templeton. [01:12:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:12:03] Speaker A: Wow. Good night. Okay. That's crazy. [01:12:06] Speaker B: It is. [01:12:07] Speaker A: And then we get to find out what's going on in the. What's available in April from the imprint here. Including Sandman mystery theater number 39, act three of the four part the Mist. Ted Knight is wanted for questioning. You know who that is, right? [01:12:27] Speaker B: Mm. The dream is tonight. Tonight. [01:12:33] Speaker A: Starman. Starman is wanted for questioning as the prime suspect in Wesley Dodd's search for the murderous saboteur, a terrorist who seems using the same awesome energy rod invented by Knight by Matt Wagner and Steven Siegel. Wow. Want. I needed to go back and get those Sandman Mystery Theater books. Like, I have a couple of them. I just didn't buy them at the time. I had no idea. [01:13:05] Speaker B: You had no idea? [01:13:07] Speaker A: There was just this whole world I was missing out, especially. Cause I was in college and I hadn't ventured into Vertebra go book stuff. I was still into the hero stuff. And then I wasn't buying a bunch of new things just because I didn't have time to read them. And now I'm like, these things are amazing. Preacher number four or 14? Sorry, 14. 14. It's a little different than number four, but yeah, this is. Wow. What's some gems here? [01:13:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:13:38] Speaker A: And we end this gem list of gems with an ad for the best movie ever made from the producers of Jurassic park and Speed. The director of Speed. Twister. The movie so good they made another movie called Twisters. [01:13:55] Speaker B: Oh, Twisters. I. [01:13:58] Speaker A: And that's. [01:13:59] Speaker B: I will say I. When. When this movie came out on vhs, my grandfather had just bought a surround sound setup. And the only thing that he wanted to test his surround sound setup with was a VHS of Twister because it was a thx production, produced audio, vhs. It was, it was a new, a new thing at the time. A new thing at the time. And so my dad, Everybody wants the next great thing. Yeah. So my dad and I spent all afternoon setting this up and then going and paying like, I think, I don't know, the VHS cost probably like $30 at the time because that's what they cost at the time. And, and we watched it and it was like there was a damn tornado in the house. [01:15:07] Speaker A: Well, there you go. [01:15:09] Speaker B: But it was amazing for the moment that it was. [01:15:17] Speaker A: A house tornado. [01:15:18] Speaker B: A house tornado, yes. Well. [01:15:26] Speaker A: With that in mind, your thoughts on Flex Mentalo number one. [01:15:30] Speaker B: He is a house tornado. [01:15:34] Speaker A: That was that Wallace guy or whatever he was. [01:15:37] Speaker B: No, the, the, it was, it was like reading a book with Travis in the room, but not in the room. [01:15:45] Speaker A: It was like, I'm reading a book where Travis is telling you how to write the book while you're reading the book. [01:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah, um, no, I, I, I felt like the, like I said, like I said before and kind of like when we were talking pre show the, this book, like if I, if I had seen it when I was younger, I probably wouldn't, I, I, I, I, I probably wouldn't have bought it because I, I, I, I wouldn't have understood it at the time. I'm glad that I got to read it now because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't wait to read more of it. The art in it is amazing. The story in it is, although very, very thick, it's very captivating because there's so much going on. I'll probably reread this book again just so that I can understand it better because there's so much going on. I feel like it's going to be, it's like a movie that you watch twice or three times or four times because every time you go back and read it, you're going to pick up something different, either in the art or in the story and the dialogue. Because you might have missed something in that first viewing, first reading. [01:17:03] Speaker A: Or you just want to see the guy dancing through the house at the end. [01:17:05] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a lot. [01:17:07] Speaker A: No, no, no, I didn't watch that multiple times. [01:17:14] Speaker B: Are you talking about Silence of the Lamps? [01:17:16] Speaker A: No. [01:17:17] Speaker B: Oh. [01:17:20] Speaker A: Definitely not. No. I'm gonna let you guess later. Okay. So anyway, you were saying before I rudely interrupted. [01:17:31] Speaker B: I mean, I, that I, I. Don't you watch Silence of the Lambs a couple times? [01:17:36] Speaker A: I have seen Silence of the Lambs more than once. Yes. Just for that, you're Aware that before we had movies at our fingertips, there was that really good movie, Silence of Lambs, and then we had this thing called cable. [01:17:48] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [01:17:49] Speaker A: And they played that damn movie all the time. Yes. [01:17:57] Speaker B: There'S a lot of movies with people dancing through houses. I don't know. [01:18:01] Speaker A: Well, you don't have to guess right now. So anyway, I will guess. [01:18:05] Speaker B: But yeah, no, I mean, I'm glad that you picked this for us because this is a very fun read, if that makes. I mean, it's a lot, but it's. [01:18:22] Speaker A: It is a lot. [01:18:23] Speaker B: It's a lot. But it was definitely like, okay, it's a meal. It's a meal of a book. And I think honestly, like, if, if this is something that some of our viewers haven't read, they should definitely check it out because it's, it's, it's, it's a unique piece and it's, it's got its, it's, it's, it's got its highs, it's got its lows, it's got its stuff. It's, it's like a, it is, it is like a, it's like a five course meal, but it's also like a Taco Bell meal. [01:18:58] Speaker A: Well, and as I pointed out, I definitely don't have time to go back and read Doom Patrol right now. All of it, all the Grant Morrison run. I may try to go read these, those issues where Flex is in there just so I can get a basis too to try to figure out like if they were doing this kind of stuff there or it started here because I honestly, I just don't remember and I don't, I don't know if they were start. I mean, there's a lot of meta stuff in Doom Patrol, right? There's a ton of meta stuff, but I don't know if this meta, right, this character, like, what's going on with here? So now I'm, now I'm like, well, was there a reference to this? Because in the Doom Patrol book, the thing I do was reminded of and do remember was like, like Flex comes out where they had tried to like wash him from his memories, right? Like take his memories away. So now I'm wondering, right? Does that relate to the like, author forgetting things? Right. And being so. Not that he's forgetting what story or he can't find the story. So I mean, just kind of thinking about that. I'm wondering, like, I, I mean, Morrison ties back and references things all the time, right? So. [01:20:03] Speaker B: Right. [01:20:04] Speaker A: And oftentimes to the detriment, you Know, See, I just went forward there, and I stopped myself mid sentence. But I'm going to say it again, I think, oftentimes to the detriment of the reader, because he goes so far without editor's notes. I don't always know what's going on. Like, there's this expectation that I'm supposed to have read everything in comics history and then know. And I read a lot of comics and know a lot about comics, and it's still difficult for me to pick up what some of Grant Morrison's storylines. Right. Like, I am just lost. So with that said, and we've talked about this, not with just Grant Grant, but other writers, too. It's. I think it's to the detriment of the reader if you don't have some editorial notes or you don't have something that references back to what's going on. I get. I get the whole notion of being an author that's like, oh, hey, I'm going to be above this, and I want people to figure out the mystery. And I get that. And maybe we will. We've got three more issues to figure that out. [01:20:58] Speaker B: Sure. [01:20:59] Speaker A: But right now, I feel like there's a couple of things that I'm missing that we're referenced back to. I also think there's a couple things that I get just because I know comics. Right. Like the Shazam Stuff, for example, like the fact that the. The guy Looks like Dr. Savannah. [01:21:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:21:19] Speaker A: Like, not the movie version, folks. The actual Dr. Savannah. So when you know, you're looking at those things, if you don't pick up on those things, and then, like, is that just an artistic choice? And then I. I do. Like, with Grant Morrison, now I'm saying, is that just an artist choice to make him look that way, or was that intentional? Right. You know, it could have just been an artist's choice to make the. Make the caretaker, the janitor, a small bald man. Right. It could have just been an artist's choice. It also could have been. It also could have been very intentional to make him look like Dr. Savannah. Right, right. I feel like it was probably intentional, but, you know, I'm not exactly sure, so. And just throwing up a little Dr. Savannah there. [01:22:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [01:22:15] Speaker A: For folks. So not exactly sure. But, you know, you need to read the book, I guess, and figure it out yourself. [01:22:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:22:28] Speaker A: And take away what you want. [01:22:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:22:30] Speaker A: Don't just listen to us. Read the books, because that's the fun of it. Anything you. We are way over time. Well, I should say overtime, because there is no limit to our time on our podcast because we can talk as long as we want to, but generally we don't go for an hour and 22 minutes. So I will say I have one thing to plug. It's my journey to getting abs at 50. So I was flexing like Flex Mantalo. But you can listen to my other podcast, abs at 50. I recently actually, we put it up, an update on YouTube at abs@50 on YouTube. And you can go see my first progress report. So you can see where I started and where I was at. And that's gotten more views than any of the podcasts. So maybe that's what people like. They just want to see the progress reports. So I know everybody wants to see all of this, but, you know, it's not what I'm going for, but yeah, that's. You know, go check that out and see if you want to join the journey with us. So working on that and obviously working on this podcast. And we are back for the year, so we'll be recording fairly consistently for the year now that the Christmas break is over and Greg's healed up. [01:23:36] Speaker B: Hey. [01:23:37] Speaker A: And of course, we plug the Retro Emporium. We plug Jiu Jitsu lawyer Paul, who's on the Absent 50 podcast with me, helping me on my fitness journey. Greg, you have anything to plug right now? [01:23:47] Speaker B: Well, I. I know that my writing. My other writing partner, we talked about Travis Webb from Starlight and all. [01:23:55] Speaker A: Did we? [01:23:56] Speaker B: We did. [01:23:56] Speaker A: Was Travis mentioned in this podcast at all? [01:23:59] Speaker B: We did. We did mention a little bit of Travis, but I was going to talk about Mr. Michael Tanner. [01:24:05] Speaker A: Travis. See? See what I did there? [01:24:07] Speaker B: Yeah, we didn't. I didn't even get a call from Travis today during the podcast. [01:24:10] Speaker A: Well, the important thing is I had somebody call me twice during the podcast. [01:24:15] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. But I was gonna say that Michael Tanner and I were on the GrindBid podcast, and I. I don't know exactly when they're gonna post our episode, but it should be up relatively soon. You can listen to the amazing Mike and Bobby talk to as they call Michael Tanner because there's two mics. They would be very confusing for. For everyone listening to. [01:24:46] Speaker A: You're calling him Tanner. By the way, the reason I won't let your co author on our podcast is I'm very suspect of people that have double first names. [01:24:57] Speaker B: Michael and Tanner. [01:24:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, you shouldn't have two first names. You should have a first and a last name. Very suspect of this. [01:25:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. [01:25:06] Speaker A: He's a shifty shady guy. [01:25:08] Speaker B: Shifty shady guy with double first names. [01:25:10] Speaker A: Yes. Double first names were like comic book names. [01:25:13] Speaker B: It's. It's true. He's almost like a comic porn star. Maybe there's something we don't know about him. [01:25:19] Speaker A: This is entirely possible. He moved to LA for all those years he was on the roller derby circuit. [01:25:24] Speaker B: Yeah. And he had another. And he. He went by Mike is Ernie, which is another double first name. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, but the key point I was going to say is Mike Tanner, porn star. [01:25:42] Speaker A: Yes. [01:25:43] Speaker B: If you check out Tanner and I on Mike and Bobby's podcast, the Grind Bin, you can hear all about spaghetti bags. [01:25:57] Speaker A: Spaghetti bags. [01:25:59] Speaker B: Baguette. Baguette. That's all I'm gonna say. It's the episode in which we. We cover a movie called Doesn't Sound. [01:26:08] Speaker A: Like Something I Can Eat. [01:26:10] Speaker B: You know it. We could find a way to make it something you could eat, and that's all you need to know. [01:26:17] Speaker A: Okay, well, check that out and we'll wrap this on up and we'll be back soon with issue two of Flex Mentalo and grab it. Read along. You can read it on the DC Universe app, I believe, and you can get it on Comixology, Amazon, or you could just probably go find it in a dollar bin, because I'm thinking this one's not a hot commodity. So go grab it. [01:26:43] Speaker B: It's a banger of a book. [01:26:45] Speaker A: What is banger of a book? We like it. Okay, well, let's find out. You know what? [01:26:50] Speaker B: He's gonna find out the price for you. [01:26:52] Speaker A: Yeah, well, maybe I. You know what? I don't think we should probably waste time on this podcast of me looking. [01:26:56] Speaker B: We'll tell you next time, Flex Mental Books, but check back with us next time, and we'll give you an accurate price. [01:27:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. Yeah. Oh, wow. 99 cents. [01:27:07] Speaker B: Wow. Oh, my gosh. Whoa. [01:27:08] Speaker A: Okay, somebody wants 1767 for the used deluxe edition of the graphic novel. I bet I probably could get it cheaper than that. Oh, they've sold eight at that price. Maybe not. [01:27:20] Speaker B: Maybe not. [01:27:20] Speaker A: That's a pretty reasonable price for some good books. Oh, somebody wants 39.99 for the original comics. I don't think they're getting that. [01:27:30] Speaker B: I'm thinking global market, though. Global market. [01:27:34] Speaker A: It is a global marketplace. It's a global marketplace. [01:27:37] Speaker B: That's why you gotta. That's why you gotta. If you don't want to deal with global market people, stop in your local market, get it for a buck, go find that local comic shop that's got a long box full of things for a dollar. And just let your fingers do the walking. Let your mouth. [01:27:52] Speaker A: Wow, those Doom Patrol books sure gone down in price. [01:27:55] Speaker B: I'm sure it has. [01:27:57] Speaker A: Sold. Doom patrol number 35, first appearance of Flex Mentala, $1.25 on $5 shipping. See, just go to a local comic shop and you can pick them up for a couple bucks bucks each. And then you have to deal with the shipping. Or you just go to a comic show and pick them up. [01:28:13] Speaker B: That's right. A lot of times you can find. You can find gems just like this for a dollar or less. [01:28:20] Speaker A: Well, there you go. [01:28:22] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:28:22] Speaker A: So, all right, we're done. All right, I'm pronouncing us done. [01:28:27] Speaker B: Pronounce done. We'll see.