Funny Book Forensics 350 Brainiac 5 and Medical Ethics

[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right. [00:00:02] Speaker B: You always click, like, a second after the three, two, one, click. [00:00:05] Speaker A: You say click, and I click. I clicked after you said click. It was you click, and I click. [00:00:12] Speaker B: Well, I just want everybody to know that in April, we'll be on the project Dash nerd.com network, and they had no idea of the quality of podcast we're getting because we already recorded this entire podcast one time. But I couldn't even set up audacity correctly to record out of the right microphone. So we got an hour and 15 minutes of garbage audio. [00:00:36] Speaker A: Hey, garbage audio is great audio. It's the best audio that you're gonna get on any podcast network here or anywhere. [00:00:46] Speaker B: Projectnerd.com yay. Home of. Wait, no, you didn't let me finish. Like, you totally messed up. Project Dash nerd.com home of garbage audio. You're killing me here. Yes. You had to get the noisemaker out. You know, the whole last pod asked didn't. The last recording didn't have the noise maker at all. I know. [00:01:11] Speaker A: That's why the podcast was terrible, Dan. There was no noise maker, no fun. [00:01:16] Speaker B: Now, that podcast was terrible because it recorded out of my camera microphone for some reason. If you think Greg's fans are bad, this audio made Greg's fans. [00:01:28] Speaker A: My fans are great. [00:01:29] Speaker B: They love a minor inconvenience. [00:01:31] Speaker A: My fans are great. I think all of you out there listening to the podcast, buying the books, are fantastic. [00:01:37] Speaker B: I met your noisy channel. [00:01:38] Speaker A: Appreciate you all. And the noisy ones, too. I appreciate you. You're boisterous and fantastic. Thank you so much. [00:01:45] Speaker B: I see. That's exactly what I was talking about. Audio quality and noisy people fans. Oh, you're talking about make our audio quality even better. [00:01:56] Speaker A: What's that? [00:01:56] Speaker B: If you got one of those big ass fans and just put it in the top of your office, you know, that company, they make them. They're called big ass fans. Like, it's a company. [00:02:04] Speaker A: Big ass fans. Like the big ass. Big ass bun burger. Burger bun. Like the one you get in the vending machine if you. You've ever eaten one of those, you know, you've lived. [00:02:15] Speaker B: Except they're not hamburger buns and they're fans. But, I mean, that would, I guess, be the fundamental difference. I guess they share a name in common, perhaps, as in big ass, but not. [00:02:26] Speaker A: Oh, they're both loud because, like, you eat one of those and your. Your stomach's all growly like a badger's inside. And then afterwards, you're. You got loudness, and. [00:02:35] Speaker B: And they're all about Sirmix a lot, so it's all good. [00:02:40] Speaker A: Very true. [00:02:41] Speaker B: Well, we probably should talk about the books. This is gonna be the second time we talk about it twice as nice. But nobody got to hear the first time. [00:02:48] Speaker A: Yeah, like most of our podcasts, nobody got to hear it. [00:02:52] Speaker B: Oh, wow. We have a listener. [00:02:54] Speaker A: I mean, we do two, maybe three. [00:02:57] Speaker B: And you know what? We're going to bridge our one listener with the thousands of listeners on the project Dash nerd podcast.com podcast network. Yeah, it's amazing. [00:03:07] Speaker A: Yay. [00:03:08] Speaker B: We bring so much to the table for them. I can't. I know. They love to have us. They're saying April will be on there in April. So it'll probably be April when you listen to this. So maybe. [00:03:18] Speaker A: Maybe. [00:03:19] Speaker B: Well, anyway, we have a book to talk about because we're still talking about the Legion of superheroes. In 1980, 219, 82, we have their first ever annual. [00:03:29] Speaker A: Oh, hey, it's exciting. [00:03:32] Speaker B: Now, this is not the first ever annual that the Legion of superheroes have appeared in. [00:03:35] Speaker A: Just the first ever one that this group. No, that did. [00:03:41] Speaker B: No, it's the first other one titled the Legion of Superheroes. Like they have appeared in Superman. Okay, action comics annuals. [00:03:47] Speaker A: It's just their first one. The first one that they ever had. [00:03:50] Speaker B: Yes. [00:03:51] Speaker A: Of their own. [00:03:52] Speaker B: Just theirs. [00:03:52] Speaker A: Just theirs. [00:03:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:54] Speaker A: They're the only one. [00:03:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And I guess Superboy does technically show up in this one. [00:03:59] Speaker A: Well, that's no fun. [00:04:01] Speaker B: Technically, but he's not a part of the story. [00:04:03] Speaker A: That's true. I mean, he's kind of. He's. [00:04:05] Speaker B: He's in a panel. [00:04:06] Speaker A: Hey, everybody, it's me, Superboy. What's going on? [00:04:10] Speaker B: That's not what he said, actually. Well, we should get into this because that's not what he said. Well, we want to start out by looking at these covers again. [00:04:18] Speaker A: There must be some. [00:04:21] Speaker B: Wow. Well, we've got. We've got a cover that is really cool looking. [00:04:28] Speaker A: Yeah, pretty cool looking. It's like got a lot going on on it. [00:04:31] Speaker B: Well, it does. There's a seemingly a person in a white bodysuit that's looks like throwing. Wrapping all of the legionnaires in junk. [00:04:41] Speaker A: Yeah. Turning them into stuff. Wrapping them up. [00:04:46] Speaker B: Okay, let's see. Let's see if Greg knows all the legionnaires on the COVID Well, there's a. [00:04:53] Speaker A: Something boy, something girl. [00:04:55] Speaker B: Wow. [00:04:56] Speaker A: Something boy, something girl, lass, something lady. [00:05:01] Speaker B: Really? Uh huh. Uh, that's what you've learned so far? [00:05:04] Speaker A: Um, yeah, yeah. [00:05:07] Speaker B: Except, um, two of the characters on the COVID don't have either of those things. [00:05:12] Speaker A: In the name star something. Saturn. There's Saturn girl. [00:05:21] Speaker B: Uh, there's nobody on the COVID with star in their name. [00:05:24] Speaker A: Oh, fire dude. [00:05:28] Speaker B: Wow. Wow. All right, I see you've clearly been paying attention to the book so far. It's a joke. We do have a really cool cover. Randomly. This cover has a yellow background with red lettering. [00:05:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:44] Speaker B: And not your normal comic book cover, but there's a reason, and it's actually really cool. The villain that is going to be in this book was originally colored red and yellow when they first appeared in the Silver Age, and it's a really cool. It's one of those really cool tiebacks to grate on. I think it was Carl Gafford who colored this, and I'm sure. I'm sure Giffen help guide this, but I think it's a really cool color choice. It's one of those things that if you look at it and you were reading the entire way through, this should give you a nod to who the villain is. [00:06:23] Speaker A: Right. [00:06:24] Speaker B: But if you've never picked up a legion of superheroes book before in your life, that's okay. You're still gonna be able to read the story, and it's still going to make sense. You just get a really cool cover. [00:06:34] Speaker A: Yeah. And you're like, wow, a lot of cool images going on. It's a circle of life. [00:06:44] Speaker B: I think that one thing, too, with the COVID is giffen gets to do his crazy line art even without the crazy background. [00:06:52] Speaker A: This is true. Yeah, a lot of. A lot of, you know, cool stuff going on while people are getting wrapped up in whatever this is. [00:06:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, every widget and thing has, like, little lines, and it all looks cool. [00:07:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:05] Speaker B: Looks like they got attacked by junk. [00:07:07] Speaker A: It does. They're like, they're being all wrapped up in all this stuff. [00:07:13] Speaker B: It kind of looks like they got wrapped up in futuristic robot parts. [00:07:16] Speaker A: Robots. [00:07:18] Speaker B: Like, Bender opened his, like, and all of this stuff fell out. That's kind of what it looks like. [00:07:25] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:07:25] Speaker B: And then the legionnaires got wrapped up. [00:07:27] Speaker A: In it, and they're like, oh, crap, spaghetti. [00:07:29] Speaker B: Well, we should probably flip to the first page, and Keith Giffen did the COVID with Dick Giordano inking it. How cool is that, by the way? That is cool. That's not who inks the rest of the issue. Bruce Patterson inks the rest of the issue. But what a cool historical combination of artists. [00:07:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:07:49] Speaker B: And Giordano was also editing the executive editor on this one, so he probably was like, I want to draw with that guy. Which you get one of the best inkers of all time combined with one of the best pencilers of all time. I don't know if I should call Keith one of the best pencilers of all time. That's probably a bit of a stretch, but he's not. He's not. I don't think he's one of the best pencilers of all time. I think he's one of the best pencilers to draw space, though. Like a mega man legion. Yeah. I don't know if I'd rank him in one of my top ten pencilers of all time, but I. I love Giffen art. Like, that doesn't mean I don't like it. [00:08:28] Speaker A: Fair, fair. [00:08:29] Speaker B: And I think that's when I think it's one of the things, too. Before I know Keith Giffen just died, so now people are going to think I'm disrespecting him. I'm not. I think, too, when you are doing art, you need to pair the right penciler with the right writer for the right set setting. Right. So while from a just purely talent standpoint, I don't know that Keith Giffen is the top ten pencilers of all time. Right. Like, just from an art standpoint, however, from a storytelling standpoint, and this is what I'll say, he's also the co plotter on this one, I think Keith Giffen is one of the best comic book storytellers with his art, his plotting, his writing of all time. [00:09:07] Speaker A: Okay. [00:09:07] Speaker B: In my mind, I mean, that's where I would stand there. I don't know how you feel, but does my explanation make sense? [00:09:12] Speaker A: Yeah, no, like, totally. Yeah, it makes sense. It's like. It's valid. [00:09:18] Speaker B: It's valid. Wow. It's valid. Thanks, Graham. You're welcome. Thanks for the ringing endorsement of that. [00:09:27] Speaker A: I'm listening to what you're saying, and I'm like, yeah, no, it's a valid statement. It's a good argument. I can't see anything to argue against it. I can't. I don't. I don't want to throw anything against it to say, oh, no, you're totally wrong. And this is why. Because it's hard to say you're wrong, because you're not. Yeah, it's a very. It's a. It's one of. It's like the meme. It's like, wow, so bold and so true. [00:10:04] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I just. I think, um. Like, now let me really throw some shade. Well, we've talked about image books in the past, right? Like, when they brought all of the artists over. Then some of the books were just not very good, but the art was still great. Right. Like, um. And here, let me throw some shade here. [00:10:22] Speaker A: Oh, great. [00:10:23] Speaker B: One of the most expensive legion books has nothing to do with it being a legion book. It was. It was one. It was like a bee cover. Right. And Adam Hughes drew it. Adam Hughes is a beautiful artist. I'd read 1000 Keith Giffen books before I'd read Adam Hughes books. [00:10:41] Speaker A: Is it just because. [00:10:42] Speaker B: For the exact reason we're talking about. [00:10:44] Speaker A: It's just really nice. It's nice to look at, but it's not great to. [00:10:49] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I mean, Adam Hughes, I think, like, I mean, he's an amazing artist, right? Like, this is not. And this is not me throwing shade at him, right? Like, I just haven't seen a co lab like this from him, where I'm getting the whole package, right. Where he's co plotting it and everything else. Now, if you have Adam Hughes paired up with a great writer and we've had a combination, well, I might choose those books over this one. Right, right. Because I definitely. I don't want to throw shade at Adam Hughes. I know people are. Again, I'm just throwing things out there, but, I mean, that's kind of the example I'm trying to paint right here. No pun intended. Right. Like, it's. When you're looking for great comics, you're looking for that collaboration. I know you said you don't have any arguments against that, but I just. I want to stress that, too, because I think people will attack Giffen's art often, right. They'll say, like, oh, he doesn't want to draw faces, or he has too much line. Too many lines, or things like that. But I think that when you have a great story and you combine the right people, you can do a lot of really great things. So maybe he's not a top ten artist of all time, but. [00:11:48] Speaker A: Well, I mean, I can. For my own. I mean, for my own. My own experience, I guess. Like, you take, like, a book like Starlight, where you got Brett drawing stuff, and people like, you know, Brett's art is Brett's art, and then you have someone else come in and draw something, draw Brett's art, but in their own style, and it's like, it's. It's cool, but it's not necessarily doesn't quite mesh. And the fan base is like, if it doesn't hit that fan base, it doesn't work. Right. And you could have a really great artist pop in and draw something that would work for their fans but might not work for the fans that Brett has curated. And I could see that with, I mean, you know, like, what your argument is saying. I understand that. [00:12:45] Speaker B: I mean, well, let's even. Let's. Sorry, I didn't mean to say it. [00:12:49] Speaker A: I've seen that decision, that we've made that decision a couple times in the last several issues to go with a couple different artists because, oh, hey, you know, let's see what happens when we bring someone that has a different type of fan base or a different type of art style and put them into the mix and see what happens. And either sometimes people gravitate or they, or the fans question the decision. [00:13:21] Speaker B: Well, and I think, like, one of my favorites, who was the person that drew the COVID where she's watching the tvs with their history, where Sarah's watching. That's. That's one where I thought it meshed amazingly because it gave you a feel of, like, 1980s comic book art, like power, like power pack. Right. Combined. But then you open and you're in the reality that Brett is painting. Right then. Right. So I thought as an alt cover, I thought that one was amazing because it. And it also linked to the story. [00:13:57] Speaker A: Right. [00:13:57] Speaker B: And I am going to transition back to this story because, too, if we're looking at the first page here and there's a lot going on in the first page because there's some really fun things. But if. If Siobhan Aron walking into legion of headquarters was drawn, like Adam Hughes draws women, this wouldn't work. [00:14:13] Speaker A: No. [00:14:15] Speaker B: Right. Like, I think, like, Keith drawing her as if she's a regular person. Like, is appropriate for the story. We don't need, like, we wouldn't want, like, a bikini clad, really big breasted Siobhan walking into the headquarters. But we do get some really cool things on the first page. Hey, look, you've got a roll call. And they put the mission monitor board symbols there. So you know what? They all are. [00:14:46] Speaker A: No, I totally dig that. Because, and it's cool because you get that roll call and they all fall into play into the book when they. [00:14:55] Speaker B: Really like Keith and Paul really started using Paul Levitz, the writer. Who's that? Really started using a lot of interlac. Who's Paul Levitz? Yeah, interlac. If you don't know who Paul Levitz is, I can't help you. [00:15:06] Speaker A: The guy that has a furniture store. Levitz furniture. [00:15:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Love him. People love him. People hate him. But he's Paul Levitt. So one of the best comic historians and preservers of comic creator rights. And then some people will say he didn't preserve the rights when he was with DC, but he's been fighting for it for a long time. Made sure people got paid. We've talked about this before, too, the writer, like how Len Wein got paid more for Batman than he did for Wolverine. [00:15:42] Speaker A: Interesting. [00:15:42] Speaker B: He got paid more for Lucius Fox than he got paid for Wolverine, which is insane. Very, yeah. So to Levitz's credit there. But anyway, I don't want to spend too much time on that. Paul Levitz wrote this story and he was back to writing Legion. He's been writing for a few issues now and he's been setting the groundwork. And I told you this one was going to be the transition from late teen legionnaires to mid twenties legionnaires very rapidly. We had the last issue where they're stuck on the asteroid and we got some very adult themes as opposed to kid themes, like adultery is a potential theme and things like that. And now we're into this, but we get a tie back to an original story he told. She's walking in and she's like, I finally made it. I'm the legion liaison officer. And now it's not, and it's not going to be like the crazy day when I walked in during Earth war and, oh, well, that's some probably foreshadowing that it's not going to go too well today. [00:16:39] Speaker A: It's going to be bad. [00:16:41] Speaker B: Well, and she walks in and the first thing she does is she gets attacked by a table. [00:16:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:49] Speaker B: Comes from the ground. [00:16:50] Speaker A: It comes alive and it gets her. Gets her good. [00:16:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it pops out of the ground. It's like the legion. I don't know what's going on there. But anyway, the headquarters attacks her and Wildfire and Dawnstar come by and Wildfire just, that would be the star guy from the star guy Greg was referring. [00:17:08] Speaker A: Yeah, blaster face. [00:17:10] Speaker B: Yeah, blaster face. And he blasts the, the gizmo that's attacking her. And now she's like, now she's like, oh, it is going to be like Earth war. She doesn't say that. She's like, I can't believe I volunteered for this assignment. [00:17:24] Speaker A: Earth war two. [00:17:26] Speaker B: Well, Dawnstar and Wildfire fly off, which I'm sure will have nothing to do with that happens in the rest of the story. So we'll move on. And Siobhan meets up with element lad and they're talking about all the new cool security things that are happening in the headquarters. He's giving her a tour. They get to see the mission monitor board. They see reflecto, who was in the last story for a second. Oh, yeah. Well, you know, he was in the reflecto saga, and it was the story that was written by Roy Thomas right before they transitioned to Paul Levitz. And we've talked about it from the letter columns. It was not well received. And element lad basically says, yeah, that story is too complex for me to talk about. It's almost like. It's almost like. And, you know, Keith had to draw that. Right. It's almost like Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen are, like, telling the reader, literally, if you haven't picked up any of the rest of the legion books, if you're reading this annual and you're giving us a try, we're nothing like what was happening right before. [00:18:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:33] Speaker B: And they do it in just a couple of panels, which I think is clever, and they slide it in without insulting Roy. [00:18:38] Speaker A: Too much stuff. Quick touch and go. [00:18:42] Speaker B: Yeah, but, hey, this is different. And then we get them looking at the medical, brand new, shiny medical center, and we find out there's a girl there, and she has some sort of rare, like, nerve condition, like. And she's got some brainiac five wants to try out some things that he learned as he taught himself to be a surgeon overnight. [00:19:09] Speaker A: Yeah. And this is where Greg has problems. [00:19:14] Speaker B: Well, he is a new surgeon, and he thought maybe this would work on matter eater lad. So he wants to solve this problem for this little girl and her brother. [00:19:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Where we cue the weird owl music like a surgeon. [00:19:31] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Well, I don't think it quite goes that way. Yeah, well, it's maybe. Well, the. We do find out that doctor Gimmel, who always wants his credit vouchers paid, did refer Jacques and his sister Danielle to brainiac five. [00:19:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:54] Speaker B: And Danielle is sedated, it looks like, and is probably in an immense pain because she has a nerve condition. Right. They mentioned that there's, like. It's an electrical nerve condition, too. So that would mean your nerves would be. The synapses would be firing. I would imagine that would leave somebody in immense pain. [00:20:11] Speaker A: Oh, no, she's. Yeah, she's. She's got problems. And the other doctor was like, I ain't touching that with a ten foot pole. You go, brandy, I can. [00:20:19] Speaker B: Well, I didn't know how. Doctor Gimel didn't know how. I mean, that's a big deal. Doctor Gimel seemingly knows how to treat every ailment the legion ever has. So he probably could figure it out. Well, we get an interesting grouping here. We've got dream girl, and Mon El and Brainiac five. Now, two of them make sense. And then brainiac five taught himself surgery overnight, so. Okay, well, you always tout that he's so smart. [00:20:45] Speaker A: I'm over here thinking this is highly dangerous and probably unethical. [00:20:54] Speaker B: Well, I think brainiac five is incredibly smart. He has a 12th level intellectually, right. That doesn't mean he's always been taught, say, ethics. Yes, and he did teach himself to be a surgeon overnight. And as we go through the book, maybe that's part of the commentary here, right? When you teach yourself something overnight, but you weren't guided or mentored or brought through, if you were brainiac five, Hauser. [00:21:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:21:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Maybe you didn't have time to learn the ethical piece of it. And maybe, like on that show, you have to learn the ethical pieces as you move through the story. [00:21:35] Speaker A: Maybe he needs to go write in a journal entry, because maybe he needs to get an idea. [00:21:40] Speaker B: Well, I think he has. Wow. I don't know what that was for, but he has a lot of. I imagine he has a lot of journal entries. He'd keep track of his obvious experiments, but we find out that Mon El is there because of all of his daxomite knowledge on biological science. And dream girl is, of course, there. I don't think it alludes to it, but Dreamgirl used her. Now, Torian, you remember. Now, Tori, how could you forget all the dreamers that forgot to dream? And she had to solve that problem? Well, then dream girl has been solving a lot of stuff to. You. Remember, she tricked Hagga on Orando? But she also. She used her delturian science to change lightning glasses, powers to light lass. Remember? Basically, the person that's been dating Timberwolf and has been doing really weird things like making himself change his appearance, and then being super jealous when he was standing next to Saturn girl on the asteroid. You know her? Well, maybe, just maybe, dream girls tampering with that person's physiology messed up their psyche a little bit. But we don't want to get into that here. We can maybe. But I'm sure Levitz and Giffen will never pick up that throne down the road. So maybe she had some ethical issues, too. She's there. But basically we have. That's why Dreamgirl is helping out, obviously. So, we've got the three medical folks there all working out, and then we flip the page to page five, because this one does actually have page numbers. And I resemble that remark. And so I believe you like the page numbers in this one. Anyway. [00:23:26] Speaker A: I do like the page numbers in this one. It makes it easy to. Easy to find things. I like it. [00:23:30] Speaker B: Well, basically, the whole room starts blowing up, as brainiac five says, I swore never to use that circuitry again after the harm it caused. But this time, I'll control it, master our computer, and make up for what happened before. Not a second later, the entire room blows up. Ah, man. Or at least Dreamgirl's panel and brainiac five's panel blow up. [00:23:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, dream girl is taken out pretty quickly because she's shocked, presumably dead. [00:24:01] Speaker A: Yeah, it looks like bad stuff has happened. [00:24:04] Speaker B: There's a lot of Kirby crackle going on. I'm not sure. Kirby Crackle usually is not good when it's attached to a person. And brainiac five escapes his little area. But Jacques. So we had Jacques Fokar. Sorry, that's the brother. And Danielle Folkar, the patient. And Jacques yells, look at my poor little sister. And all of a sudden, she pops up and the red demon eyes happen. And good news. On the last podcast, Greg and I spent 20 minutes trying to figure, remember the name of the movie? The Exorcist. But this is clearly playing off the exorcist, right? Like, with the girl popping from the bed with the demon y looking eyes and doing some crazy things. But it's a spooky panel. [00:24:53] Speaker A: It's very scary. [00:24:55] Speaker B: I don't know that it's scary. I said spooky. I don't know that I'm scared, but it's not. Well, let's see what happens because of brainiacs five decision to think he could control this computer thing that he's created. Well, we do get another then cool feature of this annual. There's these banners at the top of each page where Siobhan is communicating with science police chief Zendak outside of headquarters, giving little updates on what's happening to help the story move along. So we get some exposition as we move forward, right? And so also as it flashes to each of the legionnaires that are impacted by his brainiac five's decision. We're finding out what's going on, you know, holistically, too, so it pulls the story along. We get to cosmic boy, and he has lost his Mike Grell and Dave cockrum. Bustier. Yep, he is now fully clothed. [00:25:50] Speaker A: He's got a whole new outfit looking pretty slow. [00:25:52] Speaker B: It's not a whole new. I mean, he's still got the bustier part. It's just got Flatberg in between it now. [00:25:57] Speaker A: Now he's looking pretty swanky. [00:25:59] Speaker B: He's got some cool little rings around his ankles and wrists there. It's cool. He does look pretty good. I say, cosmic boy. Yeah. But then all of a sudden, he's standing in his room admiring himself in the mirror, and every metal part in the room starts attacking him. [00:26:14] Speaker A: Yep. It's pretty scary. [00:26:17] Speaker B: Kind of looks like the COVID Yeah, he gets. [00:26:19] Speaker A: He. [00:26:19] Speaker B: And you could say. And for. [00:26:21] Speaker A: It's. It's like that. I think I said it the last thing. It's like. It's like Superman three. [00:26:28] Speaker B: No. Yeah. It is not like Superman three, but. [00:26:30] Speaker A: It is like Superman three. [00:26:32] Speaker B: It's in this case, for those of you that don't know. Cause Cosmic Boy's name doesn't actually tell you what his powers are. His powers are, he's got magnetic powers very similar to, say, some guy on X Men 97, you know, Magneto. Magneto. Magneto. [00:26:50] Speaker A: That's very attractive. [00:26:51] Speaker B: And. Yeah, well, everything's attracted to cosmic Boy, and he's concerned that if he reverses the polarity back to normal, everything will crush him. So he's now being cut up with all these parts bearing down in on him. And then the computer starts talking to Jacques and asking him how he is, which is weird. [00:27:10] Speaker A: Would you like to play a game? [00:27:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, we're gonna find out all about games on the next couple pages. Because next we go to Lightning lad in Saturn Girl's headquarters. And the garbage can. The atomizer is going insane. And Saturn girl has fallen under some parts. And lightning lad blasts it and is getting blasted back by it. And Saturn gorilla acknowledges. It's like the atomizer was waiting for him, like it's sentient. [00:27:40] Speaker A: He's in a fight with a garbage can. Yeah, I mean, I've gotten in a fight with a garbage can before when the lid is falling on my head. [00:27:47] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I could. I could see that. It doesn't sound right. [00:27:52] Speaker A: Talking dumpsters. [00:27:53] Speaker B: Probably not quite the same, but. And then the defense shields go up around the headquarters, which. [00:28:00] Speaker A: Scary. [00:28:01] Speaker B: And, well, then we get to our son boy and his buddy Starboy playing D and D. It's different. Starboy's not throwing barbs at phantom Girl this time. He's actually playing, hanging out with his friends. And since dream girl is in the lab, he had to find something to do, right? He couldn't be hanging out in his headquarters, you know, snuggling. He had to go out and hang out with his friends. So they're playing some D and D, and, well, all of a sudden, the characters in the game start attacking them. [00:28:29] Speaker A: No good. No good. [00:28:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, this is. It's. It's really kind of cool. [00:28:34] Speaker A: Super intense, dude. [00:28:36] Speaker B: And, like, it's supposed to be like. [00:28:39] Speaker A: It'S like a, like a, like a hologram, right? So, like, this hologram jumps out. It's kind of scary. [00:28:48] Speaker B: And then sunboy, of course, because that's his level of thought, just starts blasting them with sunbeams through a hologram. So that's not helping. [00:28:55] Speaker A: No, no, not at all. [00:28:56] Speaker B: And then we get to the cut to the medical center, where we see Danielle with the red eyes and is starting to smirk a little bit, which is really, now, that's a little bit creepy. [00:29:05] Speaker A: That is creepy. She's a creeper. [00:29:07] Speaker B: And then we get back to element lad and Siobhan, and this barrier has gone up around the medical center, and element lad's trying to transmute the wall into something else, and it just keeps coming back. And element lad. [00:29:24] Speaker A: Whoops. [00:29:25] Speaker B: What was that for? [00:29:26] Speaker A: He was trying to break it, but it wasn't breaking. [00:29:29] Speaker B: Oh, then it didn't break. So why'd you play break noises? But it's. Element lad may be one of the most powerful characters in all of comics, potentially. Like, he can transmute elements to other elements, and he's. It's. It's a good thing that. It's a good thing that nothing will ever hurt his brain and make him think he's an omnipotent God. [00:29:52] Speaker A: Oh. Oh, wait. Yeah, no. Yes. [00:29:56] Speaker B: Thanks. Well, at least. At least this version of element lad, where, thanks, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, for scaring the crap out of us in legion lost later on. But, yeah, it's, that's a long time from here. Very different story. But right now, not for a while. It's not for a good, like, 17 years. So we're. We're good, but it's 17 or 18 years, but we are good here. Yeah, it's. Wow. Basically, Danielle starts talking. [00:30:27] Speaker A: Oh, man. [00:30:28] Speaker B: And it gets a little, like. It's a little. Sounds like world. It sounds like evil villainy, like world dominance. Sounds like all of a sudden, Danielle Fokar is talking like. Like she's twisting her mustache. Oh, she's evil, but you fail to comprehend, creator. Human emotion would term that a pity, would it not? You should deduce what has occurred. You knew the possibilities. And then some more dialogue, and then we get, I'm reborn, Computo lives, and you get sort of a hazy vision. Of what the original computo looked like. And we get a reference from the editor, the legionnaires epic battle with computo back in Adventure comics 340 and 341, which was a big deal at the time because a character sort of died in one of those issues and never came back. [00:31:21] Speaker A: Who was that? [00:31:22] Speaker B: We'll find out. Well, compedo, they did defeat computer, but obviously he came back because brainiac, fine. Just, like, used the circuitry again. [00:31:30] Speaker A: Damn it, brainy. Why? [00:31:32] Speaker B: I know. Why did he think, yeah, well, now we get at the top. Zendak, if receiving, beware, computer. Repeat, computer is reactivated. Announced program includes destruction and or capitulation of humanity. And it's like, uh, captivation, captain, I don't know what that word is. [00:31:54] Speaker A: Oh, no. [00:31:54] Speaker B: I don't know. But anyway, captivation of humanity, I can't read it. It's mostly that I can't read it. I thought it was, you know, I think I've always read it as capitulation, but it does. That's not what it says. [00:32:05] Speaker A: But anyway, yeah, I got it all. [00:32:09] Speaker B: I guess they're really interested in watching it. [00:32:11] Speaker A: Yeah, they want to watch it. [00:32:12] Speaker B: Yeah, but to illustrate, we get a whole page from the science police to illustrate how serious this is and illustrate the point. They're evacuating everyone away from the area, like, immediately you see swarms of people. They're getting everybody out of the area, and they're alerting president mom. [00:32:31] Speaker A: President mom has the, no, yeah, she's in the know. [00:32:36] Speaker B: And then we get to the next page, and we're gonna answer your question right here. So now we get duo damsel and bouncing boy and duo damsels leaning back on a chair, crying. And she reminds bouncing boy, that compedo killed one of her three selves. She used to be called triplicate girl, and now she is duo Damsel. It was one of those silver age stories, which was kind of unfortunate in the sense that one of her died. And then at the end of the story, in the silver age one, she just bounces back and goes, well, one of me died, but look, I'm duo damsel. Now, the end, now we actually get the panel we've needed for, like, 20 years to illustrate, like, how devastating that actually was, that one of her, part of her was murdered, and. [00:33:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Do you think it was? Because, like, at the time, they just couldn't. They're like, they're like, oh, we can't. That's too hard. That's too hard of a sell to, like, to the readers to just be like, hey, we killed this person. We got to make it, like, yeah. [00:33:43] Speaker B: I mean, in legion, they did kill people, but. So lightning lad died early on. He was brought back, like, eight or nine issues later. So it was like, a death. Feral lad dies, like, 20 issues after the compedo issues. So they did have deaths in adventure comics, and, like, feral lad didn't come back ever until they rebooted the legion after zero hour. Right. Like, there's no. So feral lad, like, stayed dead. Dead, probably because he was a mutant who could turn into iron, and they called him feral lad. And I'm thinking that maybe Marvel probably had an issue with that because they have some other character named pharaoh man or something. [00:34:28] Speaker A: Pharaoh man. So interesting. [00:34:33] Speaker B: So, yeah, so, so interesting. Yeah. So I'm thinking that's probably why he died, but, yeah, I mean, it is. It is. It's just also the art, like, here. I really like how the room is different than the headquarters room, and it illustrates that you've gone somewhere else. [00:34:52] Speaker A: Yeah. It's a very different and unique appearance. It's not. [00:34:58] Speaker B: I also. Yeah, yeah. [00:34:59] Speaker A: Good. [00:35:00] Speaker B: Oh, I was just gonna say I also like Gafford's color choices here, all the pinks and the yellows. It's kind of like the watchmen background colors. And just to illustrate, like, it's a different. It's the future, right. It's a different color palette. You're seeing definitely different muted tones in the background. And also, like, we'll see in a second, too, when they do outside outdoor scenes, it really stands out that indoors and outdoors are different and the way things are lighted, almost, like, I mean, I guess we. I guess it's blue light now. This is almost like a pink light when they're inside. [00:35:31] Speaker A: Right. [00:35:31] Speaker B: But almost illustrate, like, the. I guess they weren't really using leds back then, but they're illustrating, like, in the future. Like, lighting is different, you know? And I think that's kind of cool. [00:35:42] Speaker A: That is cool. I like that. I like that they brought back these characters that we see earlier on in the storyline that aren't part of what we've been reading mainstay wise, but to bring them back to illustrate this chunk of what needed to be answered for. [00:36:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:06] Speaker A: And that's. It's a. And it cleans up something that I, like I said it was to me, it feels like they sanitize something early on, and here that it gives you this huge moment of, like, oh, wow, this. This person lost part of themselves. [00:36:27] Speaker B: And each of those corner panels, too, like, the very last panel on each page, advances the story in some way or relates back. And I like Tao, too. Like, on this one, duo, damsel is expressing, like, her helplessness. And then, literally, Siobhan is in the headquarters and says, I feel so useless against the machine. So they tie those pieces together, too. And we're gonna see it in a minute in the little superboy cameo, too. And, well, now we go back to the medical center area and element ladder and Siobhan are trying to get in, not phantom girl. Shadow last shows up, and shadow lass is like, hey, you keep trying to go through the wall. Maybe that's not the best idea. Actually, she doesn't say that yet. That's in a couple pages. But in this, we get some more exposition because Shadow last doesn't know who computer was. As we get each page right, it's showing how computer attacking is affecting each legionnaire. Right. As it moves through. It's almost like a snapshot of what's happening in that moment. Right? And in this case, shadow loss is coming up. And, like, I don't know who this is. Yeah, and, like. And element lads, like, it's a crazy computer that almost killed the entire team. And she's like, that's crazy. Like, she's express. She is, Greg, right? She is. Like, shadow lash is like, why would somebody, like, do this? Why would they do this, dude? Well, because her reaction of that's crazy is your reaction to, why would brainiac five do this to begin with? [00:38:03] Speaker A: Right, right, exactly. No, it's pretty good. Yeah, pretty good take. Pretty good take. [00:38:09] Speaker B: And then we get at the bottom of the page. Superboy flying in 1969 ad going to. I got a sudden chill. Maybe there's some kryptonite somewhere. So somehow computers reappearance is even affecting Superboy, who fought computer the first time. So, okay, well, we get our next pairing is we meet up with our lovebirds, colossal boy and shrinking violet. Right? Remember, they were all over each other on the asteroid? Yeah, and they. Yeah, well, they get, uh, they get together and, uh, all of a sudden, the ship just blasts out of headquarters. Yeah, and. [00:38:50] Speaker A: Yeah, and they're stuck. [00:38:52] Speaker B: Okay, and. And they're stuck, like, so that doesn't look good for their vacation. And then he should call President mom. I don't think he can. He's stuck to the back of the back of the wall. President mom, look what trouble I got into this episode. [00:39:10] Speaker A: Oh, no. [00:39:12] Speaker B: Oh, no. Well, it's. Now we get a snap back over to Lightning lad and Saturn girl. And Lightning lad has apparently defeated the atomizer. Good for him. He's lost most of his clothing as well. [00:39:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:24] Speaker B: And somehow Saturn girl has maintained most of her clothes. But it's good. Yeah, good for. And then. And then out of his headquarters flies cosmic boy. Well, a bunch of junk. So he decided. It looks like he decided to repel it, right? It flies out. But then he is really messed up and passes up, and he's all cut up. And then beams start blasting out of the other room, and lightning lad thinks, oh, that might be sunboy, since it's a big beam. And then we get another call back to the past. In the last panel, we have the. The legion of substitute heroes. We have polar boy there, and I can see plant lad in the background. Fire lad. That looks like night girl's hair. [00:40:11] Speaker A: Who? [00:40:12] Speaker B: Night girl is probably very concerned since she's dating cosmic boy, so that could be. But the science police officer says, listen, I don't care if you're the Legion of super pets. Nobody gets near that building. So Keith Giffen didn't have a great fondness for the Legion of substitute heroes, except he wrote that entire special that we reviewed before. [00:40:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I liked it. [00:40:34] Speaker B: And then later, they. Yeah, I liked it too. I thought it was good. He had a fondness for them, but he liked to make them sort of the butt of his jokes. [00:40:40] Speaker A: I wanted more. [00:40:42] Speaker B: I wanted more of that. Well, you do get more. Polar boy does eventually join the Legion and becomes their leader, so. [00:40:47] Speaker A: Well, that's great. I want more of that. [00:40:50] Speaker B: Yeah, well, you did get more. It was a series called the Justice League Intern, Justice League, and Justice League International and Justice League America. I believe you actually got more of that. I understand there was a whole series giving you exactly what you wanted. [00:41:04] Speaker A: Exactly what I wanted. [00:41:05] Speaker B: Good. [00:41:06] Speaker A: Let's read it all. [00:41:07] Speaker B: It just wasn't done with allegiant superhero. Well, I will go back and get my Justice League omnibus, and if you want to start another Justice League giffen and Damattis podcast, we can certainly do that. [00:41:20] Speaker A: I'm pretty sure project Dash nerd will be like, wait a minute, another podcast just devoted to Justice League? [00:41:29] Speaker B: Well, there already is a whole podcast just devoted to Justice League. That is true. [00:41:37] Speaker A: What do you think, listeners? [00:41:40] Speaker B: Well, anyway, listener, it looks like we find out that computer has paralyzed Mon El bathing. [00:41:49] Speaker A: Oh, no. [00:41:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, that's not good. So now it's just Jacques and brainy running around the room trying to solve the problem. [00:41:59] Speaker A: This is terrible. [00:41:59] Speaker B: And computer continues to taunt them. He says your flaw was always your human emotions creator. That is consistent. You should never have risked my return for the sake of a meaningless child life. Look. Look what it's costing you. And then we get a flash again to the gym, and we see a big thump. And Block has tried to go swimming. Yes, see, you're getting the legion of substitute heroes issue right here on this one panel. Black has tried to go swimming. He falls through the pool, which is. It's a really cool pool. [00:42:33] Speaker A: It's like a suspended, suspended glass pool. [00:42:37] Speaker B: I was thinking it was like the transparent aluminum from Star Trek for. [00:42:40] Speaker A: Okay, yeah. [00:42:41] Speaker B: That they put the whales in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But apparently the whales weigh less than block because he fell right through it. Oh, he's. Apparently silicon life forms sink in pools. Who knew? [00:42:52] Speaker A: I would imagine he's. He's a bit. He's a tad bit heavy. He went off a diagonal. [00:42:58] Speaker B: He does require. He does have, like, that giant flight rings, you know, to fly. Like it's. Well, anyway, Timberwolf is quite annoyed because now he can't dive into the pool and do all his cool acrobatic stuff as he stands there in his swim trunks. But then, like, the rings come over, they fly over. I guess they just spend it and start attacking him. And he yells out for block. But block is being attacked by a futuristic poma horse. [00:43:26] Speaker A: Oh, man. [00:43:26] Speaker B: So not going well there in the gym either. [00:43:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:30] Speaker B: And then an SP beacon. Oh, sorry. Yeah. [00:43:34] Speaker A: Jim Kata, the best movie from the seventies. [00:43:40] Speaker B: That's. Yeah, sure. We'll just roll with that. Jim Cotta. Jim Cotta, one of the best movies of the 1970s. I mean, with the towering Inferno and the Godfather. [00:43:51] Speaker A: I mean, if you. If you want to learn a fighting style that is all about gymnastics, Gymkata is the mood for you. [00:44:00] Speaker B: You know, we should review Gymkata with jujutsu lawyer Paul Boudreau. [00:44:04] Speaker A: My gosh, we should. That would be hilarious. We should make that happen. [00:44:11] Speaker B: I just want to see his reactions, too. I believe at the end, his reaction might be, why did you just waste an hour and a half of my time? [00:44:18] Speaker A: Or his reaction would be, let's get someone into the. Let's get someone into the gym and see what they're fighting. [00:44:25] Speaker B: How. [00:44:26] Speaker A: How if this fighting style could hold up against jiu jitsu and for how long? [00:44:32] Speaker B: Well, that would be interesting. So. Well, we do get an SP beacon that is tracking down wildfire and Dawnstar. Not to transition out of jimkada, but we're on page, like, 16 of 40. [00:44:44] Speaker A: Now we're on 17. [00:44:45] Speaker B: We may want to move it along. [00:44:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm moving right along. [00:44:48] Speaker B: And it's, uh. Wow. Okay, well, anyway, the beacon tracks him down and really, why is it so fucking long? It should last for like, a second. [00:45:02] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:45:03] Speaker B: So we get. Anyway, we get back, and now we're back at Science police Central, and President mom is like, President mom gets a message from chief Zendak of the science police and finds out the situation is really bad. And then the Green Lanterns contact her. And she's like, screw you. No Green Lanterns are coming to the earth. Ever. [00:45:25] Speaker A: No, get out of here. We don't want your help. [00:45:29] Speaker B: And the Green Lantern, like, tries to save face and is like, I'll convey your feelings to the Guardians. I'll let you know their decision. And she's like, tell them my decision. She's like, president mom is having nothing of that. And then she says. And then she defends her position to her folks. And she's like, my son is there. Get over it. And she's like, get out of here. And she wants to pray in peace. She's not too happy. Okay. And then we get a little message in the corner. We get an update on President son, who is like, I'm beginning to think the cruiser doesn't like us. So again, another good, good colossal boy, always using his big brain. He's got that big brain energy. He's got that. Look at that big brain on Colossal boy. [00:46:20] Speaker A: Oh, he's a big thinker. [00:46:23] Speaker B: We get a really scary site where it looks like that computer is burning out the body. He's in. [00:46:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Melting. [00:46:31] Speaker B: And Jacques is screaming at Compiro that he's killing his sister and torturing. He said would that I had the power to torture you as you deserve. And he's like, computer's like torture. That's a new human term for me catalog. Does this image of your sister's psyche constitute torture for you? And they're throwing some barbs back at each other, and brainy's just in there. He's like, I've got to calm myself down. I've got to think. And in the corner, we have these eyes pop out in space, and they're like, there's a power. I sense it must not challenge me. [00:47:07] Speaker A: Oh. [00:47:07] Speaker B: Oh. Remember that creepy space planet from before? Yeah. Well, what's going on there? Well, we flip the page, and we get ultra boy, phantom girl and light lass. And they're moving some stuff out of storage back into Ultra boy's headquarters now that he's back from the reflecto saga. And, uh, because they thought he was dead, you know, like, so now he's live, he's moving back in. And as they're moving back in, like the. It looks like the mop or vacuum is doing something and then attacks Phantom girls face. Oh, goodness. I'm not. I'm not sure why she doesn't just turn into a fanta, but, you know, hey, it's scary, dude. Yeah, well, I think her instinct would fit anyway. That's cool. Yeah. But then ultra Boy tries to rush in because he's very smart and rush in at super speed and then it blows up and hits him before he. [00:48:02] Speaker A: Oh, no. [00:48:03] Speaker B: Can switch. Well, yeah, so, like, remember. Cause ultra boy can only use one power at a time. And he's also very, very highly intelligent. [00:48:10] Speaker A: Yes. No. Nah. [00:48:13] Speaker B: How can we keep hitting running into the legionnaires that maybe aren't so smart and then the smartest one's trying to have them all murdered. So it's. Yeah, it's not. [00:48:22] Speaker A: It's. [00:48:23] Speaker B: Well, it's not going so well. [00:48:24] Speaker A: Yeah, not going too good. [00:48:25] Speaker B: Well, that power guy sends out some thing out in space to go try to find out what the power is. So this like, little creature starts flying out in space. Then we get into Central park and we get the color changes because outside, it's outside. And Chameleon Boy is pouting like he has for the last four issues. [00:48:47] Speaker A: That's what he do. [00:48:48] Speaker B: Yeah, it's Chameleon Boy and he is reading the paper about how he'll probably get arrested and everything and it's terrible. And then he's going to jail. He knocks the paper down and he ignores the sP spacecrafts flying very rapidly in the sky above him. Clearly there's a problem going on, but he's out hanging out in Central park so he doesn't know what's going on. [00:49:11] Speaker A: Stupid paper. [00:49:12] Speaker B: Yeah. I like how they preserve Central park to into the future. That's kind of cool. [00:49:17] Speaker A: It's nice. [00:49:18] Speaker B: Well, anyway, and then this weird creature gets to earth and discovers there's a big polymer shield around it. And then we get this really cool, like, map of Legion headquarters. [00:49:27] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I can't see it. [00:49:29] Speaker B: That's okay. We don't have to talk about it. Yeah, I can just say I looked at it a lot. [00:49:34] Speaker A: Dan likes it. [00:49:35] Speaker B: And they did even incorporate it in the story, right. They said, I suggest examining Legion HQ blueprints so it does make sense. So Siobhan is like, hey, chief Zendak, examine the blueprint so you can figure out how to solve this problem. If we can't do it. So it is cool. It does make sense that it's there. And I liked it when I was a kid. I probably read that thing a billion times. Well, now we're back to the story. And compedo is again taunting brainiac five. And brainiac five, while Computo is taunting, grabs a telepathic plug from his belt. So the belt's not just for just. [00:50:16] Speaker A: Like, snacks and stuff like that? [00:50:18] Speaker B: Well, it's his force field belt. Right, but snacks, I will say. I actually did think that was cool, though. They've established that they use the telepathic plugs to communicate in space, and so he has one. And it makes sense. All the other legionnaires should have one of them, right? And he. He grabs one and he slides it over to Jacques and. And communicates. Hey, don't react. And then follow my lead. Yeah, be cool, man. And then we got a plan. And then we. And then we've got wildfire and Dawnstar trying to stop the runaway ship. And they. And of course, wildfire does what he does best. He blasts it. [00:50:58] Speaker A: Kapow. [00:50:59] Speaker B: And shrinking violet and colossal boy fall out. [00:51:04] Speaker A: And. [00:51:04] Speaker B: And it's. It's interesting. I believe that. Harant. Harant. Remember our horse guy? [00:51:10] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, horseman. Yeah, horse mobster. [00:51:13] Speaker B: Yeah. What kind of deal do you think he's gonna cut with them on their next cruiser after they had to destroy that one? It'd be like, buy one, get one free. Buy three, get one free. [00:51:25] Speaker A: Buy three, get one free. [00:51:33] Speaker B: It's. Well, sure, yeah, I mean, I think it makes sense. [00:51:37] Speaker A: I think he could get. He could get. And then if you lose another one, I'll throw in a second one for half price. [00:51:46] Speaker B: I love to. How in that image with that little spate, the junk from the ship bounces off wildfire, and it says, plunk. [00:51:56] Speaker A: Plunk. [00:51:57] Speaker B: I just. I mean, some of the Keith giffen art stuff is just hilarious to me. Like, he'll always throw in something like that. [00:52:02] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah, I see it in that. [00:52:05] Speaker B: And you see the servant of darkness, right? [00:52:08] Speaker A: Oh, hey, he's just waiting. [00:52:10] Speaker B: I mean, not of darkness. This the servant. [00:52:12] Speaker A: I am the servant. That's a good band, man. Servant. Oh, yeah. [00:52:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, sure, sure. It's good. And then, yeah, we get element lad there, exhausting himself. And this is where Shattergirl's like, maybe we should go under it. And they're like, okay, we'll try that. And then now lightning lad's looking astonished, clearly recovered from whatever was happening to him after he was leader. And he recovers from that to see Starboy and Sunboy hanging and one of the creatures from the game saying a prayer to Mordrew the merciless. [00:52:52] Speaker A: Oh, no. [00:52:54] Speaker B: And if you don't know about Mordrew the merciless, well, Mordrew appeared way back with Jim Shooter in Adventure Comics 369, where he fought duo Damsel, superboy, mon El, and Shadow Lass. But he had an unnamed appearance before that. So when Shooter introduced him, it was like, oh, this is Mordrew. But we fought him before, but we never knew because it just didn't make a story. [00:53:20] Speaker A: Right. [00:53:21] Speaker B: And, of course, Mordrew also appeared in legends of the superheroes riding a jet ski. Oh, yeah. Yeah. If you go back and look up legends of superheroes, that superhero variety show from the seventies, you will see Mordrew riding a jet ski at some point, because apparently that's how futuristic magicians get around. [00:53:42] Speaker A: Okay, cool. [00:53:44] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah. The Lord of chaos, you know. [00:53:51] Speaker A: I am the lord of chaos. More jumpsuit. [00:53:54] Speaker B: I ride jet skis. [00:53:55] Speaker A: It sounds. It sounds. Wait a minute. Hold on a second. Is he also a really good pitcher? [00:54:02] Speaker B: No. [00:54:02] Speaker A: Oh. Cause he Lord of Chaos riding a jet ski. [00:54:06] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, well, anyway, the Mordrew in the comic book and not on the Mordor in the comic book rivals, like, computo, right? It's very scary. So in this case, Starboy's like, can you zap the machine before he finishes his prayer and brings Mordrew back? [00:54:24] Speaker A: Gotcha. [00:54:25] Speaker B: And then we get to the corner. Apparently, the servant got hit by space junk is. I mean, I feel like you should know more about space junk than me. Like, is that a real thing? Would you just get hit by. [00:54:39] Speaker A: Yes. Space junk is a thing. I know. Like, in our last recording of this, I went into a very in depth discussion of space junk. I will, I will truncate it for, for this one because I don't want to go onto the 15 minutes tangent of space junk that I did last time. But, uh, yeah, space junk's a real thing. There are, there's a lot of space junk out there. Um, as you, as, as I've done some research on this for, for books and stuff like that in the past, absolute zeros being one of them. [00:55:06] Speaker B: Like, absolute zeroes camp, launch fast. [00:55:08] Speaker A: And the, uh, the rest of the book series for the absolute zeros, the space junk is a real thing. When we do launch things into outer space, there is separation from those accelerant devices. So anything like a rocket or anything that goes into space will become space junk. And if it doesn't fall into the atmosphere and burn up, and it will spin around whatever those larger planets are or in the asteroid belts and other things like that. So you will end up with space junk. And if you have satellites that don't fall out of atmosphere or into the atmosphere and they continue to just kind of just rotate around, they. And they're no longer functioning, they are also considered space junk. So things are out there and they are dangerous. We do. So if this and NASA and other space agencies do measure space junk and note space junk, and then also do calculate when space junk will fall into the atmosphere, such as a giant amount of batteries that were launched off of the International Space Station. [00:56:24] Speaker B: Ooh, that sounds cool. Yeah, I know. You're supposed to fly batteries inside of airplanes all the time, you know, batteries are dangerous. Yeah. Well, anyway, the servant gets crushed by space junk and is dead. [00:56:39] Speaker A: So I don't know. [00:56:41] Speaker B: I guess we'll never know. I guess we'll never know. You know what? I guess we're never gonna read about the servants or again, like, that's it. Yeah, well, we do get back. I was complimenting them. I was complimenting them on the telepathic plugs a second ago. And clearly, your dogs love the telepathic plugs as well. [00:57:01] Speaker A: I'm so excited. Whenever it comes to earplugs or headphones or anything like that, they love to eat them. So you said telepathic plugs. They got excited. They thought it was a snack treaty treats. [00:57:11] Speaker B: Yeah, well, they're quite on whatever they're doing right now. But basically, we get. I compliment on the telepathic plugs. We do get to set up start for the end of the story, and with the setup for the start for the end of the story, we've got the telepathic plugs are in, and brainiac five is laying out his plan to Jacques about what to do about computo. And we get introduced to Lyle Norg, the original invisible kid, and very briefly, who was crushed by Validus, which is really awful. In his hand. You'd think he would have got shot by Validus mental lightning, but instead, he was crushed. So Lyle's been dead for a while, you know, dead legionnaires, we're back to that, right? So they do die. And I think if it's like teen titans and legionnaires are always dying, I don't know what the deal is. I guess if they're teen superheroes, it's okay to kill them. But if they're not teens, if they're adults, then they get to live. I don't know. It seems sort of weird. But anyway, we've got. We get. I think there is a little bit of a MacGuffin here, right? The serum just happens to be sitting in the room. Right. That you can take. Yeah, but it is the medical center. So they did make sense, establish that. It does make sense that if they had more of the serum, it would be there. But basically, like, invisible kid created a serum for himself. He took it and helped him turn invisible. And now that serum is there, and brainiac five is basically like, I think the one way to save your sister is to take this and become invisible. But you'll either either turn invisible or you'll have an allergic reaction and die. [00:58:45] Speaker A: Oh, no. [00:58:46] Speaker B: And Jacques is like, well, I'll do this to save my sister, but this doesn't. These are not great choices, brainiac, thanks a lot. That's your best solution. And computer is starting to figure out something is up. And he's like, creator. Okay. [00:59:00] Speaker A: Oh, no. [00:59:02] Speaker B: And then. And then Dawnstar and Wildfire are locked outside the building. So they're stuck. [00:59:07] Speaker A: At least they're safe. [00:59:08] Speaker B: Well, we're. At least they're safe. Well, we're back to the gym, and it looks like Block and Timberwolf have rescued themselves from the pommel horse and the rings. [00:59:16] Speaker A: They're safe. [00:59:16] Speaker B: And then they try to leave, and the door zaps block. I am assuming if the door can zap block and knock him backwards, then it's a pretty powerful. [00:59:24] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:59:25] Speaker B: I mean, silicone can conduct, right? Yeah. [00:59:27] Speaker A: I mean, but it's not like. I mean, it's one of those things it passes through, it conducts, but it. But. But the fact that it knocked him backwards, it's like, whoa. Hey, this pretty. This is pretty strong. [00:59:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Sometimes I think they use block, too, to, like, illustrate how tough something is. Yeah. But now we got. And then we got Jacques down, still thinking about whether or not he's gonna take this thing or not. Right, because he doesn't really want to die, but he doesn't want his sister to die. And kind of the whole situation really sucks, man. And now we get back. They've made it somehow. The group has made it. The lightning lad and starboy, Saturn girl, sunboy and cosmic boy have somehow made it into Timberwolves headquarters. I'm not really sure why. I guess Timberwolf isn't using them right now because he's stuck in the gym. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. They're in the headquarters, and all of a sudden, everybody gets blasted by lightning. [01:00:19] Speaker A: Oh, no. [01:00:20] Speaker B: And except lightning lads like, well, I'm fine, but everybody else is knocked out. And then it looks like Silver Age Lightning lad is fighting him. [01:00:27] Speaker A: What, himself? From the past. [01:00:30] Speaker B: Interesting. [01:00:31] Speaker A: Whoa. [01:00:31] Speaker B: Well, then we get Jacques down in the corner again, going, it's not fair. I think it's the only way. So I loved it, too. As we get the updates about each of the Legionnaire groups who've been following out through the issue, we've got Jacques grappling with this life or death decision he's about to make on behalf of his sister. [01:00:46] Speaker A: Right? And he's definitely got a struggle. He's definitely trying to figure out, do I do this or do I not? He's got a lot of stuff going on he's been dealing with through the whole book, and right now, it's a definite point of, do I. If I don't do this, she dies. If I do do this, I might die. [01:01:11] Speaker B: Well. And then we get back to the medical center, right? While he's thinking about that, we get Computo taunting everybody. He's basically knocked dream girl out. He's paralyzed, mon El, and is showing him the phantom zone projector that trapped him in the phantom zone for a thousand years. So he can't move, and he's taunting him. [01:01:30] Speaker A: Oh, that's terrible. [01:01:32] Speaker B: And finally, while Jacques makes the decision that he's going to go ahead and do this. And so he walks over to a panel, and computer's sort of ignoring him, sort of paying more attention to brainiac five, right, until that serum pops out. And then computer's like, what are you doing, human? Because he doesn't. Computer doesn't think Jacques can do anything, right? And he says, jacques just announces, I'm doing what my sister would have me do, computer. And he drinks it and vanishes. Oh, and now he's taking out brainiac five because he's like, this is your fault. [01:02:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:08] Speaker B: Which is true. And then we flip back, and now we're trying to figure out what happened to light lass and phantom girl and ultra boy, maybe getting a glimpse on now, as much as I was picking on light lass for sort of her, like, attitude toward her partner, right, and kind of shaping him and making him do things. I don't wish potential death on anybody. And so we. I think this was a nice panel, too, because the. She's floating them out of the room and sacrificing herself. [01:02:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:39] Speaker B: And I actually think this is cool, because the way they've painted light lass over the last few issues of just being sort of this manipulator. And then jealous girlfriend in peace and selfish. She gets a self sacrificing act, right, to illustrate she's still part of the team. [01:02:54] Speaker A: So it's a hard page because it's like she's not. She's in rough shape, man. [01:03:01] Speaker B: Yeah. It does not look good. And then we get to the other dorm, and we still see lightning lad fighting. Lightning lad. [01:03:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Lad against lad. [01:03:12] Speaker B: It's all. It's no good. And then we get the group back. We're back to Siobhan and element lad. And. And they are trying to get through the barrier because it looks like shadow last. His idea of just going around it didn't work. And then element lads, finally we're going through, and he starts pushing through the gook. I don't know if that's such a great idea. And in the medical sphere, we see swirling junk. [01:03:39] Speaker A: Oh, man. [01:03:40] Speaker B: Looks like Campito's trying to take the lab apart, and he's attacking brainiac five with it. And eventually it breaks down brainiacs Five's force shield, which is really interesting because it should be pretty much indestructible. But while that's happening, while that's happening, invisible kid is tromping around, and Mon El is trying to use his powers to do one last thing to open a canister so this hypo can come out. So basically, they're giving the body a future epiPen, right, to. To extract. Right. To reawaken the body and get the. [01:04:17] Speaker A: Circuitry out of it, give it that boost, that pop. Yeah. [01:04:21] Speaker B: And over the next couple pages, we get really scary looking computer taunting everyone. Right? Mon El uses his heat vision. This disc pops out, and Jacques gets the disc. But the trick is he's invisible, but now he can be seen because he's holding the disc. Right. And it is interesting, if I was gonna dig into the story a tiny bit, right. Usually invisible characters like Sue Storm or the original invisible kid, they can extend their field around their clothing. They treat it more like an invisible field, almost like bending light as opposed to cloaks. Right? Yeah, yeah. But he doesn't quite know how to do that yet because he just got the power. So I guess I like that part. It's just weird, though, that he knows how to do it with his clothes, but he can't do it with the disc. [01:05:15] Speaker A: Yeah. The disc is in the open, and computo can see it, and it's like, what's that floating around? If you want to sing with me, follow the bouncing disc. [01:05:25] Speaker B: Hey. But he does manage to get the disc onto computer and shock the body. And as that happens, the computer is knocked out of the body and all is theoretically well, except this poor little girl hasn't been healed. She's just sitting in the middle of the medical center. [01:05:50] Speaker A: She's been corrupted. Her brain. She still had all this bad stuff happen to her. Her body's been taxed by neurod. Neurology, neurological convulsants being done over and over again while her brain has been taken over. Yeah. No, this is terrible. Terrible, dude. [01:06:14] Speaker B: Yeah. All because brainy five thought he could save her. It's not ideal. [01:06:18] Speaker A: No. Do you know? [01:06:20] Speaker B: And it's. You know, it's. Yeah. And then eventually. Well, we'll get to that in a second. But, yeah, she's there. Lightning lad finds out he's been attacking, fighting a welder for a half hour, which makes sense. We get chief Zendax seems happy, and so does Gigi Kusamano, the other science police officer. Block and Timberwolf get out of the gym. [01:06:48] Speaker A: Yay. Good. [01:06:49] Speaker B: And Jacques is sad, and somehow element lad ended up on the roof. Okay, I'm guessing based on how this story went, probably the next legion leader. Elections probably ain't going his way. [01:07:01] Speaker A: Probably not. Yeah, he's not. [01:07:05] Speaker B: He did try. [01:07:06] Speaker A: He tried, but he did not succeed. [01:07:08] Speaker B: Well, they go back to the medical lab and brainiac stabilizes Danielle, but still has the weird red glow in her eyes, which is really creepy. And then he goes back to a meeting. [01:07:21] Speaker A: Daniel, they do. [01:07:23] Speaker B: We. We cannot have a legion of superhero comic book unless we have a meeting. Oh, yeah, they have a lot of meetings. And, uh, brainiac basically goes in and says he's unworthy and he shouldn't be in the legion. And instead, the whole legion is like, no, no, no, we're keeping you, and we're gonna keep Jacques too. We're gonna. We want the new invisible kid to join the legion. So brainy gets to go talk to him and say, hey, do you want to be a legionnaire? And he says, of course I do. I will try. And it's the end. And I will say, they do do something. So Jacques becomes a legionnaire. And this issue is important because they had had an african legionnaire named Tyrock, who we've mentioned before. They wrote Tyrock out of the story, but now they have Jacques. So they do have. It does increase people of color in legion. So there's increased representation in this issue in addition to the notion of just getting a really good story. We also get some increased representation in the legion. Additionally, we'll have increased representation in the future. Danielle and before zero hour eliminated her character, which was super frustrating for me. They actually wrote Danielle into the story, too, as compedo. And she had the power, basically to talk to machines. [01:08:50] Speaker A: Oh, like Doctor Dolittle, but with, with machines ain't. [01:08:54] Speaker B: Yeah. So, I mean, cool, right. Like, or, or the terrible. Well, or some people might say Doug Ramsey of the new mutants. Okay. Which, well, that didn't go well for Doug, but, yeah, but also, I mean, and then zero hour and DC kind of killed the character off because when they relaunched the legion, right, with the founders, Danielle would have appeared so far in the future that she didn't really show up. She does get to show up later again, too. But I mean, I thought really cool concept for the character. Right. Another tieback. This happened to her as a child when she grew up. Then she maintained that circuitry. [01:09:26] Speaker A: Right. [01:09:26] Speaker B: And can talk and communicate in the same way computer was communicating with the machines here. Right. So does make sense, right. The cool character, she actually even made it onto those DC trading cards that Anne gave me. [01:09:42] Speaker A: Yeah, we got those. [01:09:43] Speaker B: One of those trading cards that one of those cards and gave me was one of Danielle. [01:09:47] Speaker A: That's cool. [01:09:48] Speaker B: So, yeah. So then another random tieback. But, yeah, I mean, wow, this story was big. [01:09:57] Speaker A: No, it's a big book. And it's, it's a lot more than I expected when I open. I mean, obviously it's an annual. It's gonna be a large. A large story, big book. But it's a lot. It was a lot more. It's not your Archie's style legion book. It's not your kids legion. It's not your teenage book. It's not your teenage teen book. This is a grown up book. I honestly thought people were gonna die. I thought we were losing legionnaires. I thought I was. I was. I honestly, like, and I said this on the last time we recorded this podcast, and I probably said a lot more. I was mad for multiple reasons. I honestly, I felt like this book was because, I mean, they did such a good job at building up so much stuff over the last couple issues to get us to this point. And this now has me scared that something is coming. [01:11:00] Speaker B: Well, I was. I was. I was sort of when I read the book the first time. Happy that chameleon boy was outside of the headquarters because he seems like the one that they would have, like, offed, right? [01:11:10] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I know. He chameleon boy gone. [01:11:16] Speaker B: Yeah. So that was probably good. Yeah, I think. And I think they do a good job, like, telling these stories and, you know, they're sort of creeping out of and just barely escaping these situations to. When a death does happen about, it's about. So this is 82, mid year. So we're talking about it'll be about a year and a half, a year and a half to two years from now. When that death does happen, you can imagine the fan reaction was both was hot and cold for it. Right. Like, it was not. Like people were like, well, then you finally killed somebody. Right. Like, what happened? [01:11:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:11:56] Speaker B: So. But, yeah, I think it, you know, I think it. It was good. And they build it up. And they don't just blow up legionnaires and kill them for no reason, but they do build up to it, and then it sort of gets. We had some other issues in here, too, like medical ethics that they're dealing with. Right. The whole notion we talked about the beginning that, I'm glad we actually did this again. Cause we didn't tie this back in last time. But the notion that he teaches himself to be a surgeon overnight, but he doesn't get the ethical and moral training that needs to go along with training a medical professional. So that doesn't happen. [01:12:31] Speaker A: You get the why you're doing it, but the how you're doing it, but not the exact why you're doing these things and how it affects and what can affect. [01:12:42] Speaker B: Yeah. So. And then he's making decisions that are not in the best interest of himself or his patient. Right. Where. Because out of. Out of a great desire to do good. He desires to do good, but it's not the right choice. Yeah. [01:12:56] Speaker A: Everyone around you, dude. [01:12:59] Speaker B: Yeah. And everyone around him. I mean, it almost murders all of his friends. Right. So it's. It's an interesting. And that's what happened. And it does tie back to the silver age story originally, too, because when he created computer the first time, he thought he was in his lab creating the coolest computer possible. So, I mean, if I go back to the Silver Age story, it more would tie back to, like, AI now. [01:13:21] Speaker A: Right. [01:13:21] Speaker B: And discussions about that. So I think they do a good job, like, getting some of these points in for the reader. Right. Without hitting you over the head with it. [01:13:31] Speaker A: Well, and it's. Yeah, it's just that it is the classic tale of doing the wrong thing because you think it's the right thing, but it might be the right thing, but it definitely has some of the wrong thing in it. [01:13:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, there's a lot of consequences. I mean, and I also like, too, that there's continued consequences for the choices that people make in the stories. Right? Chameleon boy is still dealing with consequences. [01:13:59] Speaker A: Right. [01:13:59] Speaker B: Brainiac five now is going to have trust issues with his friends. Right? [01:14:04] Speaker A: Or he's going to have trust issues with himself. You know, he's going to always think twice before he does something because he's going to wonder. Second guess. [01:14:12] Speaker B: Well, and computer shows back up, so. [01:14:15] Speaker A: Oh, no. [01:14:16] Speaker B: Yeah, no, like it in a weirdest way possible. So you would think Brainiac five would learn, right? Computer shows back up is basically the major domo of the headquarters. [01:14:27] Speaker A: Oh, man. [01:14:29] Speaker B: And so certainly Ultron. I mean, nothing, nothing would go wrong there. Yeah, but it doesn't. He does. He does. He does over. He. He does overcome it and control the circuitry eventually. But, you know, some of the question is, but why would he do that again? You know, like, as you can imagine, duo damsel was not thrilled with having computer being the major domo of the headquarters. Can imagine not, yeah, you know, not real thrilled. But you also, I think you get that sort of inevitability of, you know, if we're talking about, like, AI and things like that. Well, you can be afraid of AI, but it's here. So, I mean, you can be afraid of it, but inevitably it's going to be part of, and is currently part of people's lives. Right. So, yeah, I think they. You can. It's, it's any. Anyway, back to it before I get too lost in this interesting theme that they explore in kids books. [01:15:29] Speaker A: Right? [01:15:30] Speaker B: Like, I think it's fun. [01:15:31] Speaker A: Oh, these darn children's books, they're so entertaining. [01:15:34] Speaker B: And this is hard, honestly, I think this is hardly a kid's book at this point, too. That's what we've been talking about. This is a late, now a late teenager, early twenties, target audience, and really targeting that audience that grew up with Legion of superheroes while still writing it away, that a kid could pick it up and read it. There's a lot of text in these books, though, again, so, like, it's not like you're, if you're ten and you're reading this book, I think you enjoy it, you know, so I picked the books up when I was ten, right? Like, my first one was in 84 or 83, so nine. So, like, I picked it up. But, yeah, I mean, you can read it, but I obviously understand a lot more about them now. And I wouldn't have been, like, seeing the medical ethics pieces in there. Yeah, no, but, but, you know, as at that age, I could still identify, hey, why would he do something that would endanger his friends? [01:16:23] Speaker A: He's doing something that, that could hurt his friends. That's not, that's not right. You don't, you don't know. You don't have the language to explain it, but you understand that there's something not correct with it. [01:16:33] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that's, you know, I think that always results, it means, similar to the compliments I've given you about junior braves, right? Like, you, you could read it as an adult or read it as a kid, and you still will understand the basic themes, even though you just understand them at different levels. Right. And I think that's what they're doing here in the stories. So, I mean, we're about to transition to the four part story, and I don't know that we're going to see as much of that there, but it's still a great story. But obviously, I mean, to me, this is. You were teasing me last time, like, the whole time, but this is one of my favorite single issue books. I think anybody could pick this book up, know nothing about any of the characters, and read it and enjoy it. [01:17:10] Speaker A: Well, on my 20th read now, I can strongly agree with you. My second conversation with you about this fine, fine book. I'm just not. [01:17:20] Speaker B: You've not read it 20 times. [01:17:21] Speaker A: Actually, yes, I have. [01:17:24] Speaker B: You did read it a couple times. [01:17:25] Speaker A: Okay, well, no, I honestly, like, I can see, I can see the things that you truly do enjoy about this. And after reading this a few times now and talking about it with you letting go of the. Oh, my God, it's so long, oh, my God. My feeling that this was going to. Because when you read it, sometimes you anticipate certain things, and if you set those anticipations aside, knowing certain things to be true and just go in and enjoy the story for the things that you know it to be and are excited about the. The way it's the storytelling or the art and the other things you can truly experience the way that it's being told. And I think I had, I had a, I think my, like I said the last time, my expectation for the book was this. And what I got was this. And I was, I was frustrated because it was better than I expected and that's why I was upset, which is weird, right? [01:18:40] Speaker B: Like, you were expecting, you were expecting the Archie books, and you got this transition. And I told you ahead of time you were getting a transition from the bra age to the modern age. Right here. And these characters were growing up right in front of me. [01:18:53] Speaker A: Much better book in this run than I expected. And it just threw me for a loop that it was going to be such a hard read. It was emotionally hard read in some places because of the very big growth spots that you get with certain characters. Just the fact, like I said, from the jump, is, like, it hits you with all the characters that are in the book right there on the roll call, and you're gonna get all those characters. You're gonna. You're gonna get snippets from everybody, and it's gonna follow through with all those things, and it's just. It is a non, non stop. They never. They never let out. The team never lets off the gas telling the story with all these characters. So you're just. It's. It's pop, pop, pop, pop all the way through the book, and you're. You're just like, oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. And though the whole thing, like you're saying with every. Every end panel on every page, it is kicking you right into that next to that next portion of the story, and it's. And it's like you're. You're not slowing down, so there's no. There's no moment of breath. There's no moment of. Okay, cool. We can rest for a second, because as soon as you hit that last panel, you're kicked into that next page. Yep. [01:20:16] Speaker B: And I like this, too. It was different, because in a lot of the books that we've seen so far, obviously, he told the background story. Like, he weaved the. He kept the subplots alive, right in pages. But his Levitz's specialty always seemed to be taking the characters and, like, putting them in little, small groups and then having them be the story and then having the subplots move in the background in this. This one, he doesn't do that. Like, everyone's in the story. And to your point. And it moves along, I should say. Okay. I thought. [01:20:49] Speaker A: My expectation was that a legionnaire was going to die. We did see a death. There was an on an in book death, on an on page death. [01:20:59] Speaker B: There was an in book death. It was a service servant, one of. [01:21:04] Speaker A: The wildest bands of the eighties. Servant. Oh, God. [01:21:08] Speaker B: Stop. Stop. Well, anyway. Anyway, with all that said, we probably should wrap this one up with. I think Greg got the final word in on this one, I think. Do you? Let's see. Obviously, you're plugging. I'll just tell you what to plug, you guys. [01:21:23] Speaker A: Tell me what to plug? [01:21:25] Speaker B: Yeah, you're gonna plug some book called Absolute Zero's Camp launch pad. [01:21:29] Speaker A: Absolute Zero's camp launch pad. That's right. For sale in stores right now. [01:21:34] Speaker B: And if you buy the hardcover, you'll of course get an MxPx CD. It will smell like vanilla cupcakes. And you will get some cordyceps. Unless you were me. And just like I am with everything as a member of the media, I never get pre reads. And when I got my book, I didn't get any of those things because something is messed up in the system and I'm not being recognized for my greatness. And I never get exactly what I'm supposed to get when I make an order. But the rest of you guaranteed you will get all those things with your hardback edition. Or you can just show up at the retro Emporium on the weekends and meet Greg and he'll even sign one and sell one to you. [01:22:10] Speaker A: I'll sign one. I'll sell it to you. And I'm trying to learn how to draw really cool astronauts or spaceships. And then I'll mess up a drawing inside. [01:22:19] Speaker B: And then sometime likely in April, Starlight number seven will go on Kickstarter and we'll keep you up to date on that. Obviously, you'll see it on our feed when it happens. Also see it on the Starlight feed. You can also go to Kickstarter and hit the alert button on Starlight number seven and it will tell you when it is live. So we're waiting on that. And obviously we are also part of the project Dash nerd get out of town calm. Yeah. Network. Yeah, and that's cool, too. So, I mean, just all sorts of cool things are happening and we'll keep you informed where Greg and I. Greg or I. Or Greg and I might be in the future. [01:22:57] Speaker A: Tell you all about it. [01:22:59] Speaker B: Alrighty. Well, we should probably wrap this one up because they've been listening to us for a long time. [01:23:04] Speaker A: It's been. It's been hours. Longest podcast ever. [01:23:08] Speaker B: Yeah, it has not been hours, but anyway, on that note, I'm going to wrap this one up. Thanks for listening to this edition of money. Quick forensics. Thanks. Bye.