Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Yes. I have pushed the button.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: And in general, it's a successful day when Greg can push the button.
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Yay.
Yay.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: That's. That's how things work around here. We. We've. We are now ready to end the podcast.
[00:00:15] Speaker A: We end the podcast.
Okay.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Right. Welcome. Welcome to Funnybook Forensics. And we're about to sign off now because Greg successfully pressed a button. I did.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Good job.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you have anything to plug here?
[00:00:27] Speaker A: No, I've already plugged everything earlier while we were podcasting, before I pressed the button, so I think I'm good.
Maybe next time.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Well, of course I need to plug that. We're on project dash nerd.com dot. Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course, we're on their network because of these high quality podcasts that we provide. So, as we're about to get out. Out of here, probably should plug that.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Yeah, we should probably plug that and let people know that they can find us and other high quality podcasts on project nerd.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Or they could just go to our YouTube page. They could funny book forensics and, you know, find them. Or they could just follow our feed that we release on all our posts on Facebook and Instagram and X. Oh, yeah.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: Yeah. And download this podcast, because if you, too, like podcasts with horrible fan noises in the background, just like Dan does, then you can get a podcast made by us.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Yeah. But before we go, maybe we should. Before we go, maybe we should talk about a little bit more about the book. I mean.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. We barely even scratched the surface on the book. We barely even. I know. We. We talked it. People about might not have been paying attention. We skipped over it. We did like that. That real big, long stretch. And then we talked about other things.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Well, I should circle back to it. Yeah. We should start with the COVID because it's pretty cool.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it is pretty. It is actually super awesome. Like, I have to admit, there's a lot going on. It is. It's got all these covers building up to this cover.
It has been pretty awesome. There's a lot of cool stuff with the.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Well, yeah. Well, all idiocy aside from me. Welcome to funny book forensics. And we are covering Legion of superheroes number 293.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: 293. That's a lot.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: It is the second to last installment of the great Darkness saga. Saga, and we've got a bunch of dark outlined folks flying.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: And they're all breaking the Legion of superheroes logo. And the entire legion is trying to hold the logo, but. Well, not the entire legion, but we've got Starboy and wildfire and Superboy and Ultra boy and brainiac five is in the background. And. And Phantom Girl, because. Phantom Girl. We also get a note on the COVID that there's an extra free 16 page comic preview of masters of the universe, which we are not going to cover much to Greg's sadness.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. Much is my sadness. It is not available.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: But I'll make it available to you sometime. We'll run across it again.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: All right.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: And Keith Giffen did the COVID here.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: Whoa.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: This one was all Keith Giffen.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: Yeah, you can.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Which is really cool.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: You can tell.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: And, yeah, there's. He inked himself on this one. And I am just excited because I actually have the print of the COVID that doesn't have that green masters of the universe thing in the corner, because obviously, here's one thing I don't like about the COVID Yeah, well, the barcode's fine, because that's just. But I have the one without the barcode, too. The barcode's fine because that's on every comic cover. This cover is so amazing. I'm actually really irritated that the master of the universe thing is down there.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: You're that irritated?
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Well, it just. It just. It takes away from one of the better covers I've ever seen in all of comics. Right? I mean, this is it.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: Yeah, it is pretty. Pretty cool.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: I've seen speculation, too. Like, you know, how many times is this?
You can't definitively say something's the first because there's so much research I'd have to do, but this is one of the first times, like, Todd Klein, I've seen mention this right before the letterer, and if you. And we've mentioned Todd's Facebook page before, if you ever want some amazingness, go to Todd Klein's Facebook page. And he just has, like, the logos for all these comics and explains the history of them and who did them and where they came from. It's fantastic. In fact, he has a book out, and I have it on order, and when I get that book, we'll go ahead and reference it, too. It doesn't come out for a couple months.
But anyway, this is one of the first times where the. The logo was incorporated as part of the art. Right? Like, it's just. It becomes the page.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Right. And it's. It's just like every.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: Every aspect of the. Of what's on the COVID is a portion of it. The comics code, the price, the date stamp, it's all. It's all in it.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: And, yeah, and it's just the art for the page. And I can't stress how amazing it is. Also just the Kirby crackle everywhere.
The purples and the dark blues, indicating that evil is coming after them. Right. We got rid of the primary colors and I love the inclusion of Superboy in this cover because the rest of them are sort of trying to fend things off. And it's like Superboy is like that last bastion, just kind of trying to hold up the legion. Right?
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Yeah. And he's.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: And he's struggling, man. He's struggling.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: It's. It's not looking good.
[00:05:54] Speaker A: No, it's a very, uh. It's a. It's a very dark and. And, uh, forebreeding. Like, it's. It's got a. It's got a definitely a moment right here.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: And if you didn't pick up the last two, um, or the last three issues because the covers were. Of course. I really. I do like the last. I know we were making fun of the baby cover, but I do. The last cover, too, has the pinks and purples in the background to indicate evil. But if you didn't pick this one up and you saw this cover, you're picking this cover up.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: And then you're gonna go back and try it as a kid, try to figure. Get the other issues right. Because I don't know how you walk by this cover on the stand and not grab it.
[00:06:36] Speaker A: You'd pass up the baby cover for sure. Like, you're like, oh, cool, baby cover, whatever. But this cover. Yeah, it's a grabber. It's a. Whoa, what's going on? I gotta check this book out.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: And the next cover is a real. Is also, like when you would not pass up. So we'll get there.
But anyway, let's get into this book. So, as you'll recall, last issue, it wasn't going well. But then they found the White Witch. Right. And they ended up surviving the sorcerer's world. And I did make a mistake. I said that, um.
Remember when Ultra boy and Mon El and Shadow ass and phantom girl got wiped out?
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Uh huh.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: And I said. I said they were on the sorcerer's world, but they were not. They were on Dax.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Oh, there was a little.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Or that. Or that dark planet. Whatever.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: They were somewhere else. They were not. Yeah, I see. So that's why they didn't. But they weren't. Or were they? Because there's ultra boy right there. So now I'm down.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: Now you're confused. You're like, I don't know what's going on. Going on? Well, that's.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: Well, maybe they crash land again. I could be getting. I mean, we keep. But Mon El was taken out, right? We know that he was in bad shape. He.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: He had a rough go at it. I'm surprised he's up. Yeah, he's not.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Anyway, we are. Here we go. And we get an announcement from one of the legion shuttles. The Legion.
I feel like courant. Terrance, he made a lot of money on this. On this incident, on this adventure. Yeah.
He's like, count it up. Buy three ships, get four free.
We get an announcement. All right, legionnaires, we've taken the worst the servants of darkness can throw at us and remain standing. Now let's take the battle to them. Yeah, let's bring. It seems like a good idea. This seems like a good idea.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Okay, you gotta remember there a lot of these. A. A lot of the legionnaires, as I've been reading, you know, they're generally teenagers. Full frontal lobe cortex.
It hasn't fully formed yet. They still have two or three more years before they can fully make better informed decisions.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: They're thinking, yeah, even in their early twenties, right?
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Even in their early twenties, they're thinking.
They're not thinking at their highest capabilities and functions, right? They're active with their.
Their emotion. They're feeling with their emotions. They're just going, oh, this bad thing happened. We're gonna do it. Let's go mess it up, you know?
[00:09:21] Speaker B: Well, I thought that's why we put dream girl in charge, because her visions of the future always are true. And she's a scientist, so you would think.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: You would think.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: I mean, clearly the dogs are very unhappy with this decision.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: I. You know, they are. So they. They can feel. They. I mean, dogs are so keyed in to bad choices.
Much like when my aunt made a bad choice a long time ago with, you know, like, just. Just bad, bad choices.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: And I have no idea where this is going right now.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: And, you know, we.
It just. It just. It just. Life went off the rails for a while, you know, we.
I can't. I can't explain. Just. The dogs knew. The dogs knew.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Okay, well, thanks for the enlightening and very specific story that you just shared.
And as we get back, we find out that Mon El is still comatose. So apparently I've got some. I guess they did find them on the sorcerer's world. So I've got my ships crashing and Mon El's getting beat up, confused.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: You gotta get your shoes together, Dan.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: And straighten that dream.
Well, the important thing is our leader, dream girl, has taken over as the medical provider for Mon El, and she's like, his body's in some sort of strange state of shock. Yeah, and then. And then we get some of my favorite things. We get more light. Last complaining.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: Can't you do something?
[00:10:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
Can't you do something with your magic? Can't you do something? Can't you do something?
And. But we do use this to once again explain that white witch is druid class.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: So she says. Magic isn't unlimited, you know, especially not mine. Each of my spells is highly specific, and besides, I can only prepare a handful at a time.
[00:11:20] Speaker A: She needs a long rest.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: I was expecting it. Yeah, I wasn't expecting. Yeah, she needs a long rest to get them back. I wasn't expecting anything like this when I went to meet my sister yesterday. So, basically, she'd prepared, like, a fireworks spell and some good berries and was ready to go, but she definitely wasn't. Like, she tried to shove a good berry down mon El's throat to give him some hit points back. Like, we all do as good druids, but, you know, it didn't work.
But, no, I do like this little bit of a transition, too. And we do get a little recap from Dream girl of the last issue. So if you picked up this amazing cover, you get to find out what happened and hopefully pique the person's interest to go back and find that last issue.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes sense.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: Now, we get a lot of explanation on the next page, which I like. And, yeah, White Witch is recounting that she's only met most of the legionnaires once or twice. So you're never really gotten any idea how restricted my powers are?
That's her sister. Dream girl may have given me the nickname the White Witch, but I'm really not too much more than an apprentice. Oh, so she's just, like, level two.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Everybody's thinking she's everything. But listen up, Tanzan, too, is talking.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: And, yeah, yeah, we're in real trouble.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: That is actually kind of funny because, you know, it's the total reverse.
It's not.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: Listen up.
[00:12:48] Speaker A: Tues the tens of talking.
It's.
She's just a two.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: So.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: So, you know, she's learning, but she's a young, uh, well, and early in her life, she was turned into some sort of, like, hag, so she got that back, too. So that probably stunted her. Her level progression at a point.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: Okay, you would think that you would have thought that she would have leveled up more, but she would have gotten more.
She would have, like, leveled at least two more levels because of the. The situation that she was in that, you know, that's just bad dm'ing.
[00:13:26] Speaker B: Don't worry, don't worry. She's gonna get some levels on this adventure. Never fear.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: I say. Bad dming. I'm just like, man, that's like, that's. That's harsh. Dming.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Hey, well, we get shadow last in the background.
We get shadow last in the background. While she may roll, I think she rolls pretty good in this adventure, actually. But we get shadow last in the background, she says, I'm sure they're trying to figure out what's going on. And the shadow last is back saying how creepy the servants are and that their blast worked on Mon El.
Then they get back onto the weird planetoid, right? The dark planetoid that they're going to find. The servants that attacked them before. This is why I got confused, because immediately they take out shadow last, ultra boy and phantom girl again.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:14:20] Speaker B: Now they are the ones with the bad rolls here. Like, I don't think it's the white witch. They've clearly been like, mon El rolled, like, four ones in a row, and then these guys have rolled a one on. Like, they rolled, like. Well, they just rolled like, a one for initiative.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Well, yeah, their initiative is low, like, to begin with. And then they pop on this and they're like, should we check? Nah, we're good. We don't need to check for nothing.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: All the servants of darkness got a surprise attack.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: And it's like, oh, wait a minute.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: And again, folks, just so you know, we are recording this in the morning, little inside podcast baseball. So I did not bring a drink with me to this one. And we've already had another kabloom. So now when we record the episode for 294, we are going to have to record it at a time where Greg and I both can have an alcoholic beverage with us.
[00:15:15] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: Because, yeah, we may have to take a sip every time there's.
We're gonna be in real trouble, but it will be. Yeah.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Oh, you know what we should do? We should do. I mean, as we're.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: You know, what if we took a. Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Why don't we. Why don't we get crazy, Dan? All the kids are doing it now because they're just discovering it. And we can have. We can have listeners tell us if they think we should do this or not. Why don't we get on the Mad dog train and get Mogan David? That's right. Mad Dog Md 2020.
I'm not doing that.
[00:15:53] Speaker B: There's zero circumstances where I will drink anything with the words mad and dog in them and then, or Boone's farm or any like. No, these things are not happening.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: I don't need to do that.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: I will be having something with a fine whiskey or bourbon in it.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: We could dye your hair.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: We've done that.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: But you don't have any hair anymore.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: Yeah, that's cute. So get out of here. Well, anyway, I was gonna say we would have to take a drink every time there was Kirby crackle in a pan.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, there's a bill there which we would be drunk after the first two pages.
[00:16:33] Speaker A: Yeah, it would be over.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: Well, we do get, we get the other group still flying in space curvy.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: Carefully.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: And Superboy is like, I'm creeped out cause I fought this clone of myself, right. Little does he know Superboy in the future.
Well, just be after John Byrne destroyed Superboy. Cause he's a terrible, horrible person. Clearly.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: Mister Byrne, I still probably want your autograph and stuff, so let me just tell you. I probably don't think you're a terrible, horrible person. But you destroyed the legion of superheroes and I don't appreciate that.
[00:17:08] Speaker A: Dan.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: It made Dan very by taking away Superboy. Yeah, well, Superboy, right. Superboy, of course, is Clark Kent when he is a boy.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:17:17] Speaker B: Or he's a clone or he's Superman and Lois's son, John. Yeah, who is now Superman because they have aged him and, well, anyway, so this, but he's like, he's glad he came back because he didn't want to miss the anniversary party. But he's, he, he's back to help them out. So that was nice of him. He jumped back in time, remember? He jumped back in time. And they were all angsty about, you know, Saturn girl was all upset about how they died cause she didn't want to lose lightning lad. And now he's back. So Superboy has popped back in and then we've got, now we've got the folks holding down the fort at headquarters. We've got the founders, Saturn girl, cosmic boy, lightning lad, and of course we've got the ever useful bouncing boy and duo damsel.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: They're there. They have jobs and purposes. All hands on deck. Man, they're fighting some big bads.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: Well, the cool thing here, though, I do think, because even though dream girl is the leader in this case and she's out in the field. We've got the folks at headquarters that are actually figuring out the problem and relaying it back.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, right.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: So I do again, I do like how they reframed the founders and even brought lightning lad out of that crappy plot line. Right? Though he's not very useful here. It's like Saturn girl's like, thinking about it, cossack voice sort of strategizing it. And lightning was like, hmm, hmm, hmm. I don't know what's going on, guys.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: We'll see.
I don't know, but they did call.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: Everybody back last time. Yeah, it is nice, but cosmic boy does say true. Whoever the master is, he Ko'd Mon El, who's our strongest member. How are we supposed to stop him? So everybody else in the other panels was like, ah, we'll go take the fight to them. And he's like, uh, we might want.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: To put a pin in that.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't, I don't know if that's the best idea.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: That might. That might hurt us a little. Give us a little ouchy.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, here we go. And we're back to Tacron Galtos.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: And chameleon boy is there, and he is. And there are some folks trying to beat him up.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Is it. Is it actual folks or is it himself?
[00:19:26] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:19:26] Speaker A: Are they?
[00:19:27] Speaker B: I feel like it's actual folks.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: Is it other chameleon voice?
[00:19:30] Speaker B: Yeah, well, there are other derlins. He's not the only one in the entire world.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: Oh, okay. It's other derlins. He's fighting other derlins.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: And by the way, if you look at the top of the screen, you can see who's on each of the ships and where they're going.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: Based on the symbols. Oh, okay, that makes sense that you've been learning.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:19:48] Speaker B: Is that not awesome?
[00:19:49] Speaker A: Yeah, that is pretty cool. Yeah, I like it.
[00:19:53] Speaker B: And then elsewhere we've got Chameleon boy. And of course he's locked on that planet. He's locked in the prison planet because he got arrested for treason. You know, like no big deal. I mean, it turns out, like, if you lead some sort of insurrection without authorization, you. You end up going to jail in the future.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, you do. You do a bad thing, you pay the price.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: Yeah, it's amazing. But anyway, RJ Brand shows up to help his son, and Chameleon boy breaks down and starts crying and hugs his dad finally. So I guess he got his dad's attention. Good job. He only wrecked a couple of cruisers and tried to lead an insurrection into Candia. And, you know, but now he's got his dad's love. I mean, his dad wanted to love him before.
[00:20:45] Speaker A: He just didn't want to see it.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Yeah, he should have known. All it does. All you need to do is take a Corvette and drive it out the back end of a garage, off a cliff. And then you get your dad's love.
[00:20:57] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. That's all you need to do.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, but. And I mean. And you do all that after being in a parade and singing songs, going.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: To a cubs game.
See what else?
Yeah. Falling in the pool.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it seems a little like. I mean, he seems to have gone through a lot. Like he could have just done those things.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: Yeah, he could have just done. I mean. But does he have a best friend he could do it with?
[00:21:21] Speaker B: Well, he has all sorts of best friends like, he has.
Are they out?
Colossal boy is his best friend. And Colossal boy is out. Boom chicka bomb bomb.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Colossal boy found a new best friend. Sorry, bro.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought.
[00:21:35] Speaker A: I thought. I thought he kind of likes drinking. Violet.
[00:21:38] Speaker B: Colossal boy. Well, yeah.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: No.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: Oh, chameleon boy. No, no.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: Okay. When I thought there was a moment where he walked around the corner, saw them, he was like.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: No, he was upset just because he wanted to talk to them and then they were making out. Nothing to do with that.
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Yeah, okay.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: That was when they were on the asteroid. Yeah. Well, anyway, now we get. And we flip the page and we get. Dachshund.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: Whoa.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: A red sun world.
A red sun world noted for its high technology, particularly in bioengineering. Daxom experimented early with space travel, but has largely abandoned it in recent centuries. Encyclopedia galactica. And then it says, those who come here usually come in search of the gentle arts of healing practiced here so. Well, the latest visitor to Dachshund. Of course, for those of you, they probably should have referenced. Why? They don't do space travel. But they referenced it before. But daxomites are allergic to lead and so there are not too many worlds they can go to where. That's why they abandon space travel. Because they die of lead poison.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: I see.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: So, yeah. Though they do get superpowers under yellow sun, just like the Kryptonians. And of course, mon El has a anti lead serum that he gets to take. Now, we haven't given that to the rest of Daxom because. Well, you know, that we. It can't be mass produced. Apparently, it's a.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: It's very expensive. It's like, you know, I. I would say it's. It's. It's like most big pharma, when it comes to. When it. When it comes to something that would make life easier, they put a high price on it. Say, sorry, folks. Yep, that's what it is.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: Well, anyway, we are. We said then it. Captions the latest visitor to Daxim, however, is something of an exception to that rule.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Is it Tom Green?
[00:23:33] Speaker B: If he can be. No, if he can be said that it's. Tom Green is not the villain. Tom Green and Steve O are both not the villains in the story.
If he can be said to have come in pursuit of anything, it's clearly not life, but death. And the master appears through one of the. Those warp things and says, ah, yes, so this is the world of Daxum. A pity it has taken me so long to learn of his existence. But knowledge, once possessed, is the most sure source of power. It seems I've caused a bit of a disturbance.
Could it be that I frighten these poor souls? And then Banshee is looking up at him.
[00:24:18] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes.
[00:24:22] Speaker B: Full seventies banshee with extra mutton chops. Extra. Yeah.
And then the master says, how very perceptive they were. Oh, this. I feel like something bad. I feel like. I feel like something. I feel like something bad is about to happen.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: Yeah, he hit it with the past tense phrasing.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Yeah, that's always good. Past tense is always good. Well, now the bad guy, the master, is on Daxm and we go elsewhere.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: Elsewhere.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: And we get a ship with karate kid in projectra.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: Yeah, and Karate kid is playing a cool video game with this.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: Yeah, karate Kid is practicing his powers by playing space invaders.
[00:25:07] Speaker A: I love it. I love it.
[00:25:09] Speaker B: I feel like they would have advanced past space invaders by this time.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: You know, he's a real, like, that's. That's, uh. That's the height of technology at the time. I mean, we're still playing space Invaders and Pac mans and. And, uh. And the dig dugs and all that stuff because, yeah, they're good, clean fun.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: And of course, projector is like, our legion careers have a meaning to them that I somehow can no longer feel. And karate kid's just like, yeah, I want to go fight stuff. Stuff.
[00:25:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: And then we also get flash. We're bringing back colossal boy and shrinking violet from their vacation and tricking violet soul. I don't know what we're supposed to do with our meager powers and colossal boys. Like, we're gonna do. Like any legionnaire. We're gonna help. But didn't shrinking Violet, like, take out one of the servants?
She's the only person that's actually just straight up taking out one of the servants.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Totally. Yeah.
[00:26:06] Speaker B: Yeah. She claws that. The stroke in the. In the. It's in the. In. In Lydia Mallor. Right?
[00:26:13] Speaker A: The.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: Yeah. In the. In the. Shadow last servant.
[00:26:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: Shadow last ancestor.
[00:26:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: Yeah. She's the only one that has taken one of them out. She's like. I don't know. Yeah. I really didn't like these lines because she's literally the only person that has done that. So I was like, mmm.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: With our powers, what are we supposed to do? Oh, she feels like maybe they could kill somebody. Kill somebody. Because killing is bad. Killer's bad.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: Yeah. But these. I think they've discovered the servants aren't really. I mean, they're alive, but they're not really.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Like, it doesn't matter if they're clones or not, dude. They're real. They're real to themselves.
[00:26:46] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:26:47] Speaker A: Come on, Dan.
[00:26:49] Speaker B: Now, you're probably right. If they feel alive now we're back.
[00:26:51] Speaker A: And look alive. If it acts like a duck, quacks like a duck. It is a duck.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: I mean, they don't seem very alive. They, like, go in and then cackle back to the master. Like, it's weird.
[00:27:02] Speaker A: I mean, the bigger question is, do you have any grapes?
[00:27:05] Speaker B: No. Are you want them? Are you wanting me to put in grapes in my chicken salad? Like, from the.
Cause that's what I had for lunch. And I just, like they say in that famous black jeopardy. Sketch, I don't put grapes in my chicken salad or pat, you know, and I do put paprika, so.
[00:27:25] Speaker A: No, I was referring to the duck comment, and the duck asked for grapes. The lemonade stand.
[00:27:32] Speaker B: But it just. It just sucks that the black panther is no longer alive. So it makes me sad when I think about that sketch. But anyway, let's not be sad. Let's go back to this. There's plenty to be sad about this comic. So the. We go back to the ship and see again. I love this because they're really Giffen's art. Right? That's why I say giffen. Not the cleanest, best artist, but one of the best storytellers, right? And he starts to incorporate things in here to really drive the stories, right? So now he's trying to drive these symbols, right? You go back in, it's like, okay, there's the ship. I don't have to. And they do it twice, right? So they reinforce it with the lettering. But he's got the dream girl symbol, the Dawnstar symbol. Right. The block symbol. What do we got there? Light last. Mon El and Sunboy. Yeah. So we got all I didn't do in order, sorry, dream girl, Dawnstar, block, sunboy, a light lass and mon El. Right. And then it tells you what the team is so you could see, and invisible kid is like, freaked out, as I think they all should be, but they're over the baby again, who's now grown the baby, I feel like. Yeah, I mean, didn't we see this terrible episode of Star Trek the next.
[00:28:55] Speaker A: Generation when the baby grows and gets.
[00:28:57] Speaker B: Bigger and bigger and the baby isn't born in one day, and then Deanna has the. It's called the child, by the way, if you want to look it up. Yeah, that was a. That was a good six years. Six, seven years after this. Yeah, by the way.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:29:12] Speaker B: Just as a side note. Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:14] Speaker A: Star Trek next Generation.
[00:29:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Interesting, right? Yeah, almost the same. Anyway, very similar storyline.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: Similar storyline. I wonder where you got the idea.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Not the idea, but yeah, I'm sure science fiction writers didn't read future superhero.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: Stories and nothing ever gets, nothing is ever derivative or drives someone's imagination to be creative.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: But anyway, as block and invisible kid and the white witch talk about what's going on, they look away and the kid has grown more.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: And basically it's block that distracts them, too, because, you know, he's like mister. Mister oblivious.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: He's like, do farts have lumps? And they're like, what?
[00:29:58] Speaker B: Yeah, do you like block with just the shorts on and the big rocky body? Better than the. Than when they try to draw a uniform for him?
[00:30:07] Speaker A: Yeah, kind of. Because he looks like, I mean, the uniform for him, it like having him in a uniform feels like, oh, man, I'm forcing clothes on this on the rock body and like, you know, on the black rock body, and then you put shorts on him and. Just seems more natural, doesn't it? It's like, I don't know, to me it does. Maybe I'm what? Maybe I'm wrong.
[00:30:33] Speaker B: No, I like it better.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: You like it better?
[00:30:36] Speaker B: I also think the outfit they tried to give him looked too much like the villain in the story, so.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: It's probably good to get it off of him there.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: We don't want to confuse you.
[00:30:47] Speaker B: And then we get.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: And all of a sudden it's like, oh, friendly fire.
Why are you guys shooting me?
We did.
[00:30:54] Speaker B: And then we get dream girl checking in on element lad. So we have to have our petty teenage moment right in the story. Yeah, I don't know if we have a meeting in this story. So I haven't seen this.
[00:31:04] Speaker A: Probably makes up for the meeting, dude.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: No, there was a meeting last issue.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: No, there was.
[00:31:08] Speaker B: There was a meeting last issue.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: Was there.
[00:31:10] Speaker B: There was a meeting last issue.
[00:31:12] Speaker A: There wasn't a meeting in the issue.
[00:31:13] Speaker B: Before then, but in this issue, I think this counts for the meeting, okay. Because, like, all dream girl does is just check in on him. And element lad is all like, I lost the election and it's not fair and it's just stupid. And I hate politics. And then he's like, then they're talking. And Dreamgirl's like, I'm glad you came in second. You'll make a great deputy leader. She's trying to be like, nice.
And. And he's like, hey, lady, forget it. I'm not gonna be the deputy leader anymore.
[00:31:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:44] Speaker B: And he's like, that felt good. I'm like, okay, I think that counts as our meeting for the.
And our teenage politics. So element lad is no longer gonna be the vice president of the drama club unless he can win. Be president.
[00:31:58] Speaker A: He is the drama. When the drama knocks.
Wait, he is the drama drama.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: Well, now we go back to Daxom and. Oh, God. Okay, this looks bad. So we have this guy standing there and he says that the master's back. He says, slaves. 3 billion willing slaves. Are you not willing, my newfound children? And they all say yes. In unison.
[00:32:23] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: And then he goes on a monologue for the. For several panels. And he says, watch, my children, the omega of your existence. Watch as I have taken your world and hold it in my mind for an instant. And he switches Daxum with his planet.
And now Daxum is under a yellow sun.
[00:32:50] Speaker A: Oh, watch out.
[00:32:52] Speaker B: This guy is powerful enough to warp two planets, man.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: It's gonna get dangerous.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: Yeah, I feel. I feel like. And he said, and let you bathe in the rays of the yellow star that grant you the power I desire. So apparently, now the master has 3 billion people with the powers of Superman.
[00:33:15] Speaker A: Oh, boy.
It's about that rail.
[00:33:20] Speaker B: Well, let's pause here for a second. Right.
This is actually a serious question. Do you think they've written themselves into a corner with this page?
[00:33:29] Speaker A: What? 3 billion superman?
[00:33:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:33] Speaker A: And having, like, one. One superboy and a broken mono.
[00:33:40] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, if I was gonna criticize the story in my mind, right? Like. So I've been praising, praising, praising, praising, praising. If I was gonna criticize the story. And this. This would be the point where I would criticize it, right? I'm like, this is where. This is where it's hard for me to believe that, like, the 3 billion daxomites wouldn't just like, destroy the entire galaxy unless they're brainwashed to.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: Not to, only they're. They're under some kind of mind control to only follow the. The leader's orders.
[00:34:11] Speaker B: Well, yeah, but he. He. Well, I guess we don't quite know his intentions yet, but they don't seem to be good.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: Right, true.
[00:34:20] Speaker B: Okay, well, let's leave it at that. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. And you're reading it. You're reading it for the first time.
[00:34:25] Speaker A: I could see, like, if they had. If they don't have. If they don't have the ability to free will, they're going to follow whatever they're told. If they have the ability to free will, then. And if they decide and desire to destroy stuff, they're going to.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: Well, they're pacifists for now, right, so we know that, but. Okay, well, anyway, between the worlds now, we get. Dawnstar is like, you of all people should believe me when I say I shall find the master because she's using her tracking powers which never fail.
[00:35:00] Speaker A: Never fail, she can find.
[00:35:03] Speaker B: And they go to Daxum where she thinks he's supposed to be. Right.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: Right.
[00:35:10] Speaker B: Cause they did work. They actually were working. And all they see is the. They see that somebody trashed the entire planet. It is messed up because they think it's. Yeah, well, they think it's going to. They think it's supposed to be Daxim, but it's actually the master's planet because he switched places, right.
And a big pillar comes up and destroys the ship because there's. It's just like before when they tried to fly down to that other planet. And then one of the servants reaches out. Yeah, they rolled one on initiative again.
And one of the servants grabs Dawnstar and pulls her back. And of course, wildfire freaks out because Dawnstar got grabbed, you know, because he's a little bit of a chauvinist and he's responsible. Just like David Hasselhoff.
[00:35:55] Speaker A: Yeah, he's like, oh, no, CJ, no.
Yeah, I gotta say.
[00:36:02] Speaker B: And the servants. The. The servant flying on the thing calls his brother out to go take. So now we got brothers here. Oh, brother. Element lad takes one out, he thinks.
[00:36:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: With his newfound confidence, after declaring the fact that he, in fact, was not going to listen to dream girl and the big sphere breaks and knocks out Starboy. Starboy seems to get hit in a lot of these things. And I think, honestly, too, if you're writing Starboy, he's kind of maybe not the brightest bulb for a couple of reasons, but also, like, you've got to take him out. Cause he has. His powers are. He's op ed, right? The gravity powers are op ed. So, like, why wouldn't he just take all the servants and just like, make them super dense, you know?
[00:36:47] Speaker A: Yeah, fly them off, weigh him down.
[00:36:50] Speaker B: Well, not fly him off, weigh him down.
And anyway, brainy's trying to use his force field on them again, even though it didn't work last time. And then this time, that guardian one we found out, the Guardian clone, he tries to fight wildfire, and wildfire's just like, yeah. Unleashes all of his bright yellow anti energy on him. That didn't go well. Yeah, with a Walthum.
[00:37:17] Speaker A: Yeah, Walthum.
Uh oh.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: And then here comes the Superman one. And here comes Superboy.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: Oh, snap. Zoom right in.
[00:37:33] Speaker B: But then we get a flashback and he is pissed. And. And Superboy's like, I did brain. It did brainy. The microcircuitry you dreamed up to give me powers, even under a red sun, is working like a dream.
[00:37:45] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:37:46] Speaker B: Only it'll be a nightmare for that creep. It's kind of interesting, though. Why is the. Why is the clone kryptonian clones powers work under a red sun? That doesn't make sense.
[00:37:55] Speaker A: That's a good question. Don't know.
[00:37:57] Speaker B: I mean, the dogs are even angry about it. They're like, that's. That's inconsistent in the story. They're like, why like that?
[00:38:03] Speaker A: Damn it.
[00:38:03] Speaker B: Well, now we get to Dax. Him. And now. Now I'm gonna have to read some monologues. We're gonna find out. Now we get to find out what the. All he wants to do with all the dachshund, so he says, yes, that is correct. Shade of a star for you, my slaves. Do you not think so? Does it not inspire your newfound powers? Do you not wish to pay proper homage to your master? And they're all yelling, yes, yes, yes. Then rise, fly one, with the powers I have enabled you to have. Into space with you, into the night dark, cold, whose chill I love so well. We shall conquer this universe, my unthinking ones, you and I. And then I shall rule as is my destiny. So I guess I was right.
This doesn't look. And all these daxomites fly off the path planet together.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:56] Speaker B: Yeah, this looks, this doesn't look good.
[00:38:59] Speaker A: No, not at all.
It's pretty rough. Like rough looking.
[00:39:03] Speaker B: And then he says, first, use the burning gaze I have given you. I have unleashed. Use it on your own world.
Let your cities burn. Let your machines explode. Reduce millennia of civilization to ashes with the glance of 6 billion eyes. Now, go into it, my little ones, into the inferno. Feel its heat melting your very world. And shape it with the strength and speed I have made.
I have made yours go. And when you are finished, let the universe know that I am truly reborn.
[00:39:36] Speaker A: Whoa.
[00:39:39] Speaker B: Okay, so this is all looks bad. And we get to the next page, and it looks a little bit better. Cause Superboy is getting the crap beat out of him by a clone of his grown up self. And the clone, it doesn't look super, but finally.
[00:39:59] Speaker A: That's hilarious.
[00:40:00] Speaker B: Finally, they encase Superboy and lead, and they use a classic element lad. Create some gold kryptonite. Okay, so do you know what gold kryptonite does?
[00:40:12] Speaker A: No.
[00:40:13] Speaker B: Okay, so what does green kryptonite do? Let's do a kryptonite test.
[00:40:17] Speaker A: It makes them weak. Okay.
[00:40:19] Speaker B: And should kill him. Right? Like you poison him. Yeah, that's right. What does red cryptid idea.
[00:40:27] Speaker A: It's like a bad drug.
[00:40:29] Speaker B: It's like a bad drug.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like.
[00:40:31] Speaker B: Are you basing this on the movie or on comics?
[00:40:33] Speaker A: Like, I'm basing it. I'm basing on both. Like, it. It. It's like a. It's. It's like he. It's like Superman or Super boy would be on drugs.
[00:40:45] Speaker B: Okay, well, it gives. No, it usually gives in the comics. It usually gives Superman a unknown power or power change. Okay, how about orange kryptonite?
[00:40:58] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: Orange kryptonite, it gave kryptonian cats superpowers. Okay, how about white kryptonite give dogs superpowers?
[00:41:09] Speaker A: No. Okay, I was just guessing.
[00:41:11] Speaker B: It destroys all kryptonian plant life in microorganisms.
[00:41:14] Speaker A: Oh, no.
[00:41:14] Speaker B: Yeah. How about black kryptonite?
[00:41:21] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:41:22] Speaker B: It can affect both kryptonians and humans. Okay, how about blue kryptonite?
[00:41:28] Speaker A: It's slightly worse than green kryptonite.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: No, blue kryptonite actually heals, unless you're.
[00:41:34] Speaker A: Bizarro, and then it'll make you sick.
[00:41:36] Speaker B: And then it acts like green kryptonite. Okay, yeah. Okay, okay, how about, of course, the most controversial. We haven't got to go with kryptonite. How about the most controversial form of kryptonite pink kryptonite.
[00:41:48] Speaker A: Is that the drug one?
[00:41:49] Speaker B: That is the one that in one issue, it was speculated on for years what pink kryptonite might do. And in one issue of Supergirl, I believe, written by Dan Juergens, Clark Kent finally found he was very interested in Jimmy Olsen when exposed to pink kryptonite. Okay, yeah.
[00:42:09] Speaker A: So it brought out different.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: Different feelings, sexual tendencies. Yes.
[00:42:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:15] Speaker B: And then gold kryptonite, you get to see what it does right here. But you want to guess what gold kryptonite does?
[00:42:21] Speaker A: It's murderer.
[00:42:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, gold kryptonite permanently takes away a Kryptonian's powers.
[00:42:28] Speaker A: Takes it away, makes you human.
[00:42:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Now, why element lad if he was gonna be the great leader of the legion of superheroes? Thought of this before now, I'm not sure.
[00:42:37] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:42:38] Speaker B: You were also asking about taking out the servants, whether they are alive or not. So when the gold kryptonite happens, his little red emblem stops, right? And he loses his powers. And Timberwolf hits him once and he breaks into a bunch of rock pieces.
[00:42:55] Speaker A: Oh, oh, he's not alive.
[00:42:57] Speaker B: Yeah. So one of the other servants is very upset that they destroyed him, and he's like, fools. The master will make you pay.
And brainiac five is like, move away from their space warp. So. Well, yeah, so anyway, okay, so superboy is fine because they encased him in lead.
[00:43:13] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: Basically, element lad establishes why he's the most powerful legionnaire again, but never actually uses powers very effectively. But imagine if element lad had gone crazy and, like, started using his. Well, anyway, yeah, there might be a book about that someday.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: It'd be wild.
[00:43:31] Speaker B: There might be a book about that someday. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, so anyway, they note there's been no sign of Dawnstar since the battle started.
[00:43:41] Speaker A: Oh, no.
[00:43:42] Speaker B: And all of a sudden, she appears invisible. Kid says, I believe I saw her wildfire hanging in his stasis, invisibly, perhaps. We don't know what my powers are yet. And he brings her back. So apparently his powers go beyond the original invisible kids. Like, there's like some sort of weird invisible stasis area.
[00:44:01] Speaker A: Huh? Stasis area. But he just, like. Anyway, like, hangs out in, like, when he goes invisible, he just like. And then goes, I guess. Okay.
[00:44:10] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, we'll have to find out.
[00:44:13] Speaker A: We're gonna find out.
[00:44:15] Speaker B: He just got his powers. So, I mean, I.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: Invisible kid, I'm disappointed that you don't know everything about everything. Right now.
[00:44:22] Speaker B: I'm disappointed that you don't know anything about the serum that brainiac five had you drink in the middle of a.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: Fight, saved your sister, and she's still sick. And now we just only know what we know. Curses on you.
[00:44:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Second, Dawnstar says all she can remember about the place she went was that it was very, very cold and alone.
[00:44:42] Speaker A: That's not good.
[00:44:43] Speaker B: And wildfire walks away as he would down the beach after saving CJ and says, hey, dream girl, write it up as a victory after all. And brainiac five finally steps up as these 12th level intellect in the voice of reason. He says, I believe we should not be so quick to celebrate wildfire, given that this is where Daxum should be and this world appears to belong to the master of the servants. I infer, is he doing it in the right way? He's collecting evidence. So he's inferring. Okay, or does he deduce? I think he should deduce, probably, well, anyway, that he has taken Daxum captive. Well, he's using all the evidence, right? Yeah. So is he deducing or is he inferring?
[00:45:28] Speaker A: He. Can he. Can he. I think he's going to infer that he's going to make a deuce.
[00:45:33] Speaker B: Wow. You went from me talking about debate logic, which I thought you were going to pile on to, to making a number two joke. Okay, well, I infer that he was taking. Has taken Dax him captive and given his powers.
[00:45:47] Speaker A: I think.
[00:45:47] Speaker B: I mean, it is reasonable, you could.
[00:45:49] Speaker A: Technically say, like, I deduce that this is what it is.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: Are we going back to that?
[00:45:54] Speaker A: Yeah, why not?
[00:45:55] Speaker B: I mean, we're going back to that. You're not gonna let me finish reading the monologue now?
I mean, how are the outside of just reading the issue like we would encourage the listeners to do? Yeah, how would they know what's gonna happen unless I read this monologue that tells us everything that's happening?
[00:46:13] Speaker A: That's true. They wouldn't.
[00:46:14] Speaker B: Okay, so I infer that he has taken Daxum captive and given his powers, it is reasonable to postulate that he transposed the two worlds, transferring Daxum to this dead planet's yellow sun system. 3 billion beings, each with the powers equal to superboy. Further, I think by revealing this world to us, with its distinctive characteristics and ruins, I believe he has chosen to reveal his identity. Now, I am suddenly very cold, my friends, and quite scared.
[00:46:45] Speaker A: So.
[00:46:47] Speaker B: And then we flip the page. Most excellent, mindless ones, you have reshaped this world on which I stand perfectly as I bid. And it looks like it's a head. Like the world has been shaped into, like, a head.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:59] Speaker B: Yeah. And now it is time you went on to greater deeds. Go on and conquer the universe for me. For the God in whose image you have carved your own world as a monument. Go for your master. For Darkseid.
[00:47:18] Speaker A: No.
[00:47:19] Speaker B: Darkseid.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: We finally get a name.
[00:47:22] Speaker B: Next issue. The players are all in place. The clues are all in your hands. 3 billion superpowered slaves versus the legionnaires.
[00:47:29] Speaker A: Oh, my.
[00:47:30] Speaker B: Guest appearances by practically everybody who ever appeared in this mag.
[00:47:35] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:47:35] Speaker B: If Paul forgot him, Keith remembered them. Darkseid, the ultimate servant, and the child who may be the only way for the legionnaires to survive in. Sensational. 41 page. Are you ready? 41 page. Epic. Geez you. To the saga of the great darkness.
[00:47:54] Speaker A: It's like a double issue.
[00:47:55] Speaker B: They said it backwards, too. It's not called the great Darkness saga here. It's the saga of the great Darkness saga. If you're not anxiously waiting for the next 30 days, see a doctor. You may have stopped breathing. I am anxious. Yeah. And it's cool because Keith also draws on all this research he does to draw a really cool poster that's hanging in my room later with all these characters from Legion's history appearing on it.
So, yeah, I mean, it's also just neat.
Paul Levitz was a huge legion fan and had written it before. It's neat, too, that Keith went back and read and researched, too. And I love the fact it doesn't always work when it's two fans of a franchise writing it. Right, right.
Or maybe even one that became a fan. Right. But it's.
This. This does. Yeah, no, it's really good. Yeah. And Kenneth R. Holdren of 112 Rhone Drive, Hampton, Virginia, agrees with us.
[00:48:55] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:48:57] Speaker B: Yeah. He says, dear friends, you really surprised me. It actually appears you were getting better and better even every issue. We agree the COVID was excellent because it does the job that I feel is to catch the casual reader's eyes and tempt him to. Into buying a comic he normally wouldn't. This cover really did that. Plus, the COVID actually depicts a scene from the story, which I prefer to symbolic covers. Then he gets into a bunch of stuff about the defenders, which, you know, that's fine. We're not reading defenders right now, so that's fine.
But anyway, it's all good. Yeah. I. I mean, this story is crazy fast, right?
[00:49:35] Speaker A: Yeah, no, it was like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And again, like, I I think, like, after the first couple books in this. In this run, they really just like, alright, here's. Here's where we're going. And at this point, we don't have to let off the gas and let you build. We're just gonna just stay on it because this is how we're gonna do. And every issue has just been a gas pedal down issue. This is definitely that. It is. Every time you think you're gonna get a little bit of reprieve. Oh, hey, they're gonna go into a meeting or whatever, or there's gonna be all this exposition moment. It's none of that. None of that. It is pure.
[00:50:22] Speaker B: It's a lot of action. It's a lot of dark side. So I do want to. I do. We have the legion roll call continuing. I do want to draw your attention to one legionnaire you haven't seen in the book. All right, pharaoh lad.
[00:50:34] Speaker A: Oh, yes.
[00:50:35] Speaker B: Born Andrew Nolan of Earth. A mutant with the power to change his body into nearly invulnerable isotope of iron. He had a non human face which was hidden by a mask at all times. His legionnaire. His legion career was brief and ended when he sacrificed his life to destroy the sun eater. I don't know why I choose that one to read to you.
[00:50:57] Speaker A: Okay. I don't know either.
[00:50:59] Speaker B: I'm just saying. Yeah.
I don't know. Dead teenagers, it's always fun.
[00:51:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:05] Speaker B: I mean, sometimes people want dead teenagers all the time, so.
[00:51:08] Speaker A: Huh. Pharaoh lad. Huh.
Interesting.
[00:51:13] Speaker B: But, uh. Yeah, well, anyway, uh. Yeah, well, next issue, it's dark side. A lot of dark side. I.
[00:51:20] Speaker A: You know, I had a feeling.
[00:51:22] Speaker B: And a lot of daxomites.
[00:51:23] Speaker A: I had. Yeah, a lot of dachshunds. Like three. Three. 3 billion.
[00:51:27] Speaker B: Well, you had a feeling. Did you have a feeling darkseid was coming?
[00:51:30] Speaker A: I had.
[00:51:31] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:51:35] Speaker A: I had a feeling early on. There was a. There was a couple of tingly moments.
Just. There's some tells, I think, you know?
[00:51:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:47] Speaker A: Colors.
[00:51:48] Speaker B: How about, did you have a feeling he was gonna enslave all of the planet Daxum?
[00:51:52] Speaker A: I did not know. I did not. I did. I did not think that was gonna happen until, like, you know, like, I was like, oh, he just used the past tense and now. Yeah, it's pretty rough.
[00:52:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, there we go. Yeah. So that's.
Yeah. And. And the next cover.
[00:52:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:14] Speaker B: Is an. Isn't basically an homage to your favorite japanese flag?
[00:52:18] Speaker A: Oh, great. Awesome. Excellent. Can't wait.
[00:52:21] Speaker B: It kind of. I actually hadn't noticed it. If we hadn't done the X Men books. I would never have thought of it, actually.
[00:52:26] Speaker A: I mean, you know, it's interesting how in popular. Like, it. That the. The rising sun battle flag it, or I guess, the. The imperial flag, it had worked its way into popular culture. Oh, hey, that's a really neat flag. But then again, like I. Like I said before on other shows and had this conversation with other people, I mean, it's. It's. It's literally the same context of throwing up a confederate flag.
[00:52:55] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and it may not be. I mean, I don't know. You should look ahead and glance at the next cover because it looks like a mashup version, right? Like with the Kirby crackle. And it seems inspired, but it could. And it could just be the red sun, right. That's on his planet. Right. Because they moved. So it may not be that at all. I don't know if it was intentional.
[00:53:14] Speaker A: If that makes sense, if it's got the running lines that it run. You know, that it has, like, running.
[00:53:20] Speaker B: Lines each direction that are more like kirby crackle. So it's like, it might.
[00:53:25] Speaker A: It might just be, you know, could just be a different thing. Who knows? Who knows? I'll take a look at it. I'll give you my two cent later. I'll give you my two cent later.
Yeah. I'm glad we talked. I'm glad we. Instead of saying our goodbyes earlier on, I'm glad that you brought us back in, and we actually talked more about the book with the folks as opposed to just turning off the podcast like we were gonna do earlier. This is much better. It worked out a lot better. Thank you, Dan.
[00:53:55] Speaker B: Yep. That's, uh. Yep. Um. Yeah.
[00:53:58] Speaker A: You're like. You're like. I mean, what? You're surprised that I was gonna say, you know, hey, you know, because I was. I was ready to punch out earlier, and, you know, you asked me. You asked me if I had, you know, any. Any plugs and stuff, and I was like, no, I don't want to talk about absolute zeros and the. The vanilla scented bookmarks that. That you keep telling people we're gonna give away that have MxPX CDs attached to their. Their jackets, which they don't.
[00:54:32] Speaker B: That's fair.
You're like, that's fair.
[00:54:37] Speaker A: The look on your face is all fair.
[00:54:40] Speaker B: That's all fair.
[00:54:41] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:54:41] Speaker B: That's all fair. Well, you know, sometimes messages come through in the middle of a podcast, and they make you have that face.
I basically looked at something I shouldn't have right now.
[00:54:49] Speaker A: I thought it was me, and it's something else. Okay, that's good. That's good. It's not me.
[00:54:54] Speaker B: It's not you. It's the world.
But anyway, it's. Yeah. So it's all good. And we are done, I think. I mean, of course, we advertised for our great podcast channel, project nerd, and we have. I guess we didn't mention the retro Emporium on Meeker street and Kent, Washington, but.
[00:55:17] Speaker A: Stop. All right.
[00:55:17] Speaker B: If you want to find Greg, you can go there. Yeah, I'm excited. Dan Juergens is now coming to Summercon. Oh, boy.
[00:55:24] Speaker A: So you're gonna.
[00:55:25] Speaker B: I mean, now you're.
[00:55:26] Speaker A: Now you're excited? Now you're like, that's one more thing. Dan shooter.
[00:55:31] Speaker B: Well, I mean, we've got. Obviously. Obviously, I can no longer get Keith Giffen's autograph, which makes me sad, but, I mean, I've got another legion creator and Dan Juergens there. I've got shooter there. I mean, I've got some classic folks randomly coming to Pyaalup, Washington, that I didn't think would ever come to Pyallup, Washington.
[00:55:49] Speaker A: Why are you here?
[00:55:51] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. Greg and I will be there a day. I don't know which day that is yet, but we'll be there a day.
[00:55:58] Speaker A: I'll let you know. And if you want to come hang out, well, that would be kind of cool.
Yeah.
[00:56:03] Speaker B: I mean, I haven't mentioned this to Greg yet, but we probably should have, like, dinner afterwards or something in the area, so if people want to come have dinner with us, they could.
[00:56:12] Speaker A: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[00:56:14] Speaker B: I mean, we're not. We're not gonna. We're not gonna buy. We're not gonna buy you dinner. Okay, but you can come hang out with us.
[00:56:20] Speaker A: I mean, you want to make it classic, man? We bring them up to the 711 and hang out in the parking lot like we used to. I'm not.
[00:56:28] Speaker B: I'm not going to the 711 in Pyallup and hanging out in the parking lot or the AM PM. That's. None of those things are happening.
[00:56:34] Speaker A: It's classic, though. It's classic.
No, that's a. That's a good idea. I like the idea.
[00:56:39] Speaker B: What's far enough away from the fairgrounds and is still close? Classic dollop.
[00:56:43] Speaker A: There's nothing far enough away and classic.
[00:56:47] Speaker B: Yes, there is. Yes, there is. Let me see if it's still open.
[00:56:51] Speaker A: Oh, Wernie is gone.
[00:56:56] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's. It looks like it's not there anymore.
[00:56:59] Speaker A: So Catton's gone.
[00:57:01] Speaker B: No, that's way too close. I was not talking about gone for a year.
[00:57:05] Speaker A: Sad. Rest in peace.
[00:57:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:57:08] Speaker A: The rose. Gone.
[00:57:10] Speaker B: I'll figure out something.
[00:57:12] Speaker A: I'm trying to.
[00:57:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
You're not going to think of what I'm thinking about, so.
[00:57:17] Speaker A: Okay. I'm not going to think of what you're thinking about. Oh, you want to go to Tiffany Skate Inn?
[00:57:21] Speaker B: No.
I don't know how long it's open, so just give me a thought. Okay. Yeah.
[00:57:29] Speaker A: You want to go to mitzvahs? Cool.
[00:57:31] Speaker B: No, they're gone.
How is it that you've come up literally with every restaurant I'm not thinking.
[00:57:38] Speaker A: Of, and they're all. And they've all shut down permanently?
[00:57:41] Speaker B: No, I know what I'm thinking of, too. I know the name. I'm just having fun, having you guess and then name things obnoxiously that aren't there.
[00:57:49] Speaker A: Ruby Tuesdays.
[00:57:50] Speaker B: But this does not look like the same restaurant it used to be.
[00:57:53] Speaker A: So I really want to know now.
[00:57:55] Speaker B: It's a cafe. It's not a cafe. I don't want to go to a cafe.
I want to go to the actual restaurant. Restaurant.
[00:58:02] Speaker A: What is it?
[00:58:03] Speaker B: But it looks like it's just a cafe now. So what was it?
Antons, you know, out by the river.
[00:58:10] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:58:10] Speaker B: Because that is far enough away from the fairgrounds. But not such a trek. People couldn't get to it.
[00:58:14] Speaker A: I remember my car got broke down. It got. It broke down over there, and I got stuck.
[00:58:19] Speaker B: But I don't think it's open anymore, so.
[00:58:21] Speaker A: We could go to the bowling alley. They got good food.
[00:58:24] Speaker B: Do. I would totally go to the bowling alley after. Yeah.
I've not been to the daffodil ball in years.
[00:58:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's. It's. It's a small spot. It's nice. I like it.
It's been years, too, for me, but it's always a good place.
[00:58:39] Speaker B: You know what? I say we make that a frickin plan. We're going to go to summer con, and then we're going to go to the daffodil ball. Is Wayne's tavern still next to it?
[00:58:49] Speaker A: Oh, Wayne's in.
[00:58:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:58:51] Speaker A: Yeah, I do believe it is.
[00:58:54] Speaker B: Well, there you go.
[00:58:56] Speaker A: You don't want to go to bumpy's downtown. Too close.
[00:58:59] Speaker B: I was never a bumpy's fan.
[00:59:01] Speaker A: I hear bumpy's is the spot, though. All the wayne's kids moved over to bumpy's.
[00:59:05] Speaker B: Well, anyway, we'll have some sort of plan, but just a heads up.
[00:59:09] Speaker A: Oh, forbidden.
[00:59:09] Speaker B: If you're in, if you're up here, summer con is what the summer cons what? The 21st. It'll either be the 21st or 22 June 1 of those two days that we go out there. So we will keep you informed. I've got to negotiate with greg, and more importantly, I need to negotiate with the proprietor of the retro emporium in kent, washington, on which day we can.
[00:59:30] Speaker A: Go, which day we can go to the show.
[00:59:35] Speaker B: But we will be going for sure. So I'm excited. Yeah.
[00:59:38] Speaker A: And then you can come get a sticker from me, you, grand listener, can hang out. I say listener.
All of a sudden, it'd be funny if all of a sudden there's actually like, you know, a handful of people, and we're like, wow, awkward.
So.
[00:59:52] Speaker B: All right, well, we should wrap this up. So for Dan and Greg, this was funny book forensics with the most professional ending we've ever had on this podcast.
[01:00:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:00:04] Speaker B: All right, that's it. That's it. I'm done.
[01:00:07] Speaker A: Bye bye.
I could only find the button to get out of here. Okay. Yeah, there it is. Oh, that's not the button.
