Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Very exciting. Greg is very exciting.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Dan.
[00:00:09] Speaker A: We had a guest cancel.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Hey, that is life, though. That's what happens.
[00:00:15] Speaker A: But we get more absolute Batman.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: We do. And that's absolutely great because.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: And it's a good story.
You saw Weird Al Yankovic.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: I did, and that was awesome.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: And you got sick.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: And I got sick.
Yes, I am. I'm still not great.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: Did he dare you to be stupid?
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Oh, yes. And stupid did happen. Oh, my dogs are barking.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Oh, the dogs are barking Good.
My dogs, I'm sure, are going to bark, too, because we are starting at a weird time.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: I don't know why my dogs are barking.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Well, you know, it's time to bark. It's barking time.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Barking time.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: It's how things work. Yeah. The Weird Al Yankovic happening.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. It was good. It was a good show. It was fantastic. It was. Last of. My. Last time we saw him was like, 20 years ago, so it was. It was definitely, definitely a good time.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: What was. What was. What was the most outstanding stage performance?
[00:01:24] Speaker B: The most outstanding stage performance?
Who.
He does a lot of costume changes, and he does a lot of, like, kind of. I'd say, do you want to call them melodies? You know, so it's. It's. It's quick, Quick stuff going through his. His songs and everything like that. So.
But I'm trying to think, like, to nail it down and. And be like, oh, this. This one particular thing. I. I don't. I don't know. The whole show itself was really good, and there wasn't. There wasn't any, like, ah, this was. This was it. This was. You know, I think, like, the whole. The whole moment of, you know, you're just looking around, everyone's having a good time.
They're all, you know, you got people singing and stuff like that. It's not. The concert was loud. It was that the people were loud.
So. So that's. That's always fun. And the engagement that. That people were having was definitely, definitely good.
So that's. That was a plus.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: That's. That's very cool. And it was at the fair.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: It was at the fair. I know.
I don't go to the fair very often.
Um, don't go. I haven't been to the fairing in.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: You don't.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: In a few years.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: You don't do it at a trot?
[00:02:45] Speaker B: No, I don't do it at a gallop.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: Gallop.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: No.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: Do it real slow so your heart won't palpitate.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: So.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: But that is going to the Fair we're talking about, by the way.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: Dirty minded people.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: It was interesting to see, like, they had a lot of old fair memorabilia there. Like, not memorabilia, but like, I'd say, like using that old, the old taglines and stuff like that on their, on their new shirts and stuff they're selling. So it's kind of interesting.
So.
But yeah, a lot of walking, a lot of. A lot of moving around.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: Yeah. At the fair you do walk a lot and you move around.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: You do.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: I like going to summercon.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: Except there are rides there.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: And the people who are scheduled to be there actually show up.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: Like weirdo.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Like weirdo.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: Well, there was some sad news this week.
[00:03:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Some comic related sad news. Pseudo comic related, I guess.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: Gloria Steinem died.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: Whoa.
Did not. I did not see that.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: And if you don't know why that's comic related. Well, we've talked about it on the podcast before.
Gloria Steinem put Wonder Woman on the COVID of Ms. Magazine in July of 1972.
And that was when they had tried to change Wonder Woman into a super spy who wasn't so super. And Maya Culpa, they had to give her powers back.
It's interesting too how it fits in the feminist mythos, because I'll tell you what, that William Moulton Marston movie, very interesting, good movie, talks about, you know, living the way you want to live. But those comics we read, the comic book we read of Wonder Woman, however.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Didn't seem very feminist. So it was Wonder Woman's an interesting figure coming through history. But yeah, rest in peace, Gloria Steinem, who helped bring Wonder Woman back to comics in the form that she should probably have been in and never left.
And also good on Denny o' Neil for trying something different with the character. But we ended up getting Green Lantern, Green Arrow out of that change too. That's true. So I'm not complaining.
But yeah, so yeah, another interesting. I know I don't hit all the comic desks because I miss them and I don't. Can't pay attention to everything. But in this case, there's a historically historical figure for feminism. And yeah, it was interesting.
So I heard another interesting comment on feminism this week that I'm not going to repeat.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: God,
[00:05:50] Speaker A: I want to, but I will get sidetracked. Maybe I'll talk about it in the course of reading this book.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: There you go. Not this book, but your, Your contracts book, right?
[00:06:00] Speaker A: Oh, contracts. Are you talking about contracts? I've got all sorts of contracts.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: No, no, no, I, I Didn't mean to get you derailed again, Dan. Oh, my goodness. I'm sorry, folks.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Dan is learning all about contracts just for Greg, so he can't trick me anymore.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: I try to trick Dan into doing things, so I write up elaborate contracts and get him bound like the Chainsman.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: You meant like Wonder Woman?
[00:06:25] Speaker B: No. Oh, well, yeah. She binds people with her. Her.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: No. Remember when she's bound by her own, she has to be released by a man.
[00:06:35] Speaker B: That was in that. Yeah, that was in the one that we read. Yeah, that was kind of a bunk.
Yeah.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: Now, Grimbor. Everybody wants to be bounded by Grimbor.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: Who wants to be bound by Grimbor.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: Yeah, that sounds.
You show up at the Eagle, and then, you know, you get bound by Grimbor, and you end up at Steamworks.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: A fun time is had by all.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: That's exactly how that works.
[00:07:04] Speaker B: And then.
And then you have to find your own way home.
[00:07:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And you have to. And in that case, too, Only a man can unbind you. So that's it. You know, it's kind of the same thing, I guess.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: I see.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Sort of.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Okay.
That's a lot to unwrap.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: I mean. Yeah, it is a lot to unwrap.
That's. That's true.
There is a lot to unwrap in that scenario.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: But we were. We were talking about Batman.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Yeah, he is. Because he's so beefy and this absolute
[00:07:43] Speaker A: Batman, this big Batman. I almost called the last podcast Big Batman instead of Batman of the people. I was trying to figure out which of the comments on the podcast I should go with.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: Batman of the people. He's Batman of the people because he's for the people and with the people and he needs the people because he's of the people.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: He is. I mean, it is a Batman for a new generation. He is not a millionaire playboy.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: No, he's. He's an every. Every person.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: I was concerned about my contracts book, though. Just side note, can I tell you why?
[00:08:18] Speaker B: Yeah, why? Because it talks about Batman.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: I mean, I hold. They're very heavy. It's like nine 1000 pages. But the first offer author is David G. Epstein.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: Huh.
Okay.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: I don't want to read anything by David Epstein.
Oh, yeah, that seems like a poor name choice. This. This person should have chose a different name.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: Well, I mean, they probably had that name and then wrote the book and then all this other stuff.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Maybe they should go by the G in their name. Just the G. Well, this David Epstein person is probably dead.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: Maybe so.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Just like the other one is probably dead.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: Maybe so.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: So it's, you know, a lot of probability there.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: A lot.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: And what do you think? Like they learn contract. What if they learn contracts from each other?
[00:09:17] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: Not a man of the people.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: No. No.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Batman, Very opposite Bruce Wayne.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:25] Speaker A: Original Bruce Wayne. David Epstein,
[00:09:30] Speaker B: the one who wrote the contracts book.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: No, I'm just saying how people think of a millionaire playboy now.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: I see.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: You would think that they were either Epstein or ending up on Epstein Island.
That's why we have a new Batman for a new generation.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: I don't think. I don't think that Bruce Wayne would be that kind of billionaire playboy, really.
I don't think.
[00:09:56] Speaker A: So you don't think that.
So you think Bill Gates would.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Well, no, I'm saying that you thought Bill Gates would.
No, I'm saying Bruce Wayne.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: That the, the Bruce Wayne that we've, that you have in your books that you've read about.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: Yes.
No,
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Well, I mean, that's fair.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: And I'm not, I'm not, I'm.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: To your point is.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: To your point?
[00:10:34] Speaker A: I think my point is that that Bruce Wayne in the comics created by Bill Finger with an assist from Bob Kane.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: Would have.
Isn't it so nice that Bill Finger got Bob Kane not to draw Batman with that original weird red costume.
[00:10:53] Speaker B: Very true.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: Yeah. That he drew him like the first time.
I'm certainly.
Some people may not find this bit funny. I don't think it's meant to be.
What I am trying to say, though, is I think the reason why they have a new Batman here is because people associate billionaires with things like Epstein island and randomly cutting budget items and murdering, you know, people across the globe because you don't understand the U.S. aid programs you're cutting. Yeah.
Having 17 children with six, seven different people and then condemning others for, you know, needing food stamps to support their kids. I think that people associate billionaires with those qualities.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: I, and I'm not contesting that.
I don't. I, I, I understand your point and I understand what you're saying. I think that the, I think what you're trying, the conclusion you're trying to draw based off of the, the image that you're seeing versus what you are using are two different things. But to that point, you're not wrong that there was a need for a different story, a different type of Bruce Wayne. Somebody that came from a different place and had not all those things, all those trappings, if you will.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: And they can't do that with. They can only do that with Oliver Queen in the main book. Right.
Like, how many times has Oliver Queen been rich and then been torn? Like in the main?
Oliver Queen they can mess with because it's just a Green Arrow, but Bruce Wayne, they tend to.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:12:58] Speaker A: Not mess around with.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: And.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: Until now.
[00:13:01] Speaker B: Until now.
And it. And it leaves for a very interesting story to unfold.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And on the COVID we've got a really cool cover.
We've got Batman. Big Batman fighting. Big Batman fighting. It looks like Puck from Alpha Flight,
[00:13:26] Speaker B: kind of sort of, but.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: Pouch Wolverine.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Pouch Wolverine.
Alfred.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: Alfred Wein.
Maybe it's.
Oh, actually, it's a cross between. It's a Chimera. I know this word.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Oh, it's all right.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Chimera.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Okay. It's a. It's a.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: Of Reed Richards, Wolverine, and Puck.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: And all three put together to make.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: To make one white. The white side hair.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: And I see the Wolverine knife. No, it's. It's Alfred from the last issue, but he looks really small compared to Batman. Oh, yeah, It's. It's quite the. It's quite the difference.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: Quite a change.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
So, anyway, this one is rated 13 plus, teens only.
No children. No children with the knives and a gun on a cover.
This would not have made it past the Comics Code Authority.
[00:14:30] Speaker B: No, no, no, it would not have.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: At least the COVID anyway.
[00:14:35] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, Definitely not.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: It won't be until issue six when it really won't make it past the Comics Code Authority. Do you agree with that statement?
[00:14:42] Speaker B: I agree.
[00:14:44] Speaker A: Hard agree.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Those ears. Anyway, so a little preview of the future. Hey, Greg and I have been reading through.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: All right.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: Well, been reading.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: We flip a page and we get an advertisement for Action Comics written by Mark Waid and Greg. Where's the Legion connection in the ad?
[00:15:06] Speaker B: Where is it?
Is it up there in the top?
[00:15:13] Speaker A: Sure is.
There's a Mon L up there. I don't know which version, but he's there.
Guess what? I got to read this.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: What did you get to read? Did you get to read your book finally?
Yeah. Oh, are you happy? Yeah.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Yeah. You need to read it. I had. I had Palmer read it. Former guest of the podcast, Palmer Belham. Yeah, he liked it. He thought it was very good. Yeah, you need to read it. You need to stay up on that series because we're gonna have to cover it.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: Okay. I suppose I can. I guess I. I can. I can do it just like we do.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: You could go to your local comic shop.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: And get an issue.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. It is current. It is now it is happening.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
Anyway, yeah, Monel was in. In the Phantom Zone because Superboy just leaves him there for a thousand years.
But I don't know if that's Monel from the future or the past or the previous past or the previous future or the future yet to come.
We don't really know because there's a whole new future.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: A whole new future. A future waiting for you to enjoy.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: And in the new feature, we have to figure out who killed RJ Brand. But right now we're not worried about that. We are worried about.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: Wait, R.J. brand is dead again?
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Yeah, again.
Dead again.
But right now we're worried about Bruce. We're worried about Bruce Wayne's dad. Yes, that'd be Dr. Wayne. I mean, is he a doctor or does he just have a master's degree?
[00:16:52] Speaker B: He's a. He's a teacher.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: Well, that doesn't mean you can't be a doctor. That's true.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: That's true.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: He.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: I think he did have.
I mean, I think it's a little ahead in the reading, but I believe.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: I am a doctor and I was a teacher.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: Yes, Dan, Yes, I do believe it's a little head in the reading. It doesn't say it in this book, I don't think, but it might be in book three, but.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: Oh, sorry.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: He had.
He had gone through all his courses and was working his way to be a doctor, and they found out that baby Bruce was on the way, so he needed to.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: Man of the people.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Yes, he needed to. He couldn't quite finish.
He hadn't finished his schooling yet, so spoiling the future. I'm sorry. But you started to talk about it, so I figured I'd correct you because you were to just continue to go on and hammer the point.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: Well, that's probably true.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: So, yes.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: I don't know why you'd make that assumption that I would hammer something out I'm paying attention to.
Like, I pulled up a list of powerful men named in the Epstein files.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: We could go through it. But I decided to not do that because.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: Well, because it's.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: I didn't want to hammer that point home.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Because you're.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: You're.
[00:18:12] Speaker B: Like I said, I.
I'm not contesting your point. Your point is valid. There's many people that are. That are on that list. There's many people that you wouldn't expect to be there. And I just. I don't.
[00:18:27] Speaker A: It's perception, my friend. Perception is reality.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: So you believe that Bruce Wayne would have gone.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: I don't know that if I believe Bruce Wayne would have gone, but I believe this generation would have believed that Bruce Wayne would have gone.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: I see Oliver Queen for sure, really.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: But he has to take down the whole island by himself with his arrows.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: He just would have shown up and then changed middle mid meal and then shooting people.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. That's very much him with no plan at all.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: He just. He just would have just. People would have just been trying to run to get away, and he's like, nope, sorry, you're here, you're dead, you're dead.
[00:19:12] Speaker A: Or he'd hit him with that old boxing glove arrow.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: You know, really work well in this book.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: This page is scary. I don't like is.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: It is a very scary page.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: It's page one if there's a page number on here.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: Or it's page null because there are no page numbers, but it's.
Yeah. So we. We last left off, sadly, with all those murdering people coming in to kill everybody at the zoo.
And Thomas Wayne pushes his whole class inside of a.
The bat room.
The bat room.
Is that what we call the bat exhibit?
[00:19:56] Speaker B: The bat.
[00:19:56] Speaker A: Yeah, the bat house. Bat house.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Yes, it's the bat house where you want to go.
It's where the bats live. Because bats are crazy in the bat house.
Ah, I'm channeling my inner prince. If Prince was singing a song about this book,
[00:20:22] Speaker A: I thought you were doing Brick House.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Well, yeah.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: No, I mean changing it to Bat House.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: Well, kind of, sort of, but, I mean, I could imagine Prince and Rick James doing a duet for young Bruce Wayne
[00:20:40] Speaker A: on Epstein Island.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: What?
[00:20:42] Speaker A: On Epstein Island?
[00:20:44] Speaker B: Oh, my God. No, not that Bruce Wayne. This Bruce Wayne.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: Do you know who's saying brick house?
[00:20:53] Speaker B: Rick James.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: No, no, no. Evil.
You'll never guess who.
Well, in the future, when he wasn't in this group, he was dancing on the ceiling.
Because he had a feeling.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: Huh.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: He also thinks Sunday mornings are really easy.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: Really?
[00:21:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: I'm just.
I'm. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not putting these two things together.
[00:21:32] Speaker A: And they celebrate good times.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: I. I know, but I don't.
I don't. I don't think this is. I. This can't be true.
Huh? I don't think this is true.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: Really?
[00:21:44] Speaker B: I don't think this is true.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: You don't think it's true? You're just gonna stay in denial?
[00:21:47] Speaker B: No, I. I am also looking it up because I don't.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: Well, Bruce Wayne is very sad right now because his dad is.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Murder. Outside if I'm wrong.
[00:22:00] Speaker A: And okay.
And so
[00:22:05] Speaker B: well.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: Dan pop culture. Wait, hang on. Greg on pop culture in 99, Dan won.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: Dan went out of a hundred times.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: I'm gonna get it right when you don't.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Wow. Okay.
[00:22:21] Speaker A: Where I was wrong, though, is easy was still with the Commodores, I believe not with Probably.
[00:22:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that was. I think Lionel Rushie was with the Commodores when they sang Using Us in the Morning. But we both could be wrong on that. I. I am. I'm feeling wow for some reason. I don't know why.
In my mind it was.
I swear, the. The. The collider has changed a lot of things.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: Well, here's the thing, too. Like, I'm avoiding this page because it's terrifying.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: Well, then we'll flip the page so
[00:22:56] Speaker A: you don't have to talk about it, basically.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: And then we'll turn on the next page and look at that one.
[00:23:02] Speaker A: D. All these bats start attacking. Bruce. Bruce Wayne. I don't like it.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: They're all over him, and. And he's crying, and there's bats all over his face and all over his body, and they're climbing up on him, trying to crawl into his mouth.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: Like that lady that woke up with a bat in her mouth.
[00:23:16] Speaker B: I was trying to burrow and get into her, just, like, trying to push between her lips and into her teeth, and she woke up and grabbed the bat and threw it, and then she had to get a bunch of rabies shots, because that's what happens when you
[00:23:27] Speaker A: have bats all over you.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: True story.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: So.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Wow. Well, we flipped a page. That's great, Greg. Thanks. Thanks for those images. I appreciate that.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: Lock your windows. Make sure they don't get in, because bats.
You know, bats.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: The rest of the podcast, you know,
[00:23:47] Speaker B: bats can get into very small places, Dan. So if you have any. Any spots in your house that may seem like they're friendly for bats, and this is the time of year in which they do they look for places that are warm.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: Look, I don't want to gross everybody out, but I already had a tick on my ear this week. What? I.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: How did you get a tick? We.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: That's a good question.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: What were you doing? Were you laying in the grass? Did Grimboar leave you behind?
[00:24:14] Speaker A: I don't know.
I was doing a lot of studying. I don't know how it's hit God in me, but anyway.
[00:24:22] Speaker B: Wow, that's gross. That's like a. That's like a. A grass spider just keeps sucking the
[00:24:28] Speaker A: blood out of you. Yeah, it Is gross. I did not like. No, I did not. I had to like, kind of edge
[00:24:33] Speaker B: it out of the, Edge it out of your ear? Was it in your ear?
Oh, oh, that would have been.
[00:24:41] Speaker A: That's better than being. My ears are rather prominent, so it's probably an easy target.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: Better than getting inside your ear.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Yeah, it was not inside my ear.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: Did you check to make sure there's no other ones that have gotten inside?
[00:24:52] Speaker A: Oh, yes, I've checked. Once I had a tick on me, I checked every part of my body.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: Like the time the leeches.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: Yes, yes. Well, I don't Stand by me.
Wil Wheaton should have won an Oscar.
I still stand by the fact that Wil Whedon should have won an Oscar for that movie.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, no joke. Totally.
[00:25:20] Speaker A: How much he outshined the other three, too is just insane.
[00:25:23] Speaker B: This is the best time of year to watch Stand By Me, like end of the summer.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: It's a great film.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: It's a, it's a, it's a really good one. I, I, I was supposed to go when they, they did their Seattle tour and then I got super sick and, and, and I, she was like, no, you're not going. You're running a fever and you can't even move.
I'm just like, no, you're not going. You're not leaving the house.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: You're fine. Like the Mariners.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Losing.
[00:26:00] Speaker A: Yeah, the, well, Batman is still fighting the folks here.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: The, the animal party. The party animals.
[00:26:07] Speaker A: Yeah, the party animals. You know, it's, it's really offensive that they would use the party animals here. I mean, I think most people think the party animals are a very entertaining part of banana ball. And, you know, here they just don't seem so friendly, you know?
[00:26:24] Speaker B: They don't. Yeah, no, they're not, they're not the friendliest bunch.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: I think they're just, just for an update for you, top of the fourth, Rangers, two Mariners. Nothing.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: No.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: Yeah, we are painful. We are after losing three of four to the second to worst team in baseball. The only worst team is also in our division.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: We are now down to the first place team in the division, the Mariners. By the way, at this date, basically have to win, I believe 17 out of 17 to make the playoffs. Is that
[00:27:02] Speaker B: the big dumper is taking a dump on us.
I know.
[00:27:06] Speaker A: The big dumper's doing great right now. Oh, he's doing great right now.
[00:27:08] Speaker B: He's, he was doing terrible before.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: He's clear the. No, he's, he was, he's, he's doing Fantastic. You haven't kept up. He was player of the week. He. Oh, he's. He's now over 20 home runs.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: He's out of his.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: Actually. He. He actually has a chance to get to 30 home runs.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: Well, because he was.
He. He was. He was doing so bad the previous week. I just. I was. I. I. I wrote him off.
[00:27:29] Speaker A: Well, what happened is, I think somebody alerted to. Alerted him to the fact that, you know, Dave Valley's career worst, you know, Mariners catcher season, and he has been on a tear to try to get that batting average over Dave Valley, because nobody wants to be below Dave Valley.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: They don't want to be in the Valley of Valley.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: No, sorry. I've just lost most of the audience. We're going to go back to this podcast, and nobody knows who Dave Valli is.
I will let people know that Dave Valley was so bad that a bar in Seattle was selling beer for the price of his batting average.
And just to make fun of him and say, you can come here. You can get a discount, and let's say you could get a. You. You get a beer for under two bucks. So it was.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: That's a. That's a deal.
[00:28:23] Speaker A: Good times.
Batman, however, is beating up the party animals in the aquarium.
Yeah, they throw a bunch of knives at him.
He's swinging around his cape thing again.
His cowl thing.
Cape. Cow. You said cape, right?
[00:28:42] Speaker B: It's a. It's this. It's his cape. It's his cape. The cow.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: I mean, this cape, by the way. I mean, this is Spawn's cape, right?
[00:28:50] Speaker B: Kind of. Yeah. It's a very Spawn like cape. It's. Yeah, it moves to what he needs it to be. It. It changes direction or shape as he needs it.
Much like a bat's wings.
[00:29:03] Speaker A: Daniel, I actually have to get out the actual book because the app is airing out.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Yeah. I have to see if it's missing a page or not. I can't tell.
[00:29:14] Speaker B: Oh, no, it is.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm missing this whole page here. It just has a picture of Alfred on it, but from the cartoon, which is weird. Oh, it says, oh, dear. Went wrong.
Something went wrong with Paige. Retry below or contact customer support.
But I downloaded this comic off the app, so I should have all of the pages, right?
[00:29:34] Speaker B: You should.
[00:29:35] Speaker A: That would. That would make sense. If dc, if DC Infinite was running a proper app, I would have all the pages.
So we got to keep going because Greg's gonna get tired.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: Because I am gonna get tired.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: So I started early. I started my day early.
[00:29:51] Speaker B: As I do always.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Well, we've got, we've got some mean old party animals. They're yelling dead now.
Awkward.
Car view.
[00:30:02] Speaker B: Car view.
[00:30:05] Speaker A: And we've still got Alfred narrating all this, right?
Yeah. So Alfred's still watching all this and not doing anything.
[00:30:15] Speaker B: He's the watcher.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: He is the watcher.
He changes shape just like the watcher does in every episode, too.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: The watcher. The watcher watches the Batman.
He watches the Batman.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: Okay, well, I should probably put this comic book back away, but here we go.
Y' all can see I have the actual version of this.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: He has the actual version, folks.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: Look at that.
All right, so, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of party animal fighting.
Batman ends up above everybody.
Everybody's in the water.
He throws some acid in the water.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: Oh, no. He throws a thing into the water and it turns it into acid.
[00:31:04] Speaker A: Oh, he throws concentrated vinegar.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: To turn salt water into hydrochloric acid.
This
[00:31:16] Speaker B: mister could tell you how it works, but I'm not Mr. Wizard, so I'm not even going to try.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: I, I, I am aware that this Batman doesn't murder people. Correct. But he hurts them.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: Oh, he hurts them real good.
[00:31:31] Speaker A: Yeah. They're all running out, yelling, it's burns. It burns. Trying to strip off their clothes.
Alfred gets a. Alfred's liking that. He goes, just goes,
[00:31:44] Speaker B: jackass.
[00:31:46] Speaker A: Got him.
And Alfred's research on him. Over the week, he finds out he has stash houses all over the city, he says, but from his movements, I've plotted on a line on which the others might be located and if anything.
And then Batman goes into the sewer, it looks like.
And Alfred's like, you've got to be kidding me.
Because he flips a page and his outline of all the safe places that Batman goes is in the shape of a bat across the city.
Which is concerning because I don't know what you do with the middle of the city there. I guess you just leave the middle of the city unprotected. Yeah, you just say, forget that.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: Well, you can go. You can get to the middle of the city from everywhere outside of the city. Or get to one of the places that you're trying to get to from the middle outside, it's easier. You know, traffic times.
It's on a sewer grid. Dan. You see, if he's climbing through the sewers like a good Batman does.
[00:32:50] Speaker A: Like a good Batman.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: It's really easy. It's real easy.
[00:32:54] Speaker A: Well, we have some important things. Alfred points out that when he's not Batman his routine is monastically tight. As in, like.
Like in. In sister act.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: Right, Monastically. Right, Monastically. Like in sister act. Like, that's. They get up. Remember she was really unhappy about getting up in the morning and having to eat. Their goal. And it was so.
[00:33:24] Speaker B: Yes.
And not liking how everything. But she liked to sing.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was a big fan of singing. And then she got to lead the choir later.
And, you know, it was all good.
But then, you know, it really made.
It just. It made the. You know, it just made Maggie Smith really unhappy.
She thought she was losing control of the nuns and.
[00:33:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: Well, in this case, Batman feels like he's gonna lose control. He hides in the shadows. Apparently he works as construction crews and stuff. He goes to see his dad's killer, Joe Chill. So I guess Joe Chill is the killer now.
Again.
Again.
So that hasn't changed or has changed or hasn't changed or has changed or hasn't changed throughout Bat history.
He considers pushing back. Telling him that Batman has helped with my mission. He wants to. This is. This is Alfred narrating.
He says that, in fact, his provocative provocation.
Provocative. Provocative. I'm adding letters to this word. Provocations have helped me so.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: Provocative.
[00:34:41] Speaker A: Form a new theory. Who sinus is what he's part of. And I think about making my case.
So he's still doing this research.
And while this is all happening, all of the.
The mean party animals get a retreat and regroup message. So they are leaving, and Batman lights a building on fire to form a
[00:35:17] Speaker B: big bat fire Bat face in the sky. It's a Batman in the sky.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: And Alfred says, batman af.
So that's. I didn't know you could be. I didn't know you could be Batman as.
Even though nobody knows who Batman is.
[00:35:37] Speaker B: But that's true. Do you think the party animals are still in the building? Batman just blew them up.
[00:35:43] Speaker A: I kind of hope so. But no, he. He doesn't kill people. Remember, he's made a. They've made a point. In this book, he hurts him real bad.
Yeah, but they're. Yeah, they're very careful not to kill people. I mean, you can just kind of think of this Batman. Just think of him as, you know, Adam West.
[00:36:06] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:36:07] Speaker A: On a lot of steroids.
[00:36:09] Speaker B: Okay.
He's just out having a good time.
[00:36:14] Speaker A: Yeah. During the day, of course. Yeah. He's having a good time.
[00:36:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:18] Speaker A: He's pumping up. He's working construction jobs. He's salt of the earth, man of the people.
[00:36:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:25] Speaker A: Adam West.
And then now. Do you think this Batman will ever have a Robin?
[00:36:33] Speaker B: Huh?
Good question. I, you know, I mean, from what I'm seeing right now, I, I don't know if that's. If that's a possibility, but I can't rule it out.
[00:36:49] Speaker A: Yeah, you can't rule it out because he could have a Robin. We just don't know.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: Yeah, he could have a Robin.
[00:36:57] Speaker A: We just don't know it's ever possible. A lot of Robins, a lot of.
[00:37:01] Speaker B: There's always a lot of Robins down.
[00:37:03] Speaker A: Well, there's a lot of party animals. Maybe one of the party animals will be a Robin.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: You don't know.
[00:37:09] Speaker A: Well, we flip the page and we find out that Commissioner Gordon is in the hospital.
The news is reporting. The Fox News in the Fox and Friends apparently is reporting that Batman is rising in the polls.
[00:37:28] Speaker B: Man for mayor.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: We get Bullock and Commissioner Gordon's daughter.
That would be Barbara visiting him in the hospital.
And they are discussing their next. Not strategy, I guess.
And Martha Wayne comes to see them, gives Barbara a big hug, says she's going to help out and.
Yeah, that about it there.
Yeah, good analysis. I think she gives him some pot.
Or a cigarette. One of the two.
[00:38:08] Speaker B: One of the two. I mean, they're hanging out in the hospital.
One of the, you know, shouldn't. They shouldn't be smoking in the hospital one way or another.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: And then we get back to a technique that you use that you actually use a lot. And I haven't been pointing out. There's these bat signs that were at the, at the display in the zoo, and they use the bat signs as transitions in the story. You actually do this a lot in your storytelling.
[00:38:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:36] Speaker A: We'll pick out a location and then use, like, signs or something from that location to continually, like, push the story forward.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:44] Speaker A: And I like this technique. It's a. I don't like transitioning here in the middle of the page.
[00:38:50] Speaker B: It is kind of jarring. But I think to. In order to do what they're trying to do for the next page, it wouldn't needed to be this way, but. Yeah.
[00:39:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, also too, I think they do a good job with it, the way they do it. Right. So it says bats can be social or solitary.
All these bats pile on Bruce until he screams.
And we get flipped back to the hospital scene of them smoking a cigarette or pot. We don't really know.
I really want it to be a joint. If they're smoking in the middle of
[00:39:29] Speaker B: the hospital, I'm thinking it's a cigarette because she Just throws it out the window. So, I mean, well, if it's legal,
[00:39:35] Speaker A: you know, it's legal. Neither of them are legal in the hospital, so there. Is that true.
And, well, anyway, They.
Commissioner Gordon asks how Bruce is, because I believe he was the one that found Bruce after the tragedy. Tragedy and tragedy. Martha, he asked how he is. And Martha says, you know, honestly, I don't know.
Before that day, he was my little boy. He told me everything. Every dumb detail.
His day, his whole inner life was mine to know. And he's like, now. Now I barely know him at all.
And he gets his science fair medal. And she's like, his friends are here. Are here. And she's like, tell them to go away.
He's like, you're sure? They're all outside. He's like, yeah. He's like, just leave me alone. He throws his science medal out the window. And then we get a bigger Bruce. Bigger, older Bruce in the back of him.
[00:40:37] Speaker B: Bruce.
[00:40:38] Speaker A: And as I told you last week, because I foreshadowed things. Sorry.
We get to a card game, his head bashed in, but they're all like, look at the cat dragged in. And we get a group of people from Crime Alley all playing together. And we get Whan back, Right?
[00:41:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: I believe we get some Edward Nigma guy.
[00:41:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:10] Speaker A: And we get an Oswald Cobblepot, if that's his name.
We've just heard him as Aussie so far. Yeah.
[00:41:19] Speaker B: Just call him Ozzy.
[00:41:22] Speaker A: And we get a guy who they call a two face. I.
[00:41:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: And they're all bragging about how much they're putting in.
And they're talking. Talking the. Talking the gossip there at the table.
And they're teasing Bruce for not having enough money to play cards. Oswald's like, if you don't have 20, I've got a layaway program you can sign up for. Oh, and he gets hit with a chip and goes whack.
All right, keep laughing. I'll shove my cubic foot up your.
They're all kind of jiving with each other.
And Bruce is bluffing into the game, I believe.
Kind of. He has a 7 5. It looks like he's. He's doing okay. He's two pairs, but they're low pairs with two aces up on the table.
I don't know if that's the best play.
[00:42:27] Speaker B: That's what he's got. It's what he's got.
[00:42:30] Speaker A: But more importantly, we find out that somebody got a hold of one of those.
That'd be Bruce got a hold of one of those masks, the gorilla masks.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: Oh, yes.
[00:42:42] Speaker A: And they're all like, what? And, boy, is the not Riddler really happy about getting this mask. Oh, yeah. He wants to go take it apart and. And play with it.
And apparently has all the geographic information.
And Eddie says, but these other chips, wow, this is actual premiere. And he says, more premiere than what you do.
Bruce tells him, and he's like, whoa, they're a big guy. Them's fighting words, so I'll be borrowing this.
And he notes. Bruce notes, high tech, heavily armed party animals must be moving in on everybody's territory. Ozzy. Ozzy's like, why the would I know Bruce? Just because my business is atypical, you think? He's like, relax, I was just asking if you're still in.
And Ozzy's like, for what it's worth, the party animals aren't moving in on anything. Far as I can tell, these guys are just out to wr.
Word is their man Roman, he kills everyone who meets and tries to make a deal. And yeah, I'm out.
Oh, so Ozzy's out of the criminal game. That's cool. I see Eddie is in on the card game. Waylon's still running his business. And of course we've got Mr. Two Face who happens to be an attorney.
[00:44:10] Speaker B: Huh.
Ah, you know, they say about the.
[00:44:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And this is actually. Actually a really good sequence here. I'm not doing it enough justice. There's a lot of text through these pages, but it's covering. It's. It's a lot of vamping, but it's doing a lot of background setup for the book.
[00:44:28] Speaker B: And it. I mean, it really gives you a snapshot of who his friends became. You know, they all. They all grew up together, and then they all became these.
These young men.
And it's. It. It's interesting because it gives you an idea of who Bruce hangs around and. And he's not. He's not your typical Bruce Wayne.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: Well, it also goes on another theory that I will toss out here. But, you know, there's been.
By the way, I. I need to cover this before I get into my theory here, but. Okay, Bruce shows three aces.
He says four if we're playing with jokers. And he says, jokers are never welcome here, Bruce. Or that's what somebody else says. Yeah, I don't know who. I think it's everybody.
So apparently they had another friend.
Let's go back and count their friends here.
Oh, I think four of them out there, though I don't see a joker out There, so.
[00:45:29] Speaker B: Oh, I think Selena's not there.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: Selena is. We don't know Selena yet.
[00:45:34] Speaker B: I.
[00:45:36] Speaker A: We don't know Selena yet, do we?
[00:45:37] Speaker B: I thought any. They said. Anyone hear from her lately?
[00:45:44] Speaker A: Oh, I missed that. Sorry. I was going back to the picture, though, of the four boys waiting outside. Sorry.
Yeah, my bad. You are correct. We do hear about Selena. So we get a hint on Selena. We get a hint on the Joker and.
Yeah. So all of that is happening. So it's good times.
So that's.
Yeah. And even better times as the Mariners go down four to zero.
I did not want to play the Mariners.
Just wanted to give you an update since we're broadcasting late.
Bryce Miller out in the fourth.
Ferrer in and gives up the run with the bases loaded. Or gives it two runs with the bases loaded that Bryce Miller loaded up for him.
So there you go. That's where at.
Just so everybody can be up to date on that, Mariners need to win 17 out of 17. They're down 4 to 0.
So we won't be talking much baseball here in the future.
Oh, I am going to the Rainiers tomorrow night.
[00:46:57] Speaker B: Hey. All right.
[00:46:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:59] Speaker B: A team that can win.
[00:47:01] Speaker A: Not that well.
[00:47:02] Speaker B: Oh, okay. I was trying to be optimistic.
[00:47:05] Speaker A: Dan Rainier's games are fun. It's AAA baseball. You gotta have a good time.
[00:47:09] Speaker B: You. You should go to Aqua.
[00:47:11] Speaker A: You gotta have a beer and talk to your friends. Why would I go all the way to Everett?
[00:47:17] Speaker B: Because I hear they're great, too.
[00:47:19] Speaker A: I mean, I'm sure it's a fun experience, but why would I go all the way to Everett?
[00:47:23] Speaker B: You should go see the Bananas.
[00:47:25] Speaker A: I couldn't get Bananas tickets. They were.
[00:47:28] Speaker B: That's why you got to go to Savannah.
[00:47:30] Speaker A: I. I couldn't get Bananas tickets. The Ticketmaster sucks, and we haven't solved that problem. So I could not get tickets.
[00:47:37] Speaker B: Yeah, it's true.
They do.
[00:47:41] Speaker A: Anyway. Well,
[00:47:44] Speaker B: you're going to tell me your theory. You had a theory.
[00:47:46] Speaker A: Oh, my theory. I apologize. I got lost on the Mariners.
[00:47:49] Speaker B: One minute. Well, just joking.
[00:47:51] Speaker A: There's a fear, you know, there's always that theory that, you know, it was in Killing Joke and has been around for a long time that Batman actually created all of the villains. Right?
By being Batman.
[00:48:02] Speaker B: So he made them. By. By becoming Batman. He. He made the villains.
[00:48:08] Speaker A: Right. They don't evolve into the villains they are unless there's a Batman in the city to be their foil. Right, Right. Like Batman is there. So when Two Face goes. When he gets the acid thrown on him in the city and Goes crazy.
If you're going to be evil, who do you fight?
[00:48:26] Speaker B: Batman.
[00:48:28] Speaker A: If you are the Joker, who are you trying. Who is your target?
[00:48:33] Speaker B: Batman.
[00:48:34] Speaker A: If you are the Riddler, who's had many different origin stories, but.
And who's always trying to foil you? Batman. The Joker. Yeah.
[00:48:46] Speaker B: So why don't they fight each other?
[00:48:48] Speaker A: Dan, you have to see you as the best jokes.
[00:48:52] Speaker B: I mean, they could.
That would be interesting.
[00:48:55] Speaker A: Would it be?
Anyway, but you know, there's.
There's always that fan theory. And in this case.
So if Batman, if they all know him.
Right. If they all know Bruce instead of not know Bruce, and they all grew up with Bruce and he influenced them in that way, what would their outcomes be? And it apparently is a very different outcome.
So I. At least for now, I mean, we don't know what's going to happen as they evolved, but maybe there's gonna be a turn.
Maybe if he becomes Batman, they change and they become more evil to fight with him. I don't know. I mean, maybe.
[00:49:37] Speaker B: Why would they want to fight with him?
[00:49:39] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:49:39] Speaker B: They're his friends, Dan. Why would. Why would friends want to fight? That sounds like a terrible idea.
[00:49:44] Speaker A: Well, where's Selena?
[00:49:48] Speaker B: She's. She's on business.
[00:49:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, anyway, Batman infiltrates the Hill for mayor office.
And is there any Alfred commentary you want to cover on this page?
[00:50:07] Speaker B: It's all pretty much like outside of this Hill.
[00:50:10] Speaker A: Guy is corrupt.
[00:50:12] Speaker B: Yeah, that's pretty much it.
[00:50:15] Speaker A: Okay. And he breaks in, hacks his computer and finds a file called arcm,
[00:50:26] Speaker B: Ark
[00:50:26] Speaker A: M.
Which if you're reading through the books in there, there's a Batman, Absolute Batman, Arkham One shot that you could go and read.
[00:50:37] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:50:37] Speaker A: Later on. Yeah. Talk about it eventually, but not yet.
And he opens it and he gets a big hello there. And it looks like this is King. Party animal.
[00:50:50] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:50:51] Speaker A: Roman.
[00:50:52] Speaker B: Is that Roman or Cenosus or whatever his name is? I don't know.
[00:50:57] Speaker A: Well, Roman is the head of the guys in Gotham, right? Okay, I don't know who Cenosus is.
[00:51:04] Speaker B: I thought they were the same guy. And me, I don't know.
[00:51:08] Speaker A: Well, he said I'm Roman.
[00:51:10] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:51:11] Speaker A: Well, I could be confused.
I probably am confused, let's be honest.
But another guy knows he's there and shoots a rocket propelled grenade at Batman and he opens an elevator shaft and drops down and slides down on his boots.
Which is kind of awesome if you think about it.
[00:51:32] Speaker B: It is pretty cool.
[00:51:35] Speaker A: And it's like he gets down to the bottom and there's Alfred.
[00:51:42] Speaker B: Hey.
[00:51:43] Speaker A: He says, you're a good detective, kid, but I've learned some things about them.
The party animals. They're not what they seem.
And he's like, I've come to believe that we can help each other here. Just give me a chance to explain, please. He says, 30 seconds. He says, all right, thank you, but we need to get out of here. They're all over the place, and we have to get somewhere safe. Have a car hidden out back, unless you have one.
And Bruce, Batman says, you're standing in it.
And he grabs the steering wheel, and out comes half the building.
What do you feel. How do you feel about the Batmobile, the Bat Dozer that thing is
[00:52:31] Speaker B: after?
[00:52:32] Speaker A: I don't know how that's getting through the city. I.
[00:52:34] Speaker B: You know, I don't know either, but after reading the.
The last Batman book, you know, It's. Batman likes big vehicles,
[00:52:49] Speaker A: and this is a bigger, better Batman.
[00:52:51] Speaker B: It's a bigger, better Batman with a bigger, better batter vehicle.
[00:52:56] Speaker A: It.
[00:52:56] Speaker B: You know, he. It's. It's a. I swear, this is the kind of thing that's on the other side of my house right now. Tearing up the ground.
[00:53:04] Speaker A: Tearing up the. Yeah, yeah.
[00:53:06] Speaker B: I mean, literally, there's two of them over there.
[00:53:08] Speaker A: Well, a police car goes flying.
Police are running.
And we flip the page, and it goes completely away from the fight. And we see Bruce looking all sad, like my dog when she can't go outside and play.
And we hear you lose something. And it says Selena.
And she says, a little girl with a cat hoodie, whatever that comes from, comes up and says, get up. You're coming with me. And she has his.
Has his medal.
[00:53:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:53:57] Speaker A: And. Yeah, that's. That's it. That's it.
So, Greg, you are at issue eight. I'm at issue six.
So we're getting a pretty good feel for the series. What are you thinking so far?
[00:54:12] Speaker B: I would say I am as. DC wants me to be all in, Dan. I am all in.
[00:54:17] Speaker A: You're all in?
[00:54:18] Speaker B: I am all in.
[00:54:19] Speaker A: Well, now they want you to be next level, so.
[00:54:22] Speaker B: Damn it, I'm all in. Next level.
I'm. I'm. I'm leveling up with my all in this.
I.
[00:54:31] Speaker A: You are?
[00:54:32] Speaker B: I. I honestly, I'm really enjoying the. The story so far.
Obviously, as I've been reading.
[00:54:40] Speaker A: I just.
[00:54:40] Speaker B: It's really. It's. It's one of those hard to put down stories, and I will probably blast through the whole entire. The run and, you know, be happy that I'm I've done it because it's a really, it's a good read.
I like the way it changes in art. I like in some, in as the books go on.
I like the way that, I mean, but as far as this book and the last book, it definitely is a good buildup.
It's really getting you an idea of this Bruce and what he has gone through to become the Batman that he is.
[00:55:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
I really like how they're introducing the characters slowly, but it seems like slowly, but it's not. It's only two. It's two issues.
[00:55:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:55:34] Speaker A: I could almost argue against myself. Maybe they're introducing too many characters too quickly.
But at least for sustainability, I'm trying to in my brain say, how many issues of this are we getting? Right? Are we getting 100? Are we getting 24? We don't know at this point. I don't think they know at this point because they don't know.
They don't know it's going to be.
I mean, when the second issue was written, that was probably, probably the first six.
Right. Because that's the first full storyline. They didn't know it was going to be as successful as it was.
I think they had an idea it was going to be successful.
But you know, originally when this split off, right, with the, the two universes start or the second universe starts, I don't know that they knew, right. How long this would last. Right. Like how much time there was for this. I don't, you know, I've heard rumors that there was a two year run on it and we're past that now.
Different rumors about, like, what the plans were. They were reintegrating.
I know that after a couple years, right. In the dcko, you actually meet the, these characters in the mainline universe, but then they go back. So they're expanding books off of this now. So it's, it's, it's interesting because almost as a writer, I'm wondering like if originally Snyder was told or even. Well, Snyder probably came up with the idea, right. Like, you know, he's creating this universe. Hey, I'm gonna go this long, right? And then we're reintegrating or we're holding it in, but then it became successful and then it's like, oh, oh, I
[00:57:19] Speaker B: guess we're just going to keep this going because you have to.
[00:57:24] Speaker A: And I, you know, I feel like he's creating enough interesting characters where it can keep doing that. But at the same time, I was kind of, it does seem kind of quick to introduce, but I guess There is friends, but. Yeah, they just introduced a lot. But they're world. World building, right?
[00:57:41] Speaker B: Yeah, they're world building.
[00:57:42] Speaker A: Job. World building and bringing back, you know, doing the thing where you have the familiar. You know, Alfred's the familiar. But it's different, right? You know, killer Crocs there, but it's different, right? Yeah. Penguin's there, but it's different. And Selena's there. And. And it. But it's different. And, you know, there's. There's definitely mythos where they met as kids, so, you know, it's back again depending on which mythos you're in.
[00:58:12] Speaker B: Right?
[00:58:13] Speaker A: And, you know, it's interesting. And so, I mean, it's interesting to put a new spin on an old concept. Yeah, no, like you said, you can't put it down.
[00:58:23] Speaker B: Yeah, no, the way that they've done makes.
Makes it interesting in a sense that it's.
It's.
You're saying, like you said, it's familiar. It's your same characters just in a different. In a different spin.
And you're.
You've now taken. Taken the Bruce Wayne that you've. You've known and you've underdogged him, and you've given him this. You know, he's had to before.
He had everything, but then he. He traded that to. To work for it. And at this point in. In this story, he didn't have anything, but he. And he's had to work for everything.
[00:59:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:59:14] Speaker B: So. And. And I. Yeah, I. Not trying to. I'm not gonna, like, jump. Jump too far, but, like, it. It is interesting, the choices that he makes.
[00:59:27] Speaker A: Well, and how far do we want to go back? Right, because, you know, original Batman was a concept character, right. And is a complete, you know, almost a complete ripoff of the shadow. Right?
Is that a fair.
[00:59:42] Speaker B: It's a fair. That's fair.
[00:59:45] Speaker A: Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Batman knows, you know, like. Yeah, it's.
[00:59:51] Speaker B: And.
[00:59:52] Speaker A: But later on. And in the very original Batman, he, you know, the original Batman shoots people and runs away. Right. Laughing. Yeah.
But then they, you know, made it a kid's comic, and it evolves, and you evolve the different mythos, right? And, you know, I think there's room for all of these different Batman in dc, right? I think there's room for fun Batman. I think there's room for angry Batman. I think there's room for Grant Morrison Batman. I think there's room for Jeff loves Batman. Hush. Right? Like, I think there's room for this Batman, right? I Think there's room for the Batman you were just talking about, where he sort of gives it back. I think there's room for 1970s penthouse, Bruce Wayne, Batman. I, I think there's room for all of these different versions of Batman out there and to, you know, give people what they want or do what Mark Waid does with World's Finest with Superman and Batman and just write them from whatever era he wants to. Right. Depending on how he wants to use the story.
I think there's room for all this. I like this, though, because it's giving you. It's not taking one of those old things. It's actually saying, here's this new thing.
We're going to grab some elements of what we like from here, here, and here, but we're going to make a completely different character.
[01:01:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And we're going to put it in a setting that you, that, that you inherently understand being Gotham and, you know, some of these landmarks that they're going to talk about. But we're changing it just enough to make it where you don't know what is going to come from this story, because we don't know how we're going to utilize. We know how we're going to utilize it, but you don't know how it's going to unfold.
[01:01:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
Well. And the first three books they launch are Batman, Absolute Batman, Absolute Superman, and absolute Wonder Woman.
Can you do this with Superman and Wonder Woman?
[01:02:03] Speaker B: I, I think you can probably do it with Wonder Woman. I think it's really hard with Superman.
Yeah. And I, I, I, I. And my reasoning behind that is I think you can take Wonder Woman and do something different with her and put her situationally in a different situation and have her go through different struggles, if you will, and, and grow.
But, and, and it can be told in a really interesting and captivating way. I haven't read the book yet, but it's definitely on my, my list to read because it's. If I'm liking this, I, I think I will like that with Superman and I want to be. I, I would love to be mistaken by my assumption, but I have a feeling that it's really hard to do that because, and I, and I say this because they have tried so many different ways of introducing Superman in so many different, like, we've gotten so many different Batman stories, but Batman has continually been similar with, with, with Superman. They have given you so many different types of Superman super men and super boys and super people that I don't, I think that the, the well overrunneth of, of super.
And I don't know if a story out there that is new, fresh and vibrant is, is there.
[01:04:00] Speaker A: Well, you also, well, you also. Yeah, I, I mean you also have to consider not just the DC versions, but Omni Man, Homelander Supreme, My, my blanking on Milestone Icon. You know, like you've had, you've had even, even, even Shazam for that or Captain Marvel for that matter in 40s. I mean, Superman's been replicated so many times. Batman's been replicated too. But I mean Superman's been.
Derivatives of Superman exist all over the place. Right. It could be played out.
Wonder Woman ends up in the absolute universe. She ends up being raised on the wild aisle of hell and put there by C.
And it become is Diana Princess of Hell, as opposed to the mascara. So it's exactly you. You called you without knowing.
You called exactly what they were going to do as opposed to this one where they have the same setting but a different circumstance. You called what they would do with Wonder Woman. They just took her and put her in a different setting, different setting and
[01:05:12] Speaker B: make her do different stuff. And, and I'm sure that the story is going to play out interesting enough to, to make you want to read it. I, I imagine like, and with Superman, the only thing like, and I, I will say the, the story that I wanted to see more of and I, and I know this sounds, this sound I'm probably gonna get from, from the Internet, but I really enjoyed the movie Brightburn, which is like the inverse of a Superman where you, have you seen the movie, Dan?
[01:05:45] Speaker A: No, I have no idea.
[01:05:47] Speaker B: The concept. Okay. So it essentially is the Superman story, but he's bad and he basically, he's a kid that he gets found by some people. They want to raise him. They think he's, you know, they want to take care of him and stuff like that.
And his, he basically has this power set that like is, is very much like Superman's. And he, he's not necessarily bad. He just, he doesn't know how to use his powers in, in a good way necessarily because he's a, he is a preteen and he's going through all those emotions and stuff like that and he's acting out and he just starts killing people because that makes sense to him. And you know, what do you know? How do you fix that? You can't because got an overpowered preteen kid doing bad things and they, you know, they just do what they do and it's. I, I, they made one movie And I thought, like, oh man, it'd be interesting to see what continues to happen, but you already know what's going to happen. He's just going to continue to wreck havoc on, on things.
[01:06:54] Speaker A: Or they could do what they did with Superboy prime in dc, give him a redemption arc.
[01:06:59] Speaker B: I don't think it's going to happen with this kid.
He basically straight up murders this whole firebase.
Not to spoil a movie that's been out for 10 years, but it was a, it was one of those things where it's like, man, this is, this is, I mean, super, super good.
[01:07:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, well, you know, there was that whole time that, you know, Superboy prime ripped Argent's arm off too. So. Yeah, well, I mean, basically they took all the crappy Titans characters from the mid to late 90s and he murdered all of them. So, you know, you had to get rid of those characters anyway.
[01:07:41] Speaker B: What if you. I mean, like, the only way I think like a, an interesting Superman story would be is where it's not really like Superman as you know him. It's a, it's a, it's, it's an earthling who goes. Who's like a space explorer who ends up on another planet accidentally and now is superpowered.
That's an interesting Superman story.
Now that's going to get taken. Trademark. Trademark. Trademark.
[01:08:12] Speaker A: Marrying.
[01:08:13] Speaker B: But, but I mean, that, that kind of story, that'd be interesting. That's a, that's, that's, that's a flip like where, you know, now you've got somebody that had no powers, but now, but they've grown up as a quote unquote good person. They've, you know, they've got all these, these things that have, you know, they've had to do all these like, mental and, and types of things to make, you know, like they've had to endure all these things to make them strong, you know, physically, mentally and everything. Now, now they become op'd and they're, they're put in a position where. What do you do given. Given this, this new power?
[01:08:56] Speaker A: That's a good question. I don't know.
[01:08:59] Speaker B: I. Yeah, right. I mean, now you.
Now that's a story I'd write. Dc, come find me. Greg Smith, that amazing tweet.
[01:09:07] Speaker A: I can tell you though, the only thing I have to add to this is not much, but I can tell you if you look up Superboy prime In the top 15 search results, you will get a listicle from CBR rating the top 10 most evil moments of Superboy Prime. So as predicted. CBR comic book resources. Complete fucking waste of space on the Internet.
[01:09:36] Speaker B: Just wait till they get that Junior Braves lineup for you.
[01:09:39] Speaker A: We make. We make 10,000 listicles
[01:09:45] Speaker B: their favorite.
[01:09:45] Speaker A: Their favorite Junior Braves and Chastise you for running an ad blocker when you go to one of their rages.
[01:09:51] Speaker B: Their favorite Junior Braves character.
Just shakes his head.
[01:10:01] Speaker A: I. Yeah. Cbr. Anyway, Dylan. Well, on that note.
I don't care, Greg. I don't care. I will make enemies with the powerful that suck.
God, they were once a great resource.
[01:10:17] Speaker B: I know. Hey, hey, I am not contesting that either.
I'm not contesting that. You know, I was going to say I was. I wanted to tell you something, and I think that you'll appreciate this. Dan.
You know what I did when I wasn't feeling good the other day? You know what I watched?
[01:10:34] Speaker A: Read some listicles on cbr.
[01:10:37] Speaker B: No, I watched Lanterns.
[01:10:40] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm sorry.
You're sorry?
[01:10:43] Speaker B: It was good. I enjoyed it.
[01:10:45] Speaker A: Did you watch the fourth episode yet?
[01:10:47] Speaker B: I did.
[01:10:53] Speaker A: He.
[01:10:53] Speaker B: He huffs and he puffs and he.
[01:10:56] Speaker A: I'm not going to spoil it for people on the show.
Catch up and talk to us on the side.
[01:11:02] Speaker B: Catch up and talk to us on the side. I'm enjoying the show.
[01:11:06] Speaker A: I was enjoying the show in the
[01:11:09] Speaker B: first two episodes, and then things.
[01:11:12] Speaker A: The third episode happened, and then the fourth episode happened.
[01:11:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:11:18] Speaker A: And things change for me.
[01:11:20] Speaker B: Things change for you.
[01:11:21] Speaker A: I'm no longer enjoying the show.
[01:11:23] Speaker B: I see.
[01:11:26] Speaker A: I thought mystery that's going on, I guess.
[01:11:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:11:30] Speaker A: Trying to be intentionally vague.
[01:11:32] Speaker B: I. I tried to explain to my wife. I tried to explain to Anne about the show, and, you know, I was like, hey, I think you might like this.
[01:11:39] Speaker A: It's. It's a.
[01:11:40] Speaker B: It's a dramatic take, if you will, on.
On a comic book series. There's. There's a lot of. There is some drama in it I think you would enjoy.
Has one of the. The main actors is from Friday Night Lights, one of your favorite TV shows.
And she was like, oh.
And then she. Then she fell asleep.
[01:12:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:12:02] Speaker B: And I continued to watch the show, but I was like, it. And I told her, you know, it was. It's very, very interesting.
[01:12:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, no man escapes the Manhunters.
[01:12:14] Speaker B: That's true. No man escapes the Manhunters.
[01:12:17] Speaker A: And if you play that card in the D.C. card game when we're playing, you have to say, no man escapes the Manhunters.
Just like if you play Etrigan, you have to rhyme for your entire turn.
[01:12:30] Speaker B: Really.
[01:12:31] Speaker A: That's my rule. House rules.
[01:12:33] Speaker B: Wow.
[01:12:36] Speaker A: But anyway, we should wrap this thing up.
[01:12:38] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:12:39] Speaker A: But that was. No, it was a good point. I wanted to ask about the absolute stuff for you, and. Yeah, I don't.
I'm. I will watch episode five of Lanterns, but I will say episode one and two. I was like, yeah, outside of that opening scene in episode one, which I thought was unnecessary, and they bring it back again later.
[01:13:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:13:00] Speaker A: Well, I mean, at least they used it, so. Yeah, it wasn't unnecessary because they used it. I do think there are some better ways, but I.
That aside.
[01:13:11] Speaker B: People do weird things, man.
Yeah.
[01:13:15] Speaker A: That aside. Yeah. I was really liking the first two episodes. Was really excited about the third episode
[01:13:20] Speaker B: soundtrack on the third was.
[01:13:22] Speaker A: The soundtrack was good. Great. Third episode's okay. Fourth episode is.
It's. It's an episode.
[01:13:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I mean, I. I was.
[01:13:37] Speaker A: No man escapes the Manhunters.
[01:13:39] Speaker B: No man escapes the Manhunters. And hope I didn't mess up that tofu for you.
[01:13:45] Speaker A: Yeah, there we go. Well, on that note, we do have a couple of things to plug. Of course.
[01:13:51] Speaker B: There we go. Plug away.
[01:13:52] Speaker A: If you want to escape the Manhunters.
[01:13:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:13:55] Speaker A: Only one person to call.
[01:13:57] Speaker B: Only one person to call. Who's that?
Who can help you escape the Manhunters, Dan?
[01:14:02] Speaker A: Well, you should know that.
[01:14:03] Speaker B: Is it Grimmore?
[01:14:05] Speaker A: No, no. Grimbor would tie you up with the Manhunters. Oh, no, the opposite.
[01:14:11] Speaker B: The opposite.
[01:14:12] Speaker A: No, I think if you want to escape the Manhunters because they're harassing you or ruining your life at your work or.
[01:14:18] Speaker B: Oh, man, those Manhunters. Terrible.
[01:14:20] Speaker A: They are. I mean, they're like the worst bosses ever.
The Guardians. I can't tell, but, yeah, Actually, if you have bosses like the Guardians and a hostile working environment is coming down your way, there is somebody you can call. He can choke out the other lawyers. He can teach you Jiu Jitsu. That's Jiu Jitsu, Lawyer Paul, at 253-656-4475.
[01:14:43] Speaker B: Oh, man. Say that number again, Dan. I didn't get a chance to write it down.
[01:14:47] Speaker A: Oh, that's 253-656-4475.
[01:14:51] Speaker B: Now say it backwards.
[01:14:53] Speaker A: No,
[01:14:56] Speaker B: on your head.
[01:14:57] Speaker A: And, of course, our good friend Travis Webb has a Kickstarter coming out in the net within the next two years.
[01:15:07] Speaker B: Oh, man. It's coming, people. It's coming. Save that Kickstarter. What's that Kickstarter's title, Dan?
[01:15:13] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. Well, I understand it's called.
[01:15:18] Speaker B: I don't know.
[01:15:19] Speaker A: I didn't think of a title today.
[01:15:21] Speaker B: Let's Go Cyborgs Fighting Manhunters.
[01:15:23] Speaker A: No, let's go with.
[01:15:28] Speaker B: Let's go with Don't Eat Off Another Man's Grill.
[01:15:32] Speaker A: No, these are all better than the titles I have.
I. I was gonna go with An Alpha Flight of Cyborgs.
That story.
[01:15:46] Speaker B: Oh, my.
[01:15:50] Speaker A: Just for you, Travis, An Alpha Flight of Cyborgs. A nemesis story.
[01:15:54] Speaker B: Is that. Is that like a. Like an Alpha flight? If. If you were having a com. If you had a comic book theme bar, would you serve all your. Your beer flights as an Alpha flight?
[01:16:05] Speaker A: Yes, I think I would.
I think I would. But there would be no violators.
No, it would be Northstar and Aurora and Sasquatch and Puck.
[01:16:23] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:16:24] Speaker A: No violators or vindicators. Sorry, I said violators instead of Vindicators.
I. I cross mojoed. The Spawn Universe.
[01:16:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I was gonna say the universe.
The Vindicator. They're similar, but different. Yeah.
[01:16:38] Speaker A: Yeah. So there we go. Well, so there's that. And then of course, you know, if you want to see Greg sometimes.
[01:16:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:16:48] Speaker A: Or Anne.
[01:16:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:16:49] Speaker A: Or new employee person.
[01:16:53] Speaker B: I met the tall guy.
[01:16:55] Speaker A: The tall guy. Yeah. And definitely not the Squattro man, because the Squattro man will not be there. He.
[01:17:01] Speaker B: You know, I hear good things. I hear. I hear that. That he might be making an appearance, folks. Squatch a man.
[01:17:09] Speaker A: Is that true?
[01:17:10] Speaker B: It's too.
[01:17:12] Speaker A: Okay, well, good news.
[01:17:15] Speaker B: So that.
[01:17:16] Speaker A: That's. That's all good news. So you could meet up with some people. And that's. That's on Meeker street in Kent, Washington. Is that correct?
[01:17:24] Speaker B: Metro Emporium. That's correct.
[01:17:26] Speaker A: You can also follow them on Insta and Facebook.
Yeah, they put out all sorts of content all the time. Sometimes you get to see Greg.
[01:17:34] Speaker B: You do crazy talk. It is crazy talk. Sometimes my co workers at my day job have seen and they're like, oh, you, You.
You're.
You. You're on my. My Instagram.
[01:17:50] Speaker A: Wow. Did you know that people are on social media these days?
[01:17:54] Speaker B: I know, it's crazy.
[01:17:55] Speaker A: Hey, kids. Greg might be on social media.
[01:17:58] Speaker B: It's. It's true. It is funny.
[01:18:01] Speaker A: Damn true.
[01:18:02] Speaker B: Oh, they're. They're so used to seeing me all dressed up at work and then. Then when they see me at the shop and in photos at the shop, I'm like.
[01:18:11] Speaker A: They're like, what is happening?
[01:18:12] Speaker B: They're like, oh, wow.
Are not dressed up.
[01:18:17] Speaker A: I don't dress up all the time.
[01:18:19] Speaker B: Only for you.
[01:18:20] Speaker A: While the plugs are out of the way, presumably we are reading the Crow for next week.
[01:18:27] Speaker B: Presumably. Yes.
[01:18:28] Speaker A: Having a special guest. If we don't have that special guest, then we will be reading absolute Batman number three.
[01:18:34] Speaker B: Number three.
[01:18:36] Speaker A: And there we go. So that's it. And we will see you next time. Read this book. They're good books.
[01:18:42] Speaker B: It is good.
Highly recommend.
