Special-Annual-Giant-Sized-Anniversary 450th Episode!

00:01
Intro music plays

00:25
Let's just do it. All right. I'm gonna hit record on Riverside. That is five four three two one The lollipop commercial I don't know The Toothy Pops was that supposed to be the mr. Al like You give me the crunch down I'll do my crunch down I can't do a crunch sound, but you're brave

00:55
Okay, I'm gonna set myself up. I was like, and now an impression of a jet taking off. Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. Master Impressionist. Woof, woof, woof. Not really good. He's like the police academy guy. The man of two voices. I do got an intro. Okay. Damn, I haven't done this with the crew in a long time. And scene. Take it from the Tootsie Pop impression.

01:21
And go. We're going to need that same energy. Oh, man, I'm a little nervous today. I haven't recorded with a full crew in a long time. You can't tell. OK, here we go. And a one and a two and a three. Yo, short box nation. Hello again. Welcome back. And this is normally the part where I say it's another new Wednesday, another new podcast. But today is no ordinary new podcast. You just press play on a special annual giant size anniversary 450th episode.

01:49
So buckle in and get your best Mylar bag and board ready because this one is a special collector's edition podcast. Thanks for being here. If you're new, welcome to the show. My name is Badr and this is the Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about your favorite comics with your favorite creators, as well as some familiar voices that also put their blood, sweat and tears into making this podcast. And they're here, I can't wait for you guys to meet them.

02:13
This is episode 450 and it's a celebration 13 years in the making. So I'm not saying this isn't an episode new listeners want to enjoy. You guys are more than welcome to stick around and hang out. This episode is especially dedicated to our longtime fans and listeners. If you joined the Short Box Nation anytime before 2022, you may know that this show wasn't all about me at one point. Once upon a time I had regular co-hosts who were far better at this podcast thing than I am. And today... Nobody died. Nobody died.

02:42
I said you're dead until I introduce you, okay? How about that, buddy? Damn it. Resurrect us, Badr, sorry. I'm so sorry. Today I'm proud to welcome back the original team of knuckleheads that used to cause me so much stress and raise my blood pressure and destroyed my self-esteem. I really don't know why I brought them back, but they're back. I'm gonna get a little sentimental and long-winded this episode, so apologies in advance, but not really sorry. I'm super excited to be sharing this space of my short box family.

03:12
Once again today, sitting on the couch, occupying mic number two is your favorite artist, booty, comic book historian, and cat dad all rolled into one. You heard him on the show last month talking about some shitty AI art that Marvel was using. But he's back with a vengeance episode, short box nation. Let's welcome the enigmatic Edmund Dansart back to the show. Two episodes in a row. New record, new record. Ed's back. Fresh haircut. Come on, man. Same Eddie, no one love.

03:41
Next up on mic number three is a real life walk in fossil. 450 isn't just the episode number today, but also the year the Nexco has graduated high school. The last time he was on the pod, he was rocking a 70s, a sweet 70s Burt Reynolds mustache and wax and poetics of Jason Aaron. His mustache last year was so horny, everyone thought we were sponsored by the Bang Brothers. This is not in the script. We hold on. This is not in the script. We went over.

04:08
and punched everything up after we finished and finalized everything. And he's like, I'm about to roast these motherfuckers.

04:17
You're about to mash these fools. I had help from Dave Chappelle. You sure did Yeah, I just want to say that last part again cuz I'm kind of proud of it The last time he was on the pot He was rocking a sweet 70s Burt Reynolds mustache and waxing poetics of Jason Aaron his mustache last year was so horny Everyone thought we were sponsored by Bang Brothers Nobody thought that ladies just I'm so excited to welcome my brother and right-hand man Cesar Cordero back on the pod

04:45
He seriously thought you were having a stroke. Like, I'm like, do you smell burning toast butter? By the end of this episode, all things are possible. Shhh, on God, no cap, right? That's what the kids say these days. I can't wait to be that uncool dad that uses the slang and just destroys it. Can't wait, question mark? Oh, I've got that Ohio toilet skeevy dee rig. Shut up, dude, shut up. This is what dads do now. This is what dads do. Indicator of what's ahead, short box nation. Alright. Stick around. And last but not least.

05:15
I don't know where to begin with this next co-host. We've got real podcast royalty back in the building. She's gone by many names throughout the course of this short box, all of them against her will. Please don't say that. But some of them include, some of my favorites include the First Lady of the short box, the short box duchess, the Baroness, the short box contessa. Oh, shit. He's drunk, folks. But she goes by...

05:44
A new name now and it explains where she's been these last two years. Short Box Nation, let's welcome the mighty matriarch of the Short Box, Ashley Lani Hoye, AKA Mom. Hey Ashley.

05:57
I should have said to put the most important title of our mom. Mother. Aw, that's cute. He's like, yeah, but he didn't say that because he's drunk. Ashley, have you missed this? I have, honestly. That's the most important question I can ask. Yes, I've missed you all very much. You're on the spot, Ashley. Have you missed this? Ashley, we miss you too. Thank you. God, this is so weird, guys. You know what I love? Chemistry.

06:25
We all just met today. Let me address the listeners real quick. Obviously if you're still around, that means you're here for the shits and giggles today. And I welcome you, alright? Because today is a celebration. At the end of the day, it is a celebration. We're celebrating 450 episodes. The first time that we're all recording underneath the same roof in three years.

06:47
I didn't make a detailed outline as you probably saw. I just spent all the time writing those jokes in the beginning and- Yeah, he didn't share it with any of us. The outline he shared was different. Like a good surprise, right? You sure did. Like a good surprise. Look, I want this to feel like a fam reunion and I truly want to catch up with you guys and give the listeners an idea of what y'all been up to since we last time recorded and throughout the course of the show, since this is a big milestone that we've hit, we got some friends that are chiming in as well. We got a couple of folks that called in that wanted to partake in the 450th.

07:16
celebration and they left some voice messages and they also want to know some things about what you guys been up to but Actually, I want to start with you because the the short box nation has definitely heard from Ed most recently and and Cesar as well But it's been a long time since we got to hear from you. How have you stayed busy? How you been staying busy? Hey Ben, I stayed busy. I so I have a child

07:38
I gave birth to a child, Potter. I did, that's literally all of it. Human life, I created human life. Potter's like, that's great, give it, give it, give it, comics, comics, comics, comics, comics, comics. I don't even know how to explain it. It's just like, it's so exhausting. Like it's absolutely like, your whole life that you had before is just gone. Like it's gone. Brought to you by parents. Yeah, yeah, seriously. Ashley is like the silver surfer. Like just like.

08:08
The cosmos has left a void in my life. I am not able to, sponsored by. I do, I feel like it's like a different plane of existence. Like all the things you were worried about before, it's like totally different now. Like your stress is just- Your sense, priorities and- Yeah, exactly. See, does that resonate with you? Can you relate as well? No. I'm never there. Oh wow, okay. Yeah, of course it resonates, man. I mean, like I said.

08:37
No cap bought her. On God, it's really hard being a dad. Actually, I could have done this episode of just Ashley. Now I remember. I just wanted this episode to be an Ashley interview. You ask these serious questions and expect us to give serious answers. This is the wrong format. All right, how about this? Let's play our first voicemail, because I think it's an appropriate question that gets posed in this one. And I think you guys might enjoy hearing this one right here. Hey, guys. This is Nick Wagner from Black Eye Tattoo. Super excited to hear you all in one spot.

09:07
The only thing I could really think to ask is, what have you missed about doing the show all together in the last couple of years? I know Vodder misses you, but everyone's been busy, but just curious, you know, what do you miss? All right. Have a great one. I'll go first. As far as what I missed the most regarding recording with you, Gibronis. Just the just I feel like.

09:36
when we all get together and like talk all kinds of silliness, it doesn't feel like we missed anything. At least I feel like I mean, we, we're all pretty much just joking around like we have been. And that we like we've just been consistently recording. And I don't think that's the kind of kind of chemistry that you can just magically replicate. I mean, we've been all I mean, we've been together recording longer than we've been part. It's crazy to think about.

10:06
So, I would say just the palpable chemistry that we all have as far as just talking shit and legitimately being happy to be in the same room with each other and just be silly on microphones. I mean, look, we all have responsibilities and we're all like grown ass adults and we somehow found the time to come back just to do this and we could all look at Bodder's new teeth. And I gotta tell you.

10:36
They are fantastic. God, you have me. They are on a new level. My boy, I am proud of you. I just want to go ahead and thank the patrons for all of their loyal money. Payments. Thank you so much. It was it wasn't a cheap route, but it was. I didn't know if I could if I could sell that as long as I did. That was good, man. But yeah, actually, do you do you remember anything from the last time you recorded? I had posted some pictures of all of us on the Instagram. And the last photo I had of all of us was from our.

11:05
a holiday party from 2022. And I don't know how far out you were from like, delivering and having the baby, but I mean, you definitely shouldn't have. I don't care about those things to be honest with you. I guess, what do you remember about the last time we potted and what have you missed about it? No, so I do remember that because I was like a month before. Okay, good, cause I don't, cause you made that punch and I think I've been drunk since then. Yeah. That's right, I forget what I made, but I spilled a bunch of it in my car. Oh no. And then I came in.

11:33
And I remember, Saiza, you were so nice. You were putting pillows behind me. Making sure I was comfortable. Oh my god, you're so annoyingly nice, though. You're ruining my rep. Can I massage your feet? Shut up, Saiza. Oh, okay. That's so weird. It was just fun. I just remember feeling very comfortable and very happy. And then I just didn't make it back for a long time. She was actually arrested. Did the booze smell? DUI. Yeah.

12:01
build some booze in the car. Punched a cop in the face. I guess, have you missed podcasting? And I'm not saying just like short box, but I know that you also used to co-host on other shows and do other segments for other shows, which, you know, I'm still kind of getting over that betrayal. But I mean, do you miss podcasting? Yeah, no, I do. I miss having time to talk about things that I like to talk about, because I don't get to do that anymore. I mean, if I don't work with you, then I don't have conversations with you on a regular basis. So yeah, I do. I miss that. I miss like,

12:31
being a comic book person. I feel like it's gone right now. And I know I'll be able to get it back when Shiloh's older, but right now I just feel like, oh, I'm a mom and oh, I work. And I do, I miss the old days. What would you say to the listeners? Remember when we made that poll for the listeners that decided your baby's name? And I think there was a landslide victory that Orion would have been, Shiloh's original name. What do you say to that? I loved that name. Like that when we were, we couldn't figure out his middle name.

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And that was like number two on the list. Like I was actually going for that. I really liked that name. And I thought that it would be really cool that, you know, is part of the podcast. But unfortunately, the husband did not like it as much. Josh. We're spilling all the tea here, boys. I know. He's not the biggest Kirby fan. I get it. Yeah. So did not make it a ride. We went with Reese though. You didn't name him Darkseid? Fourth world guy. Yeah.

13:28
He likes his Marvel stuff a little more. It's like, this is my son, Mother Box Orion, Darkseid. I guess actually on that same topic, making time as well. And see, this question extends to you too. Do you still make time for artwork and illustration? And you were doing a lot of children's books. You were doing a lot of illustrations for the show and things like that. I guess do you still make time for having that artistic expression or outlet?

13:56
So I still do, I still work for the children's book company. So that's like the only time that I draw. It's like at night after work, after Shila goes to sleep, I spend like a couple hours doing the children's book stuff. You're a beast. But as far as like stuff for me, like I will, I'll look at memories on Facebook of like a painting I did. And I'm like, ah man, when I had time back then, like back then I didn't think I had time, but I look back now I'm like, I had endless hours to do things.

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and it didn't feel like it. Like if I would have known now, you know, hindsight's 20-20. You do all that stuff after he goes to bed? Yeah, yeah. Respect. Two jobs. She was freaking tired. Two jobs. You gotta be tired, holy Lord. I've been tired for two years. Ashley's, like this Ashley segment sounds like M&M. Like where she's like, it's like, what are you, it's like, I don't know, I miss just being me. Da-d She's always staring in the mirror of mom's spaghetti.

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She's the mom. Oh, wow. Yeah, you're right. It's her own spaghetti. My spaghetti. Well, we ask a question. Are you still more of a analog artist or have you moved towards the digital frontier? That's actually a good question because I- That was all right question, but yeah, that was good. The adults are talking about it. Okay. I used to have a Flatter that I would send all my stuff to, but I don't use that anymore. So I kind of feel bad for that guy. Like we worked together for a long time,

15:23
do a lot of that stuff myself now. And I switched from a computer to like a really nice iPad. Nice. So I just sit on the couch and just do my stuff and yeah. Love for you? Still Photoshop. Photoshop's great. Still Photoshop, yeah. I don't feel bad for Ashley at all. She can afford Adobe prices. She's doing just great. That monthly Photoshop subscription, yeah. Is that child tax credit going to work?

15:48
Ashley's like, I'm Native American, Jewish, Black. She fills out all the minority things and she gets all the fucking kickbacks. Well, on the topic of your art, considering that you still work in children's books, I guess that being a mom or a mother yourself now, has that changed the way you approach art or done anything to how, I guess, your process? I try to make it better because I'm like, he's gonna look at this one day and I don't want him to be like, man, she really phoned it in on that book. Yeah.

16:19
So I do, I try to do a better job. Do you ever read him any of the, I guess, books that you drew? How narcissistic. Of course, Bodder would ask that question. I'm just saying. I'm sure they're on the house. What's the cat one? The Pella one. I don't think I could handle it if he didn't like it. Because there's some stuff he still will, he'll throw a book. And if he does that, I don't think my ego could handle it. That's true. That's cute. See, I guess, same- Let me tell you right now, the segment's not going to be as good when you go to me, okay? Just so you know. See, I think for you folks to know,

16:48
that aside from juggling all the things that you juggle, that you have also been putting out music on the low-low. I have. Would you like to talk about the music you've been putting out and then also how you find time to, I guess, engage with any of your artistic endeavors? I mean, you're an artist too, man. You do a lot of different I am. artsy stuff. Thank you for agreeing to have me and my fellow musician on a date later on in the podcast in the future to promote said thing you just brought up. Yeah, I have been consistently

17:18
trying to put out a album with another guy. And he has been my friend since 2001. We went to college together, we roomed together. And oddly enough, we didn't make music while we lived together. And then we both separately got married and had our own lives, moved away. And then we're like, let's jam and let's record. And essentially what I've been doing is a, sounds like the most.

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dad thing ever. Concept album, right? Ed's already laughing. He's like, here we go. This is this guy. He's got a... Oh yeah. Oh yeah. We got Rush over here. What's your 2112 buddy? But it's not even that. It's just the best way I could describe it is if Chewie and Han had a radio in the Millennium Falcon, our music hopefully would be something that they would be listening to. So it's like 70s Southern rock mixed with like Journey and...

18:17
Kiss. And if you want, we're on Spotify. The band is called Peyote Coyote. And the album is called Thunderbird. And it's an LP. It's a limited press. So there's only six songs on there. But we're going to release another album with the rest of the songs in the future. And we'll have promos. And the idea is essentially, whenever you listen to the music, you will be going on a journey because every song is sort of like telling a story.

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Not in a, obviously, like where it's like, and we're in a ship. Nah, not them, screw them, we're about to take their name. Oh wait, there's two peyote coyotes? There are, but only one of them is trademarked. That's us. Oh, my man. We paid money, that's right. Legal fees, that's us. Yeah. I'll put a link in the show notes. Please do, please do. And yeah, so the idea would be like, what do you, like, the elevator pitch is like, what does a listener get out of it? Well, they essentially would be like taking a journey musically with us.

19:16
every song takes them to a different spot. And the idea will be once our YouTube channel gets up, there'll be some visual elements that go with it. So it's all very, not just like audio sensory stuff, there's gonna be a lot of visual stuff as well. And because like you said, I like to draw and I like to do art, I wanna make this sort of like the project that encompasses all of it. So. And I can go ahead and co-sign all of this because I've been getting this music on the low.

19:44
Which if you want, I got some bootleg payo to tell you. Hello. Is this a Judas Priest? It is, Ed, thank you. Yes, it is a thousand percent a tribute to Screaming for Vengeance. I'll probably link to my favorite song that CS sent me, which is Ballad of Little Bird. It's pretty epic, pretty awesome. I think our most popular song is World War Panic, and it sounds like a- Oh damn, my boy got a popular song, come on. It sounds a lot like The Cars, if you like The Cars. It's like The Cars and Journey mixed together. So it's very 80s influenced. We're having fun. I'm not-

20:13
under any illusion that this is like gonna be like the latest thing but it is something fun to do. Ed, what about you man? How have you been keeping busy with making art and your creative outlet? My art has been very butt focused as recent. Wait, Sarris, did that again? I'm sorry. I don't think I heard you right. If I was talking to somebody else, it wouldn't have made sense. I've cut down on my commission stuff, but I've started a...

20:40
slowly getting more in, but I've been doing mostly like a pinup things and I'm trying to I think I'm finally inspired enough now to kind of finally start maybe self publishing something. Oh, cool. Stuff that I like is character design. And then that's the thing I get excited about and everything else is like, I got to write story and shit. All right. But because my favorite part of the process is the design character design. So it's kind of hard for me to at least.

21:08
for me personally to kind of go beyond that wall. Always hit the wall there, it's like, oh, I'm gonna change it, no, I'm gonna totally. So I get kind of stuck on that and basically redesign the same character over and over and over again. But you're not the only one who goes through that sort of thing. But a lot of it too is I'm kind of armchair psychologist is kind of like, I'm putting that wall there. I built that wall. What was the last convention that you've been to? And do you have any, I guess, plans or idea to maybe get back into the convention circuit? Or is that well past? No.

21:37
It's, it's a very hard grind. And now that I finally got an adult job post pandemic with benefits and shit. It was really getting to where my, the stuff I do for fun and to unwind is now another job and I don't want, I didn't want it to end up like that in the last. I think the last show I did was maybe 2021 or maybe a bit like either in that pandemic area, that whole time frames a blur, but I did that one show and I was like, I'm done.

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Ashley, do you miss the, what was the last convention you've been to? I remember, I know that you used to be partaking the convention grind. So that one Heroes Con was the last one that I went to for fun. Do you miss it at all? Oh, I miss going for fun, but not doing the, like Ed, I remember one year I did like 14 conventions and I think Ed, you were there for like half of them. Wait, wait, wait, wait, one year you did 14 conventions? Yeah. I think when we were both, I was doing at least one or two a month.

22:33
It was pretty crazy. Yeah, and we had friends in Tampa that we would stay with. And just looking back, I mean, I thought I was like, oh, making all this cash, this is amazing. Looking back, I'm like, that was rough. Like, that was real rough. I could never, ever do that again. See, I wanna ask you a question. Have you been keeping up with comics? Have you been able to find time to still read comics and keep up with, I guess, anything going on currently? Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that it's not in the...

23:02
conventional answer it I don't know if you guys know who I don't want to just Pronounce wait fuck it. Who am I sitting next to? Yeah, I don't care if I just pronounce Gao Tanabe all of his HP Lovecraft stuff is Fucking incredible. Is that the HP Lovecraft manga's? Yes. Okay. So you're asking about comics that are new that I've been reading Yeah, oh you did you yeah. Oh dude, so good. I just bought his very barely boring

23:30
story with a lot of exposition very interesting. Yeah, he's so freaking talented. Like Junji Ito is always will be still as my guy. So it was under like things you might like and it was there for so long. And I saw like, well, maybe the covers are just good. It's like, no, everything is for real solid through the whole freaking manga. It's beautiful. I'm still the cool thing is that I'm fluent in Spanish.

23:58
So I don't have to wait for the Dunwich Horror to be released in English on Amazon. I'll just go on Amazon and find the Spanish hardback that's already over in Europe and I can just read them as they're already all out. The problem is they're all really expensive and it's hard to justify why there's an Amazon payment to my wife when it's like, ah, she's like, you spent $80 on Amazon for what? Space tentacles? I don't know. Don't divorce me. I just tried to.

24:27
text what you're talking about see to the group chat only to realize that that group chat is so old I couldn't even find it anymore my phone auto deleted it but I did send it it went into a Lovecraftian actually have you been keeping up with comics at all like are you are you following any creators any publishers are you matter of fact once last thing you've been to shop because I know that last time we talked I think you were shopping at Gotham City Limit right yeah yeah no I love Gotham

24:54
Like I walk in and everyone's just like happy to see me. I feel like I'm like on cheers. Oh, that is a great way to put it. So yeah, it's really, so obviously Saga on another hiatus, but that's fine. Is it really? Yes. Actually, I have the quality of Saga been. Oh my God. It's still maybe 10. Are you questioning the quality of Saga? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, I know you know Brian Kay Fawn. Tell him I said hello. No, it's so good. Hazel's growing up.

25:23
Does that book hit different now as a parent? No, that's weird that it doesn't, but no, not at all. Because that's her escapism. Yeah, I think that's it. Because at first I was kind of like, there are things for me that as a parent don't hit differently that I thought they would, but I'm like, I'm not consuming them in that way. You asked me about Bluey, however, there are episodes that make me well up.

25:48
So yeah, and I'm still like, like Tula Lute, like I'll buy a cover just cause she did the artwork just to, you know, support it. Somna. Oh, that was, I read that, but that was only three issues, two or three. Three. Yeah. Very hot steamy book right there. Super horny. It comes up on my Amazon. So Becky Clunin, I don't know if you know about it. I don't know. Yeah. Tell me please. Becky Clunin, how do you pronounce her name? Tula? Tula Lute. She does all the dream sequences and Becky Clunin wrote it.

26:17
does the other like in reality pages. So it's like two artists and if you haven't seen any of the distillery stuff, they do like magazine format comics. Really cool, they're really cool. Oh yes, yes, yes, yes. I know exactly what you're talking about, yeah. Actually there is a comic. We're talking still. There is a comic series that came out last year or the year before that I wanted to, I should have reached out and told you to like buy it, but have you heard of this series called Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees?

26:43
No, I haven't. Okay, I think the elevator pitch has been like Dexter meets Bernstein Bears. It follows and is beautifully drawn. I think you would really vibe the artwork. It's like all watercolor painting. The creator is Patrick Horvath. He's a writer and the artist on it. OK. And it follows a serial killer bear who lives in like a small town and she travels to the big city to like commit her murders. And then she comes back and lives like a normal life. But another serial killer ends up moving into the neighborhood. And now she's got to like figure out how to like maintain her low profile.

27:13
but also figure out who this new serial killer is. Not to be confused with Patrick Hordak, who only does She-Ra and He-Man. We're having fun. When that series came out, I've never read a comic book that I thought was more befitting of your co-assigner champion. That is really good. I got the trade. Yeah, you can get the trades out. I still go to Gotham, even if I don't have much to pick up in my poll. It's just nice to get out. Do you still have your poll? That's cool. Yeah, I still have my poll. Come on, OG, dedicated. Photoshop.

27:41
Every month. Why do you pity this woman? You cannot pity this woman. I wanna come up to Ashley, like the fucking dudes at the gas station. Like I'll be like, hey yo, what up man? Like, yo, see that girl back there? She's pregnant and she got SpaghettiOs on her lips. Like- It's me with a pillow in my shirt. And SpaghettiOs on my lips, real. Yo, we trying to get back to Ohio. If you can give me like two bucks, man. You know, God bless you, man. God bless you.

28:06
But honestly, Ashley, if you have 50 bucks, I really could use it. Thank you so much for doing that. Ben said he'd break my legs if I don't pick up my pull list. And speaking of Ben and Gotham City Limit, let's go to our next voicemail, all right? Big shout out to Ben on this one. He wanted to chime in and celebrate with us, and he brought some energy. Hey, Short Box listeners. Ben Kay, representing Gotham City Limit, your local comic shop here in Jacksonville, Florida. But it's not about me today. Congratulations to the Short Box 450 episodes.

28:35
So glad all four of you get to be here for this special occasion. Gotham City Limits proud to be a small, small part of what you guys continue to do. That being said, I bet it's so much fun taking a trip down memory lane to the last time you all got together to record. And as much as things change, some things remain the same. Last time you guys were together, one of the segments was a night out with Spidey and Wolverine, which coincidentally, a Spider-Man and Wolverine comic series just got announced for 2025.

29:04
and Collective Con and Jacksonville was right around the corner and just like today, Potter is still their best spokesman. It was just announced yesterday as of this recording that Marvel and DC are teaming up once again for the first time in over 25 years. Man did I love Marvel vs DC in the 90s. My question for each of you, if you had total freedom, any genre,

29:28
Which two characters from different universes would you pair up for an epic one shot? Me, Darth Vader and Soundwave. That's badass. That's how you take it to the limit. Can't wait to hear your answer. Thanks for letting us be a part of this. Remember short box nation, always take it to the limit. We damn sure take it to the limit today, man. All right. Uh, so his question, if you could combine any two characters from different genres or franchises together.

29:56
would it be? He gave us Darth Vader and Soundwave, which is pretty badass. I'm gonna go and throw my hat in the ring and say I would absolutely adore. Adore is not even the right word. I would absolutely fucking rip if Akuma and Frieza from Dragon Ball Z got together in something really dope. It would make for a dope fight. And I don't know, they're both like the Pinnacle of Evil in their respective franchises. That's what I got.

30:25
Like the demon one. Oh yeah, hell yeah. Dark child. And Zatanna. Nice. Wow. OK. Little monsters. Stop giving him ideas, man. That's a good one. I think that is a possibility considering that Magic has had one hell of a glow up lately in terms of her popularity in the Marvel universe. She's all over Marvel. Oh my god. What's the name of the video game? Suns of Midnight, son? Suns of Midnight, that video game. Rivals.

30:53
Even in the comics. And then Zatanna, I don't know if you read that last Javier Rodriguez series? That's one of my favorites of 2024. Awesome. So I think that's a high possibility considering that Marvel DC... I think she has a new mini- a new series coming out. Yup. C, you want to take that one next? Yeah, I think I would like to see a... I would like to see a Hellboy and Conan. We're like...

31:18
They're not necessarily in the same room together, but they're fighting the same bad guy, right? So you'd have two timelines where Hellboy's, it's a whodunit, right? And one of them is in the Hyperborean age, and the other one is in maybe 1940s. Let's see here. In Ireland, because Conan is supposed to be Samarian, and for Robert E. Howard, Samaria is code for Proto Ireland. So you would have these two characters that are both sort of like tough guys,

31:47
externally, but if you read Conan, Conan's kind of like Wolverine where he's like sometimes he's a pirate in one story and sometimes he's a you know, a thief or whatever and Hellboy's kind of a jack of all trades too. So Jack Kirby of all trades Too much too much of the Muppets guys. Jack Curry of all trades? Too much. I got a shirt idea for this year's short box shirt That one right there. That's good. Yeah

32:13
My daughter loves them up. It's, so I'll be talking like this. Have you gotten Sammy into any kind, did she like anything like- Yeah, do you, it's funny, yes. You're like Hellboy. Yes. HP Lovecraft. Yeah. Foust, she's only reading Foust. And her favorite, Junji Ito, little adorable. Little Ito, no, I got Sammy into Ninja Turtles, which is easy work, right?

32:40
I told you this story, but I'll tell everyone else and you guys will appreciate this. So the reason why the Ninja Turtles wear their little trench coat when Fedora, when they're out in design, is like a little hat tip to when Kirby did it to the thing, right? So Sammy will be like, Dada, I want to watch Angioteros. And I'm like, okay, let's watch Ninja Turtles, right? And she'll dance to the theme song, like the one from the 80s, right? So I was watching the Fantastic Four cartoon from the 90s.

33:08
And I'm like, oh shit, they're all here on Disney Plus. Not an endorsement, not a sponsor. And I was like, oh, let's watch to see if she's into the Fantastic Four, you know? This is very targeted towards kids. And pretty, you know, fun to see a lot of crazy visuals. It's Herbie, and it gets me to my point. She sees the thing, and he's got the little trench coat. He's got his fedora, and he's like, I gotta go out and do something, you know? And like, whatever it was. And Sammy goes, look, Dada, Inja Turtle.

33:38
She made the connection. That's pretty cool. I thought it was cool. Like I was like, ah, in our, cause in our house, Kirby is the king. He is a God. I have a shrine in my own bedroom. My bed stand next to me is like everything pretty much he's ever done. Jesus, Mary, and Kirby. It's just only Kirby. And it's like, I've got, I've got Kirby crackles tattooed all over my body. I'm like, do you see like the freaking tooth fairy and red dragon, but

34:07
Yeah, to answer your question is that it's sort of like happening through osmosis. I guess poor kid All right, Ashley. We've stalled long enough What's your answer to Ben's question if you combine two characters from two different franchises together Loki Captain Boomerang? Nice. I Didn't even think about that one. I was just thinking of like my favorite characters So I would do so I'm really like a sucker for that like lone wolf and cub type dynamic

34:35
So I was thinking the Will from Saga with Luis Belcher. I was thinking from Bob's Burgers. I was thinking that would be really, really fun. Is she in the buggy? That's a great dynamic. I just like, I already have like little stories in my head. It would just bring me joy. It's called the child molester. What? It's got candy in it. Has anyone ordered it? Yeah, that guy. He looks like a child molester. Ed brought up.

35:05
Captain Boomerang and Loki, Ashley, you were telling us a story before we hit record and I did have a question about, have you had to make any sacrifices regarding your collection or how you collect if you had the downsides from the hobby and things like that. And I think Ashley, that story you told us would be great here. Yeah, no, I had to. Damn, why are you trying to rip open a fucking wound, dude? I know, and it's recent too. For the views, Zazare, that's why. Yeah. Don't ever make that face again, dude. Sitting next to the green goblin.

35:34
Finish it. He's like, he's on a fucking bat glider like, tell me of your pain Ashley. She's like, and then I sold it. I'm like, finish it. And then they burned it. Sorry, please Ashley. So recently I just sold my, I'm kind of going through my stuff and getting rid of things that I'm not like absolutely super attached to. I would like to keep them, but I just sold my Zatanna DC Select statue. Can I ask why? Room.

36:03
So we have our entire second bathroom is full of my stuff. It's full of comic stuff. And we're getting to the point where it's gonna be time to potty train. So that whole closet needs to turn into a bathroom. So I sold my Loki, my premium format Loki, that's gone. And I sold 18 of my short boxes. Wow. Whoa. Yeah.

36:30
So I've got nine left, but it's so funny. So I sold them on Marketplace, which is just, it was a horrifying experience. It was just the messages I got like the, this one day. It was still available? Yeah. I told this one day. I'll give you two egg coins. I'll give you two egg coins for 18 bucks. It's kind of like, fuck you, man. Just like all caps just yelling at me because I'm like, Hey, somebody else wanted to look at him first.

36:58
Damn baby, you just lost hundreds of dollars. I'm like, this is too much. But I sold him to a very nice guy that runs the- Was it Tony Soprano that hit you? Damn baby. It was me, it was me. I was actually trying, I was like- The guy at the bottom, it was so crazy. So he runs the Beach Boulevard comic section. Like a little comic store. Super nice guy. I open up the door and he goes, are you Ashley from the short box? Get the fuck out of here.

37:24
celebrity status. I know. I know. And a couple of days later, you texted me and said, you want to and you were like, was this all set up?

37:35
So yeah, he bought almost my whole collection. Damn, that's cool. Wow. Ashley, funny enough, there used to be about seven, nine short boxes over here. And I literally just sold them yesterday on Facebook marketplace. It took me three months. And to your point, it was a pain in the ass. It's like, yo, I said best offers, not fucking bottom of the barrel. I'm not starving out here, but 18 short boxes. 18 short. And I literally said, don't ask what's in here.

38:04
You know, peek through. Yeah, yeah. And I had people saying, I'll buy them if you send me a catalog of what's in there. All right, so I got ahead of that because I think I tried to sell one short box before and it was a pain in the ass. So when I upped it up to like seven, eight boxes, I went through each one and recorded one long video. So, and I had a notepad. I know, super fucking nerdy botter. And I had a notepad of.

38:29
all of these responses that I just copied and pasted. You know, at some point you get these same questions. You deal with the same, you know, interested buyers in quotation. Butters like, I am, he is a, I'm a Steve McNibbin Civil War.

38:46
Michael, Michael Turner, Civil War. I'm just gonna hold onto this one.

38:52
This is the worst kind of ASMR ever, but I wanna see how long he can go. Oh, here's another. Okay, all right. This one's David Finch. Ashley, I guess, what are you keeping? How are you deciding these are, is it like- She ain't deciding. No, I kept all my Saga, Walking Dead, Jason Aaron Thor. Was it more sentimental or these might be one of something later on? Oh, it was mostly sentimental. There were a few where I was like, yeah, just hold on to them.

39:20
But there were like sex criminals, like I bought the hard cover. So I'm like, I can let these go. I don't need two sets of. But it was really, it was really sad going through everything and just putting a lid on and being like, I'll never see you again pushing you next to the door. Someone else is going to take you home now. I had a little bit of that, but at the same time I'm like, this is nice to like not have this literal weight to also think about, you know, like kind of letting some shit go that I've already.

39:46
gotten to enjoy and then also I'm like, now I got room for more shit, yeah. IDW still. This gets replaced. But I'm trying to be better about how much I fill up and the books I buy and actually making time. See, what about you? Any similar stories? Have you had to make any sacrifices or new strategies on how you approach collecting and the hobby? Welcome to the parents section of the podcast. Everyone else, fuck you, no. I will say it's a strange.

40:14
thing, at least I'll only speak for me. Having my daughter in my life has kind of acted as and not in a bad way, but as a little mortality sort of stopwatch. So that's like, as soon as she hit the ground running, I'm like, I'm going to die soon. This is great. And then I remember all the clutter and craziness that my dad has in the garage.

40:41
And he ain't no spring chicken. And my mom going, no one's gonna want this shit. Like get rid of it. You don't even do anything with it no more. Why do you have? And I'm sure to him, there's like, but I have memories attached to this. This is important and blah, blah, blah. But you ain't gonna live forever, dog. And I don't mean to be nihilistic. I mean, actually like the reverse of it is that finding meaning in things that are bigger than.

41:09
your stuff is something that I've been trying to do because I have. If you guys are in my house, I got a fuck ton of stuff. And it's it is a sweet amount of stuff because I spend money on shit gradually. So I've had the opportunity to have a good collection of things because I've I've been doing it for a long time. That said, when do I start justifying to my family that it's it's it's. But no, but you don't understand.

41:39
This is the library edition of XYZ, and it's so hard to find. It's like $6 million now. I bought it when it was only a fart. If I get rid of it and I regret it, what if I want to buy it again? Then I will have to spend all that money and blah, blah, blah. It's just kind of like, or you know, I'm going to die and I can't take it with me. It's just extra weight. It really is. Did I have the memory? Did I enjoy it? Cool.

42:08
I still have that and you know, digital comics exist. So there's a way to to kind of have your cake and eat it too. While also, you know, I don't know not to get, you know, Buddhist on anybody but it's kind of like, you know, let it go. What is it's easy for a it's harder for it's hard for a rich man to get into heaven they say it's like, like a camel through the eye of a needle. So it's kind of like, fuck. That's not cool. Because everybody hears that she's like, I ain't talking about me. I fucking just got a bunch of comics.

42:41
So if you see something you like, is it like...

42:45
Yeah. You're joking, but it's kind of like… I'm sure going to die unless something cool happens. I have a compulsive… Can they put this in my coffin? Because there's always going to be something cool that comes out. And there's always going to be cool art that I'm into. Right. And if you're an artist, it's an embarrassment of riches nowadays because so many things are available. What if the singularity happens in our lifetime and you can be downloaded into a robot?

43:08
Perfect. Keep collecting stuff. And like an evil Harlan Ellison AI, I will continue to collect things in my database. But until that happens, I can't, I have to try and curb everything that I purchase with a sort of mindset of, am I doing this because it's compulsory? And because I'm like, oh, this means a lot to me. Like, ooh. And then I end up like trying to ask these questions, like, what's the difference between me and a hoarder? You know?

43:37
Because if you look at my house, there are some parts where it's like, Jesus Christ, does he need all these Marvel Legends? Like stacks of newspapers and buckets of human waste in the bathroom? Well, that's the thing. I'm not a dirty person, but I am a cluttery one. I'm the neatest hoarder. See, look, I know you didn't ask this, but if you need any help moving any of those sweet artist editions. Honestly, man, it helps get rid of things if I give them to people that I know like them as much as I do. Like literally are in a place where they can have it. I'm like, well, well then I have...

44:06
I'll just give it to you because another thing is like, well, you know, I'm going to get come on over shopping cart. Like I'll be crying the whole time, but my wife will be like, yes, I like it as much as you do. Short bike sidewalk sale coming to you soon. I want to play another voice. I'm trying to decide who do you want to actually see him. I'm a let you pick because you can actually see my screen here. Who are we playing? We are played Nick. We already heard from Ben. We got three more lined up. Let's roll with that guy.

44:37
Yooo

44:43
First when I saw the announcement I was sad because I meant no SFP this week but then it hit me like

44:53
four of you guys on the mic and it's been too long. So happy to be hearing you guys back together. Feel like Ashley and Sezar, you guys have grown so much since the last time we saw you. How's parenthood treating you guys? Do you still getting your comics in?

45:11
The only thing is I hope life's treating you guys well. I'm so excited for this episode. 450, man, what a journey. I feel like just yesterday, Cesar was telling me how much he hates reggaeton and how it's not a source of music or style of music. So I gotta say, Cesar, mira no mames, cabron. Have you listened to the new Pat Bunny album? Cause it is straight fire. Hasta la proxima, mis amigos. All right, and for anyone that didn't recognize.

45:39
Anyone that didn't recognize that voice. T-Mix! That was our guy T-Mix who, I mean, can always count on. Sounded like just how I imagined. That was a good thing or bad. Ashley, how'd you like hearing from our guy T-Mix who I think when we were all recording pretty consistently, we could almost set our watches to T-Mix sending in a voicemail or an email. Or an email, yeah. It's funny you mentioned the new Bad Buddy album because at work, I work with another

46:06
was playing it and she's like 29, super young. And she's just like, one, Bad Bunny produced a very, very moving short film about, you saw it, about Puerto Rico. No, but Drew was telling me how much it just resonated with it. It was so good, but do you see it now? No, no, no, no. But I did listen to the album because T-Mix wrote it before. But yeah, I've been meaning to watch it. He's no longer like, oh man, I still don't like reggaeton. But, but, asterisk.

46:35
Bad Bunny isn't really making reggaeton music the way Daddy Yankee was making. Yeah, essentially. Essentially. You're saying he's one of the good ones. I'm saying he's a good wrestler. One, I'm saying he's a good wrestler. Like for a guy who has no training, he still does awesome work in the ring and people want to keep working with him. That's a good sign. And two, the music thing's good and he's good at producing. Like he's got an eye for talent. Like he made a short, he produced a short film about an old man.

47:04
who still kind of like longs for the days of the way Puerto Rico used to be. And there's a little stop motion frog that is talking to him and he's just like bouncing ideas off of like, bro, you should have took more pictures when you were younger and you'd have all these memories and all that stuff. And it's all in Spanish. And the reason why it's a frog is because in Puerto Rico, there is a certain type of frog that is only indigenous to the island, tried to go to other places, it dies. So the...

47:32
So it's kind of become the symbol of Puerto Rico. It's called the coqui. So the coqui is like talking to him and he's like, oh, well, you know, let's go down to the bakery and see if we can shake things up and get some treats and whatnot. And it's been completely gentrified and the old man doesn't feel like his neighborhood is his neighborhood anymore. So it's like really moving. And a lot of it resonates with me and my mom saw it. My mom's cooler than I am. She saw that before. She's like...

47:57
have you heard the new Bad Bunny album? And I'm like, what are you talking about, woman? Are you serious? Drew said the same thing. He said that his mom was the one that had to tell him about the Bad Bunny album because of that short. And he said that she ended up like shedding a tear watching that short. I did. That's cool. All right, big shout out to teammates for that voicemail. I wanna keep it moving on the voicemail train. We got two more. We got two more friends chiming in and I'm gonna pick this next one. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, it is your boy Shaggy Black, one half.

48:26
of the Cinema Villains podcast, here to congratulate my familia of the Short Box Podcast and congratulate them on 450 episodes. We appreciate you for supplying us with the goodness. But I got a question for you guys because Bartow will break my legs if I don't ask this. Over the last 450 episodes, what has been the worst comic book villain either in recent times

48:54
or hell, you can even count movies because that's kind of what we do here. But I'm gonna stop yapping and I'm gonna let you go back to it. Congrats, guys. Yo, big shout out to Shaggy Black and the Cinema Villains podcast and his co-host, Jose. Worst villain, that's a hell of a, that's a big bucket right there. Worst, have we had any villains that we've completely just shit on on this show? That have been a recurring joke or anything? I mean, we shit on so much. Yeah. Jared Leto joker's pretty bad. Yeah, that one's pretty bad.

49:24
You know, I'm gonna throw in since this is a little topical. I got one after you. You know, Joseph Quinn is playing Johnny Storm, the human torch in the new Fantastic Four movie. Yes. Bad casting. I gotta say, I think the... I'm still dealing with trauma from watching Gladiator 2. Oh! Where he played Emperor Geta, something like that. He played one of like the evil emperors. And he was pretty bad in that. And I'm...

49:52
I just still can't quite get over that performance. Now, I think the overall movie, he didn't have much good to work with. That movie was pretty bad, so I imagine the script was terrible. But yeah, he was a pretty bad villain in that. That was a terrible movie. So that one comes to mind most recently, which is how bad Gladiator 2 was, especially the antagonist. Ashley, what about you? I, so immediately, Ocean Master.

50:19
from the Aquaman movie. Oh, shit. Just immediately. I don't have anything against Patrick Wilson. I just, I hated everything about his character. I was like, this isn't a villain. He's like a wet noodle villain. It was- No pun intended. I see what you did there. It was just terrible. And if they put him- I found his performance less than salty. And they put him in two movies.

50:45
Like they put them in the next movie. They just kept going with it. They leaned hard into it. I didn't end up watching the second Aquaman. It's like a buddy cop movie, the second one. A bad, I like buddy cop movies. Yeah, yeah. OK. But it was a. Yeah, the format was set up that way. Like, yeah, they went. It was like a road movie, actually. Yeah, it was terrible. All right. And what about you? Well, actually, it's you said you had something lined up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The bad guy in Black Widow. Hmm.

51:13
The Martin Scorsese. Oh, the old guy? Yeah. Horribly done. Like, it was that movie. That's pretty bad. The movie was terrible to begin with. And on top of that, it was very on the nose. Like, I'm like, OK, if I wanted to see a movie where Harvey Weinstein was the bad guy, I'd just watch the news. That is pretty good. You know what I mean? Like, I just, it was so like, it was, oh, god, it was so bad. OK, Ray Winstone, who played? Oh, yeah, I know who he is. I don't remember the character's name, but he was very obviously supposed to be a mixture of Scorsese.

51:43
who would talk shit about Marvel and Harvey Weinstein, who was like, for obvious reasons, oh man, that movie sucked so much butt. All right, Ed, what about you? Least favorite villain? Probably that first iteration of Steppenwolf. Oh wow. That's so good. That is so good. Even like the more porcupine version. Yeah, they tried to fix it a little. They fixed it, it's like, oh. That's good, that's a good one. 2% more interesting.

52:07
That one's pretty lame. That's pretty good. Have you tried adding 2% more interesting to that mix? It's actually like a mixer and it says interesting, it's like not too interesting. Oh, Wonder Woman cut his head off and they kicked his head into the- Jesus Christ, they did, they fucking killed the shit out of him in that movie. All right, big shout out to Shaggy Black. I got one more voice message. This one comes from an old friend of ours, right? Oh, we're all old.

52:35
What up nerds? This is Robbie, AKA Bob from the Straight Chilling Podcast and I wanted to call in with a quick champion season and champion you guys, the Short Box Podcast. Congratulations on 450 episodes. So few podcasts make it that long and even fewer do so while operating at such a high level. You guys have been killing it since day one and you guys really are an inspiration for I think anybody that listens to you. Another.

53:03
Quick shout out to the Jaxx Podcasts United, as well as the corresponding JPU show. The work that Bodder and Blythe are doing over there is really great. If you guys are listening and you're a podcaster, you really should check that show out. They're a fountain of knowledge and you'll learn a ton by listening. Real quick, I did wanna ask a question. What is your favorite memory of recording the Short Box Podcast? Take a walk down memory lane, if you will.

53:32
Thanks so much again for all that you do keep up the good work and until next time keep chilling. No With the old with the little catchphrase for his own show Robbie friend of the show who also has a podcast called straight chilling or they Actually, no fucking we don't want to talk about that shit You know they get an they they do well enough on their own but a big chance of the straight chilling crew Yeah, review horror movies and we got a lot of friends at podcast man

54:01
Yeah, we know a lot of people that love to talk. You know what I'm saying? And it should not go without being said that, see, he was a long time co-host on that show. Short time co-host. They were like, we don't want this guy on here no more. Enough of a short time that I felt betrayed for those couple months. But you know what, yeah, we healed. Hold on, hold on. Wait a second. Said the guy who's like, hey, I'm Buttermiligan and I've got my cool friends podcast where we just talk about records. Oh, yeah.

54:30
And you know, listen, listen, guys, why don't you turn the lights down. And let's pour one out for physical media, guys. You know what I mean? Okay, see, I could listen to this all day, but Robbie asked us a question and he wants to know. You know what my answer's gonna be. I think everybody knows my answer. Every short box number? Hit it. Every fucking Christmas episode we do is the best. It's always fun. We get little toasty. How little? There's treats. You know?

54:59
We get a little silly, more silly than usual. And it's just fun, man. It's just that time of year. I don't know, I've always enjoyed it. Yeah, that's a good one. Ashley, what about you? Favorite short box memory? The live shows. Oh shit, yeah. Yeah, I mean, especially the Sunray one, the Captain Marvel. Yes, we did that one.

55:20
That wasn't with Peter David, right? We did that. It was the Avengers end game. Yes, that was. Which is crazy for, you know, to even hear me say that. It's so crazy to think that, yeah. I know. And then the Mosh, like the Mosh one, like I felt famous. Oh my God. I really did. We had the chairs. Yeah, yeah. It was, Ed, you weren't there for that. I think you had to work or something, but it was me, Ashley. He's like, I wasn't actually invited. Thanks, guys. Dang, Ashley. That's a good. Yeah, you're right. And I don't, because I posted, and I tagged all you guys in it, but I posted on the short box Instagram a bunch of photos.

55:46
And they were all from our live shows. And I'm online. I got a little sentimental writing the caption and posting that. Yeah, those live shows are so fun. And I mean, I think my favorite one was the Born Again live show we did at the now, was that, was it Colosseum by then? Or was it Black Hive? It was old universe, yeah, old universe superheroes, Black Hive. I think it was, was it still Black, no. I think it was still Black Hive, wasn't it? Was it Colosseum? Superhero Hive? The artist formerly known as.

56:14
It was at one of those at that point, but that one sticks out to me because for a few personal reasons. My mommy was there. Actually, my daddy was. But life had shown up and we had just started dating. So there was that. My dad met her for the first time there, which was interesting at a comic shop at my live show. And then Cesar's parents were there as well. And I'll never forget his mom coming up to me afterwards and being like, you guys did so well.

56:42
I really want to read this story. She still hasn't given back my born again copy. The artist edition. She didn't give me back the artist edition. I'm going to die anyway, so what does it matter? Actually, yeah, I agree with you. I think I have super fond memories of any one of those live shows. But I mean, speaking about Robbie, when we did the straight chillin'. It's true. I believe it was the Creep Show or Fright Night. It was Creep Show. Both of those. Yeah, Creep Show. We did that at Justice Pub. I can't recall the year. But C, you did the artwork for the shirts.

57:11
that we did for that event. And I think Ashley, did you do the colors or the inking for that shirt we did for the straight chillin' crossover episode? I mean, at one point we did something. I think you did, Ashley. Oh yeah, I think I did the colors. But I think we were too broke to print out the shirts in colors, so we got them done in black and white. But I recently sent out a shirt to a new patron, big shout out to Melissa Burton. And she pretty much got all of the shirts, but they didn't have that one. I sent it out to her and she sent me a message and said,

57:39
This artwork is fucking awesome. She had nothing but high praise. Thank you, Melissa. Yeah, so yeah. Ed, what about you, man? Favorite short black memory? I think my favorite are the artist spotlights we did. And I think probably my favorite one, just because we got a response, was the Alreds. Come on, man. Mike Alred? So that was really cool that he actually acknowledged. All it took was for me to talk shit about his religion. Hey, I'm not a Mormon. Yeah. He's like, well, you know, not one of them. He's like, good episode.

58:08
But he did do a Golden Plates comic book, so you gotta kind of assume. And I did redact a lot of my statements because he's like, yeah, but that's not where I stand all the way. I misrepresented how the LDS was. So that's my bad. And I tried to reach out to him and say, please, like me still. Please, I'm a fan. I have your library editions, but not for long because I'm going to die.

58:37
I'll take those. No problem. I will like them. I got the Mad Men's. I like them as much as you, at least. That's good. I'm trying to find the master list of all of the artist spotlights that we've done. But our last one that we did as a crew was the episode 379, Bill Watterson. Oh, yeah. I've been recently re-releasing a lot of certain episodes. And I guess that's the kind of cool thing about being 450 episodes deep is that.

59:04
You know, we have, I've been re-releasing short box classics to kind of scratch the itch for certain listeners that want to hear like old episodes. It's your Marvel like X-Men classics they released in the 90s, dude. I re-released last year, like an old episode that had all of us. I mean it wasn't a crazy amount, but I had like two messages from people that were like, yo, Ashley and Ed are back, oh my God, I loved it. And I was like, this is an episode for like 2017. You're like, well I know you're not a listener, get out of here.

59:34
So yeah, the martyr spotlights are great. We need to do another one. I think. Potter's like, you guys have never done a spotlight on me. Dun, dun, dun, dun. All right, but that is all the voicemails I got. Is there anything that we haven't touched on? Any topics, anything that you guys wanna say? Actually, if you wanna. Oh man, I love it. No, I'm good. She's like, what, what?

01:00:01
I'm trying to think of something. I mean, we've covered you guys being parents that journey. We've talked about the comics that we've been, you know, I'm sorry, Ed. I haven't had a chance. Wasn't able to have you on for the end of year. I think I did that one with Ben at the shop and got his point of view. Since I missed you a majority of last year, are there any really dope comics that came out last year that maybe might have?

01:00:27
went underneath the radar for me or any of the listeners, anything that really stood out to you. Because you have such a very eclectic taste. Funny you should ask about her. I will. Wow, it's almost like this was on the outline. Oh, and he brought some physicals. I love Show and Tell. I miss Show and Tell. So, I'm going to keep it short. Two things were my top two. Kind of 1A, 1B. The first one is Charles Burns of Black Hole. Another favorite of mine. He did Final Cut.

01:00:55
It came out towards the end of last year.

01:01:00
It's his art's always beautiful and it's always his stories are always things I shouldn't like because it's basically a love story awkward filmmaker kid and friends. She's he's kind of infatuated with the lead and there's little sci fi kind of 50s this takes place in the 70s so it's very slice of life very all the dialogue is so natural it's.

01:01:28
It's stuff that I don't look for in comics. There's no violence, there's no action, there's no over the top, you know, crazy things in it. It's just a simple sad love story, or a failed love story about a awkward kid and his muse and him having a crush and them trying to, you can see them maybe trying to interact and get to know each other, but the kids too.

01:01:57
weird unless he's talking about movies. Then he gets comfortable and opens up, but then he's too into the movies. So it kind of pushes her away. It switches narrators. So you get his perspective and her perspective. And it's basically, they go up to the mountains to film the scenes and then, you know, they kind of interact more. And it's stuff that I normally would not like, you know, a lot of talking, a lot of... Yeah, stop hogging it Ashley. Yes. It's beautiful. And it's a beautiful book. It's in color. So you get to see color and see...

01:02:26
Like Charles Burns uses a lot of black, so everything looks like it's at night time, but you can actually see day scenes in here. He actually does, when you look into the kids sketchbook, you see different art styles. So it's really cool, beautiful book, beautiful hardcover, Fanta graphics makes it. Charles Burns is got to be close to 70, if not in his 70s, but he's so good with these characters and just, and it's simple. It's nothing, not a lot of plot turns, a very simple, relatable coming of.

01:02:56
coming of age type of story. It's kind of like a Cameron Crowe movie in comic book form. It's a beautiful book. And I might do a Patreon extra review. Come on, man. Ed has been killing it with these Edcasts by the way. Richard Linklater. On the opposite end of the spectrum is a completely independently produced Dynamite Diva. I kind of stumbled on this character a few years ago. It's a Canadian kid, literal kid, Jasper Jubin-Neville. You know how to say that?

01:03:25
Yeah, you did a good job. But this is if you mixed Christina Lindbergh, is it Christina Lindbergh from a thriller with the eye patch. If you mixed her and Nancy and Spain Rodriguez and Chester Gold with Dick Tracy art, you get this craziness. It's like a 70s grind house, like underground comic, completely self-produced. Took him two years to do this. The kid is only like mid-20s.

01:03:54
and his influences are crazy. So it's basically a revenge story about a cab driver serial killer who's, his, the engine is possessed by a demon and it kills one of her friends. And she's basically on the revenge trip with this. And it's wild. It's everything the opposite that Final Cut is. Just crazy imagery.

01:04:20
They even have like the fake ads and stuff like the old old school comics and stuff. You got balance dude. Yeah, it's the characters awesome. Like I said, it's a they even have like photo, like said, photo inserts and ads and fake movie ads and things like that. Like, you know, drive in theater ads. Um, but like I said, two years, I think he's drawn more in this book than I have in my whole life. There's so much lines, line work in that and so much ink put down. It's incredible. Like I said, completely self-published independent book.

01:04:50
Good stuff. Hell yeah, Ed. We are in our champion season segment. So Ashley, how about you take it next? Give me one thing that you want to champion. I really, I have nothing. Like I honestly, I feel like with Cesar back in the day, like I champion us. Just champion something abstract like friendship. You'll be fine. Let's see, the only movie I've seen in two years in the theaters is Beetlejuice 2. There you go. Let's go with that. I really like Squid Game. Ashley, have you really quick at thinking about

01:05:20
like enjoying that. I think you would also, are you interested or heard anything at all about Severance? You know what's funny? I don't know why I did this. So I listened to an entire podcast about Severance where they recap the episodes because I couldn't like watch it. So I just listened to people talk about it.

01:05:41
I'm not going to get into a long-winded pro podcaster rant like I would right now, but you are speaking about the absolute benefits of why audio podcasts still fucking rule. So yeah, I guess I'll champion that podcast that went over Severance episodes. I love it. Well, when you have time, I'm telling you, it's a show that I think you would absolutely like. It's like The Office Me is like Twin Peaks. You stop it. I'm telling you. What you know about Twin Peaks, boy? What you know about whatever. It is like scheduled television in this house on Fridays.

01:06:10
See, what about you, man? Give me something here. I got you. So, because I've been on a Kirby kick and I had no idea that there was a sequel to his New Gods stuff, I started watching, I think it's Tom Scholey's YouTube channel. And he has a playlist called, I want to say, I think it's called New Gods Sunday School. And he basically talks about everything Kirby did in the fourth world. This is some old

01:06:40
He did a bio comic of Kirby. He sure did. And he did one for Stan Lee as well. And there's this comic that Kirby put out from an independent, sort of independent publisher, like it wasn't Marvel DC or whatever, but it's called Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers. Yeah. I had no idea that Captain Victory is very heavily insinuated to be Orion and Becca's son and Darkseid is his grandfather.

01:07:09
and they bring it up in the comic. Like, dude, have you read it? It's badass, man. I have a couple issues of those tops runs. You can buy them all for a fart on eBay, which is what I did. This fart currency you've been mentioning in this episode, how is that, what's a dollar to buy? Buy, buy, buy, buy. That's what you need to do right now. It's so cheap, they put their hand out and you just, like right there? Is it one of those, like, you fart in a jar and sell it? Like those ladies do? Hold on, let me ask Alan Moore, because he's kind of a freak that way.

01:07:38
I've been known to pay for multiple fines in London for flatulence. The best thing about this fart currency is that you can take it with you to the grave. And so, yeah, so most mostly methane is the last thing. Come on in, buddy. Come on. I don't know why he has a transatlantic accent. Look who showed up. It's the great Gatsby. I hope he has a wallet here. Yeah. St. Peter per F. Scott Fitzgerald. Is there a name in the book? Let me see. Hmm.

01:08:08
But Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers is really good reading if you like Jack Kirby's fourth world stuff because he kind of wraps everything up. Like people are like, oh, but dude, I read hunger dogs and that wraps everything up. I'm like, yeah, it's good. And yes, but you get a lot of like, it's so crazy that dark side ends up becoming like Sauron in Lord of the Rings where his present he doesn't have corporeal form anymore, but he was so badass and so evil that.

01:08:36
he still kinda has like a influence amongst his siblings, which you meet in the comic, that Darkseid has brothers and sisters and they're all assholes. And Captain Victory is like, these are my extended family members and I have to fight them. And just like Kirby's run on New Gods, they come to Earth. And he's this little blonde boy that's just sort of like, you know, guys, you gotta help me, man. Space is hard. Space is really hard, guys. So...

01:09:05
That's fun. And I bought Kirby's entire 2001 Space Odyssey run, which is really great because it's nothing like the book or the movies. But it still deals with a lot of stuff that Kirby was into a lot of stuff that I'm into, which is the transcendent mixed with space opera. Were those magazine format? So only one was a treasury issue. So the first one that's like the treasury issue, which I have, that's

01:09:30
pretty pricey and Botter you were there when I found it. Damn I was just about to say, I was there when you picked it up and I remember thinking please put it down, please put it down, please put it down, please put it down. You're such a good friend dude. I know I was. Because you were like, because you and I both have been in situations where it's like.

01:09:45
shit and you saw me look at it too. And when he took it to the cash register, I was tempted to be like, I'll give you five farts. Five farts? Well, that's enough to get you into heaven. So anyway, so a lot of that stuff is still easily available on eBay and you can get all the single issues and it's stuff that in my mind, I've decided, okay, this is what I want to hold on to because for me, Kirby is religious. There's a lot of really interesting things. The more you get into Kirby, the more you realize like, man, he was not necessarily

01:10:15
preaching, but a lot of the stuff that he buys into transcends and goes into his work. You hear Stan Lee's day stuff, when I was writing the fantastic four, True Believer, I thought Galactus should have been a biblical-like character, the way Abraham negotiated with God for the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. So, very on the nose. But then you realize, like, Kirby's like, well...

01:10:44
If Galactus is God, then the power cosmic is a holy force of radiation, essentially. Well, if you look at what the quote unquote power cosmic has touched in the Marvel universe, it changed the Fantastic Four. Silver Surfer essentially is made of it, which makes him almost an angelic being. And Jack Kirby was very famously a devout Jew.

01:11:14
is on fire but doesn't burn. You know what I'm saying? So like, what's radiation? Guys, it's like it's all there. I am so impressed that we don't have time to hang out anymore, but you have all this time to pontificate. I will about Jack Kirby. Absolutely. My lord and savior Jack Kirby. But anyway, long story short, old comics for an old guy. Surprise! All right, short box crew, any parting words? Oh, can I just, I just want to do one last champion. Dochi Honeydusk concert.

01:11:43
Oh wow, that was a curveball if I've ever seen one Ed. Bro, you got to see this. Okay. Do you like Tiny Desk is kind of like the, see, we'll understand this. Like the new MTV unplugged for me, except way more polished. Um, dude, her band is killer. Like her band, she has an all female band, like saxophone, trumpet, keys, drums, guitar, bass. Her trumpet player is Bayar. Dude, her, all the whole band is Bayar. Like two backup singers, the, I forgot her, her DJ, but her and

01:12:13
She's so charismatic. She's just level 1,000 charisma on her. And that band is killer. They go from soulful jazz to funk to even rock to gospel. They do it like a gospel. And the first four songs just flow into each other before she really talks to the crowd. Dude, it's one of the best ones.

01:12:35
I believe I've seen the Chappelle Rowan one as well. Right guys? On God, right? I'm a cool dad. Skibbity deedee's. And Sabrina Carpenter has a good one too. Dude, she has a steel guitar player and I'm not too familiar with her songs, but there's some stuff with that steel guitar arrangement and strings she's got like cello, it's like Dolly. She sounds like Dolly. What? Yeah. Listen to it. It's good. Dude, you, I'm not a-

01:13:03
big Sabrina Carpenter guy, but you sold me on that. Cause I like pedal steel guitar a lot. Dude, she's got a string set and her band was cool. Cause they were all dressed in white, like all white. And she has a string section, like a cello, violins, steel guitar, dude. I mean, these pop stars, they're, they, they have killers that in their bands when they go on tour, those are all studios. Yeah, they can afford them. They've been taking pages of Rick Beato's book. But to see even like with a complicated, you know, band.

01:13:32
Like she's super talented. She's really- Oh yeah, she's Disney trained. Of course she is. So that was, those were the two. Then they came out maybe a month or so ago. I'll check them out, dude. Those two were killer. For two opposite reasons. I didn't have Ed, Dochi, and Sabrina Carpenter on my bingo card this year, but I love it. But I think with that being said, we can wrap this episode up. Short Box Nation, you just got done listening to the 450th-

01:13:58
Giant size special annual oversized mega It was 450 minutes That damn sure felt like it But I'm gonna wrap up by saying I fucking love you guys And it's so nice to be recording with you guys again And I... You butter

01:14:13
You know, you left me a big blanket. I love you, Potter, so much. Let's not wait for another 450 episodes or, you know, three years to record again. Hopefully we can. If they open a daycare downstairs, we can bring in kids. We got to get Shiloh, you know, on the mics, you know, practicing, you know, the short box spin-off with Sammy and Shiloh on the mics. Come on, man. I've been trying to sell myself.

01:14:38
All right. Yo, Short Bikes Nation, thank you so much for hanging out. Let me go to Mute-C's. You guys have been great. Here's my outro. Thanks so much for kicking it with us. Happy 450, everyone. Peace. Mark Silvestri. There you have it, Short Bikes Nation. That's the end of the show. Thank you for hanging out. Thanks for being here. And a special shout out if you've made it this far. If you enjoyed this episode and you have some thoughts or comments that you want to share with us.

01:15:06
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01:15:35
consider joining our Patreon community at patreon.com slash The Short Box. It's an easy and very affordable way to support the show and get rewarded for being a fan. Once again, sign up at patreon.com slash The Short Box. Speaking of our Patreon community, I wanna give a big shout out to our current members, including Adam Chittani, RC Gamet, BJ Kicks, Blake Simone, Blythe Milligan, Bo Evers, Brian Brumley, Chad Lannenberger, Chris Hacker, David Morales, Greg Licktie, Hershel.

01:16:05
Mac Jacobson, issue number three, Brad, Jay Center, Jeff Fremid, Jerome Cabanatan, Jose Sepulveda, Justin McCoy, Corey Torgeson, Matt Godwin, Amanda Maron, Melissa Burton, Nick Wagner, Ryan Isaacson, Steven Gammett, T-Mix, The Wait For It Podcast, Tony Aupi, Trey Namo, Walter Gant, and last but not least, Warren Evans. Big shout outs to the patrons. And with that being said, that's it. That's what I got for you this time.

01:16:35
Thanks for listening. Tune in next week for another episode. And most importantly, take care of yourselves. Read a good comic and continue to make mine and yours short box. I'll catch you soon. Peace.