Catching up with Walt: Fantastic Four & Superman Movie reviews, Comic Books & Kickstarter, and Rap Talk! - The Short Box Podcast: A Comic Book Talk Show Ep. 468

00:01
intro music plays

00:24
Mr. Walter Gant, this is Badr Milligan from the Short Box Podcast. How are you doing good,  I'm doing pretty good. Doing pretty good.  Chilling.  Can I go ahead and say that you are now live  on said Short Box Podcast for a special  episode for the Patronies. For the Patronies, sorry.

00:52
For the the Patroni's. OK, so word don't so don't say nothing incriminating.  Well, you hear that applause.  They happy to hear from the boy. Well,  that's what's up. I'm good, man. How you living? Well, I am  knee deep. Some would say balls deep in some event planning right now. That's great. Yeah, we got this the Jax podcast camp event taking place this Thursday.

01:17
So me and Blythe, I mean, the house looks like a hurricane.  It looks like a hurricane hit our office max in the house. We got boxes everywhere. We got signage and all the, you know, the house is a mess, but so yeah, just been busy, bro. Been super busy. I was like, you know what? I probably will not be dropping an episode on the main feed this week because we so busy with planning and getting things ready for Thursday. But I was like, I can't do the Patroni's wrong.  I gotta give them a little something. mean, Fantastic Four just came out.

01:46
I wanted to talk to you about a few things. It was not only just a fantastic four, but dare I say, is hip hop back? Is real rap having a moment? The question on everyone's mind right now. Yo, rap is having an amazing moment right now. It feels like every, we eating good just alone. We eating good in the month of July alone. Clips album, Tyler's album, Freddie Gibbs album. Who else am I missing?

02:14
Those were the main three. Oh, that Ray Quentin album is good. I haven't listened to that. I did listen to a little bit of the  Slick Rick album last month while  I was at Heroes Con, and that was good. Mass Appeal can do no wrong. I was having a conversation with someone the other day.  Real quick, Walt, do you have the TV on? I'm about to walk back outside now. I'm just in here actually putting up my drink. OK, what? So yeah. No,  I should have asked. I should have asked.

02:40
Well, are you in position to talk for, let's say 30 minutes. Let's try something for 30 minutes. Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah, we're definitely. Yeah. Oh yeah. I'm tapped out, tapped out. So yeah, I and I'm not a lid or anything like that. So we're good. Okay. Yeah. You  know, thing is  I'm like, yo, all this gear and equipment and technology that I have, I'm like, I could definitely just call Walt and record an episode. I'm sure the patrons would love to hear from Walt. I mean, it's not the same as, as having you.

03:09
in person in the studio with us on the couch, you know, shooting the shit. But this is the next. It never is. Yeah. And that's fine. I look I don't take it for granted at all. So yeah, but it's nothing like the immediacy of looking at a person in the face while you're talking to her. Well, I'm going to ask one favorite. Can you at least mute the TV? Oh, I'm back outside now. I didn't have no I ran out of cigarettes, too. So I had to go back in to do that.

03:35
Look, I love how in the first, it's not even been  four minutes yet, but in the first four minutes, we've covered a lot of ground with you that encapsulates you in my mind. Hip hop, drink, cigarettes, and we're about to get into some comic book shit.  We're gonna get into this comic book stuff. So you wanna start, I guess let's start with the, let's start with the movies. So you've seen both of them, right? I have seen both of them. All right, Fantastic Four.

03:58
My high level thoughts,  I'm trying to think back to how I felt leaving the theater on Friday. We went to go see it on Friday. Fantastic Four Friday is what I was calling it.  And I remember me and Blythe both left that movie very impressed, very happy with the experience.  And  dare I say blown away by just how good it was.  I was the same way. I was the same way. Were you hesitant going into that movie? Because I  don't think I was. I was not. OK.  I did not have the same level  of

04:28
hype or excitement going to that movie compared to Superman and I'm not here to make this a comparison between both good movies, both being great movies, but I don't think the trailer for Fantastic Four got me curious or interested in the same way that the Superman movie did, but I feel like after watching, I don't know, was something about the trailer. I felt like it was a lot. I think I was still getting used to the.

04:53
how Pedro Pascal and the others looked like the characters. I was trying to wrap my head around like Silver Surfer. I think I was trying to wrap my head around actually seeing a decent depiction of the Fantastic Four. And I don't think my mind was letting me accept that this was going to be good. But after seeing  Superman in a weird way, I feel like it got me kind of, it was like a good, it got me ready for Fantastic Four. Cause then I was like, you know what?  Okay, I think I'm getting- I will, I'll tell you why. Hit it.

05:22
This is a conversation. This is a discussion we've had over the years many times is that there are certain nuances with those with those two characters in particular that you have to hit and with the Fantastic Four. Obviously, it's the family thing and with all the family thing and also both of them rely on this to they rely on hopefulness. Both of these movies. OK, yeah. Like Superman didn't feel.

05:50
He didn't feel corny, even though, you know, people always say Superman's corny. This is like, but that's the same thing they say about the Fantastic Four. They say those characters are corny because those characters are, I don't want to say, I don't want say they're imagination, but they believe in a world that, they believe in a world that should exist and they work toward making that world exist. And that feels corny to people when you live in such a cynical world.

06:18
And they got those things right in both of those films. But we'll talk about those things as we go forward. So you felt pretty similar  leaving Fantastic Four, very impressed,  happy with the experience and all that.  100%. 100%. Is there any scene or moment or  whatever it may be that's still... Everything Galactus.  Okay. Galactus was incredible. Silver Surfer was incredible too though, if we're being honest. Oh man, that scene where she is riding

06:49
the lava at one point. I think she's chasing them through the wormhole. Through that wormhole? Yeah. I think it was incredible. I won't lie to you, I was a little hesitant on the inclusion of Silver Surfer. Like, OK, how are they going to do this character justice on top of introducing us to the team and all that? think, to be honest with you, I could have done with one more scene with Galactus and Silver Surfer to flesh out

07:17
their situation, their backstories. But  I did think that, yeah, Silver Surfer was pretty bad ass in this. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this version of Silver Surfer. I don't think we're gonna get, well, would never say never, but I will say I was not aware until this movie started or until I left the movie that that movie was not set in the regular Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Oh yeah, Earth 828.

07:44
Yeah, it's an eight to eight. Yeah, I did not notice going in. It didn't catch me completely by surprise because I had heard like some of the rumors and the fan theories that this was possibly like a different universe, but to see it in action and for them to deliver on it feeling like a completely different universe from the 616, the mainline MCU, I thought they nailed it. Like this movie looked good.

08:09
It had a certain style to it that made it stand out. You know, that whole futuristic sixties.  It was definitely modern. was, it was modern. It was modern art.  Um,  yeah, it was space age bachelor pad type shit.  I was,  so I was enjoying it a hundred percent. Like Jetsons meets Playboy. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. Okay. So you said Galactus and Sue Storm. Oh, I'm sorry. Silver Surfer for you or the standout characters. I'm going to say Vanessa Kirby,  absolutely.

08:39
killed it in movie. brought, mean,  made Pedro Pascal look like he was just starting. This was his first movie. She was  amazing, but her chemistry with Pedro Pascal  and the rest of them, they really did feel like a family unit. know, like the bickering,  the love they had for each other, going to bat for one another.  This felt like a movie, much like Superman. I think them starting the movie off of like, they've already, they've been a team for four years.

09:07
They've already had their first adventure. You know, we're not gonna beat you over the head about their origin story. I think that goes a long way in making  the worlds feel lived in. That also would work with the Superman movie. Yes, agreed.  Basically, with Superman, they had the little script at the beginning. With this, they have like  about a three minute montage.  Yeah, something like that. And then that was it. And then that was, okay, you know everything. We're not gonna go through the whole accident and all that. We are just.

09:36
started with them as being the Fantastic Four. And that was a smart idea. You know, talking about the look of this movie, I can I could not help but think about some of my favorite variant covers of all time. Our boy, I mean, you know this as well as I do. Phil Noto back in a couple of years ago, actually, maybe a lot of years ago at this point, was doing those covers where every single cover for Marvel looked like a Time magazine  cover.

10:03
I got a few of those. was trying to collect them all and couldn't get them all, yeah. I feel like I couldn't help but think about Phil Noto's art style for this movie. And speaking about that opening montage, the magazine covers.  Hell, even in the real world, you could go out. I think Time Magazine literally was doing  covers with the cast on real magazines. And I think that just goes a long way, because it's the right vibe for the Fantastic Four.

10:32
I agree, man. Like I say, was, it's funny. I thought about Phil Noda a little bit when I was looking at, when that movie was on. I will tell you something. I want to go back to something you said about, the Silver Surfer part again. I think they cut probably some extras of herself out  because the other thing that was dramatically cut and you could tell was the thing in Natasha Lyonne. You could tell they probably cut out the whole portion of that story.

11:00
If anything, feel like this movie, I would have minded another 15 minutes, maybe another 30 minutes, because I felt like this movie went,  I think that's  the trade off with movies that feel like Superman and same critique I had for Superman is that sometimes that  because we're not explaining everything  and we're just hitting the ground running, I think sometimes it feels like a little rushed at times.  I think this movie could have benefited from another 15 minutes or one more pretty extensive like scene.

11:30
Maybe explaining, whether that'd be explaining Galactus and Silver Surfer or giving them more time towards the end for like the big kind of climatic  battle  or like you said, know, kind of fleshing out maybe Ben Grimm and  her name is Rachel Rosman. and  yeah. And cause yeah, that was something that I definitely know. was like, Natasha, you're over here and she's only here in two scenes. That seems like a waste of Natasha Leal.  Yes. And I was so happy to see her. like, yo, actually this works. She works for this. Yeah, it worked. Yeah.

11:59
Did you notice any interesting cameos, Easter eggs, anything like that  stick out to you? Did you notice any?  I didn't notice anything. I never noticed that stuff when it's happening anyway.  Unless it's blarely in my face.  That's the only time I noticed that.  I took three. Well, I don't know if you know this, but when I go to movies like this, where I know I've got to talk about it in the pod, I will literally bring a little notepad of me in the movie theater and write down some notes. Oh,  not the worst I did. The standout cameos to me was the comic book.

12:29
uh, shout outs.  The fact that we got to see what I'm assuming they didn't credit them, but Jack, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee make a small cameo in the movie. Where I want to say it's when silver surfer first shows up and they show all of the,  you know, uh, the everyone's reactions. like, you know, people in the city, the FF, the team itself, but there's a quick little shot where it's two guys in a, in an office together. I think one of them has a cigar.

12:59
And he's standing in front of a podium, like a little art station. he's got like, it clearly looks like he's working on something, drawing something maybe. And then who I think is Stanley comes up behind him. They got a similar hairstyle, kind of similar wardrobe that they would in the 60s. And then obviously the Jack Kirby quote at the end, man, that was pretty moving too, to see Jack Kirby get a quote at the end. He created the, was with that, he drew that book for a long time.

13:26
Hell yeah. mean, does  long overdue. If there's any movie that there's a bunch. mean, you can make the  an easy debate that he deserves massive credit. He should have been getting his credit in all of these movies. But I think something a little extra special that, you know, this fantastic foreign movie, we got a lot of Jack Kirby love and influence. I mean, the movie felt like  they brought a Jack Kirby comic book to life.  That's really what it was. A 1960s Kirby  book.

13:54
But it was, it was worth every, like I say that  it was fantastic. I'll say something that's completely off the subject, but still on the subject. the three movies I've seen that day, I've seen three movies  when I went. So I went to go see those two movies that we're going to discuss. And I've seen them materialists also.  And the thing that I noticed is that.

14:22
when people like what they're doing or see if people are having fun, then they're having fun. And I say this because Dakota Johnson, I don't know if she's a bad actress or she just always plays herself. Yeah.  And that's the opposite of this woman in this movie, who now I've seen in a  few things and she's always good. Dakota Johnson? No, not Dakota Johnson.  Vanessa Kirby. Vanessa Kirby is always good. What else has Vanessa Kirby been in?

14:50
The thing I know her from is one of them Faster the Furious movies. She's in Hobbs and  Shaw. Yeah, she's in Mission Impossible. She's in The Crown TV. Oh, she's in The Crown, okay.  What else is she in? Pieces of a Woman. I'm just going through her IMDB.  The Crown. Oh,  you're right. Faster Furious, Hobbs and Shaw. She's a sister. She's watching Macaulay's sister. The bar-headed, Saddam. She's Jason Saddam's sister. Okay, okay.

15:20
I thought she looked familiar. Okay. That's cool. Well, I hope to see more of her because she's on the ground. it like this. If she don't, I'll never see her.  And that was all she had done. what? I'll never know. She was good. Cause I don't watch on that British stuff. Not like that. Now  life is all about the British Royal family. I know she's definitely familiar with  Vanessa Kirby. All right. Let's go through some of the other folks on here. What did you think about Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards? Any standout scenes? Any thoughts on that?

15:50
He played Reed Richards. Okay. So when I came home yesterday, I ended up on no, it was Sunday. So yesterday I ended up starting to reread Hickman's run on, on Fantastic Four. I just started reading a bunch of them and he was more in line of that Reed Richards. He was, he's always going to be a loose. That's just not, that's just what he is. He's always going to be a loose, but he's also, um,

16:18
He's a loose, but he's not, he's sincere. And that's kind of how you played him. And he basically played him to be second. He's not the star of the movie. He's basically playing that he is the set. He's not the leader of the team, even though he is a leader of team. He's not the leader of the team. is the leader of the team. And that's the way he played it in the movie. So me, I thought he was fine though, in a nutshell, I thought it was fine. I know Pedro Bustos getting a lot of shit for always being in all these movies, but in my opinion, he has not.

16:48
under delivered just yet. mean, it feels like he was bad in anything he was in. He was in that movie with Dakota Johnson. I think he was bad in that. mean, I just got done watching him on The Last of Us two. I thought he was phenomenal there. I mean, you the Mandalorian. If you give him a good script, he's got he's going to deliver it. And I thought he delivered here his chemistry with Vanessa Kirby and Sue Storm believable couple. To your point, he played a Lou Friedrichers but also very brilliant. I think

17:15
And he's not like a,  he's not overboard with his leadership. Like, like you were saying, like he is, he knows his place, but he's also willing to share the spotlight. I thought that came to spotlight. I  will say the other thing about him though. He's in three movies that are in the movie theater right now. I've seen two of them on that day and I didn't go see the Ari Aster movie because I don't particularly care for, I don't like Joaquin Phoenix like that, but he's in that Joaquin Phoenix movie too.  And the other crazy thing.

17:43
is that he dropped out of weapons, which is coming out in two weeks.  He was going to be in weapons. He was going to be the Josh Brolin character in that movie.  Oh, OK. OK. So that would have been, that mean he would have had four movies, technically, in the movie theater on top of a TV show that just ended. We all only got 24 hours in the day. I think that's what that is. And he using it. I ain't mad at him because guess what? Strike by the irons hot. Because if you don't, people will move over on you.

18:10
Okay, let me move on here. What about, what'd you think about our guy Ben Grimm the Thing, played by Ebon Moss Buckrach? I think how you say it. Yeah, old boy from Arm the Bear. So he was, I thought he was real good. I just don't think he had enough time. Just going back to what you were saying about he wasn't in there enough. Yeah, I almost, yeah. I feel like they gave us a subdued Ben Grimm.

18:34
because the story was so much focused on Franklin, what Sue and Reed as parents are going through, even though it affected the whole family, I definitely think we could have used another scene with Ben Grimm, whether that was exploring his love interest. Personally, I would have wanted to see him get a little more shine action-wise to really show off just how strong he is, especially against Galactus. felt like he got kind of sidelined pretty quick. We got more Johnny than we got on Ben.

19:03
So Joseph Quinn,  I said this on the pod when I saw, when the trailer first aired. Around the time the trailer aired, I had, I think it was around the time that  Gladiator 2 came out and Joseph Quinn who plays Johnny Storm in the movie  is in Gladiator 2. Oh,  wasn't he the dickhead, wasn't he the dictator?  Yes,  he was that super pale, dumb ass dictator. I still haven't finished that movie. Bro, that movie's just good.  I just was I'm gonna finish it.

19:33
I gotta finish this. Speaking about Pedro Pascal, you think Gladius. Pedro Pascal is in that movie. He sure is. Getting these checks. So I guess I was, you whatever. I wasn't, I was like, all right, Joseph Quinn, I didn't really care for him in this movie. We'll see how he is. But he completely won me over, man, in this. He plays Johnny Storm to a T. He's bratty, he's a brash, also kind of like a little dumb. A horn dog. A horn dog. For sure. Little himbo, little himbo vibes, yeah.

20:01
But you know what? The fact that they leaned in and gave him that moment, you know, like even Johnny, this movie was so sci-fi to me that even Johnny had a moment of like, you know, figuring out that more, not the more scope of the messaging and breaking all of that down. I thought that was a cool angle to approach Johnny, like giving him some props. They do something that they don't really do that. They don't do that for him in the comic books like that. Exactly. He isn't shown as like the smart guy or, you know, the guy that would do anything like that. But technically he would have to be some level of smart if he was able to become an astronaut.

20:31
Well said, yeah. My favorite, I'm trying to think about my favorite scene,  this one's actually an easy one for me.  That whole scene when  Sue is giving birth on the ship as they're trying to escape Galactus and Silver Surfer, and then they're trying to make their way, you know, use the slingshot method from Interstellar on the black hole, all of that was just awesome. She's giving birth in zero gravity. The ship's breaking apart. The Silver Surfer is on they  ass.

21:01
I mean, that scene, mean, I literally was in the theater like, wow, this is what I'm talking about. This is why you go to watch a movie in the theater on the big screen with the Dolby cinema and all that shit was an experience. That shit was amazing. I would say the thing that I liked with her was I like when she knocked out all those things that was going to move the earth. Wait, which one? When the super surfer came down and knocked out every one of them.

21:30
Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam,

21:58
It would take us years to even comprehend what he is or, you know, he's more on in line with like a God or a deity than, you  I love that they stress that part.  Even though  it felt like they were reverting back to one of my long standing gripes when it comes to Marvel movies is that they always seem to knock like these these characters that you feel like they could do so much more with like off the board. Yeah, but they only just put them in a dimension.

22:27
like a black hole or whatever, the lactis will return. He will eat wherever he's at and then he'll come back to where that place is at. Trust that. What do think that they'll do  with Franklin?  Franklin being like such a core theme of this. I thought that also felt very much like a Hickman, you that you just brought up the Hickman, Fantastic Four run. Franklin being kind of like the,  oh my God, what do you call it? The  plot device for this movie.

22:56
I thought that that felt very much like Hickman, like the importance of It seemed like he was to be a plot device in Avengers, whatever. What is this coming up? Yeah, Avengers Doomsday. It seemed like he could be a plot device in this. They can go a lot of different directions with Franklin.  I enjoyed Franklin. And then I was telling somebody, was like, look, man, I'm telling my homeboy, I said, that baby is already super strong. And you got to remember that boy can create universes. is damn near like,  not, he's one of the most powerful characters.

23:26
in the whole Marvel universe. So I don't know. enjoyed it. I enjoyed that little bit. I enjoyed the little singer part with him being five years old or whatever. So. McGuffin. That's what I'm, that's what I'm thinking of. He was a walking McGuffin. He was a poor McGuffin. It was funny though. McGillax was like, yeah, I'll let your planet live. Give me your child. Run your baby. Run your baby.

23:52
The message in this movie, Like, you the things that we'll do to protect our family, whether it be like damning the whole world. I thought they walked a pretty good fine line.  Even though I felt like if this movie was longer, they could have really got a little more nuanced with it.  But I thought that was a cool messaging, man.  It helped it separate itself from Superman, where that movie was more about like choice, doing the right thing because, you you want to and  you, know, rising to the above all that.

24:19
And then you've got this movie here where it's about like family and, you know, found, you know, like the things that you would do for like your family. A hundred percent. I think Sue says something. She says a really dope line. She had that speech. She had the little speech when she came outside and like, look, I'm not giving up my kid. I won't, I won't sacrifice my child for this world, but I also won't sacrifice the world for my child. I was like, all right, there we go. Some damn good writing.

24:46
Even though, mean, yo, that was kind of a ballsy move to bring your whole baby outside when the whole world is looking for it. When the whole world knows, if we give this baby up, then yeah, everything will be good. Galactus is like, hey, look,  I am tired of this job. That baby can have this job,  baby. No,  actually real quick, because  I saw some things online about that whole plot point. Did you read it  as...

25:11
Galactus wanted Franklin to replace him or use Franklin as an energy source, like an infinite battery? He  wanted Franklin to replace him.

25:23
Which is what he wanted. They were sticking with the comic book shit there. Cause Franklin in some universes, in some of the multiverses, Franklin does replace him. Yeah. He's got, uh, if I'm not mistaken, he's also got like Galactus on a leash, like a Pokemon. Yeah, sometimes. Yeah. Sometimes basically Galactus is his hell. Now you got me wanting to reread that Hickman Fantastic Forerun, but like that, that, that famous panel that came out of that run, whereas Franklin saying, uh, what does it say? Uh, come to me, my Galactus or.  I think so, but.

25:53
That whole Hickman initial run there was basically just Fantastic Four books. So I fucked up that quote. It's from Fantastic Four, six oh four. He says to me, my Galactus, which is fucking badass. That happens a lot. That happens in most of those universes that he becomes  Galactus in a nutshell. He becomes Galactus or something  greater than Galactus. Well, is there anything  that this movie did not do well for you? Not off the first run. I thought, look, man,

26:23
People been kicking marbles back in for the last like two years. So this movie was fine. You know that wire scene, I mean, it's been memed to death, but it's like, hey, tell them we up. That's what I've been telling everybody. tell them the MCU's up. The MCU is up and the DCU is up, which is something that we didn't see coming. Well, I guess I've seen that come with James Gunn being there. James Gunn is almost a, you know what I'm saying? It's like, that's an automatic layup right there. And I mean, he he absolutely delivered.

26:52
I saw that Superman movie twice and FF only once. And that's not to, you know, a comment on quality, just timing. FF just came out. Yeah, FF just came out. But I left Fantastic Four thinking like the next, if I get a free day this week, which not going to happen with podcast camp, I want to go see that movie one more time. You know what, I'm going mess around and go see it. Cause like I told you, next time I go to the movie, it's going to be to see weapons. Oh shit. I'm sorry. I'm looking at the cast for weapons.

27:20
Our girl Julia Gardner is in it. She's starring in it. Josh, Paul and Brian. She's a the only thing I know about that movie is that one night a bunch of kids wake up and run away. It's like about like, I don't know, let's say like 15 kids wake up out of their house, walk out of the house and run into the woods. They were all in her class. Okay. The movie I'm trying to catch in theaters before it leaves is, and I missed it when it came out is F1. I really want to see that in theater.

27:49
Look, I'm telling you now, look, if you don't see it, if you don't see that movie in another week, you ain't gonna see it in the theaters. I know, I know. You probably got another week or you got maybe two at best, but then you got to think it's gonna be on, it's gonna be on Apple TV. Yeah, but you know, some movies that some movies you got to try to see in theaters and I feel like a car movie about fast cars. You know what I'm saying? That's like made for the theater. You want to see that?  Yeah, I agree with you saying, but I'm more like, that's some shit I could wait for, bro. I don't like F1 like that.

28:19
No, yo, me neither, but I mean.  But I would say that movie's gotten good reviews though. That movie's gotten crazy reviews. And put it like this, I watch F1 races on TV all the time. Well, I did for a little bit. You're contradicting yourself. You just said that you were not into F1, but you're over here telling me that you watch it. But I  I'll watch it if it's on TV. I mean, I would watch sports.  F1 comes on, if F1 is on in the morning. So if they got a, if  they got a race on at seven o'clock in the morning, then I just leave it on a race.

28:47
I'm gonna always pick live sports over people talking about sports. That's fair. I kind of got into it once again, I just didn't keep up with it. Not enough time, too much sports. That's why I'm literally behind on everything else. Oh, speaking of which, whoa, you know, last week I was thinking about you when I hit up the shop and came across this new book that came out through Image that had your girl on Oh, you took, yeah, know, I already, I gotta call him tomorrow.

29:15
But make sure he sent my shipment of books this week. And it's in there. I heard the voice call or something like that? The Voice Said Kill by Simon Spurrier and Art by the one and only Vanessa Del Rey, AKA Walt Boo. 100 % my comic boo for sure. I'm reading that other book she got. Oh, which one is that one? I'm reading The Creeping Below. Damn, she's out here getting to working.

29:41
Well, that's because she ain't been doing, she ain't been getting no work in for years. Redlands was like the last big thing she did. Yeah. And when Redlands ended, I didn't realize it was ending. I was just like, okay, I can't wait till the next issue. And that was like, oh, I guess this was the end of Redlands. Good book. So I completely forgot that this book was coming out. The Voice Had Kill. Until I went into the shop last week.  I had to, had to pick up some stuff from like the last couple of weeks. I was doing my rounds, seeing what came out. And straight up before I saw the credits,

30:11
It was the cover that got me that cover for the voice that kill  is very attention grabbing. So I picked it up just on the strength of the cover. And then when I noticed I was a book, I haven't read it yet. That's actually like top of my list, but the premise for it sounds really fucking cool to have, you know, anything about the premise.  kind of slightly glance at the premise and that was it. What's the premise. I already did solicitation  Fargo meets deliverance in a sweaty swamp thriller from Vanessa Del Rey and size Spurrier.

30:39
The wet heat of the Louisiana Bayou, alligator poachers prowl the mud bug mire. A park ranger, heavily pregnant, raises a hateful muggous moonshine of a criminal matriarch and one deadly son of a bitch out of his mind on shrooms and retribution, loads his rifle for the human hunt and screams down the stars. So it sounds like it is about a pregnant park ranger in the Louisiana Bayou fighting off alligator poachers. This is what I got out of that. Okay. So again, count me in.

31:09
I'm already up for that one. So I got, I still got a stack. I got this stack of books that I need to knock out. I guess I'll knock them out this weekend since no movies are coming out. So that's kind of like my vibes for that. Yesterday, actually, I took a break from reading comics and I opened up the Shonen Jump app. Cause I was like, yeah, you know, anytime I'm in one of these moods where I'm like, all right, this is a lot of comics. Let me just take a quick little break. I'll switch to manga and I have started this new manga called

31:40
Kagura Bachi. And I'm not really sure what the premise is. Actually, it says something about a cursed sword, a son of a sword forger with this katana. I think he's fighting like the the Yakuza or something like that. It looks dope as fuck. You sometimes with manga, you're just like, let me just jump in. For me, it's definitely a cover thing. I'll just jump in if the cover looks good. I'd be so lazy on that thing because I still haven't gotten rid of it or anything because now I think it's going up to like, think.

32:08
is $1.99, and now it's $2.99. I think it's going up to like $3.99 or something like that. So they say, so we can add more stuff to it. I was like, well, cool, whatever. Well, you know, speaking about books that I've read, I recently just wrapped one up that Drew had recommended me. It's called Beyond, and it's put out by Marvel. It's a book from like the 2000s. It was like a short six-issue miniseries.

32:35
written by Dwayne McDuffie and art by Scott Collins.  it's like Lost Meets  Secret Wars, where it's about  a handful of heroes. In this case, it's Medusa,  Craven the Hunter,  the Hood Venom, Spider-Man, Ant-Man,  and the Wasp. And I feel like I'm forgetting another person. Oh, and this character named Gravity.

33:00
They all get abducted and put into basically like  a repeat of Battle World and Secret Wars. they don't know who put them there, but the voice that they believe is the Beyonder, because it's such a Beyonder thing to do, is telling them that,  in order for you guys to  leave this planet or get out of this situation, you've got to kill.  Only one of you can survive. Whoever kills the others will get whatever wish they want granted. So very like Secret Wars, Beyonders type thing.

33:29
Obviously the story continues and you realize that's not the case and you figure out who's behind it all, et cetera, et cetera. Art is great. You also get a lot of just interesting, you know what I'm saying? It's like the cast and ensemble is just- It's pretty interesting. Yeah, it's like the Hood, Medusa, this different version of Kraven the Hunter, Venom who's actually Matt Gargan, the Scorpion. So it's like, it's very interesting. I'm glad you said that, well, Medusa, finish up what you're saying and I'm gonna come back to Medusa. I read it because Drew was reading this on the Marvel Unlimited app.

33:58
I actually found a copy of this at Chamlin's one day. It was like a hardcover. It was $10. I picked it up, read it on the strength of Drew's recommendation, ended up really liking it. And then I've been going down this Dwayne McDuffie rabbit hole. What do you think about Dwayne McDuffie? When I say his name, what comes to mind for you immediately? I think, wasn't he like the main, wasn't he like one of the main forces behind the, why does he, he created static shock, correct?

34:26
Yeah. He was one of the founders of milestone.  was also,  created static though. Yes. Yeah. Yep. So that's going to be number one always. Number two would be that he was the, um, main,  he was the second in command basically on the Bruce Tim  universe. Yeah. So he was also a writer for justice league unlimited.  Uh, I want to say there's another one, a very big one that I'm missing, but you know,

34:55
He's got the animation. think he came from animation, came to comic books, did a lot of stuff from Marvel. I mean, he did that,  um, the fantastic full run where Black Panther and Storm joined the team. I did not know that was him that did that. That was his run with, um, who's doing the art, Paul Pelletier.  Uh, and then for DC, I think he also wrote a bunch of Justice League, some Superman, but his DC time, I, you know, going down this rabbit hole learning as much as I cared about Dwayne McDuffie, apparently his time at DC was very tumultuous, like.

35:24
He was always button heads with editors. would rewrite his stories or, you know,  drag their feet on certain stuff. So I guess he was very vocal about the treatment he got at DC. And I mean, it's all over like blogs and old threads and,  things like that.  Um, so I've, just, I don't know, I've just gone down this rabbit hole about learning about but Duane McDuffie. even  found this  on the hoopla app. have this static shot, or I guess static,  uh, this static.

35:52
collection of like the first couple issues of static shock I don't know when's the last time that you've read some milestone comics but still to have it I don't know I don't know that's a good point I don't know that's a very good question okay actually yeah I hopped over to the DC Universe website yeah they've had a bunch of static shock that's all about the say yeah okay I didn't know that they got this already okay yeah they got the full run of the the 1993 series on here

36:20
When was the last time you went through some of those milestone books? It has been years. To this day, reading it, it is such a different reading. It's still very fresh and so unique. It's static shock. A young black teenager in the 90s, like the language they use, the lingo, the slang, all of that. Because they was young. Yeah. And obviously, they're bringing like a whole new fresh perspective at that time wasn't being shown in comic books. Man, those.

36:49
Those static issues I'm reading  still stand out. mean, like  among anything else, I think  on the stands, the artwork itself too, know, Dennis Cohen and Mike Bright, all of them, highly recommend it.  I'll tell you what I did about it I have not read yet is  let me go to Kickstarter real quick. John Paul Leon too. He was doing the art too, sorry. Because they mailed me my thing.  activity feed. Oh, you're on Kickstarter like that? Okay.

37:19
Well, not all the time. bought about two things off of it recently.  One of them I still haven't got because of,  you know, politics and shit. That's like a big book. That's like a book book. But the other one was a graphic novel, The Death of Bobby Hart  that  my guy David Walker wrote. So I need to read that. I might have to jump on that soon and read that and I'll give you a,  I have an update next time we talk.

37:48
Oh, this looks cool. On that type of stuff. The death. Did you look it up? Yeah. The death of Bobby Hart, a true crime story from writer David F. Walker, the Eisner award winning co-writer. David Walker, yeah. Bitter Root comes an all new original graphic novel of artists, Daytrich Smith and Craig Johnson. Second. So it's like a, is it like a black noir kind of book? Yup. Okay. That's what it is. That's what I think it is. So I've got it on the, I was own. Okay. So, you know, when you  jump on Kickstarter and then they start sending you  all this stuff or whatever. So.

38:17
I was like, oh, I didn't realize that many people kickstarted comic books like that. Bro, it's a whole. That was something I did not know. That's a whole. It is a dangerous. That's a whole industry. hole. Like the amount of money I spent last year backing, you know, things from Daniel Warren Johnson. I backed a Andy Cooper X-Men art book that still hasn't come in yet, but I dropped some heavy money. Kickstarter is not cheap, neither. That's the thing that always kills me. It's like you can get in at those five, ten dollar tiers.

38:46
but shipping will hit you over the head, then you gotta wait a long time. But I will say everything I have gotten from Kickstarter, I've been pretty thoroughly  happy with how it came out. But I was like, damn, there is a lot of stuff on here. Speaking about milestone, Dennis Cohen, think he's putting out an art book and it started as a Kickstarter. And I get it too, right? It's guaranteed money. You're not  producing anything or putting it out into the market.

39:14
Unless you know, people are willing to back it. And I think, I think that's, you know, a lot of incentive. don't find that to be, yup. That is not the worst idea. Not at all. I mean, you know, and the creators get to take, you know, like complete control of it. I mean, considering, I guess it depends on who they got running the Kickstarter and doing the  fulfillment. know a lot of them like sometimes outsource the fulfillment part, the shipping, all of that. know it, I know it's not as easy as it sounds. know plenty of common creators that, you know, will say Kickstarter damn near, you know,

39:44
broke them. But I think it is an awesome platform and you can find so many dope comic books. I actually try to stay away from Kickstarter or else I'm just going to be running up my credit card. Yeah, see I only go on there if I see somebody who I like. If I see some Bill Nodle or something on there, then guess what? He may get me. All right. Well, I think we got through all the topics I wanted and I wanted to just keep this short. We didn't talk about Superman at all.

40:12
You know, that's because me and I know I've spoken about it ad nauseum with Drew, but I would love to hear your thoughts on it. How are you still feeling about Superman? Superman was better than Fantastic Four. I think I edge Superman just slightly. And I think it's because I've seen it twice. Which one do you think was more writing on Superman or Fantastic Four? OK, what do you mean more writing? More, I'm sorry. Which movie needed to to do well? Oh, I think they were both equal, if we're being honest.

40:42
Maybe Marvel would have had a little bit more leeway since they're bringing back Downey Jr. to play Dr. Doom, which I still think is a very bad mistake. But OK, cool. He's back. We we we move on. But they still got that car to pull and they don't have and they got that till next year.  This is the start of  DC shit. If that movie don't work, then, yo, we got a problem. Yeah, it's like if this movie  bombs,  you know, it's like that is not that's a terrible way to kick off.

41:12
this brand new James Gunn and I had a feeling it wasn't going to but now Superman, similar but also different, know, more I think about the two movies, similar but different. I think Superman was a lot more relaxed. I think a lot more comical. I think a little more lighthearted, just visually, you know, a unique style in itself. Mr. Terrific, I mean, I'm still thinking about how amazing Mr. Terrific.

41:42
You know, he was good. The dog.  liked the dog. Crypto was good. Oh, come on. It was like a lay. I was like  that movie had Superman had so many things going for it that just worked. I like I said, I enjoyed that movie.  Now I'm really going to be like for Supergirl because it seems like they are they are using the story that I was telling that I like so much. My that my favorite guy, Tom King, did my guy.  They're doing that story.

42:10
Oh yeah, we're recording this the Monday after San Diego Comic-Con if anyone's curious. And I know that James Gunn had joined a panel, think it was like a DC panel that had Jim Lee, Tom King. think Mitch Gerard was there. It was like basically the team that did Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow. And when he gets introduced, he comes on stage and he- Oh, so was that girl there? Was Billy Equus there or whatever?

42:36
Okay, I don't know how to say her name. Bill Quest, Eveline. I don't know if she was actually. Yes. I don't know if she was, but Tom King, I'm sorry. James Gunn gave Tom King hella flowers on this panel. Basically saying like, everyone's saying that, know, the Superman made it based off of the Richard Donner movies. He's like, that's wrong. The comic books. That was my North star. That's what was my inspiration. And I'm like, damn, James Gunn knows what he's doing, man, in terms of like uplifting the comic books. Gunn know ball. He know ball, man. Yeah, he does, man.

43:05
Superman was great. I've seen it twice. Like I said,  I said this  on the pod with Drew. I think with Superman, sometimes they sacrifice character,  like depth for the, you know, a speed. Where it's like, hey, we don't have  nearly as much time to, you know, we've got 20 characters and we don't have enough time to like make them nuanced. So they're going to be very kind of like surface level while we focus on, you know, some of these bigger things. So I think sometimes we trade. think  that  is the case. I think you're correct in that. Yeah.

43:36
But I, like I say, I enjoyed it. Mr. Riffy was good. Guy Gardner was good. Like the whole thing was good. Hawkeye Girl was good. Like I had so much fun watching that movie. So these are the last two comic book movies coming out this year,  I believe so. I think these are last two comic movies of Oregon. see.  Yeah, I don't think so. I don't think we get anything else but maybe like Peacemaker or some shit like that.  Oh, that's right. I guess if we're counting TV, yeah, that'd be coming up here soon.

44:01
Which I'm stupid. There's gonna be some TV shit, but  there is no  more movies. And I don't think these movies come out until we don't have no more movies till next year. OK, what do we got here? I see superhero movies in 2025. Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, Captain America, Brave New World, Daredevil, Born Again, Superman, something called Eyes of Wakanda. don't know. Ironheart. That's a TV show for all watching. That's a TV show that's gonna be on. Yeah, probably so. Yeah. OK, OK.

44:30
What else we got? Eyes of Wakanda, Wonder Man. Apparently that's supposed to be coming out this- But that's another TV show. All right, yep, yep, you're right there. Another TV show that your friendly neighborhood, Spider-Man, Marvel's Zombies is also gonna TV show? Okay, October 3rd. Yep, I would assume that's gonna be Halloween. Okay, yeah, I mean, yeah, you're pretty much right. That is all the superhero movies we got. So we got a bunch of TV shows coming out later this year, but in terms of big screen theatrical releases. That's a wrap.

44:59
Not a bad one. You know what? Not. And if I'm looking at this list,  FF Thunderbolts, Captain America, Brave New World, Superman. Am I missing anything?  No, I think if I had to rate those in order of my favorites, Superman and Fantastic Four would be one A, one B, but I'm gonna go Superman in this case. Fantastic Four, close second. I don't know where all the Thunderbolts hate comes from. I get it wasn't like. I thought people liked that movie. It just said he didn't make the money. I didn't go see it though. Man,  I had a good time. I mean, it definitely felt like

45:29
Marvel playing it safe just to like, you know, avoid any like, oh, MCU is dying. I thought I had a good time with that Thunderbolts movie. That was the end. Basically, wasn't that movie the end? That was the end of this cycle. Was that movie. And this new one was the beginning of this new cycle. Okay. And then I think at the bottom of that list would be that Captain America Brave New World. I've said it already. That Captain America movie was bad, it was bad. you know what sucks? Anthony Macken deserves better. Exactly.

45:57
Anthony Mackie deserves way better. I will go to bat for Anthony Mackie. That dude is just a good dude overall. And I think he's a pretty good actor. He deserves a better movie. I felt like they kind of sabotaged.  That movie basically that goes back to what James gonna be saying all the time. They don't be having finished scripts. If you write, if you constantly write in a movie, then  you don't have a movie. You need to have your scripts done before you go start. That's start of the movie. So that's my opinion.

46:26
That's a good point. When you have that movie and you juxtapose it against something like FF or Superman, it is clear as day to see like, okay, even though I don't know what was reshot, I don't know what was rewritten, I could just tell that Captain America movie was a hodgepodge of several ideas that  it felt rushed in last minute. A lot of things that just didn't click or make sense. And from Marvel, right now what I'm doing, more than anything else, I'm making sure

46:55
My next 10 movies have a script right now. The next 10 of them have a script. I don't want to worry about the directors. I need to make sure that my next 10 scripts of whatever I'm doing is done. Regardless of the price, I need to have those scripts done. Yeah, yeah. And I feel like a little break in between stuff with Bahuvia. It does sound like they are. That's what they're, you know, that's kind of like their- This was two years in a row when they had a big ass break.

47:23
Cause that Avengers movie don't come out to the end of next year. Well, I need that Avengers movie to deliver. So I'm okay if they push it out another year. I'm not, I'm not one of these guys clamoring for a superhero movie every year or, or, you know, with such fast paced frequency, I'm okay if, if the longer they take means better quality for something like a movie titled Avengers Doomsday. Come on, you gotta come correct. It better be good. All right. Well, with that being said, my man, I, go ahead. I want to say anything before we go quick.

47:52
rap take before we get up out of here. Which one of them things did you like them up? Well, look, man, we said we're up. Let's get it. Let's get it. Let's get it. Patronis. OK. OK. My favorite rap album of the last couple of this month out of the three that we that we said, oh, that clips all day. That's actually an easy one. I don't even need to spend time thinking about it. That clips album. Let God sort them out is.

48:19
The album that I, as a lifelong Clips fan, and I know that it's cool to say that now, I feel like everyone has been talking about being a long time Clips fan, but I have been in these mixtape streets, I have been on the blog, I have been a Clips fan for fucking years. This is the album that  I  wanted from their reunion together. It delivered in every aspect, lyrics, bars, production.

48:44
Um, uh, album rollout,  uh, the fucking  marketing, the  album cover itself is, great. It was the rollout was crazy. The rollout for this is crazy. You have said, not watching this tiny desk yet. I won't say it's like one of the best tiny desk of all time, but just for sheer. Wow. The clips are doing a tiny desk.  It's like worth watching. That tiny desk is really, really good. That fool went on here and told that man you battling the spirit of repossession is crazy. Oh, he killed it. Oh yeah. He.

49:14
When Pusha's got that crazy look in his eyes, you know you're in for good time.  And then the other thing I think they deliver on is that is how you do,  that's how you play into nostalgia, but still keeping it fresh. It didn't feel like they were retreading or trying to force anything. This felt like a natural succession to all of the other prior clips out. And it felt like the perfect trilogy end, if we're thinking about this like a trilogy to Lord Willen, Hell, No Fury.

49:42
Let God sort them out. It feels like it fits. It's like, okay, that's, that makes perfect sense. I will probably say that one, but that Freddie Gibbs is damn near a Mac. That's an immaculate album, bro. Interesting. Cause I was going to say that Freddie Gibbs, I I'm still, I gotta live with it. I think Alchemist to me, his production sometimes, especially when he's producing a whole album, sometimes his production starts to feel the same. And that's.

50:11
I think that's my bigger thing with these,  this new trend of like no drums production, even though there is drums on that album. Sometimes those songs that don't have drums that are back to back sometimes get a little muddy to me. Okay. I love that shit. I've been on that. Like  I've been on that pretty tough. I put it like this, what I've been having to do  when I listen to music, I've just been going, okay, Clips first,  Tyler.

50:39
than Freddie Gibbs or I go to Reverse Order. The Tyler is always in the middle. Yep. Because it's like, wow, it's sonically different than both of those Big time, yep. It was kind of interesting to hear Tyler unconstrained from a theme or a concept. Because all of his past albums have all been so concept heavy.  know, Igor, Flower Boy, Chromacopia.

51:06
the character that he builds, the worlds that he builds, the themes of the album that he builds. This was,  this new one, Don't Tap the Glass, was one, a welcome surprise. I was not expecting to be listening to Tyler in the middle of all this glorious cocaine rap talk. it was like a welcome surprise. It was like a good palate cleanser, because you're right, it is so sonically different. I won't say this is my favorite Tyler album, but it's unique enough to where I respect, I respect the energy.

51:34
how the bar look Tyler, you know, me and Greg have talked about this all the time, but Tyler is a rapper. Like don't let all the antics  and  all the other stuff get in the way. Tyler the creator. He's a rapper that got better.  Yes. He is in times better than what he was 10 years ago. And we've gotten to see him grow. I think someone like clips, you know, it's like, you know what you're going to get into. You can only hope that they refine it more and more, but someone like Tyler, is almost, I'm gonna say like crazy drastic, but

52:04
the level of quality and improvement in between each album is like, damn, it's  dope as fuck to see him grow.  know, I was listening to Cherry Bomb the other day, something off Cherry Bomb, and then to listen to, you know, Don't Tap the Glass, it's like, damn, this is world- That's a world of difference, because I don't like Cherry, I don't like none of them. I don't particularly care for a Tama album, instead of that Flower Boy album. A lot of people be out here kind of like Igor, but I'm like, oh, man, okay, whatever. Flower Boy, from that point on, he ain't made-

52:33
has not made a bad album since Flower Boy, period. I think  I like what he said. He said something on either  X or online, but he was saying that like, you know, this Don't Tap the Glass is meant to just be a fun break. I gave you guys on Chromacopia like my deepest, darkest journal entries. Well, now this is me just having fun with it. And I think it shows. Yeah, because he was on there crying about not having no kids. So yeah,  you are here making Gerard Carmichael feel the same type of way. So yeah.

53:01
living a very lavish life and letting us know we can't go where he goes. We can't buy the shit he buys.  I am at it.  So that's what's up, man. That's what I've been up to on them shits, man. So feel like that may be enough. We  do this another time. We want to get deeper into the shits. And next time I call you and do this, now that I know that the technology works,  I'm going try to make this a little more frequent. And the next time I call you, I won't have this big looming fucking event.

53:28
over my head waiting on me so I could talk a bit longer. Well I appreciate you bro. Love you man. No problem man. a good ass day and I'll holler at you later. Alright take it easy. 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 made it this far. If you enjoyed this episode and you have some thoughts or comments that you want to share with us, write us at theshortbikesjaxx at gmail.com and if you

53:57
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54:23
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 want to give a big shout out to our current members, including Adam Chittani,  RC Gamet, BJ Kicks, Blake Simone,  Blythe Milligan, Bo Evers, Brian Brumleaf, Chad Lannenberger, Chris Hacker, David Morales, Greg Ligteig,  Hershel.

54:53
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55:23
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.