Live Comic Podcast Show at NYCC 2025: The Short Box meets Comic Book Couples Counseling meets The Oblivion Bar meets Off Panel - The Short Box Podcast Ep. 475

00:01
intro music plays

00:24
Alright, they just locked the... they just closed the doors.  yo!  New York Comic Con, how we doing today?

00:35
That was really good. I'm not even asked to redo that again, but I do want to say, you guys, I want you guys to give yourself a round of applause for finding this room. They put us in the dungeon this year. It's all right. It's all right.

00:47
By show of hands, how many of you are here? Because there's chairs, it's quiet, and there's AC.  Me too, all right? I'm here too. I kid. Look, on behalf of the panel, I want to give you guys a round of applause for being here. Thank you so much. means the world to us.  Welcome to the live comic podcast show at New York Comic Con, featuring the Short Box, crossing over with Off Panel, crossing over with Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast, crossing over with the Oblivion Bar.

01:16
No, it really doesn't mean the world to us.  My name is Badr Milligan. I am the host of said short box podcast, one of the longest running weekly comic book talk shows. It's also the only comic book podcast  where you were here. The Jacksonville Jaguars ever mentioned in a comic podcast. All right. Pretty proud of that. Also on my panel are some terrific,  some of the best comic podcasters  in the world.  If you ask me. All right. To my right  is David Harper, host of the comic website, sketched  in the comic interview podcast off panel.  Fun fact.

01:47
The number one stilt man evangelist. 18 years in a row, baby. 1841, please. Come on. All right. Sitting next to him is Brad and Lisa Gullickson, host of the Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast, AKA the number one couple in comics quoted by Tom King. I'm always going to remind them of that. Right. That's a hell of a flex. right. And last but not least, sitting down there, holding down the fort, just looking goddamn handsome. All right.

02:16
Bad Boys of Comics, the host of the comic pop culture show Oblivion Bars. Let's give Chris and Aaron Knowles a round of applause.

02:28
All right, look, like I said, this is a live comic book crossover show in every sense of the word. We each brought a piece of our shows. I think what makes all of our shows unique, you know, we're all talking comics,  but I think we all bring a certain perspective, background, a certain flair to the conversation.  And the goal of this live comic podcast show is to bring a piece of our show, the spirit of our shows to this and to make one amalgam, if you will, of a live show.

02:56
So what we're doing today is a uh journey through all of our shows, through different segments that we've all brought together. And I just want to kick it off, all right? And the goal is really to bring not only a piece of our shows to New York,  but we're trying to show the ultimate demonstration of comic fandom and appreciation for this culture, which is why we're all here in New York, right? So with that being said, this is being recorded. We're going to drop this,  I know I'll drop it on my feed, the short box later this month. I'll be sharing it with the crew as well.

03:25
We're also gonna do a live Q &A, so if you have questions at any point, if you'll raise your hand, my lovely wife will hand you a postcard, you can write it down, and we'll do some Q &A at the end. How's that sound? Yep.  Sounds good. All right.  With that being said, how about we jump into our first segment, hosted by the Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast. oh Dirty Laundry,  Dirty Little Comic Secrets Revealed. Take it over, Brad.  Who's familiar with Dropout TV?

03:51
Okay, all right, Dropout TV. So how do we introduce our podcast? By stealing another  show. We're gonna do Dirty Laundry. Lisa, explain what Dirty Laundry is.  From the panelists, from each of the panelists, we have collected a secret.  Because on our podcast, we wanna get to know comic book creators better, and we wanna get to know  their secrets. So um each of the panelists have submitted a secret.

04:18
And it's up to them to figure out whose secret is whose. If you guys guess correctly, somebody's secret, you get a point. But if it's your secret and nobody guesses it, you get three points. So there'll be a little time for some debate. So if it's your secret, you're going to want to deflect because you're going to want those points. And Lisa and I have seeded this packet with our own secrets, but we don't win any points.

04:45
We just confuse the other panelists. That's right.  All right. There's one thing I'm good at.  I am a master at debating. OK. Well, this is going to be interesting. So the first secret is  who on this panel  once played the kazoo at the head of a parade through a mall  to celebrate the life of a deceased  superhero? Who could that be? Aaron, do you have a guess? You.

05:12
I am very musical, that is true. I do have a master's degree in music, but that's hardly a secret. I'm very proud. And you do sing funerals. I do sing funerals and weddings. So if you guys are,  you know, getting married or dead, you can call me.  I was definitely leaning towards Lisa, too. The musical angle seems like the right fit. But would I put my own secret first?  Your ego.  Do you want us to believe that you wouldn't put a secret first? think you're doing it's like a counter-reflection.

05:40
Let's guess. Bodder, whose secret is this? I was also leaning Lisa because she's the most musically talented out of all of us like ten times over. But I'm getting the vibe that's not the case. So I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go Aaron because he's a little,  look at the smirk he's got  right now. He jump in first. He's whimsical, so that would make sense. Yeah. I'm going Lisa too.  David's going Lisa. I'm not guessing. Correct. Lisa, Consensus. L's for Lisa.  So we don't have drinks to sip.

06:09
But, I do, though.  The person who  played a kazoo at the head of a parade through a mall to celebrate the life of a deceased superhero, please raise your hand. David Hart!

06:23
They have kazoos in Alaska? Yeah, they do. RIP Cal L Clark Kent. died and my shop had a parade through the mall,  one of the big malls in Anchorage.  I walked through leading everyone with a kazoo. It was, in hindsight, probably one the more embarrassing things I ever did, but I was like seven, so I was really into it. Actually, David.

06:42
It's still embarrassing at 40 something.  I killed it on that kazoo. You have no idea. Lisa is not the only talented musician here. you give us a sample of that sound? I don't have a kazoo on me.  We have a kazoo in the crowd anywhere. have a kazoo? know someone has to have one, right? Statistically, somebody in this convention center has a kazoo. ah I think we did ants marching, actually.

07:02
That's proper way to send off Superman. don't know a lot on Kazoo. Did you have the arm How does that one go? Yeah, we did. Yeah. How does that one go? Let's get a mouth rendition. Yeah. There was actually four of me for the reign of to spare David from performing. uh Second  secret. Oh, can I read this one? All right. This one, I hope the Statue of Limitations is passed.  Brad.  Who was once forgiven by Darwin Cook?

07:27
for stealing his artwork. Whoa. Who was once forgiven by Darwin Cook? Rest in peace. For stealing his artwork. Can I ask a clarification question? Sure. Was it a physical piece of artwork or ape kids? We're not saying. say. We can't say. I just want to say Brad was too quick to deflect. I have to go with Brad here. Yeah. I do love Darwin Cook. But Chris is also getting very red. Now he's getting redder. ah

07:54
Listen, I would open hand steal Darwin's cook, Darwin Cook's art from his table, him looking at me. I wouldn't even try to hide it.  If he was still here, rest in peace, Darwin Cook.  No, my guess is actually gonna be you, Botter, because I know you have an affinity for Darwin Cook  and I want points. So I'm gonna go with, yeah, our moderator here. And he's from Jacksonville with, if a good place taught me anything, it's you guys love stealing stuff. They're known for stealing stuff, I think. Dirty do-ball for nothing. right. Donkey dog! Aaron, what about you, waiting on you?

08:25
You.  so we've got wine for bottom. Who are you guys? I'm bothering it. Yeah, everyone's bothering you.  Will the person who stole from Darwin Cook but was ultimately forgiven by Darwin Cook. Okay, this is Brad. Please raise your hand.

08:47
What did you steal? bandit. Let me show you. Okay, I got photo evidence. The story behind this goes that I think I was like 18, 19. Very, you know, I don't know, just I was just getting into graffiti and spray painting. And to make stencils, I would print out like images artwork and I would create stencils by hand. Donald Cook style is it is like deceivingly simple, but it also made for really easy stencils.

09:15
So I'd print out a bunch of his artwork, use it, I traced it out, spray paint it. And I think this was my  first MegaCon. I went there and I was like, oh, it'd be so cool if I actually made a Batman piece for Darwin Cook and gave it to him.  And this  is just young thinking, just brashful thinking.  I went up to his table, expressed how much of a fan I was, and handed him this piece. And I'll never forget the look of confusion on his face. I think I should sue you.

09:43
I'm a lettuce slide. No, he was like a standup gentleman. He was like, this is amazing. Thank you so much. And he gave me an original. I think that's an original art  of a Parker. Thank you so much. um Yeah, he was great. And shortly after I got to cease and desist and never do that again. So yeah, that was me. And I have my agents at your house right now. Stealing that art. Go inside. He's moderating right now. Go, go, go. So big shadows. All right.  On to the next one. The next secret. Who taught  Newt Gingrich?

10:12
The concept of manga. What?  Oh gosh, I know this one. I've actually heard this story before, so I feel like I'm cheating if I say who this is. No, you should say it. going to guess really well then.  I'm going David. Ooh, David. Yeah, I'm going to David too. Brad.  Brad, 100%. Lock it in. OK, so we've got one David. You know, so we're going to ask you last. Yeah, I said David as well.  OK, so which person?

10:40
Wait, wait. Can I ask the audience, just scream it out? Who do you guys think is the dirty secret on this one? Brad. oh that's Brad.  Yeah.

10:53
tell you that story already? You've actually told me that story twice, which is really funny. It's a great story. I'm still going to give you the point. Thank you. Did he understand the concept of Manga? I'm not 100 % sure. I was working for Barnes & at the time. was managing the Reston Virginia store. He did a lot of signings. I'm terrible at this, you'd think, as a podcaster. I know how mics work. He did a lot of signings for the Reston Barnes & Noble. And because I was the biggest guy, was always his, like, know. Wrangler. Yeah, his security.

11:23
Barnes and Noble security guy.  And one signing we set up next to the manga section and we're waiting for the crowd to come in and he goes, Manga?  What's Manga?  I go, well, Mr. Gingrich,  it's basically  comics from Japan. And he goes,  oh.  And I taught him the concept of manga.

11:50
And now he's on volume four of Free Run. So he's really into it He's so into Berserk. And you're like, and get this, you read it from right to left. My god. My god. All right. You'd think he'd prefer it that way. Before we got with the Pee Herman story. Before we get to the next one, I just wanted to caveat your story about stealing art real on, guys. I thought we'd forget about that. Only because.

12:12
I had to check my notes to make sure that I wasn't gonna like give away one of my truth and lie or whatever, because I was under the impression that those answers were for something. Oh, Aaron, we have modified yours  so that it is true, so do not. Never mind. I'll tell that story later. not say anymore. Okay, so there are two secrets that have not been revealed yet. Mine and Aaron's, right? All right, I have no secrets.  Oh, do we have three left? Never mind, I take that back.

12:39
We three secrets left. have three secrets left. Okay, here we go. Who has been crowned champion of eating or for eating? Who has been crowned a champion for eating? For eating? Yeah. All right. He's an eating champion. All right. Like hot dogs? I feel weird saying this because this feels like a judgmental statement and I don't know, but Aaron. He really gives off hot dog eating vibes, doesn't he? He does. He's got that energy. That's fair. That's fair.

13:07
I'm gonna go with David. I'm gonna go with the counter. Don't attack my friend right I do like to I'm gonna go with the least suspected person possibly. I'm gonna go Lisa. I think Lisa might have a couple of eating comp championship belts on her. I am very competitive. That is true. Alright, the person who has been crowned champion for eating, please raise their hand.

13:34
We do have to wrap up our segment. we gotta get a record-keeping score, but I'm killing this. It was a hot wing eating contest. 13, they were super hot. And yes, I did keep them down probably about 30 minutes later. No good. No good. Gross. So the last two secrets, it's between me and Chris Hacker. Hey. secret number one is who almost got into a fist fight for Timothy Zahn's honor? And the other one is

14:01
Who frightened Will Wheaton so much he broke into a run? Damn.  So one is  me and one is Chris Hacker. I actually feel like I know the answer to one of these, so I'm going to abstain, but I love these. These are amazing.  Am I allowed to answer? I don't think I can. I can't respond. Oh, no. I'm going Zahn with Chris. Yeah, I'm going go Zahn with Chris and Will Wheaton with Lisa. OK. Well, the person who got in a fist fight for Tiffany, Timothy Zahn's honor.

14:31
Please raise your hand. I didn't get into a fist fight. I almost got into a fist fight. And it was because the guy was being a little too forward with the guy who like basically created all of Star Wars lore. So  he was like getting way too pushy and on like from one panel to another. I was like back up, gave him like one of these little chest extenders  and we just kept walking. just like, I like grabbed him with his on by his shirt. I  like pulled him along with me through the crowd anyway. Yeah. You will not speak bad of Thrawn. Yeah.  So the person who frightened Will Wheaton so much he broke into a run.

15:00
was me, but I think it was kind of Brad's fault, because we were on a crowded sidewalk in San Diego during Comic-Con,  and a foot and a half away is Will Wheaton and his son.  And Brad is just standing there, do-do-do-do-do, and we have a very, I  can't tell,  you might not be able to tell sitting down, but there's a lot of height difference between the two of us.  And  I didn't learn how to whisper until I was 17 years old.

15:30
So I go.

15:33
Will Wheaton is right there.  And he  flinches not at all. And then go, Brad, Will  Wheaton is right there. And he's like, what? And I go, Brad, Will Wheaton is right there. And then he just runs across the street with his son.  Come on, son. Let's go. Hurry. It was a sprint.  Right. That's awesome. OK. We have an official winner. David Harper, congratulations. Wow. He wins everything. Wow.  You can have a comic book, Puppets, Counseling Pen. uh

16:02
The is Bodder.  Oh, Bodder, I'm sorry. Yeah, I take it for the team. Take one for the team. I think I win the right of going next, don't I? Absolutely. Both that being said, let's go ahead and give Brad and Lisa round of applause for that segment.  Great way to kick it off.  Now moving along, next segment is taken over by our guy.  I do want to say one thing real quick. For the most part, we did a good job of keeping our segments somewhat  a secret from each other.  And I don't think you guys have seen the final deck except for maybe one other person on this crew.

16:32
But with that being said, want to show you guys the next slide, which I'm going pass it to David to take over for this next segment, which I like to call the Off Panel Show. David asks the question. Why am I the Riddler?  Questions, Riddler.  Question everything. I love it. I love it. natural. And for the record, I it on your Facebook page.

16:54
I was under the impression that David actually made this. can't. I some rudimentary, very terrible I've dressed up as a lot of things. I've never dressed up as the Riddler, but I love it. pretty good. That's amazing. Actually, I think that was evil Knievel. think you modified my evil Knievel. Anyways, so yo, everybody. Welcome to the Off Panel Show. And normally on my podcast, I go inside baseball with comics with comic creators and people like this fine person up here, Patrick Brower from Challenger's Conversation in Chicago.

17:21
But today I want to take you inside the secret world of comic podcasters because you know, there's a lot of stuff that we don't talk about and there's probably a reason why we don't talk about it. It's like the dumb inside baseball stuff. And so I'm to be digging into that. It's less of a game show. It's more of just silly stuff. And I want to start, there's a fun thing. I don't know why it's something that I do, but I'm very curious. I've always wanted this and I've never actually asked them what they do. One of the things I want to know is comic podcasters. We'll start with you, Brad.

17:51
So when you're testing your mic, do you have a mic test sound? Is there a sound you do to do that? We test our mics together because we do everything together because we're lovers. Codependent. Codependent. And yeah, it's not a sound. We say something every time. Is it test? Please don't say No, it's not just test. It's this is an audio mic test. This is an audio mic test. This is an audio mic test. This is an audio mic test. You frame it like a question? Does she sing? And then she sings. Every time?

18:21
This is far better than the answers I actually thought I was gonna get. It's so weird because we do the same exact thing. weird. Who sings? I do. Okay, let's hear it. He can hit a high C, I can't do it. have no idea what she said. Chris, do you have a sound? Actually, it's funny, we do. We do it reactive. We're like, chickity check, chickity check. That's what we do. I'm the widest person alive.

18:45
That's the vanilla ice mic check  I I love it. You have to have something that's not just fast. Mine is, yo yo yo yo yo yo  yo. Yo yo yo yo yo yo.  Okay, I am the most ridiculous person here because I don't even really, I kind of say the word mop but it's really slow and I go mop,  mop.  And I just do that and it's funny because my wife Amber who's here,  I'll have my door closed but she'll be walking by. And she just hears mop,  mop as she's walking by and she's like.

19:14
David's about to start recording. That's how she knows. I love that. you got a weird Mothman King. It's like, ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma

19:42
how I say things, patron names at the end of my outro. I'll say this one person's name where I just shout out Norbert and then another person's name I'll say Tom Barnett. And like a creator one time emailed me and it just said, Tom Barnett, Norbert at the end of it. Is there anything you all have been surprised that listeners have really glommed onto from your time podcasting? Bader, we'll start with you. The yo, I will hear yeah.

20:11
Short Box Nation  when people are trying to get my attention. uh to answer your question, but also a funny one. One day, uh Blythe, my wife is also a longtime podcaster too.  And one day we were walking down the street, I think coming from an event  and someone was driving by  and they go,  yo, I love this show. I love the podcast. And my arrogant self was like, thank you. And he goes, no, man, not you, her. Everything is logistic.  yeah. That's amazing.

20:39
What about you guys? Anything that surprises you?  We have a similar outro thing where every now and again someone will ask us,  why do you say electronically  every time at the end of your show that way? And it's because I like to say electronically  the same way every time. And we don't like pre-record our outros. Our outros are recorded every time. And I say that word at the end, follow the podcast electronically the same way every time. Isn't it funny how after you've said something so

21:08
for so long that one way, it's like you can't not say it that way. Yeah.  I do have people at conventions come up to me and talk about the state of their marriage  or their recent divorce.  And a thing that I get a lot is people go like,  I wish my partner read comics,  which just makes me sad because I wish your partner read comics too. Like, I thought this was a counseling show. What's going on?  The comics are counseling us. uh

21:38
What about you Chris and Aaron?  I think it's that people almost immediately know that Aaron, like they know that Aaron's role is the bounce-off guy. He's the funny, like sort of the secret sauce of the show. shit.  I'm the straight man. They know that almost within the first five minutes. They always, when we talk about the show, they're often being like, you know, I was really enjoying this conversation with,  you know, Jason Fibock. We released episode with Jason Fibock today. And they'll be like, Aaron always comes in and sort of brings in that like almost like POV sort of representation, right? I'm the one asking like,

22:07
What's your process? And all these like very in-depth questions that I'm sure that are annoyed hearing. And Aaron's usually like, so like  my kink is she hawk, what's yours? You know, like something like that, you know? So it's very like off the wall, keep things very spicy and sort of fresh, you know?  I love it. I love it. Aaron's like, are you like for DOD you stick or like a body wash? What type you got? Yeah, I like, I mean, I like to ask the like in the moment stuff, like I do. I love  the fact that Chris covers  the process and we both kind of hit

22:36
the artists and these creative teams with this, I don't know, our dynamic allows them to kind of relax in whichever environment they feel comfortable. And that allows them to give a little bit more into the process, not just about like, oh, you draw first and ink it and let it, no, it's like, this is emotional. And when you get artists that like, yeah, that like, you know, tell you about emotions, it makes you feel good.

22:57
I feel like if you have a two person show, you always have to one person that's order and the other person who's chaos. I don't really know who's order and chaos for Brad. Oh, I do. I do with these two. Lisa is the funny guy. She's the color commentator and Brad is the straight man.

23:13
the chaos. Yeah, that's what Chris is saying. Oh, no, Reverse  that. I the reverse of that. I'm more ordered when it comes to the show. You think terms of prepping. Oh, in terms of prepping, yeah, yeah. But you're also like, you are the funny person. You are the wild card. OK. All right. I'm definitely the planner I'll take that as a couple of bits. You're the planner? I'm the planner of our team. But I'm definitely the messy one.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're I'm the messy one. Well, speaking of chaos. Shirt.

23:43
There you go.  So I have a question for the co-host in particular because they know each other better than anybody.  And I want to know who is the most nervous or intimidated or excited or whatever you've ever seen your co-host. Lisa, what about Brad? Because I feel like he probably gets pretty jacked about some guests.

24:03
Stan Stokai was a big deal the first time. You were really nervous. Brad, did you weep? I did not cry, but I was incredibly nervous. And I think also the first time Todd McFarland was on the show. Oh, yeah. I was very stressed. And then by the fourth time, I was like, Todd, I have other guests. Humble brag. I said a tight 40, Todd. Let's go. Come on, guy. I only asked one question. What are we doing here? What about with Lisa?

24:32
Did you guys do that? Dance lot.  Oh, and the all-rids. And all-rids. think, yeah. You're pretty cool.  You don't get to... That's so funny. One of the funniest things about when, like, different podcasts have the same guests at the same time, you'll see things where, like, we all bring our own flavor to it. And, like, Lisa spent, like, the whole time talking about the monkeys with the all-rids, which is really funny.  No one else did that. I think  you are... You don't get nervous necessarily, but afterwards, you have, the social anxiety, like, that was terrible.

25:02
Yeah, I'm definitely like the flinchy one. Yesterday we did  a panel with Porn Stack Pitchachote and I feel like I hugged him too intimately and I've been like flinching ever since. Like I really got in there and got a really good hug. That was like a little bit too  long. He's a great writer you guys. For Erin and Chris, uh Erin I know that your answer is trad more but what is your answer, Chris what is your answer for Erin?

25:28
We got to interview Amy Jo Johnson live at San Diego, or not San Diego,  Chicago, C2E2, there it is. I asked you not to tell this story. And we asked her, you know, to Erin's credit, he actually emailed Amy and was like, hey, would you like to do an interview with us? And, you know, to her credit, she said yes,  but we got to do it in person and you got to come to our hotel. And I was like, please.  And then, so we go there and we're sort of sitting this,  not even in like a, not even a room like this, just like in a hallway.  And  Erin and I are sort of like,

25:57
mentally trying to help each other calm down, I think. uh And I think we calmed down as the conversation went on, but I could definitely tell just, and maybe it's because we don't often do shows together,  but I could see the nervousness on Aaron's face when we were doing it. And I was nervous too, I'm not just saying it was him.  But yeah, it was definitely Amy Jo Johnson. Really the background- marriage?  I mean,  a throuple I think was some-

26:19
was conversated at some point, but I think she ended up denying the claim.  was like, Tommy, what's it gonna do for you?  He absolutely confessed his childhood love, his ongoing love for her. You have to do it. You have to do But I was so nervous simply because, ah again, we don't normally do our interviews in person, so it was really hard to be like, okay, you're gonna come to my hotel and interview me. Okay, where am I supposed to do this? And so I tried to find a quiet balcony place, and this was like a couple hours before. Then it started getting busy by the time she was ready to do her interview. So then we found a little quiet alcove.

26:46
where it was amazing tables, chairs, we moved furniture. And then all of a sudden, like random couples started looking at the art in this hallway. was just like every single thing just made me, because it's like the really the first conversation I scheduled by myself. And I'm like, I'm ruining everything. And Aaron hasn't scheduled the conversation since. Yep, that's one of the only. But it was a big one, it was a biggie. All right. And I think that wraps us up for the off panel show. Let's give David Harper a round of applause. All right.

27:15
Moving on, we're moving on to the Oblivion Bar segment of the show. And they actually came up with a really cool game that I want to. I'm going to disconnect for a quick second. Bear with I think Blade's about to show up. OK. This is going to be kind hard for us to see. Oh, wow. They have their own presentation? Yes, a whole separate one. don't want to ruin correct, everybody. We made carts. I'm going come around to the front, that's OK, so I can see the screen. Yeah, or I can just do this.

27:44
No, he's on the move.  I get to sit next to Potter.  You guys are in my corner. Why don't you just go to the podium? Oh, OK, I guess I could do that.  It works.  Take it over. I may not be the planner of this team. This is eating into your segment time. Yeah, for real. sense.  Oh, this is way better. How do I use this Mac? Hello, everyone. We're going to play a quick game called Who's That Comic Reader?  Yeah. All right,  here we go.

28:16
Aaron, Aaron Mon, you just harden. Winky face. Okay, number one. I don't know why I'm holding this. Number one here. Buzz in. Give me a raised hand if you know who it is, okay? Or a retitat. We're gonna be, basically, here's the rules. I'm gonna give you three hints. If anyone knows in the crowd. Yeah, I think the crowd should yell it out. You guys can actually see the screen. If you answer a question in the crowd correctly, you will get a free comment. You'll Phantom Road number one, Christian Ward.

28:41
Oblivion bar cover. Hit number one. 21 Eisner nominations. What was it? It's no, but you're in the right track. Number two. Abado. you go. Third hit was rabbit body guard and it is stance. The Got that. that the Pokemon fun?

29:08
It is. feel like I'm cheating by looking This is all themed in Who's That Pokemon. OK. Yeah. OK, number two here. We have, hint number one, first African-American editor at Marvel Comics. Christopher Priest. Nice. on. Yo, green hoodie right here came prepared. Give it to Fanson Road right Yeah, give it to green hoodie. I'm sorry, that's incorrect. Jim Owsley. Well, the next one is Jim Owsley, pseudonym. There you go. Thank you.

29:34
You can't out nerd the nerd. It co-created Static Shock. Of course, it is Christopher Priest. One of Aaron's favorite interviews on the show. I thought it was Prince by the silhouette. That's a very young... I did too. You mean the artist formerly known as Prince? That's right. Alright, number three here. Hit number one. Military brat. I know it's kind of broad. Me. That's a good... Yeah, it's you. Started a career as an editor and English language adapter of manga.

30:03
Good guess, no. Kelly Suttikhanik. Yes. Bang, bang, bang, David Harper for the win, ladies and gentlemen. And hint was Avenging Spider-Man number nine. Of course, that's the sort of reinvention of Captain Marvel in modern day. But yes, it is Kelly Suttikhanik. Woo! Only in your Comic-Con could you have a hint like that. All right, number four here. I have feeling you guys are going to get this one really quickly. Hint number one is In-Betweener for Popeye and Betty Boop. Oh.

30:32
Ding ding ding ding! Jack Kirby also had a couple synonyms as well. And then we have Marvel, most seriously, Father's Fantastic Four, The Lost Adventure, a story built on the abandoned artwork of Fantastic Four 103. Yes, it is King Kirby. That is the nerdiest hint I've ever heard. I love it. God damn. All right. Number five is the last one here. Tupac. Sorry.

30:56
Alright, can get it from the picture. Right. Showcase number 19 from 1985. First, this is his first work. It's a him. There you go. There's a big good guess now. You know who it is? it is. We already talked about it. I got my car. Rest in peace. Yeah. Of course. He worked on a lot of the cells, of course. And then Parker Selena's big score and the new frontier. It is one of the all time greats. So there you go. Who's that? Comic creator. Let's give it up for Chris and Aaron.

31:29
If you guys go online and are on Spotify, Apple, whatever, you want to leave us a five star review? Here we go. Here's a plug. Wow. the shameless plug. Never a missed moment. Never a missed moment, everybody. I didn't know we could do that. We're not supposed me pull out my Ditco Spider-Man for five star reviews.  Well, the cool thing about this is that it is our exclusive with Whatnot. So there's the Libyan Bar Pod logo on the back. All right. Enough of shameless plug. We promise find it for Jesus.  This is truly a panel of podcasters. OK.  Big shout outs to Chris and Aaron for that fun game.

31:59
My segment is gonna be short and sweet because I want to save time for some Q &A, which by the way, if you have a question, if you'll raise your hand, Blythe will walk around with some Blythe the Beautiful will be around. Okay, my segment is gonna be short and simple. It's called Holy Hot Takes Batman. I figured we're among our people here, you know? We can share our deepest, well, I we shared our deepest, darkest laundry for everyone to hear. I admitted that I stole artwork. But I figured, you know, I would like to hear.

32:26
a uh comic book related hot take from everyone that you feel comfortable sharing  in front of these thousands of people for our folks listening at home that can't see the thousands of people that showed up this panel.  And I want to start, you know, we'll start with David and we'll work our way down. David, give me your comic hot take. right. My hot take is, and please don't post this online because this will result in a discourse. It happens all the time anyways.

32:49
I personally do not believe that there is a wrong place to start in comics.  I think there are better places to start, but I think that we spend a lot of times talking about how there's a right and wrong place, and I think it makes it confusing on people. So uh I started with random Transformers comics from the 1980s, and I like the Transformers, and that's all I needed. And so next thing you know, I was reading Extinction Agenda and uh Executioner's Song from the X-Men.  Did I know who Stripe was or who Cable was? Kinda. I didn't know that they were...

33:17
clone brothers or whatever, but I figured it out through context. yeah, I think we spend too much time talking about the right place to start and we make it confusing on people. Is that a hot take? I feel like it's a hot take. People argue about it a lot. It's a lukewarm take. You can start with Watchmen. You probably should, but you could. Anyways. All right, Brad, what's your hot take? You can't even get it out. You're giggling so hard. Well, first I want to say that this is...

33:46
just how I feel. And I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum,  know, however you experience comics is  on you and I'm happy that you experience comics that way. And this is like a terrible place to admit this at a New York Comic Con, but I honestly feel like we spend way too much time talking about the collectability of comics  to the point where it keeps comics as an immature medium. Sure. ah

34:12
Comics  are as valid a storytelling medium as any other. And  we mostly spend time talking about how much this comic went for for that much. And I hate it.  And I hate CGC.  I hate slabbing.  When you put a comic  in  a  coffin,  you rob it of its function and it's no longer a comic.

34:42
And I think I just want to talk about what is actually valuable about the comic, which is the contents of the comic. Preach. Hear, hearing. But I mean, I'm also a hypocrite because I bag and board my comics. I'm very proud. I've sold comics. I paid for a vacation by selling comics. But I also lived through the 90s. And I know that.

35:10
I'm not going to get anything for all my polybag books and my chromium covers. Even though I thought I was going to pay for my college education. Now I'm warming up. I also don't like slab comics, but Bodder gave me a 4.5 of the second appearance of Stilt Man yesterday. it. Crack it here, live on the show. for the second appearance of Stilt Man. Low grade better than no grade, baby. If you love comic collecting and you love it, like awesome. That's awesome. Don't listen to my judgments. No, that a good one. That being said, we do have a CGC witness in the back. If you guys want to get anything graded while you're here today at the panel.

35:39
Just kidding. Yellow labels are available. All right, Lisa, what about you? What's your hot take? I've been asked this question many times, and I've really racked my brain about it.  And I finally come to the conclusion that I find comic book hot takes cold.  there is a great and rich history of debating  in comic book culture.  And while I understand that a lot of people enjoy that a lot, and they love to get into it, and there is something too, like, you know, like,

36:08
Try to change my mind, you know, go for it.  And  I  like  to me, it's like, uh like I  don't find winning a conversation, winning or losing a conversation particularly fun.  I think that  also  the idea that you can have a wrong take that might get you excluded, think  comes across as like a little bit.

36:36
toxic and I feel like it's not particularly welcoming. And so  the comic book conversations that I'm  curious about and excited about are the ones that come from a place of curiosity and love and not from I'm right and you're wrong and come at me.  And if  you have a take where everybody wants to treat you like Flynn Rider and pull you out and pull out swords and stab you, you should probably do some self-examination.  That's my hot take.

37:05
Fantastic. I love that. Moving down the line, Chris, what about you? What's your hot take?  Okay. I don't know if this is really necessarily a hot take and more of just like a biased opinion. So you guys can let me know in the crowd or here on the panel. But  I firmly believe that Trad Moore is  one of the all time greats.  Like undeniably.  I'm not going to rank them here, but are people fighting you on that?  I should. I think some folks do.  It's weird because he is. I think he is the singular voice of our generation, of our generation.

37:34
uh I think he deserves to be in the conversation with folks like Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, Darwin Cook, Alex Toth,  folks that changed the medium in a very significant way.  And maybe it's not known to us right now,  but we're going to look back  on Trad years from now when he decides to do something else with his  career, with his art, and think, man, we really had something special. So that's my hot take. That's solid right there. All right, Aaron, what about you?

38:05
um I think that  Big Barta is undersold.  Go deeper on that one. Can you go a little deeper on to that one? Nope. Okay. My comic hot take  is that I want to see more recap pages at the beginning of every comic, especially like a serialized one, like a monthly comic.  Just because I'm someone that...

38:32
ends up buying a lot or reading a lot and sometimes I'd be forgetting stuff, right? And a helpful little paragraph telling me what happened in the last issue would be fantastic. I feel like some publishers are doing that, but not enough. Also, on that same page, why not put a picture of the creators? You know,  let's put a picture of the creators, know, something small so we can put face to name.  I think uh one thing that I think we're all really good at is spitting out these names. But when you come on the con floor and I'm guilty of it,

39:01
I don't know what they look like. I'm having to really kind of  search or  I don't know how many times maybe I've walked by a creator that maybe I'm the biggest fan of and I just don't know what they look like. And I think we could do a better job of putting,  at least they're face forward a little more.  So that way they're just more um recognizable and memorable. the credit, I think it'll go a long way in terms of crediting creators as they should be. And not just the writer and artist, but I'm talking like the whole team. The colors, the letters,  even the editors I think should also get.

39:31
a little uh shine as well. Just speaking on that, Bada, really quick. I agree with you 100%. I think on social media, I don't know if anybody here has any pull within the big two or any publisher at that, but  I think that when you post artwork on social media  for a character for, let's say, Batman Day or something, credit the artist  when you post the work online.  Why are we not giving  Jorge Jimenez his flowers, even though he's already the hottest person here at the con?

39:56
He can't put his picture in there it really pass out when they see it.  Just mention his name in the post. That's you have to do. It's super easy. OK. Fantastic. All right, y'all. uh That actually brings us to the last segment of our show with just  a little more than 15 minutes left. I want to get into a Q &A segment. So what we did was we reached out to our individual  shows and audience and listeners and asked for some questions as well.  And then obviously we've got some questions from you guys here in the crowd.

40:25
I wanted to prioritize the ones that we got here live and then try to work in some of the ones  from our listeners if we can get to them. uh I'm going to start off, there's no name on this one, but  while I kind of go through this, how about we kick off with this question here. um What is a new comic you wish more people would check out?  And I want to work reverse this time. Aaron, I'll start off with you and Chris if you guys want to go. What is a new comic you wish more people would check out?

40:53
Well, that's like the newest comic book reader uh in this group.  This is a thing that Aaron's been saying since we started the show. Every time we talk about something, Aaron's like, well, that's a new comic book reader. And I'm like, well,  of us two, you're always going to be the newest comic book reader.  Anyway, go ahead. uh I would say  recently that the first thing comes to mind is Superman Lost. I don't think enough people gave Superman Lost the  flowers it deserved. uh As somebody who  deals with PTSD on a daily basis,

41:22
the representation of those traumatic  symptoms and consequences that Superman exhibited in that book. And I got to tell Christopher Priest, it almost brought me to  tears,  was the simple fact that the representation I felt there was so powerful. I  had never read a Superman book before because it just never really related to me. I will never forget that book. That will be my favorite Superman storyline simply because of the vulnerability and the humanity  that Superman

41:52
showed as dealing with that PTSD. So  I highly recommend it to anybody. If you know anybody that's been through a traumatic event, if you know somebody that  knows somebody that is a partner of a traumatic event survivor and they read comics, recommend that one to them. Cause it is, I don't know, it's like freeing. helped me even talk about my own issues, to be honest.

42:13
I had a couple that popped in my head immediately. I have like one A, one B. Will McFarrell's in. David and I, obviously we've all talked about it with each other, I think. It's an incredible story. But also I want to give a very significant sort of highlight to FML by Kelly Sue DeConnick and David Lopez. I think it's like, it's the comic for me. When I'm reading it, I'm like, gosh, it feels like Kelly Sue dipped into my brain and just went, this is what you want. Here it is.

42:41
It's so much fun, the art is incredible. David's contribution to that story is equally as important as Kelly's and  it just works for me. I think it's up to issue six now and it's been,  each issue has been so immaculate. yeah, FML.  I'm going to say Spectrum by Dave Chisholm and Rick Quinn. If you are a music nerd, this is a comic for you.  It kind of reminds me...

43:06
I've said this before, Brad says I shouldn't say it, but I say it anyway. It's kind of like Sex Criminals for Virgins, where they listen to music or create art and by doing so they enter this parallel universe where all of this stuff is happening. Dave Chisholm is an amazing artist. Rick Quinn is a little bit of a comic book outsider, but I think that that's to his advantage. It's a really...

43:36
different sort of book. And if you're like  a person whose brain lights up by like solving puzzles or like  making connections, it's a really great and fun comic. Six issues and it's awesome. Yeah, Trade Paperback is out now.  Chris, when you were talking about Tradmoor, I was thinking also about Junie Ba.  I think Junie Ba is like one of the great cartoonists working today.  Boy Wonder, if you want like a superhero thing.

44:04
But Monkey Meat, there's two volumes of it  from Image Comics. uh The Summer Batch is the one that just wrapped up. I'm also about to have a trade paperback.  It's an extremely funny comic, but it's an extremely angry comic. It's talking very much about planet Earth right now. It's talking about  capitalism  and colonization  and all the awful stuff, but doing it in such a vibrant creative way. uh

44:32
It's an addictive read and I don't think enough people read Monkey Meat. uh And yeah, get that in your hands. I'm going to cheat. I have two answers. One, uh I normally would say Xander Cannon's Kaiju Max here and he's not making that anymore, so I can't say it. So instead I'll say Xander Cannon's Sleep,  which is his image series. It's an eight issue mini series about  a man who goes to sleep and becomes a monster that ravages his town every single night.  Except for you only see the parts.

45:00
where he's awake and so he's dealing with the ramifications of his actions and just seeing the city or the town destroyed. It is amazing. It's easy to sleep while sleep on because it's in black and white and know, Xander, I love him, has never been the most commercial creator and he deserves it. Kaiju Max is a masterpiece. Sleep is incredible. And then the other one I'm going say really quick is Do Admit by Mimi Pond. It's a new graphic novel from Drana Quarterly. It's a 444 page graphic novel about

45:28
these wild women, British women who are friends with Hitler, JFK, Martin Luther King Jr. and a whole bunch of other people throughout history. And it is one of the best graphic novels I have ever read. And I just wrote about it for sketch with Oliver Sava. So I highly recommend if you want to change a pace, autobiography slash biographical fiction or nonfiction. That is one of the funniest books of 2025. It's amazing. Oh, yeah. All right. I've got two as well. I'll cheat. I'll give one manga and then one comic. I guess they're both comics, but

45:57
uh The manga one I'll give  is technically came out in 2023, but it goes by Kagura Bachi I'm probably butchering the name. I apologize.  It is illustrated written by Takeru Hokuzano Once again, I apologize, but it follows a young boy who is the son of a famed  swordsman. The swordsman uh creates these amazing uh swords that are enchanted with magic. He creates seven blades He gets murdered by a group of wizards for like better terms  and the son goes on a revenge tour

46:27
um to get back all of the blades from the six wizards that killed his father. He holds the seventh blade, which is like the best blade out of all of them. It is  high octane action. I mean, it is  drawn wonderfully as well. The concept is really cool between like, you know, this like Yakuza style mob wizard group and the magic realm aspects of it. It's awesome. And then in terms of the other one, uh having a chance to interview Kyle Starks, he got me on to where monsters lie,  which uh

46:56
Volume 3 just wrapped up Kickstarter campaign, so it should be coming out soon. But the whole premise is that all of your favorite horror tropes, the slasher, the... I mean, every horror trope that you could think of. It's a gated community for slasher movie villains. Yeah, but they get infiltrated and found out and hell breaks loose within the gated community. It's up to Volume 3. It's drawn wonderfully and I am not a horror guy at all. I am very squeamish, but...

47:23
This comic is just so fun and Kyle Starks injects like this humor, this humanity to it and just such an interesting perspective in terms of like the whole horror tropes. So where monsters lie in  Kagura Bachi manga.  With that being said, let me move on to our next question. I want to get into um some kind of podcast, a podcasting question here.  And that is actually, let me go, which one do want to do? How about this one? How do you balance podcasting of your day jobs? If it is your day job, how that happened?

47:51
from Adam Rek of Battle of the Atom. Big shout out to Adam. uh David, I think this will be interesting question for you to take first considering your recent transition into doing your podcasting full time. I am a full time comic podcasting and comics journalist.  Woo! Yay! And it's going really well. uh Step one, get laid off. uh Step two, do this for a very long time and hope you have an audience. And step three,  trust in the comics community because they're amazing. it's going well so far. uh yeah, I mean,

48:20
The key is putting yourself out there and honestly, like I've said this many times, listen to Brad and Lisa. They are the best in the game of promoting themselves. I am a virgin who has no idea how to do anything besides record one podcast and people seem to like it, but they are so good at promoting stuff. Also do, I can't believe I'm saying this. I'm going to betray you too. These two are right. Do video. Video is actually very helpful. I'm sorry. said, gotcha. Gotcha. All right, Brad and Lisa. I hate video. We all hate video. We just do it. We have to do it.

48:49
Lisa, how do we balance life and podcasting? Well,  I used to be a classroom teacher. did it for,  I only did it for five years, but um it was making me miserable. As much as I love the kids and I loved my subject, I was teaching music. um I just couldn't do it anymore. So I switched to being a freelance music teacher, which I go to people's homes and I teach teach music. And then I also  sing locally. And with that job,

49:18
can make my own schedule  and so, um and I can move things around. I think me switching to freelance  so that I could prioritize these other things I could, I wanted to do was really huge for me. Also, I'm just happier. Also we're child free. Yeah, don't have kids. All money goes to us.  That's right. uh The  only thing I would add is like,  you know, um we love it  and

49:48
That means we're happy spending every waking second that's not already devoted to comic book couples counseling doing comic book couples counseling. Yeah. And that's not healthy necessarily,  but we love it. We do. uh Yeah. What's a balance? How do you want to tackle that one?  I don't do anything. ah It's really tough, honestly. Like it's one of those things where  I think the goal at the beginning of the oblivion bar was to get as big as possible.

50:16
get as many ear holes and eyeballs as possible and that's just no longer the goal.  think we're at a point now I think in the show's history where we're very happy with the quality not only of each other but with the guests and the show and everything  where  social media doesn't matter. uh know the  engagement's great of course we want that but it's not the most important thing I think at the end of the day is putting on a show that not only you enjoy doing  but with folks that you enjoy being around. you  know

50:43
balance is, it's hard, it's not something I can sit here and tell you, this is how you balance it correctly. You have to sort of find that within yourself. And as someone who, you know, he's recently retired from the army, you know, I still obviously work full time. So it's like, you know, it's tough, but we make it happen because we love the comics and shout out to Zach here in the crowd here, Zach Quainton's, I still steal it from him all the time. So I have to him credit now that he's here. Comics demand our participation. We have to put the good into it. If we want this thing to keep going, we have to be the ones to put the good into it. So.

51:13
I know it's a cliche, but it's like they say, do what you love and you won't work a day in your life. And like, the thing is, is it's a lot easier if you build something you love and the work life balance, it's like,  you know, shout to Adam, Adam has a great podcast, battle the Adam  and, um,  they do a great job and it's a lot easier when you can make something that you're proud and happy doing every single day. And that doesn't answer the work life balance, but it makes it a little bit easier for me. It's just about having Chris to do the job.

51:43
That's majority of it. But also, it's just the fact of like, you know, again, the work life balance, because not only do we have to think about each other's schedule, but I have to think about like my wife's schedule. You know, we have to think about the guest schedule. So when you're working and you're fighting three or four different scheduling, like appointments and timelines and calendars, it gets crazy. So what I try and get Chris and I to do is constantly do the specific things that we can do regularly on at a specific time during the week, because I need that transparency for my week.

52:09
um And then,  like, you we're trying, we're working to where I can take some of the toll  of the show off of his shoulders. So I got to learn things. I learned things by repetition. He learns things, but just doing it. Blunt force. Blunt force. He just hit his head against the wall. So I need repetition.  So it's really good. It's communication really, especially if you have a multi-person podcast, communicate,  be open about it. We have a quarterly uh come to Jesus moment with each other.  So, and we really have to put everything out there because if we don't, we'll start tearing each other's head off.

52:38
And you know, I'm gonna pick you back off of Aaron's remarks, which I thought were great. As someone that's been doing this for 13 years, the minute I started building out a process, I know it sounds super kind of corny to think process and all that, but it'll go a long way if you can build out a process where it's plug and play, where you know this is the program I use, if you can build out templates, it goes a long way. The less brain power you have to do in terms, because podcasting is, that pipeline is insane. Scheduling, recording, editing, posting.

53:08
Promoting and then it's right back. You know, it's just like oh, it's a sick It's a cyclical cycle that can break you down very easy  and you know going 13 years it's like Lean into the process build out a process that makes it as easy as possible where you're not having to like, know assert too much brainpower and to like the very minutiae things that you can figure it out and shout out to the partners who literally  wait for our  I'm sorry real quick before I forget and then also

53:35
Do know what the average number of downloads for all my podcast was out there? Do know what the average number of downloads for a show that has been posted in the first seven days is 30? 30 downloads is the average of this from a sample pool of like over 150,000 podcasts. 30 downloads does not sound like a lot. But if you consider that there is about, I don't know, let's say for audio listeners, it's over 2000 people in this panel room. For everyone else, there's about 40 to 50 people here.

54:05
Like  40 to 50 people in a room that you're talking to that are like listening and attentive and absorbing your message, that's powerful stuff. So don't get tied up into like, you know, defeating yourself by looking at the, numbers can go down a weird rabbit hole. And I think you gotta always stay in perspective. So with that being said, we don't have much time. I wanna go through these next ones, lightning round, if you don't mind. Just shout out to the partners for being patient with us because sometimes our interview, all the time our interviews run long.  So  thank you. oh

54:35
I want to actually pull from some of the listener  submitted questions, starting with this one I've got on screen from Gianno Palumbo. Hopefully I'm saying that right. Gianni. Gianni. Gianni. Thank  For the whole panel, who are your dream creators to interview alive or past and why? I'm just going to go in and say Mobius.  I think what that dude is, uh you know, when you look at his stuff, it's like, I just want to get inside the mind of  Mobius to figure out like how he came up with some of the things that he's drawn in his perspective, I think would be a fascinating conversation.

55:05
David. Brooke and Robin Lopez, twins that play in the NBA. They're big comic nerds and one of them lights beating up  NBA mascots and I want to know why. uh Dead Darwin Cook and Jack Kirby, alive Alan Moore.  I would never have Alan Moore in the podcast. He scares me too much. I know he is scary.  I'm also going to say Alan Moore though, because that is our goal.  We know we've really made it when we had Alan Moore on the podcast. uh

55:31
I'm gonna say Jesus Christ. Think about all of the listings. Oh dang. Jesus Christ, who's your favorite Spider-Man? Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield. Who's the best Chris? Okay, for me, alive it is Chris Evans, James Gunn, Jim Lee. I would have said Brian K. Vaughan. Shout out to David, he got that, he made that happen. Dead, Darwin Cook, and Jack Kurtz, sorry, yeah, same answer.

56:01
Aaron, ahead. uh Mila Jovovich, uh self-explanatory. um And then Jim Lee, so can apologize for giving him a copyright uh stolen shirt that I made of  Batman.  I can't wait to get my absolute Jesus Christ number one in the mail. I  was just gonna say,  guess I didn't pick my deceased one. uh Mike Ringo.

56:23
I absolutely love his art. And  when I was growing up, he kind of made me realize that I liked a certain type of art that I didn't see in the world as much.  I think you see it a lot in like Chris Somany and Doc Schaener and a lot of people like that. And yeah, Ringo's amazing.  I guess I didn't choose my dad because Jesus is back.  He's risen.  OK, I think we'll wrap up with this question since we brought him. David, you brought him up on the panel.  This question is from Cameron Norbert. Oh, yeah. He asked, what is a common will end on on uh on our fields, right? Some emotional.

56:53
Something emotional. What is a comic that left an emotional mark on you that took you by surprise? The type of book that still serves a visceral feeling in you years later. I'm gonna start at the end of the table this time. Aaron, how about you take it away? I mean, I'd still go with, you know, Superman Lost simply because again, that's like the most emotional one that I got. As far as like podcasting people that kind of brought it out, I'm gonna talk about you guys, Brad and Lisa, the episode, their invincible series they did.

57:19
I was literally listening to that, driving to New York Comic Con one year in a box truck full of comics listening to that episode.  I was just, honestly, like it brought me to tears because I was thinking about my relationship and struggles with my own self and the things I was going through, my trauma. So that was, if you guys ever  want to listen to that episode, it is one of the most, I don't know, it's crazy.

57:40
Chaos. So in terms of feelings, I've already talked about it. In by Will McFrail. It's a journey, I'll tell you. was an artist through, is it New York Times everybody? Yeah, New York Times artist, cartoonist. he just, the story is a roller coaster of emotion. And I don't even really want to say much about it. I feel like I would be robbing you of this experience.

58:08
I will just say that like I was on a plane to for a work expo my day job and I cried I laughed I cried again like all the things so in it's I in dot Will McPhreal. My all time favorite comic book run is the dance slot Mike all red silver surfer and over the course of that comic you get an entire romantic relationship from meet cute to.

58:39
spoilers, uh one of the partners dying of old age.  And what I love about that comic is one, it really had me thinking about

58:50
my husband's mortality and how it is a responsibility to go on. But also it gave me this turn of phrase, which is the infinite all in. And what the infinite all in is, is when you enter a relationship with someone, it can be any kind of relationship. can be a friendship, it can be a romantic relationship. a relationship is always going to end with someone being heartbroken because either you break up or you hit the finish line and one of you dies. Unless there's some kind of a massive accident.

59:19
Odds are either you're going to be the person who's heartbroken or the person you love the most is going to be the person who ends up heartbroken.  And the fact that we find that worth it every single time and our entire existence is for seeking out that thing, it's pretty freaking beautiful. So  everybody should read it. um And the infinite all in is something I think about every day. It's a great answer. Thanks.

59:44
Beat it. I can't.  I cry all the time. Like I cry at tons of comics. uh I cry in every movie practically.  I don't have a good answer.  What jumped out immediately was Danny Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer's uh Murder Falcon. Do a Powerbomb also. I cried during that too.  But Murder Falcon was the one I first cried to.  Of his.  Yeah.  Mortality stuff. uh I have a...

01:00:13
answer that sounds fake to start with. uh X-Men 25 when Wolverine had his adamantium taken out of his body.  I honestly cried explaining that to my mom. I was also like nine, so it's a pretty good explanation. And then the real answer is Archie Co. Johnson's uh Oh My God, No One Else.  And uh that is a book that is very funny and very personal that is about family tragedy and there's a family tragedy that my family went through similarly. And so reading that was a very personal experience.  I didn't cry as much as I did when  Wolverine had his adamantium taken out, but still.

01:00:42
very personal. All right and I'll wrap us up by saying Lone Wolf and Cub uh which is uh written by Kazuo Koiki and illustrated by Goseki Kojima. follows a father and son. I have this thing about revenge but they are also  on a uh journey of revenge. It spans like 28 volumes. I read it during like the lockdowns so as you can imagine all that emotion on top of like this very I mean like the word epic does not do it justice. It is like truly one of those like on par with like the Odyssey. It is such this

01:01:11
transformative read ah and it just came at such an interesting like emotional you know just time  and I still I want to reread it but I know I got to be ready I got to be in the right mindset so long wolf and cubby we've never read it one of the all-time greatest comics in my mind and the movies are amazing and the movies are amazing and with that being said that is all of our time ladies and gents thank you so much for coming to our panel you guys are great feel free to follow us wherever you get your podcast  we'll catch you around thank you for coming out

01:01:41
There you have it ShortBikes 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 really liked this episode,  help us spread the word. Share this episode with a friend or someone you know that loves comics as much as we do. And don't forget to leave us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

01:02:09
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01:02:35
Speaking of our Patreon community, I want to give a big shout out to our current members, including Adam Chittani, RcGamut, BJKicks, Blake Simone, Blythe Milligan, Bo Evers, Brian Brumleaf, Chad Landenberger, Chris Hacker, David Morales, Greg Ligteig, Hershel, Mack Jacobson, issue number three, Brad, Jay Sinner, Jeff Fremid, Jerome Cabanatan, Jose Sepulveda, Justin McCoy, Corey Torgeson, Matt Godwin, Amanda Marin,

01:03:05
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01:03:34
you