SPEAKER_12 0:01

Ladies and gentlemen. The Short Box Podcast is recorded live from Jacksonville, Florida.

Ben Kingsbury 0:27

Yep, Short Box Nation. Welcome back to the pod. Thanks for pressing play today. If you're brand new, hey, welcome to the show. I'm your host, Bodder, and this is the Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show where we bridge the gap between the panels of your favorite comics with the people who put their blood, sweat, and tears into making them. This is a short box classic episode, meaning this is an oldie but a goodie. I went into the archives. I'm re-releasing or remastering all that good stuff. Some of you might have heard this one, some of you might have not, all right? There's a lot of new friends joining the short box nation this year. And what I can say about this episode, right? It is technically the 400th episode, released three years ago. It features myself, obviously, but I got Ed on this episode and Cesar. And what we did was each pick one 400th issue comic book to talk about the celebrate 400 episodes of the podcast. We also had a bunch of friends and family submit voicemails, submit questions for us, also, you know, partake in the celebration. And then Cezar surprised me with an epic roast, which isn't new because he's he's always roasted me on this show when he was on here full time. But this was a different caliber of roast. It was a 400th episode roast, so it was a lot of fun. So uh if you haven't heard this episode, I'm telling you you're in for a great time. If you've heard this episode, hey, it's I I think it ages better, all right? Sometimes a podcast ages with time, and yeah, your boy is trying to stall time as I plan uh the next big milestone, which will be the 500th episode. That's gonna be happening in a couple of weeks, and if I can be fully transparent with you guys, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm gonna do for it. All right, admittedly, this kind of crept up on your boy because life has been lifing lately, it's been a whirlwind of shit going on over here. So just know that I am working on pulling something together, someone together. But in the meantime, we're gonna take a look back at the last big milestone, which was 400 episodes uh three years ago. Uh, and that's where we're at now, all right? So enjoy this retro episode. I'll have a new one for you next week. I'm gonna drop 499 next week. That is an interview, an episode I'm doing with Joshua Williamson, who is uh one of the busiest guys in comics. He is writing Iron Man, he is writing G.I. Joe for Image, and he is writing this big superboy event for DC Comics. He's got his hand in a little bit of everything. That interview will drop next week, or you could check it out on the Patreon, all right? Patreon.com slash the short box. It is currently up right now if you want to get ahead of next week's release. Um, I might be recording with Drew this week, so that'll drop on the Patreon as well. Even more incentive to check out what we got going on over at the Patreon, all right? Patreon.com slash the shortbox. That's all I got for real. Enjoy the episode, and I'll catch you next week, all right? Peace. Yo, short box nation. Welcome back to the podcast. How's everyone feeling? I want I want you guys to do me a favor. Who are you talking to? Audience. Thank you so much. This guy is your guy.

SPEAKER_25 3:22

Stop it with the how are you guys feeling? If you cared, you would pause longer, okay? Because there might be some guy out there that's like, actually, I'm not feeling good.

Badr Milligan 3:34

Moving on.

Ben Kingsbury 3:36

Great.

Badr Milligan 3:37

But I was like, boring boring.

Ben Kingsbury 3:41

Well, I was gonna ask everyone to do me a favor. And whatever drama, stress that you got going on today, I want you to put it to the side. Are you talking? You're talking to us clearly. Clearly. For you guys, I need you to talk about it.

SPEAKER_24 3:53

Because this directly affects the quality of the show.

Ben Kingsbury 3:57

I'm talking to the audience. Whatever drama and stress they got going on today, I want them to put it to the side for the next hour and some change. Because today you're among some friends, all right? It's it's not just a normal episode of the podcast today. Today is a celebration of the highest magnitude. One that's almost uh been almost 11 years in the making. Shortbox Nation, welcome to episode foe hunted.

SPEAKER_30 4:22

Faux honey.

Ben Kingsbury 4:23

This ain't episode 400. This is faux hunted. Faux honey? Faux hunted.

SPEAKER_30 4:28

Faux honey.

Ben Kingsbury 4:30

There's a D, but it's a silent D. Faux hunted. I'm a father. I don't know what's cool anymore. I don't know what's cool anymore. This is episode 400, ladies and gents. If you're new to the show, welcome to the podcast and all of this. Just welcome to all of this.

SPEAKER_25 4:45

We're just sorry. We're just sorry.

Ben Kingsbury 4:47

In advance.

SPEAKER_25 4:47

Thank you for coming. We're sorry.

SPEAKER_17 4:49

Why not start at 400?

Ben Kingsbury 4:50

You know, you know what? Why not? Great mind.

SPEAKER_17 4:52

Good jumping on point for new listeners.

SPEAKER_25 4:53

Granted, it took you way too long. If you want to jump on the podcast during phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that's 100% your fault, uh prerogative.

Ben Kingsbury 5:05

Well said. It took you long enough, but you're here, and that's all that matters. My name is Bodder. Coming to you live from the short box studio, and this is the short box. Ed, is this the name guy? No. When's the last time he's been here?

SPEAKER_25 5:17

This is the problem. This is your fault. Given the I am I look, look, look. Ashley's not here. So I have to make up for her shit talking as well.

Ben Kingsbury 5:26

Yes, because she had so much shit talking in the normal episode.

SPEAKER_25 5:29

Notorious shit talker, Ashley. Ashley is, for those who aren't listening, is dead. So we're just she was mauled by a tiger. We're mourning her loss. Yeah, might as well be. We're mourning her loss. And she is 100% cool with us.

SPEAKER_17 5:44

Mocking her death. Yeah.

Ben Kingsbury 5:46

We're jumping the gun just a little. Uh I was gonna introduce everyone. You know, because right now we're addressing the new. Well, we know who's Donald Trump. So, okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_25 5:55

I wanted to say Butter, please run a tighter ship, okay? Because I think it's I think it's detrimental, too. Finish it. Finish it. Finish it. All right, sorry. All right, look, my name is Future Potter, you're gonna edit all this out.

Ben Kingsbury 6:11

Future Butter, love you, bro. Hang tight. So weird. You can do it. All right, look, my name is Butter. Come to you live in the Shortbox Studio, and this is the Short Box Podcast. If it is your first time tuning in, this is the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversation about comics and the pop culture inspired by them. And as you can tell, I'm joined by the three fucking stooges today. All right, I'm joined by some knuckleheads. I'm counting myself as well.

SPEAKER_18 6:34

You can't count. I'm counting myself as one.

Ben Kingsbury 6:37

You said you were joined by someone.

SPEAKER_18 6:38

Don't even lie.

Ben Kingsbury 6:39

Don't even lie. All right. As you can tell, look, I got this special Edmund Danzer holding down mic number two with me.

SPEAKER_25 6:45

Did you just say special Edmund Danzer? Special. Is this guy like off the street? He doesn't listen to the show.

Ben Kingsbury 6:52

Look, we got Ed on mic number two. So disrespectful. Look, leave the kids at home today for this episode, just like Cesar did. We got Cesar Cordero in the building. Hey, he acts like he's never recorded in an episode with us.

SPEAKER_25 7:07

AKA Cesspool. Thank you. All right. We're gonna have nicknames. My rapper alias is trips. Triple C.

Ben Kingsbury 7:13

Triple C. Cesar Cesspool Cordero in the building. That's it. If you're new and you're like, what the fuck is going on? I implore you to go back to the 399 other examples of a well-run tight chip that we've got going on. That's what's that's funny. You can catch up with those to get a good feel of what the show regularly is like. But this one, this episode, this one is for the short box nation. All right. This one is for everyone that's supporting us, whether it be this year, you just found the show this year, or you've been supporting for the last 300 plus episodes. This one is for you guys, all right? This is for our short box nation. This is for the short box heads out there. We're celebrating 400 episodes. I don't think I gotta keep this intro long at all because you already know how to.

SPEAKER_25 7:54

But you're going to.

Ben Kingsbury 7:56

But you're going to. You're going to. I do like the sound of my voice today. It's uh been lubricated with Patron, provided by Cesar's wallets. Uh Ed, can we go into Cheers with our buying?

SPEAKER_25 8:10

Don't put this on me.

Ben Kingsbury 8:11

Uh jokes aside, that's not to say that we don't have a theme or topic today, because we do. We do. We got a little central theme. It's going to be short and sweet, of course. We'll be talking about some of our favorite comics that have also celebrated 400. Which, spoiler warning, isn't that many. The 400 club and comics is kind of a small circle. Okay, first off, let me stop you right now. All right, go ahead.

SPEAKER_25 8:32

What you have done, essentially, is said guys, in classic botter form, in classic Disney Marvel shill form, you were like, all right, we're gonna pick 400. Look, guys, here's the homework assignment. Pick a comic book that has the issue number 400. For those of you who are casual listeners who don't who aren't into the world of comic books, and even if you are, there are a lot of comic book companies out there, a lot of publishers, none of which have the longevity as the big two, like Marvel or DC. That said, so if Butter basically says, hey, why don't you guys do your favorite 400th issue? The list is rather short, and look at Butter smiling. He's like, Yeah. So you're gonna have to pick a Marvel book eventually. I think there was a couple of DC books or whatever, but did you pick up? Did you pick a DC book?

Ben Kingsbury 9:32

Um, me and Ed are gonna share our uh So that's a no. Okay, cool. So that's a no.

SPEAKER_25 9:36

Got it. Okay. To my point, Butter left us no choice. That said, I had to think outside the box. So I'll just say that.

Ben Kingsbury 9:46

Wow. You saw how he dunked on me, but like lifted himself up. Dunked on you?

SPEAKER_25 9:50

Wow. Dunked, I dunked, I got dunked on. Oh my god. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_17 9:55

Just in case you're wondering, it was gonna be teams, so that's why we're right.

SPEAKER_25 9:59

Yes, he I guess we gotta give C some sort of handicap today. You gotta give me a big handicap. Ashley did all the work. He's reading it right now. Facts. Look, here's the thing Ashley is also a parent. Okay. Shout out to shout out. She shot shout out. Um, she could not come because the nature of her job dictated that she had to go to the hospital because, and I quote, she was attacked by a cat. So I am down one teammate, and I'm feeling it right now. You're feeling the betrayal. The betrayal. Yeah. Oh, oh, wait, I forgot. Yeah, Ashley's not here. Let's talk some shit.

SPEAKER_22 10:38

Hi, I'm Ashley. I can't come here. My boobies are swollen.

SPEAKER_25 10:44

So, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And that's been a minute. She'll appreciate that. She'll appreciate that. Look, it was like, can't now it's boobies.

SPEAKER_22 10:54

Because I'm a good mother.

Ben Kingsbury 10:56

No, stop being there for your child, man. I know, right? Look at look at how I came up, you know?

SPEAKER_22 11:02

Bottom's like, I hate you, Dad. Look at how I came up. Fuck you, Dad.

Ben Kingsbury 11:08

The 400 Club, like she is saying, is is very limited. You know, there's obvious titles that come to mind.

SPEAKER_25 11:13

Your Batmans, your Detective Comics, your Spider-Mans, your Spider-Mans, your Spider-Mans, your Spider-Mans, your Supermans, your Captain America's have all hit 400.

Ben Kingsbury 11:22

And then there's like one or two titles that haven't hit 400 that were a little surpris or that have hit 400 that were a little surprising. Like Sgt. Rock. I didn't know that was a comic series that went up to 400.

SPEAKER_25 11:32

Because it's a DC title. That's why you don't know. You're right.

Ben Kingsbury 11:34

It's on my, you know, it was off the radar. But also Archie. That's another uh series that has hit 400 and probably beyond 400. So 400 Club, rather small. Aside from talking about uh 400 issue comics, we're also going to be uh celebrating with some friends, right? We've got a bunch of voice messages from friends of the show, past guests, new people have chimed in, and honestly, people we haven't heard from in years have all sent in a voice message to celebrate this momentous occasion with us. Without further ado, I'm not gonna do any more shameless plugs. Let's get into our main segment, which is the 400 club.

SPEAKER_25 12:10

What was that?

Ben Kingsbury 12:11

That was a little like transition. It was like Ed, where'd you find this guy? Like the street? I mean, obviously the fucking streets or a dumpster. Wow. But you know what? Set the ABC looking.

SPEAKER_25 12:22

I'm going to re- I'm gonna reserve my comments. I'm going to reserve my comments.

Ben Kingsbury 12:27

Do you want to go ahead and give C first dibs? Yeah, what? On what? Chair in your book. Oh, let me just do that. Yeah, man. You know, I mean, you're at a disadvantage. Yeah, I mean, look, you're at a disadvantage. You got a handicap. We're letting you go first. All right. What is the 400-issue comic that you that you want to spotlight today?

SPEAKER_25 12:41

So I had to pick a loophole because as I stated earlier, Butter was like, here are your choices: Disney, Disney, Disney, Disney, Disney, Disney, Disney.

Ben Kingsbury 12:51

Warner Brothers. Come on. One Warner Brothers comic.

SPEAKER_25 12:54

There's like two. There's like Batman 400 and Sgt. Robert. Detective Comics. That's it.

Ben Kingsbury 12:58

I picked your boy Bats. Come on. Here's what I did. It wasn't enough. He was like, I'm going to break. I'm just going to go, you know, off the beaten track.

SPEAKER_25 13:07

I was being sensitive to my teammate, who was also a parent, which by the way, our teammate would have been Meet the Parents. That said, I was like, okay, here's what we're going to do. To keep relevancy with the times, because the new TMNT movie came out. I saw it. I thought it was good. Yeah. And I said, well, wait a minute now. Turtles have been around a long time. Mirage has put out, as a publishing company, they put out 129 issues of Turtles Comics. IDW, believe it or not, has put out 269 issues. Add that up, that's like 398. Not counting the one-shots. So And not counting the image run.

SPEAKER_30 13:52

Correct.

SPEAKER_25 13:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_30 13:53

That sounds like more than Jesus Christ.

Ben Kingsbury 13:56

Yo, Cozy, I hope you're enjoying this.

SPEAKER_25 13:58

So that said, I was like, okay, so we can play around with these rules. So I said, okay, we made it. We made that up.

SPEAKER_17 14:05

Just let him. Just let him in. Let's just, let's just. He's we. I don't know this we stuff. Yeah. Me. I was like, I decided I can just do what I want. Absolutely. In typical C fashion.

SPEAKER_25 14:12

In typical look, me and Ashley are now running the show because you guys are fucking kids. So the parents, mom and dad, have to run shit. Okay. So you go to your fucking room. Go to your room. I'm in my room, Dad. Okay. All right. And we decided, look, let's just do a Turtles comic to stay relevant because somebody has to fucking save the show. You know? Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm in no position to save it today. I'm just saying. Uh it's not your fault, Ed, but fucking Butter has let this shit become the phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ben Kingsbury 14:44

Oh, wow. I should actually be way more mad at that. That is a burn. That is a burn if I've ever heard one. Yes. He just called the show phase four because the MCU. I mean, ouch.

SPEAKER_25 14:54

I like phase four, though. I thought we were brothers. I don't know what you're talking about, bro. So anyway, so I picked the TMNT annual for this year. And uh and if you'll uh bear with me. Uh the story's pretty cool because it's kind of riding off of The Last Ronin. If you guys ever did you guys read The Last Ronin? Come on, man. You read the whole thing? Love it. Okay. So this is sort of like they're doing an event right now in Turtles called Armageddon Game. And it you don't have to know anything about that to um, I guess, enjoy this book. But the cool thing is that it deals with sort of that same theme with The Last Ronin. Instead of Spoilers, if you haven't read The Last Ronin, spoilers. Two, three, four, five. Okay. Instead of it being Michelangelo as an old turtle in the future, the story centers on an old Raf coming back in time. And while he's coming back in time through a portal, a ginormous shark time monster bites his arm off. Like Stephen King's The Langoliers, Ed I know, I know you'll know what I'm talking about. So a langaleer bites off uh Raf's arm while he's traveling back in the past, and he meets the you know the younger brothers, and they're like, Oh, you're eternal and you're old. Are you you know us, so you're one of us, and Raf instantly is like, he's me. I know his look, every time I look in the mirror, those same eyes look back at me, those eyes of anger. And everybody like starts climbing on Raf. He's like, Oh, those eyes of anger, you know, like it's like just get over yourself, dude. But Raf is like, yeah, I came back because it's important, and I'm trying to whatever. And uh he wa when he wakes up, he's got like a an arm, like a metal arm. He's like, You guys replace my arm, and Donnie's like, hey, I gave you uh uh an arm from a metal head. I was about to ask if he got a metal arm. Yep, it's it's a metal head arm, and he's like, huh. Kind of throwback. So the the whole comic basically deals with you know, you get to see what Raph looks like as an old man, and he's clearly older than Mikey is in The Last Ronin. Like really old, and he's missing an eye, and he's just like completely fucked up. He looks like Kirk Douglas at the end of his life, like just fucked up.

SPEAKER_17 17:21

No robot eye?

SPEAKER_25 17:22

No, yeah, right. Like it's just like so the creative team is Michael Walsh was the writer, and the first three pages were done by uh Vlad Legostav. Um and Michael Walsh did uh art duties for the rest of the comic pages actually 29 through 30, and then a guy named Santos did pages four through twenty-eight. Uh-huh. Which is like, Jesus, they had three different artists on this book. Wait till we get a rubber book. But you know what I'm saying, like it wasn't daunting and it didn't feel weird. And it was kind of neat to catch up with the turtles because to be honest with you, it's been a while since I've read a Turtles book. Um, and that's not to say because the quality was bad. I don't know. I mean, do you guys have any experience reading any of the IDW Turtles stuff?

SPEAKER_17 18:07

I've read last Ronin. I pick up every once in a while like an annual or like they've been doing these cool collections where they have like the these are Michelangelo stories. They'll have something for like Mirage. I I'll pick up those, but uh not the continuing series. But I've heard it's I know it's good.

Ben Kingsbury 18:23

Look, it's it's run for you said 286 issues. That's that's just IDW. That is crazy to me. Drew's a big fan of the IDW series, and he's got nothing but like positive shit to say.

SPEAKER_17 18:34

Yeah, I I usually get like little one-shots. They did this like villain one-shots thing of like origin stories. So I'll pick up those because yeah, they're but yeah, they've been doing a good job with it.

SPEAKER_25 18:42

What do you guys I mean, just as a broad question, but you know, this is for the listeners. What do you guys what are you guys' take on the turtles? Like, how do you feel personally about them?

Ben Kingsbury 18:51

I'll be honest, man, prior to us doing that TMNT Patreon episode, uh, they were just okay with me. But when I really dived in and like learned to appreciate like what Peter Laird and and Kevin Eastman did, as far as like, yo, uh true like indie creators. There you go. That I mean to me, like it's the American kind of like they are a prime example, like the American dream. Yeah, it's like a one in a million shot. Yeah, right, exactly. So random. And it's such a cool ass concept, man, it's core. It's you know, four brothers, turtles, ninja. You know, it's like what what isn't there to like about it?

SPEAKER_17 19:23

And for me, it's like I grew up with them, so it's like that's like my one of my all-time favorite things, because it hit me the perfect age, perfect right time. Kind of almost aging out of the cartoon, but then finding the mirage stuff, you know, and saying, Oh, this is this is oh wow, this is they do this too, and then just keeping up with it. It's like a it's gonna be, you know, and it's cool seeing something that's going to be a generational, multi-generational property. You know, this is gonna outlast everybody.

Ben Kingsbury 19:51

It's gonna be if this new movie proved anything, that's it that's definitely what I got.

SPEAKER_17 19:55

And they always come back and there's always a and it's I'm not one of those guys who like this is the only ones I like because these these recent incarnations aren't for me, right? So I can appreciate it, and I know there's like a a specific level of quality, and I know that having Kevin Eastman involved and having you know Peter Laird retaining those rights to the comics, but it being like a billion dollar IP at the same time, right? You know, so it's it's just crazy seeing it grow, you know. And it's it's perfect for me because that's like like I said, that's I had the toys, you know, that was like one of my favorite things. It's I was the perfect age, you know, in like the mid to late 80s, like the ninja craze was still strong, you know, and like I said, it gave birth to and then as a comic, like a historian, if you will, that big 80s boom of independent comics, because it's like, oh wow, these guys got the golden ticket, let's all try. And then we have all these self-publishing things and all this cool stuff, you know, that they indirectly and involve influenced.

SPEAKER_25 20:56

They they a hundred percent are the DIY movement of comics, right? Like, so and and and to that effect, they are essentially also in their in their primacy, they are a satire. You know, right. And and I feel like that's the best way to ingest them, regardless of how old you are. Like, if you take turtles too seriously, it doesn't work, right? Like it's like, oh, well, but the logistics fall apart when you start really looking at the comic. But if you realize like what its inception was as a book, right? Like it's sort of like trolling the institution of comics while also being a love letter to it, it's actually kind of a seminal idea, and it's really, really fantastic. And I thought, why not do something like this, right? Like, this is like you know, and it and I wouldn't have to be honest with you guys, I was going to just immediately be like, Yeah, why not Batman? Because Batman's my favorite. But then I was like, wait a minute now, come on, this is the short box. We gotta Throw a little love. We gotta throw a little love and we gotta show that we have some credibility and sort of bring a historical uh sort of flair to this episode because this episode is history, right? Like 400 deep, man. Like that's a that's a big deal, you know. I mean, we've we've been doing it a lot.

Ben Kingsbury 22:20

Thank you, thank you. I'm gonna give you uh a 10 out of 10 for creativity. Idiot. I gotta admit, it is a little wild that they're gonna be. It's a stretch. Something it's a stretch, but it works, right? Like with that math, TMNT has for sure hit 400 issues. There's a lot of comics that have hit 400, but don't have that official.

SPEAKER_25 22:41

But here's the thing, right? Like, they have every right to have done sort of that gimmick, right? Like, this is the 400th episode, technically, right? But they didn't. Why, right? Like, why? Because because I feel like there's that credibility there. I feel like that there's that sort of still that that indie DIY sort of passion that's sort of like I mean, regardless, they got IDW backing them all all the way, and Nickelodeon backing them and whatever. Not the point. The idea is that you know, no one would think that. Oh yeah. Turtles have been around a while. Like when you think 400, just because they don't have an actual issue that says 400.

SPEAKER_17 23:21

The industry now doesn't allow that kind of thing to happen at all.

SPEAKER_25 23:25

Right. So I figured it was uh it was decent to just throw a uh spotlight on them, if you will.

Ben Kingsbury 23:30

So this so this special real quick, for that having coming out come out, you said last year it was you know kind of tied into the last Ronan. Questions for you. Uh one, have you have you've read Last Ronan, right? See? Okay, perfect. Is this an issue? That is one thing about like the those annuals that I do enjoy.

SPEAKER_25 23:47

Okay, not tie literally. I mean thematically. You have an older turtle coming back and interacting in the continuity. Got it. Okay. That's more or less what I meant. I didn't mean literally. It's not like you know, it ties into the story, like, or the lost year stuff they're doing now, right? So it's like, you know, they're kind of they're kind of saying, like, hey, well, that was everybody liked when Mikey, story about Mikey, you know, and it's the Dark Knight Returns, but for turtles. Let's do a Raphael but old. What would happen if Raph met his younger brothers and his younger self, you know, as an old man? Not just like a, oh, I'm like in my 50s, but like homeboy looks like he's in his 80s, like like a tortoise. I can't even call him a turtle. He's a damn tortoise at the Jacksonville Zoo that's been alive for a hundred years. Little kids are riding his back. Right. Like he's just like, chewing lettuce slow, you know, like they gotta rename it like old ass tortoise ninjas or some shit. Yeah, yeah. He's taking Metamusle for sure.

Ben Kingsbury 24:42

So I I guess I got two questions then. One, is this a good standalone comic? Can someone like pick it up off the street not knowing too much about the TMT? That's a loaded question.

SPEAKER_25 24:52

Here's why, and I think you guys know this. If you are a comic book fan, ever since you can remember, no one in the history of comics has ever jumped in at the beginning of a story. That's kind of the nature of comic books, is that if you pick up a singular issue off the spinner rack, you are going to pick up an issue that is not a number one. Typically. Typically. So that said, even if you've you're I I'm not caught up on Armageddon game. I don't know what's going on in the current continuity of TMNT. I literally randomly picked up this annual. The art was good, the story was consistently very good, and you know, it was kind of self-contained. They did leave it open like like it ties in, obviously it ties into an event. It's an event book, kind of. But that's nothing new as far as comics are concerned. So I thought I was like, man, this is kind of cool, you know? And I and I felt like I was a little kid. Like I felt like, man, like I'm I'm picking up a comic I know really nothing about. I like the art and I like the story, and I'm reading it, and it's like, man, this is what it was. This is this is essentially what comics is, right? Like what this is what hooks somebody who isn't a comic book fan into being a comic book fan. Like, man, I like the way this guy draws or gal draws, or I like the way the oh, this is a good story. I kind of want to know what happens next, and then you keep buying and you figure it out, and then it takes you down a rabbit hole. So yeah, I think if you are not hip to any of this scene and you just want to be like, yo, I like the turtles. I watched it when I was a kid, or oh man, shit, I had those toys, my grandma bought that shit for me, or whatever. You 100% could buy this book and just be like, Yeah, this is great. And if you were to buy this book, obviously Gotham City Limits, the best color to stay either. If you're going to buy it. I mean, that's really the only place to buy it, honestly. Um, and uh yeah, I highly recommend it. And if Ash were here, she would tell you she recommends it and that she's a trader.

Ben Kingsbury 26:56

Not only would she recommend it, but she'd be like, Cesar is so smart for coming up with a loophole for us to cover a TMNT that isn't technically 400.

SPEAKER_25 27:03

That's I mean, you know, it's what I said.

Ben Kingsbury 27:04

I thought the cover, uh when you showed me the cover is pretty badass.

SPEAKER_25 27:08

It's kind of retro, it's kind of throwback to like the uh Eastman Laird stuff.

Ben Kingsbury 27:12

Real quick, see what was the name of it? It was the TMNT annual. Yeah, just the 2023 annual number. Oh, 2023 annual, okay. All right, I like the opening shots. Yeah. Ed, you're ready to go and crush this football. Jesus Christ. What happened? Wait, all right, real quick, real quick. Ed, before we get into our our book report. Yeah, enjoy your fucking mainstream bullshit. Oh, we are. We are waiting to hear about this one.

SPEAKER_25 27:36

Yeah.

Ben Kingsbury 27:37

Buckle up. I wanted to really quick uh uh give credit to someone that actually helped inspire this main, this uh, this segment right here. Me. Uh not Cesar, Cordero at all. Not Cesspool over there. Thank you. Triple C. We've gotten over 20 voice messages, is what I'm looking at. Okay. I have not listened, I've maybe listened to one or two in full. I wanted to kind of like, you know, experience it with you guys, but I did listen to one.

SPEAKER_25 28:01

This is the 400th episode, which means it's 400 minutes long. Stick around.

Ben Kingsbury 28:08

One of the voice messages I got was uh submitted by none other than our guy, Ben motherfucking Kingsbury. Oh shit. Uh Barack said he's gonna send one day. I'm gonna have to put it at the end. Sorry. But Ben sent in a voice note that actually helped inspire this, and I think it'd be a good transition to before me and Ed present hours. I want to play, uh I want to play our first first voice message in the episode. And why not toss it to our guy, Ben Kingsbury? Here's Ben.

SPEAKER_09 28:33

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, people of all ages, I go by the name Ben K, representing Gotham City Limit, Jacksonville, Florida, and congratulations to the short box. 400 episodes is unbelievable. I know the blood, sweat, and tears that go into making anything happen. So to do it 400 times in a row is something that shouldn't be taken lightly. Instead of giving you guys three FOC picks that you should add to your pull box, I'm gonna give you three moments in comic history where 400 was huge. Let's start with Amazing Spider-Man 400, the origin of Ben Riley. Next up, we got Detective Comics 400, the first and origin of Man Bat. And finally, if you haven't read Avengers 400, you need to. Mark Wade tried and succeeded to fit every Marvel hero who has ever been an Avenger into one single comic. So, again, thanks so much for letting us be a small part of what you find folks have done for years. And here's a final question before I leave you be. If you could all go back to the beginning of your podcast adventure, what is one thing each of you would do differently? And I'll leave it at that. Again, congratulations. And I'm still Ben Kay representing Gotham City Limit, Jacksonville, Florida. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility, and always take it to the limit.

Ben Kingsbury 29:57

Ben King's been too much. That guy's got the energy, man. Look, man, Ben sends the best voice message. I mean, he gave us a history lesson. He gave us a history lesson. So if you're curious about any other 400, there you go. Ben handled all that. Um, to answer his question, I probably would have never invited Cesar. Fuck you. There we go. That's my one thing different. Serious mode, serious mode. Uh Ben asked a question. If we go back in time, do something different with this podcast, what would we do? What would you do? Damn it. So why'd you give it to me? Yeah, because I knew you're gonna try and toss it into some of this. I'll be I'll be real. I have thought about uh if I had a chance to go back, maybe choosing a better name, something that was a little more aligned that you know, a little because short short box is such a I think inside baseball comic thing, right? Like I've had to explain to even other comic fans, like, what is a short box? The fucking box that you put your books in, right? So I probably would have changed the name to something a little I remember bags and boards being something that me, Drew, and Walt really wanted to do. Um so maybe changing the name is what I would say. See, what about you?

SPEAKER_25 31:01

This is gonna sound silly. But the you invited me on the show uh at a time in my life when I needed to be on the show. And it's kinda hard for me to answer this question only because the short box podcast is responsible for a lot of good things in my life that I'm scared to say if I changed them what would have happened, right? Even the smallest change, right? I'll I'll break it down. You know, we're talking about the 400th episode here. Uh without the short box podcast, I would not have met my wife. Which means I wouldn't have my daughter right now. Which means I wouldn't be like the happiest guy in the world right now, you know? So it's like weird to answer that question, but on the minuscule level, I would probably say and this isn't something I can't change now. I would probably try and work more with the musical guests because I've I I am a a musician and see if I could do a collab with them, not only as a host, but also be like, hey, if you need me to play some some chords or sample some stuff, um which I know that me and Mecha the Marvelous have done in the past, maybe do some more stuff like that. And I don't think that's beyond the realm of possibility now. I just think probably I should have done it a while or go. That's good stuff. That's a good answer.

SPEAKER_17 32:33

Ed, what about you? Um I i it this is tricky for me too because it's I've always said this, and this is like this is your baby, right? And for me to like say what would I change, it's like I'm contributing my part. You know what I'm saying? It's but only thing that I could say I would change differently is just some of my there's just some days it just weren't feeling it, you know. Just I don't prep I didn't prepare as much as I do now, you know, before the show. So a lot of times I'm just coming in here off the cuff and I don't think oh we prepare. Yeah. It'd be more of some of my performances because there was like a a stretch where it was just kind of like and it was no, it was more me than anything was like, Oh man, I gotta do this again. Was it the golden years of you and Adam? No.

SPEAKER_25 33:25

Clearly, clearly, clearly, those those years were uh subpar. Everyone knows this.

SPEAKER_17 33:29

No, but even when we weren't recording as frequently, it was just like and I didn't appreciate it. And I think I would go back and kind of change, but my headspace was different back then. But like I said, there was a lot of outside things going on. So other than that, you know, I mean I like where we've ended up, you know, and you know, I'd I'd like it if all of us could do this every week in person, but that's impossible. Things kind of evolve and change, and you know, when you have kids, that's uh definitely changes a lot of things. But in the past, no, I think I think we've did pretty good.

Ben Kingsbury 34:02

I I feel you, man. There have definitely been some days where it's like I would rather be on the couch playing video games. But I appreciate that, Ed. Solid. Ben, fantastic question. And um to our listeners, um, we've got a bunch more voice messages to play and some other uh, I imagine, uh good questions in there as well. You imagine. Uh like I said, I didn't listen to all of them, so I'm curious what what else we got in the chamber. But before we move uh on to voice messages, me and Ed are gonna go ahead and spotlight our 400th issue comic. Ed, uh, we didn't do much uh prep, but I I took it upon myself to name um I've got a uh uh a team name. Oh, okay. You know, uh C was saying that their team name was uh Meet the Parents, which I think is a fucking great A name. So I was thinking our team name is the Dinks, dual income.

SPEAKER_17 34:49

I was just I was just thinking that the dynks.

Ben Kingsbury 34:53

Oh yeah. Me and Ed boy, look at that.

SPEAKER_25 34:57

That you know, that either of you know. Y'all motherfuckers probably have like children out there that are like, Ed's like, Dada, when's Dada coming home? It's like you went to a convention and fucking Ed got lucky and was like, ha ha, see you later, ladies.

Ben Kingsbury 35:15

You dumbass. All right, Ed, if you don't mind, do you mind if I set the stage and give like the synopsis and you can join? Must be nice to have a teammate. It's great, dude. It is so great. We just let you know working off each other. Configured. All right, so Ed had the genius idea of proposing that we read and cover X-Men 400. And I was all for it. I've never read it. Um, it's X-Men. I've kind of been in a big X-Men kick with all the recent the who?

SPEAKER_17 35:38

I you know, the because of the Ashley Wood cover.

Ben Kingsbury 35:42

So we decided to do X-Men 400, which I guess not really surprising. Came out in 2001. So you can only imagine what number they would be on if they continued that main legacy numbering.

SPEAKER_17 35:52

Yeah, that's that was still first volume, technically. So that was legit 400.

Ben Kingsbury 35:58

Like I said, I don't know what the legacy numbering would be now. If you counted everything, it'd probably be in the thousands. But anyways, X-Men 400 came out originally published December 2001. It was written by Joe Casey uh and had it was essentially like an artist jam issue. Uh there was shared art duties by Eddie Campbell, uh, who's credited as From Hell. Um, I guess it was a comic series that he's credited to. It's Alan Moore. Yeah. They date a movie. I've never read that one myself. Okay. Uh Ashley Wood is on this series as well. He's and this and I want to I think I'd take a step back real quick. This is 2001. So some of these names, obviously in today's day and age, we can attribute them to a lot of different, you know, uh comics and acclaimed series.

SPEAKER_25 36:38

They've come a long way since that that initial sort of X-Men 400.

Ben Kingsbury 36:41

So when you think Ashley Wood now, you probably think I know my mind immediately goes to Metal Gear Solid. Um Hellspan. Hellspawn. Um, I mean, even now, Ashley Wood has got uh what is that series Ed?

SPEAKER_17 36:51

The robots and oh, the pop-up, the arts series, or the uh robots and zombies. Yeah. He's been doing a lot of like toy design and like fine art stuff. So he's kind of evolved into that next world, but he still does some like magazines. He did like kind of like a horror style magazine.

SPEAKER_25 37:07

He's kind of he's kind of he's a little bit uh synkevichy.

Ben Kingsbury 37:10

Yeah. But you can point towards a bunch of stuff he's done now. Uh same thing here. Uh so in this series, you've got shared art duties by Eddie Campbell from Hell Credit. At this time, Ashley Wood, who only had Hellspan to their uh to their credit, Cully Hamner, Javier Polito, who's credited in this as you know, the guy from Robin Year One. And last but not least, and a big reason why I was like, Ed, let's fucking do this. A young Sean Phillips who is only uh credited in parentheses as like the guy from Wildcats. You know, nothing about nothing about any of his brew breaker.

SPEAKER_17 37:44

Four-time Eisner winner, and it's so fun to see because it's like a lot of these guys aren't well. Ashley Wood always had a very specific style, but a lot of the other guys, it's like I it's hard to tell.

Ben Kingsbury 37:55

Exactly. And that's one of the commentary I have. But anyways, X-Men 400, written by Joe Casey. Uh Ashley Wood provides a sweet wraparound image, uh, fully painted. Say that again. Uh a sweet wraparound image. Bruce bumps. Bruce Bumps. You fucking nerd. I love it. Uh here's the official synopsis for the solicitation, is what I found. Uh, the story. Stacy X has just joined the X-Men, and already she is the target of their enemies. They are called the Church of Humanity, led by the Mysterious Supreme Pontiff. First appearance. These are the purifiers. Something like that, basically. They're a fucking rip-off edge.

SPEAKER_17 38:33

Yes, but not they're a ripoff of yeah, of people in their own universe.

Ben Kingsbury 38:37

So uh we're saying uh they're called the Church of Humanity led by the mysterious supreme pontiff, and their fanatic vision for a pure world leaves no room for mutants. It's the band ghost.

SPEAKER_17 38:46

You know that he does dress like the Pope. He does. He is like a he's like a Darth Vader Pope. That's why. And everybody is kind of like Vatican. I love it.

Ben Kingsbury 38:54

I love it. It's kind of like a run-of-the-mill X-Men story involving your fanatical screw mentalists versus the mutants. Yo, big thing. It's always that anti-mutant religious hate group.

SPEAKER_22 39:04

Have you tried not being a mutant, Bobby?

Ben Kingsbury 39:07

They viewed the mutants as a threat to Homo sapiens. They've got, you know, um, yeah, they're they're out to kill them. These damn mutants. Now, this X-Men team is composed of help me out here. It's it's Wolverine, it's it's Iceman, it's Chamber. Chamber. It's Stacey X, this this new character that's introduced. I go her.

SPEAKER_25 39:24

What year is this? 2000. 2001. So this is what, like either Grant Morrison is writing or yellow and black.

Ben Kingsbury 39:30

Yellow and black leather. Okay. So yeah, so it's uh who else have we got? Uh Angel is on is on this team. Archangel. That explains why that explains why Chamber is. Nightcrawler's on this. Okay. And Wolvie. Wolverine. Now, this new character that is mentioned in the uh solicitation, Stacy X, is a re is like a really new character at this time, of course. She debuts the issue before. The issue before. So this is her second appearance in the concept.

SPEAKER_17 39:54

Can you tell what the power is? Take it away. Okay. This is what teamwork is all about. So Stacy X is like, she almost has like a snake-like look. She kind of wears a black bikini or like a workout gear, you know. Her power, she can control pheromones where she can touch you, you're adrenaline you up. She can make you just in your pants by touching you.

Ben Kingsbury 40:14

Oh yeah, that did happen.

SPEAKER_17 40:15

And she was a hooker with a heart of goal. She did it the yeah, she did it like a few times to blob. No, yeah, dude. Wait, wait. She's from there was a thing called the X Ranch in Nevada. No. Guess what? Guess what it is? I'll tell you what it is. It is a mutant bordello.

SPEAKER_25 40:33

They got the bunny ranch, seriously.

SPEAKER_17 40:35

But this came out before the bunny ranch show.

SPEAKER_25 40:38

Whoa.

SPEAKER_17 40:39

So because I thought the same thing.

SPEAKER_25 40:40

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_17 40:42

So basically, she is working as a courtesan. Let's say it's like for this. They basically Archangel has like this. I read ahead, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to lead up to this because you kind of get into this and you're like, who are all these people? What's going on? So Archangel is running this business. I have no idea, but he's like a rich guy. And he has like a board of directors. Not sure. I know he was a rich guy, but so all his people are spending putting all their money into this X ranch. And uh so he's like, that's weird. Let me get Bobby to go undercover to this to this ranch to see what it's about.

SPEAKER_25 41:20

He's got a cowboy hat and a mustache, like, I'm definitely not Iceman.

SPEAKER_17 41:25

He dresses up like a businessman and says he's a music uh like a what are you all doing? He's a record executive. He plays the record executive thing. So conveniently, once he goes there undercover, and uh basically that's when the uh the uh the Church of Humanity has teleportation equipment, apparently. So basically, conveniently when he's with her, that's when the uh church attacks, and then she gets basically recruited by the X-Men, and that's why she's kind of like the focal point of this issue. So it's easy as a big milestone number. They don't do like what the turtles did, they don't do like a standalone thing. They get a bunch of artists together to basically continue like a four issue.

Ben Kingsbury 42:07

Like Ashley Wood will do like two, three pages, and then you know, like was it Comedy Hanner? Cully Hamner. Cully Hamner will do like the next few Javier Polito do two pages.

SPEAKER_17 42:18

And there's no rhyme or reason for the artwork because I thought, okay, Ashley Wood is when they're at the uh oh this he's doing the art when they're at the uh compound, right? Nope. Someone else does the rest of the rescue. And then there's a flashback. There's a different artist. It's a little it's a jarring.

SPEAKER_25 42:32

It's a little jarring, definitely. Oh, this is oh man, this was a dark time for the X-Men. This is when X-Men Unstoppable came out.

Ben Kingsbury 42:42

Now, to continue with the synopsis real quick, the X-Men run in with this group. It's their first time meeting them. They have a fight, they capture one of their church guys, and Wolverine's interrogating him. So you get a lot of exposition to explain who this church humanity is. Let's not even go into full detail. Let's just know, just wild as hell.

SPEAKER_17 43:01

I'm dude, it is wild. I was like, what is going on in this comic? Wow.

SPEAKER_25 43:06

So it sounds like Ashley and I won, and she's not even here. So game over. Um, thanks to the playing.

SPEAKER_17 43:13

The Jizz in your pants power is pretty sweet. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_25 43:16

Okay, Stacey, I looked at a picture of her, and uh as a as a little boy, I shit, no, 2001, I was in college. As a full-grown creepy ass man, if I saw those comics, I would have been like, I mean, you know, she can get it.

Ben Kingsbury 43:31

Bro, you are nasty as hell. She's got a bunch of ra rashes on her body. Those are scales, and how dare you. She's kind of nasty. Her character design is pretty disgusting.

SPEAKER_17 43:40

They they also have to jam in her origin story as well.

Ben Kingsbury 43:42

Oh my god, it is a lot of exposition.

SPEAKER_17 43:44

A lot of exposition.

Ben Kingsbury 43:45

And she's getting interrogated by the church guys because she gets like teleporting.

SPEAKER_17 43:49

So she gets interrogated and she makes up a bullcrap story about her and Cyclops looking up. Dude, that was wild. Yeah, like she's like one of the original X Men. That was funny. Yeah, that was funny. Whereas like instead of just Gray, it's her. Yeah.

Ben Kingsbury 44:02

Wild shit aside.

SPEAKER_25 44:04

I gotta I gotta read this. I have to read this.

Ben Kingsbury 44:07

It is so out there, you're like, okay, all right, fuck it. Let's go for it. It does end in a major cliffhanger. And this was and this is why I was a little bit like a little bit of a little bit of a little bit Thank you, Marvel Unlimited. This is like this isn't a day and age. I guess in 2001, like anniversary issues were just like, we don't care if it's a 400. We're telling a regular, you know, a part of the continuity of the story. Keep it going, guys. It's not an anthology. There's not gonna be a bunch of one or two-page stories. It is the story.

SPEAKER_17 44:34

Just put 10 artists on it. Yeah. That's fine.

Ben Kingsbury 44:36

And it ends in a weird fucking cliffhanger that I'm like, damn. If this was a 400 issue in today's day and age, it would have wrapped up. It would have been like a one and done kind of comic. But you have to go read 401 to figure out what happens.

SPEAKER_17 44:47

This is where they want to install um Nightcrawler as the Pope, right? To take down the Catholic Church. Joe Casey was on his real religious trip back then.

SPEAKER_25 44:56

I'm looking at some of this shit. This is bonkers.

Ben Kingsbury 44:58

The X-Men go and have to rescue Stacey X from the church, right? From the Church of Humanity. And they're fighting everyone, and at some point, Nightcrawler confronts the leader, the Supreme Pontiff. Yeah. And he comes out of this Darth Vader pod. I'm looking at it.

SPEAKER_25 45:12

I think we should probably mention as well as he it's just like the fucking fly, dude. Like Jeff Goldman's telepods.

Ben Kingsbury 45:17

We should probably mention the Supreme Pontiff's power. Even though he's a human, he uh he he can channel dark matter. His soul gets sent into space or some shit.

SPEAKER_17 45:26

Well, he's that magic guy. Remember?

Ben Kingsbury 45:27

The magic kid. Ah yeah, but but then they combine the sci-fi part, remember? Where they launch his soul.

SPEAKER_17 45:33

I've read there's actually another mutant that's behind the scenes that can make some look like it.

Ben Kingsbury 45:37

Anyways, the issue ends with Nightcrawler having his fucking soul stolen. His soul gets stolen.

SPEAKER_17 45:44

That's the official Well, that's how I took it. It's one of these things. It's like he looks at him, he's like, oh nine, and then he's passed out. Yeah. And they find him passed out, and they're like, What happened, Nightcrawler?

Ben Kingsbury 45:54

And like, Nightcrawler's like, who are you?

SPEAKER_17 45:56

Stacey Stacy X does the adrenaline thing where she like touches him and gets his adrenaline levels up to kind of wake him up.

Ben Kingsbury 46:01

And so the wiener was like, they lead you to believe that Nightcrawler's like, yo, something's missing in me.

SPEAKER_28 46:09

Yeah.

Ben Kingsbury 46:09

I feel like I don't have to need to watch Fox News anymore.

SPEAKER_17 46:14

Was this when he became a priest? This was after he became a priest. I have no idea. I mean remember that he was wearing a priest collar.

Ben Kingsbury 46:20

I remember. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, story is a little out there. Though I will say it is so out there, it's kind of interesting. And if one positive thing I will say about this comic in general, aside from the fucking artist jam session, and Ashley would absolutely kill him his pages. And young Sean Phillips was really interesting to see. Is that this is kind of a testament to the different genres that you can play around with in X-Men. You know, your occult stuff.

SPEAKER_25 46:50

You can play around with if you're good at writing. Okay. Let's let's let's not try and sugarcoat a turd here. It's not. It's not. I've read way words comments. Chris Claremont was good. And because he was good, he opened the door to make X-Men more of a soap opera where you can. You can put them in space, you can put them in hell, you can put them in fucking New York City in the, you know, in the country. You can put them in fucking California. You can put them anywhere, thanks to Chris Claremont. Apparently, he's the only one who knows how to do that.

Ben Kingsbury 47:25

Yo, like I'm gonna give Joe Casey props for attempt. All right. It was like I said, I Ed, I don't know about you, but I actually was like, you know, I'm kind of along for this ride. I'm more upset that they I've got to go read 401. I'm not gonna go read 401 for the record. I don't care that much.

SPEAKER_17 47:42

And I think this is before they started doing those like catch-up pages, like at the beginning, where they want to give you a little summary of what's going on. It's just all right, they're fighting a bunch of guys dressed like bishops and stuff.

SPEAKER_25 47:53

Members, yeah, members of the band ghost.

Ben Kingsbury 47:56

And I think if there was a better rhyme or reason for the different artists, then I think that probably would have helped because I I did feel it was really jarring to turn the page and you're like, whoa, this is not the same artist that was in the last page.

SPEAKER_25 48:08

And none of those artists had the clout they do now. No. So, like, imagine reading that back then. You'd have been like, this is some fucking bullshit. Who the fuck are these nobodies that I should give a shit about?

Ben Kingsbury 48:18

Ashley Wood was easily identifiable, even like this early in his career. Oh, sure. Coley Hamner was Javier Polito's got a very unique style. I mean, coming off Robin Year One, I think, you know, he probably had some some clout.

SPEAKER_17 48:30

I only knew Campbell because of an expression on one of the characters, and he did the um the bull flashback.

Ben Kingsbury 48:36

Oh, you I I I'll be straight with you, Ed. I thought that art was horrendous. I was not a fan of that art. Personal test. Not my favorite. Young Sean Phillips, I was like, damn, he's really come a long way in defining his own stuff. Yes, his stuff is strong. Overall, Ed, what what what do you think about the comic? Would you recommend it? You know, uh thoughts, score out of 10. I well, I don't know if I'd I'd recommend it. Solid five for me. Solid six, maybe six, I guess.

SPEAKER_17 49:02

Be honest. It's a it's it is a disaster.

SPEAKER_13 49:07

Um much like this episode.

SPEAKER_30 49:10

Like this episode.

SPEAKER_17 49:12

That's why we picked this this comic because it was a I mean it's so jarring because usually when you have multiple artists, either there's a page count, there's an actual listing of what they did, which they did not provide. Like I said, there's six artists, one writer, and like a standard size comic book. Like I said, Joe Casey and Ashley Wood would go do automatic Kafka for Wildstorm later that year, which I love. That's like my first that's when I first started seeing Ashley Wood's stuff. And I've listened to interviews with Joe Casey, and like I said, a lot of times it's like he gets kind of uh handed a bunch of chicken shit to make chicken salad out of, you know? So I can't fully blame him. Yeah. Because uh like I said, it's he's he's he's unfortunately, I think, a victim of circumstance here.

SPEAKER_25 50:02

But Marvel wasn't doing too good either.

Ben Kingsbury 50:05

And that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_25 50:06

When you look at today's day and age of like us though, we're like fucking talking like we've done shit. Like we've just all we've done is talk shit for 400 episodes. These guys were like icons within comics. Yeah, you know, they make one mistake, they make one mistake and we're like, these fucking hasty dumbasses. I don't think we said that. No, I don't know.

Ben Kingsbury 50:27

Uh hazy dumbasses. And I think uh that chat GBT recording, you dumbass.

SPEAKER_20 50:33

These are hay seeds and they're dumbasses.

Ben Kingsbury 50:35

What I want to say real quick is I think in comparison to the today's Agent Comics where something like a 100th issue, even a 50th issue, you know, this was a 48-page comic book. And it like me and Ed were saying, this wasn't it was in the main continuity. Wasn't treated specially, was not treated special. In today's day and age, it would have been a you know, it probably would have had just as many artists, but each artist would have had their own story, it would have been out of the continuity, it would have just been a celebration. Hey, we got a bunch of cool artists and do like one of them.

SPEAKER_20 51:09

You'd know that'd be the first soapbox with like the fucking vignette around it saying, Hey, Google Levers, did you know that black people are cool? Marvel's always thought that.

Ben Kingsbury 51:21

Stay golden, Excelsior. So I guess Ed, my question for you is would you have preferred this had been a, you know, one of those true anniversary mo anthology type of comics, or do you find it interesting that it was like within continuity? Do you have a preference?

SPEAKER_17 51:37

I for milestone issues like that because I think a lot of times those are jumping points for new readers, and I think they should be treated as new. We're starting something new, we're cleaning up some bullshit, we're starting some new stuff.

Ben Kingsbury 51:50

Not we're starting some new books.

SPEAKER_17 51:52

Yeah, we're not in the we're not in the middle of some bullshit.

SPEAKER_25 51:55

Chicken shit, the chicken salad.

SPEAKER_17 51:56

Yeah, with with characters nobody remembers or cares about. But yeah, I think those should be treated like it's a transition to a new storyline, that way a new reader can come in, like annuals are usually treated, or just the like a showcase of the characters, like spotlight. So it's like, oh, because you know, when I was a kid, there was like you know, I would buy comics just for the characters. Oh, Wolverine, sweet. There's another Wolverine series. Yeah. Oh, there's another one. Oh, Jesus.

Ben Kingsbury 52:21

Oh man.

SPEAKER_17 52:21

There's another one?

Ben Kingsbury 52:22

Stacy X, all right. Stacy X has a damn Wikipedia entry.

SPEAKER_17 52:26

Yeah. She was in the New Warriors, she lost her powers.

Ben Kingsbury 52:30

She's fucking sweet looking, bro.

SPEAKER_25 52:31

Why are you why are you hating?

Ben Kingsbury 52:33

You know, only someone by the name of Cesspool wouldn't find her somewhat attractive.

SPEAKER_17 52:37

They did give her, it's like static X, that new metal band? No, Stacy X.

Ben Kingsbury 52:41

I I don't I don't mean to be going down a Stacy X rabbit hole, not that anyone on the show cares.

SPEAKER_17 52:45

She has a weird history because I watched a little video of it.

Ben Kingsbury 52:47

Can I read some of her accolades that are in this Wikipedia entry? Yeah. What are insane? In 2010, I'm not gonna say the oh yeah, okay. 2010, uh Comics Alliance rank ranked Stacy X third in their five superheroes who use their powers for sex list. In 2014, Entertainment Weekly ranked Stacy X 92nd in their Let's Rank Every X-Men Ever list. In 2014, BuzzFeed ranked Stacy X 84th in their 95 X-Men members ranked from worst to best. Oh, this is my favorite one. I'll share this one. Oh no, there's another one. Oh, there's a lot. In 2017, Screen Rant included Stacy X in their 15 superheroes. Marvel Wants You to Forget list.

SPEAKER_25 53:30

Chef's kiss, good. I'm never going to forget Stacy X because it's a blemish upon Disney Marvel. Pretty sure if you were to give any listener who's never ever read comics before two comics.

SPEAKER_17 53:41

Stacy X.

SPEAKER_25 53:42

And one of them being the one you picked, and one of them being the one Ashley and I picked, I'm pretty sure they'd have a better time with the one we picked.

SPEAKER_17 53:48

Do you guys remember Night Thresher? Yeah. She was a member of that when she lost her power.

Ben Kingsbury 53:53

What? Do you just know everything about Stacey X now? No, we're.

SPEAKER_17 53:57

I want to revisit the X Ranch because I don't think we got to explore. Nah, it would fit in.

Ben Kingsbury 54:01

It would fit in in this new Krokoa age.

SPEAKER_25 54:03

You know, yeah, you know Emma Frost would be over there, like just like running shit. No, she's in charge. The Stefford cuckoos are there too.

Ben Kingsbury 54:10

With that being said, that is the end of our very quick 400 club um segment. Those are the two uh 400th issue comics that we wanted to spotlight. I want to get into some voicemails. I want to just relax, have fun, and let other people do my job for me. Okay. 23. 23 voice messages in total. So here's what we're going to do. And like I said, it's a good little mix of past guests, friends of the show. Okay. People we haven't heard from in a while. So what I want to do, Ed and C you two are going to take turns. Give me a number one through twenty-three. Three is omitted because that was Ben's voicemail. He kicked us off with the voice messages. Let's go ahead and have some fun. Ed, I'm sorry, uh, C, give me your first number, one through twenty-three. Ten. Ten. Okay. That would be. All right, here we go. There's four this voice message comes from actually a new R.

SPEAKER_32 55:02

So this is Jamie from Connecticut. Used to be in Jacksonville. That's how I started listening to your podcast. Anyway, my question for you is how did you all meet? Because I don't remember that in the early episodes, but I could have missed an episode here or there. Thanks so much. Bye.

Ben Kingsbury 55:19

All right. Obviously, I pressed the button way too quick, but big shout out to Jamie for sending in a voice message. First time, first time caller. Sounds like a long time listener.

unknown 55:28

Yeah.

Ben Kingsbury 55:29

Really threw me off. There's not a lot of my mom on this list.

SPEAKER_17 55:31

Don't apologize for all the Stacy X cards.

Ben Kingsbury 55:33

Our mom is not on the list. All right. Jamie asked, How did we all meet? Okay. You guys want me to tell the uh tell me?

SPEAKER_25 55:43

No, no, no. No. You have a seat. Don't have to be a bit. True, you picked it. You picked it. Go ahead. I know I know exactly how I met Butter. I know exactly how I met Ed. Let's start with Ed. Okay. I met Ed a long time ago. Back in the mythical year of 2009. In 2009. Shit. No, I met you before. I met you before. I didn't know you, but I met you when you were working at George's music. Right? Was it George's? Okay. You were like metalhead ed at the time. Yeah, yeah. Your beard was huge. You had the like fucking spiked out hair.

SPEAKER_05 56:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_25 56:21

And uh I was buying guitar gear. And I would ask you for shit randomly, and you'd be like, super helpful. And I was like, man, this guy's pretty cool. He's got cool hair. And then I never saw you again. That's my impact as a salesman. One and done. Never come back. Helpful and never a faithful customer.

SPEAKER_17 56:41

Never come back.

SPEAKER_25 56:43

And it's like, I love him and leave him, guys. It's what I do. Just like the kids. Just like in the kids. Jamie's saying, thank you for this question and your patience. Uh and then uh I tried to hook up with a bunch of people who are making comics here locally because I wanted to do the same thing. I was irresponsible and I was uh very as serious as I wanted to take it, I didn't understand how it all worked. Ed was a part of this collective group of artists who were already kind of established in Jacksonville. And that's how I met Ed. We were all working on an anthology book together. So if you can find it, it's hard to find. Unleashed, right? Yeah, it was Unleashed was the name of the comic book. It was local here to Jacksonville. I have a bunch at my house. You're laughing. Yeah. I have your shit, Ed. Uh so if you want, if you don't have any of those books, I have I have them. Um and yeah, I was like, oh shit, that was the guy from Georgia Music.

SPEAKER_21 57:41

God damn.

SPEAKER_25 57:42

He's a nice guy. And uh and then I never saw him again. And then after that, I known Butter, I met Bodder in 2009 as well. Um except I knew him through Drew. If you've been listening to the show, Jamie, I actually knew Drew uh before I I knew Bodder. And Drew was sort of like my little brother who I used to work with at Win Dixie. I've known this little I've known this guy since before since he he wasn't even legal to work nights at Win Dixie at at the grocery store, right? He was a little bagger, he couldn't, his mom had to pick him up, all that shit. And uh he's like, you know, my little brother. And one time I went to the local comic book shop, and there I saw this beautiful, olive-skinned, uh widows peaked, uh tall ass bastard who was like pretending to be Drake and uh really, really, really was into comics. And uh, you know, I was like, what's your name?

SPEAKER_21 58:41

He was like, My name's Bader.

SPEAKER_17 58:46

Fresh off the boat, I see.

SPEAKER_21 58:47

My name is Bader Million.

SPEAKER_17 58:50

Like, wonder what they'll be.

SPEAKER_21 58:51

I have come to this country to read nothing but the Marvel comics because Godman Stanley told me that if you can believe it, you can achieve it. So here I am.

SPEAKER_25 59:05

And I was like, man, that's cool. Hey, I was like this. I was like, hey, young blood, that's cool, man.

Ben Kingsbury 59:13

All right, let me go ahead and tell you what it is. Let me tell you, yo, you got me so good just now. I'm gonna let you finish.

SPEAKER_25 59:29

Oh my god. Okay, so yeah, anyway, yeah, but yeah, I met Butter through Drew and uh we've been friends. How do you meet Ashley? Is it through the pod? Ashley I met through another artist meetup through the say through Rob, uh Rob Jones. Yeah. So I met her a while back, way before she was on the podcast again, and I was kind of like, oh, this is a nice lady, she's freaking talented. I was like, wow, she's very good. And then didn't meet her again for like didn't talk with her for years until uh botter had her on the show, and I was like, Oh my god, home girl, I I met you like what you know Ashley, she's cool as shit. She was like, I don't know, she was yeah, she was kind of like oh yeah, you know Rob.

SPEAKER_22 1:00:10

Oh, okay, cool.

SPEAKER_25 1:00:11

Weirdo. Um But yeah, so yeah. Sorry, that's to answer your my my point of view. Ed, you wanna uh you want to chime in?

SPEAKER_17 1:00:19

Yeah, I will start. Here we go. I will start with Ashley because I actually met Josh first. I met him at like a uh at an art walk or something. Okay, I didn't know this. Yeah, or it was either an art show or like an art walk or something like that. And I would talk to to Josh and she wouldn't say a word to me. Sound sounds about right. And then I think um me and her and a couple other people were going to HeroesCon and she said, like, I'll drive. And I'm like, oh my god. This is a long drive. We're not gonna say you know, I haven't had like an actual conversation, but like when we did the uh trip, we just really hit it off, mostly talking shit about people, which was fun. Oh yeah, and uh like I said, we've been friends since I would say probably like 2010 or so. And it's just been on and off because like I said, anyone who lives in Jacksonville knows like if you live on a different side of town, you might as well live in a different city. So I live on the west west side, she's at the beach, so we're we might as well be in different countries. That's true, but yeah, I've known her forever. Uh see, I don't quite remember the I'm not memorable. Well, the George's days were a bit of a haze because it was a lot of hours and a lot of like weed drinking. No, more drinking.

SPEAKER_25 1:01:36

You you and Daniel Teller getting drunk.

SPEAKER_17 1:01:38

Yeah. Well, yeah, he was I was his uh chauffeur. So I had picked him up and dropped him off. That's good.

SPEAKER_25 1:01:44

So I've seen Dan play live a lot of times.

SPEAKER_17 1:01:46

Yeah, Dan's awesome, awesome dude. The first place I remember you was at like one of those meet up at like Mudville Grill or something. Oh man. And like some Jackson history right there.

SPEAKER_25 1:01:56

Logan Zawaki.

SPEAKER_17 1:01:57

Logan and Rob and David King. David King and Matt was part of it too. And that one weird guy that like was really into the Alamo. Wade. Wade, that's him. Doesn't he work there now or live there? Dude, he's a man. A white man.

SPEAKER_25 1:02:14

White is I'll take shit white people like for five men. I don't usually laugh heartily at Boder's jokes. But that shit caught me by surprise so much. He was like, I'm gonna go out on Zero Melanie. This was a whole pigment. Yes. You would be correct.

unknown 1:02:33

Sweet.

Ben Kingsbury 1:02:33

White people love for 500 Alex Sweet. The Alamo.

SPEAKER_25 1:02:37

World War II, the Alamo. World War II, the Alamo.

SPEAKER_17 1:02:41

May I I met you at Universe. You were working at Universe. So I met you through, I guess indirectly through James. Yep.

Ben Kingsbury 1:02:48

Old James, so I think Ed, if I may add to that, uh, I don't know if you remember this, but I was working at the Cummer Museum. Yes, you were a security guy. Yes. Yeah. Lamest, worthless most security guy ever. You mean the dude that just wore a jacket that said security and read comics in the corner? That was me.

SPEAKER_17 1:03:04

But is you that little sweet old lady? What was her name?

Ben Kingsbury 1:03:07

Oh, there were so many of them. Um they're all dead now. Young guy. Yeah, I guess. I mean, they were like 80.

SPEAKER_17 1:03:13

I mean, come on, that's just time. Father Time.

Ben Kingsbury 1:03:15

But we had a uh the the museum did like it was a at the time it was like a one-of-a-kind exhibit, and it was just to showcase local artists. And it was like something that we had never done in the museum. We were like really big traditional. No, no, they they've definitely done it since. But at the time that I was working, I was blown away with that. Shout outs to my girl Hope McMath. Yeah, big shout outs to Hope. But Ed, you were you had a piece hanging in that exhibit. It was like you, Chad Landenberger. Oh, chat. Oh, yeah, too.

SPEAKER_25 1:03:44

Okay, my bad. My bad, eh? I just know I'm I can't wait to hear Botter's uh how he met us.

Ben Kingsbury 1:03:49

And I and I remember your P, I was like, yo, this is dope. And then I think I met you at like an art walk. I bought a piece from you, and then I see you at superhero um uh I'm sorry at uh universe. Yeah. And do you remember how many prints I was buying from you?

SPEAKER_17 1:04:02

I felt like I was funding commission, yeah. You know, like your beer at least. Yeah, that's funny. I didn't know you, I didn't realize you were working there when that show happened.

SPEAKER_25 1:04:10

Yeah. Here's the creepy thing. The weird, the weird tie that I just thought of. Your your signature character was Shiloh, right? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_17 1:04:20

Yeah, I told Ashley that. You did, did you? Yeah, that's crazy. I dig it. I don't think she knew that. I told her that after she told me.

SPEAKER_25 1:04:26

No, she didn't, no, she didn't know. That's the cool thing, is that it's like it's like, man, fucking, we were all destined to like meet each other, you know. Jamie, this is a really good question.

SPEAKER_17 1:04:36

It's funny that show.

Ben Kingsbury 1:04:36

I haven't thought about that show in a while, but like I think I might have the folio weekly paper that covered that show. I think I've got it somewhere.

SPEAKER_17 1:04:43

Like I had a friend from work because I was at Georgia still, and they're like, hey man, congrats on the show. That's cool.

Ben Kingsbury 1:04:47

So I met you, I met you through there. I was buying prints from you, and then eventually I was like, yo, I think he would be a good host. Met C via uh Drew, obviously. I still remember the day of like being right outside the comic shop. You and C Bass pulled up, and that's when I first met you. And I think we literally had like an hour convo right outside the shop, and I was like, Aren't you guys going in? You're like, Oh, yeah, that's fucking right. Yeah. Um, but I just ended up, you know, obviously me and C disconnected like that. Met Ashley through the podcast because when I had she was a guest, she was a guest along with Rachel, and that was the first time I met her, and I remember she left an impression on Walt because he was like, Yo, she didn't say much, but she was cool as fuck. You know, like Walt was like That's the best way to describe it. Yeah, she don't say much, but she's cool as fuck. Yeah, Walt was like, I like your energy fool.

SPEAKER_25 1:05:34

For all the shit we've talked, that's the look for anyone that look the rule is when you're not on the show and you're a co-host, that is the way it works. We talk shit about you when you're not here.

Ben Kingsbury 1:05:45

Jamie, fantastic question. And I felt like serendipitously, that was like a good way to kick off this voicemail session. Let's move on. Uh Ed, your turn. Pick number one through twenty three. Three and seven are gone. Twenty three. Three and seven are Sorry, three and ten. All right. Twenty-three comes from our homeboy, Zach Armor. Okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_27 1:06:07

What's up, Short Box Nation and the Short Box Podcast? This is Zach from Comic Ventures. I want to wish you guys a happy 400th episode. I hope to hear 400 more. Thanks for having me on the show. It's been an honor. It's been a joy. You're the best comic book podcast in the world. Love you, butter. Love you, team, and congratulations. Love you, team. Love you, otherwise. Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_17 1:06:32

Love you, butter, love you, etc.

SPEAKER_20 1:06:35

Love you, bodder, love you, etc.

SPEAKER_25 1:06:40

Love you, uh ellipse teams. Love you. You guys know my name. What's up with that? We're talking the guy. We're shitting on this man so bad.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:50

Anybody who is into comics knows that name. Team.

SPEAKER_17 1:06:54

Team. It's not even well, E is in it, so that could be me. Who's T?

SPEAKER_25 1:06:58

You know, Zach, you've got a cool name. I want to I want to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Ben Kingsbury 1:07:02

You're like, I want to like you. He had a 20-word limit on the invoicemail. The funny thing about Zach, Zach has been a co-host on the show twice at this point. He it was on an episode where we talked about a Suicide Squad comic series and help me out, Ed. It was uh Black Adam. I think it was Black Adam. It was two DC comics, and he is the biggest Marvel head out there. And I remember by the second one, I was like, man, Zach, you've been fantastic. We got to have you on, you know, another time. And he was like, Can it please just be a Marvel book at least? Dude, he was like, I don't know what makes you think I can talk about DC, but I mean, I'm here because I want to be on the show. That's funny. That's funny. But he killed it. Big shout out to Zach. Check out Comic Ventures on Instagram. He does great content and he's a fantastic friend of the show. Thank you, Zach. That's all right. See, back to you, man. One through 23. I'll let you I'll just tell you if the number's already been um chosen. Seven. Oh, this is a good one. All right. This is you know what? I'm just gonna play it. I'm just gonna play it. Here we go. Here we go.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:03

Well, well, well, look who it is. JK JK, 400 episodes. 400 episodes. I can't believe you got 400 episodes. You got people to agree to hang out with you 400 times. I can't even get my mother, who gave me birth, to come hang out with me at least two times. And like we try to hang out on the holidays and she cancels on me all the time. And it's at her house and she cancels me. She calls me right when I'm at the dinner table, but it's like I can't make it. Neither here nor there. 400 episodes, dang! Takes a village, takes a team. Takes a whole lot of effort, uh determination, sleepless nights, a lot of laughs. 400 episodes doesn't even amount to how many hours that was put into this love and labor of a show. Uh I guess you gotta give props where props are due. B. Like, I mean freaking 400 episodes. Gotta shout out C, gotta shout out Ed, gotta shout out Ashley. A lot of behind the scenes, a lot of rivalries, a lot of things that are going on. So uh yeah. Without further ado, we'll just give 400 episodes. Uh yeah. See if we could do it to 800. Anyways, guys, love you and uh thank you so much for being part of the short box team. Drew might be the only one that hit the limit. You know, even Speak Fight was like, all right, first off.

SPEAKER_22 1:09:20

What is he talking about?

SPEAKER_25 1:09:21

First off, Andy, I love you. Second off, I want can you please send that to me? Okay. I need to listen to that, and I will listen to it the same way I watch David Lynch films or Cohen Brothers movies. Just fucking weird and artistic. That is it, that is an exercise in weird and artistic. I want to fucking show that I could take that voicemail, put it with a black screen, and show it at the con film festival, and people would be like, genius.

SPEAKER_17 1:09:55

It's real like stream of consciousness.

SPEAKER_25 1:09:57

It's so stream of consciousness. It's so fucking weird. What rivalries and bot what's it? I didn't I didn't know about that one. I'm about to look at you guys like going on. Okay, this is like when Doctor Strange looks at eternity, like that scene in Guardians 2 when Peter looks up and he's got fucking eternity in his eyes, and he's like, I see everything.

Ben Kingsbury 1:10:18

All our real short box fans know there's a reason why we called you the legal liability, baby. But look, it wouldn't be right doing no form or whatever. I'm glad it was me.

SPEAKER_25 1:10:28

And he's lucky number seven, so that fucking works, dude. That works.

Ben Kingsbury 1:10:31

All right, that was Drew. Uh Ed, what about you? Give me a number.

SPEAKER_17 1:10:34

Uh, let's do uh 13.

Ben Kingsbury 1:10:36

Oh, okay. Number 13 comes from our guy, Malcolm Jackson.

SPEAKER_31 1:10:42

Hey, here it is. Short box nation, short box crew, short box everything, man. You already know. This is your boy Malp, man. Long time, no see and all that jazz. Just want to congratulate y'all on 400 of them things, man, as I'm I'm washing down the Batmobile. And honor you guys, man. It was getting dusty, but y'all, y'all gave me a good reason to go ahead and and clean that thing on up. Um But on the real, I just want to tell you guys congratulations. Um, you guys have been not only just killing it, but I think what what makes you guys agree is you allow, you know, fella nerds like myself to to really come out of that shell and you gave them a place of uh of comfort and and and a space where they felt heard and can be themselves, you know. Um nerd culture in some cases can uh you know they can treat you like crap and and you guys, you know, just you treat everybody like family and and people feel more welcome and they're able to embrace who they truly are. And I think it's you know, the work that you guys do and and how you present it um has allowed, you know, others to to fit in like that. So um, you know, here's to four hundred of them things, and here's to another four hundred mo. Um Mount Jacks signing out. Um shit, go Jags, by the way.

SPEAKER_25 1:12:08

Such a great tag. Mt jacks signing off, go Jags. Like that's it's the most Jacksonville like that.

Ben Kingsbury 1:12:15

That dude is unnaturally cool. He is just the coolest man.

SPEAKER_25 1:12:18

Big shout outs to Mount being vulnerable and saying all those things. And we treat everybody like crap, though. This is that's the only thing.

Ben Kingsbury 1:12:27

Especially if your name has any of these letters, B, A, D, and R. All right.

SPEAKER_25 1:12:31

I don't even know how to spell, man.

Ben Kingsbury 1:12:32

So yo, I don't even see color, bro. So whatever. All right. Uh C. All right, give me a number. You got the next voicemail. We'll be good. Uh two. Oh, okay. Number two. Oh, yeah. Speaking about friends of the show, we haven't heard from a long time.

SPEAKER_24 1:12:51

This one comes every time.

SPEAKER_25 1:12:55

It's so gross, dude. You're you're a professional.

Ben Kingsbury 1:12:59

This one comes from Austin Wade Ellis.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:03

Hey. Yo, short box. It's Austin Ellis, or as Potter would call me, Austin Wade Ellis. Dude's never got my name right. I love it. Just wanted to call and uh say thanks for 400 episodes of uh some cool bullshit. Uh had fun kicking it on a handful of shows with you guys. Don't have a lot to say. Love you guys. Um, Warren sucks. Peace. Love you too, man.

SPEAKER_25 1:13:36

Love a good shout out, Warren. Austin, Austin, man. Oh, Austin Wade Ellis. You're so great, Austin Wade Ellis. Austin, Austin cracks me up. You know, Austin, since I know inevitably you will be listening. You know your voice sounds like? You sound like Sam Harris. You sound like the the the famous uh philosopher/slash neuroscientist, Dr. Sam Harris. Um, he has a podcast too. He has a very pleasant voice, too.

Ben Kingsbury 1:14:02

Oh, does Sam Harris have a podcast?

SPEAKER_25 1:14:04

He has look, my point is he had.

Ben Kingsbury 1:14:05

Sam Harris, like the biggest podcast host in the world, had a podcast?

SPEAKER_25 1:14:09

He has look, first off, I was down with it before he didn't have anybody listening to his shit, okay? Um, second off, I'm just trying to pay the man a compliment, man. Austin has a very pleasant voice, and he's fucking he's he's one of the real ones, man. Big shout-outs. Thank you.

Ben Kingsbury 1:14:25

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_25 1:14:25

Appreciate you too, dude.

Ben Kingsbury 1:14:26

All right, uh, Ed, take it away. Give me a number. Um, 20. 20. Okay. This one comes from our guy, Trey Namo. Trey Namo. Patrons, our Patreons represent in the house. Here we go.

SPEAKER_15 1:14:39

400 episodes. That's amazing. And your boy still can't get on the mic. R IP. Now I'm kidding. But what's up, Short Bucks? Congratulations on the 400. It's your boy Trey. Uh I'm up here at second of Charles right now. They're doing a penny a page deal for all their used books. So, you know, I had to get a lot of compendiums and some hardcovers. Also found a uh first Negan in the dollar bin, so can't go wrong with that. But uh yeah, I definitely want to champion Invincible, and my question for y'all is what's some cool uh compendiums or some cool trades that you guys just die by. Uh love y'all and congratulations on 400.

Ben Kingsbury 1:15:18

Man, look, my man is calling from a sale at second and charge. And did he say a penny a page? Yeah, I was like, hmm. That's badass. Hell yeah, to be stocking up on trades and omnibuses. Yeah, fantastic. And and uh, Trey, let's see if we can't not not get you on the show for another 400. Can we do it, guys? Yeah, come on.

SPEAKER_25 1:15:38

Yeah, boy, hashtag not everyone can be in the band. What up?

Ben Kingsbury 1:15:42

All right, uh, Trey's question. He got a question. Uh so recent um, what did he say? Uh recent compendiums, graphic novels we picked up. I will mention one that I'm excited about getting here soon, and that is the hip hop family tree omnibus that's coming out real soon. Um, I had it pre-ordered via Amazon, which was like 50 bucks, but I canceled that order because uh I think cheapgraphicnovels.com had it for like 30 bucks, and you know your boy's frugal, and I will take that $20 savings for something else. My man. Ed, give me uh uh compendium trade hardcover.

SPEAKER_17 1:16:19

It's gonna be both because I'm Dark Horse is re reprinting all of Richard Corbin's works.

SPEAKER_25 1:16:24

They sure should are.

SPEAKER_17 1:16:25

Uh I just got murky world, it's beautiful. Oh man. And Den is coming up at the end of the year. It's in my book. It's in my uh uh cart. So those are the things I'm most excited about finally getting a chance to get all that stuff. I'm sure it's the Dark Horse does a really good job of the of their trades and collections. And uh yeah, I'm gonna get everyone that comes out. So that's the ones I'm really looking forward to.

SPEAKER_25 1:16:49

So best ones I have bought. Uh I'm gonna say the Hellboy Library Editions and also the Jim Starlin Adam Warlock hardcover that covers the Marvel premieres. I'm bougie and I want them Marvel premieres, man. Magazine format or nothing, bitch. Maybe Sammy ain't eating for a little bit, but my man's libraries are stocked.

SPEAKER_22 1:17:12

Yo, my daughter's never going to college, but you better believe she's gonna get that Steve Gitko creepy.

Ben Kingsbury 1:17:18

All right. Thank you so much, Trey, for that one. Thanks, Trey. Okay, uh, see, give me a number. Uh three. Three? Uh, we've already done three. Four. Four. Hey, yo, so no ever come from my girl, all right? This is from Blythe, and you better put some respect. What?

Badr Milligan 1:17:32

Oh, Blythe!

Ben Kingsbury 1:17:32

We got a voice message from my baby. No, it's fucking stupid. Technically, she's not in the other room. She's at a bar watching the Jags game like a true American, all right? Oh my god. Look at you.

SPEAKER_20 1:17:47

Here we go, here we go.

SPEAKER_12 1:17:50

I know a lot of people are going to call in and comment on the content that the short box produces, and and rightfully so. I've had the pleasure of being 10 feet away where all that recording magic happens. But I wanted to shine a light on particularly the behind the scenes that most short box fans don't see. And that's the research, the show notes, the group text conversations, the guest coordination, creating social media posts to promote the content, the editing, the attention to detail editing that Butter does for each episode, just to make sure that it respects your time and attention, the audience's time and attention is something that I really don't see any other podcaster doing, including myself. And he's done it for over 400 episodes now. The end result of that content is having its moment. But I think the behind-the-scenes work that Bodder and the crew have done deserve all the accolades. It's not easy to fit in a podcast in between your normal life of everything that you have to do, and then fit in the podcast consistently over years of time. But it's totally worth it. So congrats to the short box crew on achieving this milestone. And I look forward to listening in on those future conversations from 10 feet away. Congrats again.

SPEAKER_17 1:19:05

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_22 1:19:06

That's cute, man.

SPEAKER_17 1:19:07

That's cute.

SPEAKER_25 1:19:11

I do. I thought I got nervous. This was gonna be like an expose. Like it's like, I'm here 10 feet away. Pretty sure Cesar drinks way too much. And he drives drunk.

Ben Kingsbury 1:19:21

She's like, Cesar eats us out of house and home every time he comes.

SPEAKER_25 1:19:24

I wish he'd leave.

SPEAKER_17 1:19:25

I thought she usually leaves when we record.

Ben Kingsbury 1:19:27

Now we know why. She puts on her noise-canceling headphones when you guys come. All right. Thank you, Blaif. Ed, you got the next pick. Give me a number.

SPEAKER_17 1:19:35

Let's do um have we done nine?

Ben Kingsbury 1:19:37

We have not done nine. And nine is the most inefficient way to do this.

SPEAKER_25 1:19:42

We should have just done it down the line, like, all right.

Ben Kingsbury 1:19:44

No, this is kind of fun. You never know, right? We never know.

SPEAKER_25 1:19:47

I hope you're keeping track. I am, I am.

Ben Kingsbury 1:19:49

It's one of the many things you do. Many things he does. Did you not hear Blaif's? You know, Blame's mouth. All right, this one comes from our guy, Greg Motherfucking Hopkins, who is Boom Studios, Greg Hopkins.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:00

The Boom Studios.

SPEAKER_25 1:20:02

The Boom Studios, Greg Hopkins.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:04

Here we go. 400 episodes, and it took me 400 tries to get this voicemail correct. Barter, you are killing it. Schwarbox is awesome. So proud of you all. Thank you for having me on the episodes I've been on, and I look forward to another 400. Nice.

SPEAKER_25 1:20:18

Oh man, that's Greg, man. Concise. He's the real one.

Ben Kingsbury 1:20:21

Now, Greg, if Boom Studios is looking to expand their marketing capabilities of podcasting.

SPEAKER_25 1:20:26

Can your Marvel Blood even say that with like a serious look on your face?

Ben Kingsbury 1:20:30

Bro, look, if we got a Boom Studios or any type of content.

SPEAKER_17 1:20:36

I love you. Yo, welcome to the Boomcast.

unknown 1:20:39

Yo.

SPEAKER_17 1:20:41

We're talking Power Rangers. And all 25 covers.

Ben Kingsbury 1:20:47

You're funny. I mean, look, I mean to say it's like.

SPEAKER_25 1:20:50

Butter's like, shut the fuck up, and I'm trying to get a I'm trying to get a job, fool.

Ben Kingsbury 1:20:53

Ed, you're trying to get paid or what?

SPEAKER_25 1:20:55

Ed's like, none of them checks have cleared, so I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, Butter.

Ben Kingsbury 1:20:58

All right. Uh see, give me a number. Five. Speaking about friends we haven't heard from a long time. Chris Hojola, ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKER_11 1:21:07

Yo, short box crew, this is Chris Hohola, former short box co-host during the Golden Arrow of the podcast. Just wanted to say congratulations on episode 400. It's definitely quite the achievement. I'm honored to call you all friends, and even though I had to move away, it's a joy to hear y'all's voices through the podcast. Obviously, my favorite episodes were the ones I hosted alongside Adam and Ed. But my question to you all is what has been your favorite episode that you've recorded this far and why? And one more question. What does the short box podcast mean to each one of you? Hope you keep going strong for another 400. And hey, just as an FYI, my calendar is wide open for a reunion episode. Love y'all. Peace.

SPEAKER_25 1:21:50

Man, that's love you, Chris, man. That's awesome. Chris, that is so awesome. You know what, man? Chris is funny, man. Chris is awesome. You know what? Let me say this. It's not my favorite, but it's up there. The Civil War episode. Where we were talking about Batman versus Superman, and we were also talking about, I think, Civil War. And it was like we were, it was, it was like him. Who I can't remember what the sides were, but we all were like Butter, of course, was like in Mephisto fashion, trying to fuel everyone to like make everyone mad. Like, yes, decent. You like Batman versus Superman? I said, Well, I didn't say I liked it. Adam's like, yo, fuck you for liking that movie. I was like, I didn't well, hold on, man. Fuck you. Wait, maybe I do. And then Butters in the back are like, yes, excellent, excellent divide among views. Yeah, yeah. Think of the views. I will tell you this. This is an easy question to answer, Chris. The episode that I like the most is the Christmas episode where God, that was the first time we instated the Christmas. The first Christmas episode we did was kind of like fun. And then the next time we did it was sort of like a oh, this is like a tradition. We're all gonna give each other gifts and we're all gonna get fucked up.

Ben Kingsbury 1:23:02

Yeah, the Christmas parties.

SPEAKER_25 1:23:03

And uh I think it was the second time your dad was on. And it was me. It was like this or it was the second time I did the Doctor Strange, and Ed was the insufferable sort of God, I gotta put up with fucking uh drunk Doctor Strange. Yeah, played long, and he was long, yeah. Right? And we got fucking lit up, and it was so much fun, and it was a good time. I think I think that might be it. Any Christmas episode we do. Those are really good.

SPEAKER_17 1:23:32

Oh man, I think my favorite, my recent favorite, I always like the artist spotlights. Yeah, but I think one of our best ones was the Bill Watterson one. Right there with you. I think that is like everyone was, you know, I think well prepared and on point with everything. And that was one of my uh those are my favorite if I have to like classify them, but I think I think we really did a good job on that one.

Ben Kingsbury 1:23:58

Yes. You had another awesome episode of that, Ashley. I I liked it, yeah.

SPEAKER_17 1:24:02

Well she was here and my answer may have been different, but she's not so.

SPEAKER_25 1:24:08

I I I'll say as far as what the show means to me, uh refer back to the what I said when it comes to just the level of how much it has impacted my life. I met my wife through the short box. And if I didn't meet her, I wouldn't have my kid, and I wouldn't have the life I have now, and all the happiness and unexpected uh joys that come with that. So god damn you, but you get credit for that too.

SPEAKER_17 1:24:36

So And it's been a good to tag along with that. It's I I didn't meet anybody, so none of that happened.

SPEAKER_24 1:24:42

But um I literally have stitches.

SPEAKER_25 1:24:46

Not everybody I've got stitches in my side right now, and I almost fucking busted the like I was like, shit, I haven't met nobody.

SPEAKER_17 1:24:55

But goddamn it, I do I do enjoy it as the like I said, if even like when we're all together or we've figured out how to do it, you know, via like a zoom, um, it's just a good creative outlet, and it's because it's like I don't you guys are probably the only people that I know that are into this stuff. So it's like when you have the few friends you can talk to, not only talk to it but share it and it and then that's it entertains people for whatever reason. At the niche level. Yeah, at the niche level, and there's uh an audience for it, and it's we've achieved you know, I'm not saying we're the biggest, but we I think for for like a small town podcast, I think we've done pretty well, you know, and a lot of that is a tribute to to Bodder, but it's a it's it's been a good, it's like another creative outlet that I otherwise would not have. So it's it's awesome. Because I'd be too lazy to do one on my own.

Badr Milligan 1:25:52

So I appreciate that.

Ben Kingsbury 1:25:56

Uh I'm gonna keep mine short and sweet and say recent favorite episode. I think Ed hit something with the Bill Waterson episode, but I'll I'll go one artist spotlight back, uh, which I think I want to say Ashley was there for that one. Um might have been the last artist spotlight episode that we for a change. Yeah, yeah. I want to say she was there for the the Outred's episode. That was the Mike and Laura Alred episode. And that was a good one.

SPEAKER_17 1:26:24

We even got a shout-out.

SPEAKER_25 1:26:26

We sure did.

SPEAKER_17 1:26:26

So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_25 1:26:27

You're welcome. You're welcome for shit talking, by the way, guys. I feel like Sonic Saddles are Mormon. Fuck you, buddy.

Ben Kingsbury 1:26:33

Mike Alred, share the episode. I guess listen to it without any, you know, uh push from say it drop too.

SPEAKER_17 1:26:42

It wasn't like, you know, that's impressive.

Ben Kingsbury 1:26:44

Yeah, it was it was awesome. I gotta say that was that.

SPEAKER_25 1:26:46

And I bought it's like, yo, I'll be at in you. It don't matter.

Ben Kingsbury 1:26:50

Yeah, none of that worked. Um, and then I'll probably say another more recent one was number 375, the short box holiday special. It was the last time that we were all together as a family. Um, you know, we took that awesome family Christmas photo. I mean, just thinking back about it, it's like, yo, Ashley, you know, Ashley's busy now. Like you said in the beginning, she's a mom now. You know, that was the last time we got to see her before she was like an official mom. You know, like Shiloh was still in her belly, like, you know, it was a great Christmas. She still made us drinks, too. Yeah, she did. Yeah, she did.

SPEAKER_25 1:27:23

Like a very irresponsible. She did not lose to bartender town. Wonderful. Yeah.

Ben Kingsbury 1:27:27

And as far as what short box means, I mean, you guys already said it in bet in better ways than I could. I think short box for me means family. You know, I think about like the friends that are more like family to me.

SPEAKER_17 1:27:37

Vin Diesel over here.

SPEAKER_24 1:27:39

Yo, it's about family.

Ben Kingsbury 1:27:41

Fucking Jason Mimosa over here. Yeah, you got me on that one. I did sound kind of corny.

SPEAKER_17 1:27:46

You know what it's about. Family. I am Groot. I need to stand on this box next to the rock so I look taller.

Ben Kingsbury 1:27:54

Chris, thank you. All right, Ed, give me uh take a number. Um, let's do one. This is Interesting pairing because this comes from another voice we have not heard from Adam Adam Adam Waller. I knew it.

SPEAKER_08 1:28:06

I knew it. I knew it. Short box. Congratulations. 400 episodes. That's absolutely crazy. Butter, Cesar, Ed, Ashley. You all are amazing. I love you all. And it's just awesome. Here's the 400 more. Talk to you guys soon.

Ben Kingsbury 1:28:23

Man, that's Adam for you, though. Short, sweet, but goddamn it's a good thing. He's like, uh good. Is that good enough?

SPEAKER_25 1:28:29

Is that good enough? Please don't make me show my feelings any more than I have to. I'm German. Please don't make me do it. That was good.

Ben Kingsbury 1:28:38

Love you too, man. Thanks, Adam. I'll go ahead and share this. Adam has expressed interest in coming back on. He's like, yo, my calendar's open. I'd love to, you know, maybe sit in on a couple episodes. Okay. So we'll see if we can make that happen. You know what? Uh at this point, we could probably just play these down because the numbers are all kind of scattered. Oh, can we? All right. Pick a goddamn number. Oh, I don't know. Six. That was actually pretty good. All right, we haven't played six yet. All right. Six comes from yet another longtime supporter of the show. Fucking touch, man. And our uh I would say this person is among our Patreon flag bearing, like just supporters. It's gotta be Nick. David Morales.

SPEAKER_25 1:29:19

Oh, David Morales. I'm glad I picked him. Come on, here we go.

SPEAKER_16 1:29:24

Yo, spider gooch and short box. Congratulations on episode 400. Thanks for all the content and laughs over the years. If I could, I wish I could encapsulate my favorite episodes into paperback form. That way I could put them on display at home with the rest of the greats that I have. My question to y'all is what is your first conscious exposure to comic books? And if this has already been asked, what is your hack or advice for getting over a creative rock? Um I'd also like to shout out and champion you guys as my champion for this week to potential sponsors. Looking at you, Joanne, I mean genies and habemame.

SPEAKER_25 1:30:09

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_18 1:30:10

I'm not sure what that last one is.

SPEAKER_25 1:30:12

I think those were those those were words. I'm just not sure what they meant. Habe mommy in context. I think David had a stroke. So if you are smelling burning toast. David, if you hear this, call me. Do you smell burning toast, David? Buddy, we're concerned.

Ben Kingsbury 1:30:27

And whoever this Habe mommy is, my boy Ed is out here, you know, single. Habe mommy. Okay, uh, so two questions. I'll let you guys pick which one. Uh he said. Actually, I forgot what his question was. Getting over a creative hump and first consciousness. Exposure to the comics. Uh you know, I already no. Go ahead. No, go ahead. I already shared this on the Al Letson episode. I dropped it. Oh, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_25 1:30:50

Oh, look at this guy.

Ben Kingsbury 1:30:51

Oh, his question's not Al Let's available at First Coast Connect Al Letson, NPR. Uh I'll answer the creative hump. Sometimes I think you just got to take a step back and just go do regular life shit. You know, until like you're ready to come back to a fresh eyes and you've lived a little. And sometimes like those life experiences will push you past that creative hump. Because now you can tackle it in a different opinion. At least for me, when I'm tired of the podcast, I just go like live life and then come back, you know, and I'm like, okay, I feel a little more energized. I'm not so stressed out. Because I think sometimes you you hone in so deep, or I'm sorry, honey so deep. Wow. What am we talking about? No, we're talking about creative. You gotta shovel. You gotta shovel. Keep going. I think sometimes you could be in the process, zoomed in so much you can't see like the force of the trees, and you just gotta pull back and just you know, go live a little.

SPEAKER_25 1:31:41

These are the most cliche ass answers I've ever heard in my phone.

Ben Kingsbury 1:31:44

But they work though. They work though. All right, see, let me hear your own.

SPEAKER_24 1:31:47

No, no, the first conscious exposure comics.

Ben Kingsbury 1:31:51

My dad, he gave me some my daddy.

SPEAKER_25 1:31:55

He gave me some Spider-Man comics. That's actually touching. I mean, I'm sure he I'm sure he might know that, right? If he's been listening this long. All right, for David. That's good. No, no, no. I'm not saying add more to it. I'm just saying, like, that's cool. I don't want you talking more than that. Take away. All right, all right, all right. My first conscious exposure to comics was um in the newspapers. So newspaper comic book strips. Comic strips were my first conscious exposure. And uh Calvin and Hobbes has a little bit to do with that. I actually was exposed to Calvin and Hobbes before I could read. So excuse me. I actually have memories of looking at the covers. Yeah, man. I made it, dude. Hooked up, Phonics. Um so that's probably my first conscious exposure to comic books. Uh second, as far as a hack concerning any sort of creative block you might have, uh let me give you a little insight as to far, I guess, how the human brain works. Um regarding states of consciousness, right? You have your waking state, which is you walking around every day doing shit, right? You have your your regular ass sort of uh subconscious state, which is like when you go to sleep, it's there, right? And then you have your different breakdowns within that, your alpha, beta, theta waves, whatnot. You dream during REM sleep, that sort of thing. Your third level of consciousness, which is all this is measurable, is below that. And that is where most of your stress sort of gets built up, right? So I'm going somewhere with this, David. If you ever feel like you have a writer's block or an artist's block of any kind, take a breath, relax, do the best you can to try and just maybe concentrate on some breathing exercises because all that block really is is stress being relieved, right? So all the all the muck and the mire from the lowest form of consciousness is basically going up. Anytime you activate the creative part of your brain, the stress part of your brain lives there too. So think of it like a big, huge knot. And once that knot gets dissipated, it looks like Thanos dust when he snaps somebody away, right? But that dust has to rise to the top. All that dust rising to the top is the blockage. So don't be afraid when the blockage happens, give it time, give yourself time. It will dissipate and you will be able to create once more. Just don't wait forever. Just rely, just relax. The the biggest thing you can do is just don't panic and you'll get past it. So that's that's it.

Ben Kingsbury 1:34:35

I thought you were giving advice on CPR for a minute. Wow, but wow. I mean, Ed, you gotta follow up with Ed. What you got, Ed? See, there's three planes.

SPEAKER_17 1:34:44

There's the waking plane and the C Ming Ming. Where's my sitar? My first exposure, I think I've told this, it's basically stores back then would have like, you know, quarter boxes and nickel boxes. So cool boxes. Yeah. So he'd always get a stack and then go through them first to make sure they're okay. So my earliest comic memories are all the old like C-list Marvel and DC guys.

SPEAKER_25 1:35:09

I'm jealous of your comic book experience, by the way.

SPEAKER_17 1:35:11

Shang-Chi, Powerman, Iron Fist here. Because I like all that shit now. Yeah. Blackhawks, like all a lot of those weird kind of Silver Ages, Braun Age kind of C Listers that were in the discount bin. So C Devils.

SPEAKER_25 1:35:26

It's like all the stuff Jim Opera was doing that wasn't big, big name shit.

SPEAKER_17 1:35:30

So that was my first experience with comic. And then of course you get like the Calvin and Hobbes books and the Garfield books and all that stuff, uh peanuts, whatever. And the, you know, when the newspapers had comics in them, you'd always grab those. But as far as like a slump, it's I've always had the kind of philosophy of treating it like when like an athlete or someone has like a slump or something like that. Where you just keep you just work through it. You might switch gears a little bit, but you kind of like I said, there's there's uh I agree with with Bodder saying you kind of step back a little bit, but don't do it too long, and otherwise it just you just get you just never come back.

SPEAKER_25 1:36:16

Yeah, so don't don't concentrate on the block.

SPEAKER_17 1:36:18

Yeah. So like I said, but I always like if I'm having trouble with something, then I will do a different exercise that it's related, or just kind of change gears in that same whatever your block is at. Because I th I always think you have to work through it. Because I think if you leave it, you just get used to that and never come back.

Ben Kingsbury 1:36:40

Yeah, David. So um that that was two great ways of saying don't listen to anything I said.

SPEAKER_17 1:36:45

It's quite the opposite. I mean, I don't want to just come out and say that. But it depends on what it is. Like I said, I'm doing it for drawing, you know. Like someone's doing surgery, you know, some important shit, you know, it's gonna be a different set of rules. But if it's like an like an art-related thing for me, you know, even if you're playing instrument or something, you just work through it. Um but yeah, if it's something more serious, then definitely it kind of depends on what how serious what the block is or what your burnout is occurring. But you know, there is a value in just you know taking a break, but I you know, depending on what it is. So, like I said, for the dumb shit I do, just work through it. Fair enough.

Ben Kingsbury 1:37:20

Good advice. Thanks so much for that voice message, David. All right, this next one comes from our guy Eli Schwab, who has been a guest.

SPEAKER_25 1:37:27

Speaking of TMNT fans.

Ben Kingsbury 1:37:29

Yeah, exactly. My man. Yeah. Uh I'm just gonna go ahead and play it, man. Eli.

SPEAKER_07 1:37:34

What up, short box nation? It's your boy, Eli Schwab from Cosmic Lion Productions. Just wanted to wish you a happy 400 episodes. Wow, that's insane. Good shit. And just remind you the heart, the soul, the blood, the body of comic books is original art. Go out there and spend all of your money. No, listen, I said all of your money on original art and some for your friends' comic books. Much love to everyone over there. Can't wait to hang out and chill with y'all again at another convention down the road. Much love, Cosmic Lion Radio Productions. Shortbox Nation.

Ben Kingsbury 1:38:15

Eli is the dude. No, Eli is the look. Eli does a lot of traveling for conventions. I've seen him at Heroes. Uh he was just at San Diego. I don't know if I'm gonna see him at New York Comics.

SPEAKER_25 1:38:28

My man looks like a goddamn cosmic lion for real. Like that mane of hair is freaking ferocious and incredibly different.

Ben Kingsbury 1:38:35

Eli is one of the best dudes in comics, and I highly recommend you check out what he's doing with his own comic imprint, Cosmic Lion Productions. He's got some talented people. Big shout-outs to Kevin Catalan, uh, who does Space Nights, which is a fantastic comic. Yeah, dude's punk rock for real. For sure. All right. This next voice message comes from um a brand new Patreon subscriber, so you know we got to give him a round of applause for making the best damn decision of his life this month. All right.

SPEAKER_24 1:39:04

We got a new this month.

Ben Kingsbury 1:39:07

We got a brand new Patreon subscriber, and he did not hesitate to send in a voice message and celebrate the 400th of us. Uh, if I understand correctly, he's been a fan of the podcast for a minute, and this is his first time seeing.

SPEAKER_25 1:39:18

My name is Sauter Billigan.

Ben Kingsbury 1:39:21

It's actually Jeff Fremond. Here we go. Fremond.

SPEAKER_34 1:39:26

Yo, short box podcast. This is Jeff uh at it's geek to me. If you're on TikTok, go follow me, check it out. Sorry for the shameless plug. Wanted to wish all of you a happy 400th episode. Uh I'm gonna be 52 this November, and I am a gigantic geek, love everything geek, and just the the interviews, the conversations, the reviews, the chats, all of it. Every single episode that you guys put out is just phenomenal. So uh I look forward to many conversations for years to come, hopefully. Uh hopefully we will toast you guys on 800 episodes. And that's it. Happy 400. Thanks for everything, guys. Bye.

Ben Kingsbury 1:40:28

Damn, Jeff, we have been talking shit behind the scenes for every voicemail we played. But that one, you could hear a pin drop in this studio. I know, right? That was well said. Thank you so much, Jeff. That means a lot. Um, and welcome to the Patreon, by the way. All right, brother. Thank you so much for your support. Speaking of Patreon subscribers and you know, our our you know, number one flag bearing short box nation representatives and supporters. This next one comes from my guy, Mac Jacobson, aka Fleurstley.

SPEAKER_33 1:40:57

Yo, short box nation. It's your boy, Mac here. Just wanted to say congratulations on the 400 episodes. That is absolutely insane to think you guys are at 400 episodes. What an accomplishment. What an accomplishment, and what an even better podcast. Just congratulations. I cannot be more proud of you guys. I do have one quick question for you all, though. Because it is the 400th episode of the podcast, what is the first comic book that each of you remember reading? I think that would be really fun to hear about, especially on this momentous um 400 episode. So, yeah, hope you all have an amazing podcast and keep it short box, fam. Peace.

Ben Kingsbury 1:41:50

Hell yeah, Mac. Thank you, brother. Uh, all right. He wants to know the first comic book we've read. Let's make this like a lightning round one. I'm gonna say the first comic book I I remember reading. All right, this is one of two, but the first one is Fantastic Four number 167. It's got Hulk and Thing back to back on this giant Ferris Wheel fighting the rest of the Fantastic Four. It was a two-issue story. Uh, little did I know that one of the first comics I would ever read would be a George Perez um uh uh uh interior-drawn comic book. And apparently the cover is drawn by Jack Kirby and Joseph. I did not know that until right now, but it's written by Joe uh Roy Thomas, and the story is like uh Hulk somehow convinces Thing to team up with them, Thing's not in his right mind, and he fights the Fantastic Four in a two across two issues. It's a lot of fun. It's definitely retro Marvel, but it's like one of the first books my dad handed to me to try to get me into comics. It did not work. It was later on that a Spider-Man issue would actually do that. Uh C, what about you?

SPEAKER_25 1:42:54

Uh it was an Alf comic.

Ben Kingsbury 1:42:56

Uh uh.

SPEAKER_25 1:42:57

Ha! I killed me.

SPEAKER_22 1:42:59

Hey, Willie!

SPEAKER_25 1:43:00

Yeah, Alf. If you guys remember that fucking show, you're old as fuck. If you remember Alf, you have bad knees and probably bad cholesterol. Um yeah. Alf, number 13. It was a Marvel comic, believe it or not. It was my uh I was a little it was a wheel lad.

SPEAKER_20 1:43:19

Make mine Marvel.

SPEAKER_17 1:43:20

Alright, Ed, what about you? I'm not a hundred percent sure, but it is definitely Hands of Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu. Probably number 33. I remember having a bunch of those randomly. So I know it was one of those. It was probably the first one that I like I'm gonna say actually read, not just looked at the pictures. Like read the words. But that's probably it's it's in that. I can't remember because like I said, I would get them in like little stacks, so I can't quite remember. Is either that or might be like that Transformers one that came out with the Bill Sinkevich cover. Yeah, the one that he never saw Optimus Prime in his life and just painted something. So it was still cool. Yeah, it's been uh Mac.

Ben Kingsbury 1:44:10

The other the the comic that did get me was Spider-Man 72, because it had Ben Riley Spider-Man the cover swinging away from uh a sentinel. It was like an Onslaught crossover and Onslaught like Yo stop lying, bro.

SPEAKER_25 1:44:21

No, I'm I'm you know your first comic was like something lame. You know it was like something like 70s.

Ben Kingsbury 1:44:31

All right, moving on. Okay, okay. This next voicemail actually caught me by surprise just because I I didn't quite catch the name at first. Speaking of Robert Jr. No, uh Rob Leaf actually called back. Oh, hell yeah. This is actually from a long time um guest that we had on the show, like way back. If if you remember episode 242 for all our true OG short box fans, it was the last music episode we did. I invited a young up-and-coming rapper by the name of the Black Toilet on the show. Oh, that guy's hilarious! Yeah, he's he's awesome, he's funny, he's talented as fuck. Um, and he actually sent something in, which uh I can't wait to play it. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:12

I just want to say shout out to the short box for blessing me with the opportunity to be on a podcast for the first time in my life. And uh thank you for that. Congratulations on 400 episodes. That's huge, that's a huge accomplishment for the Jacksonville scene and everybody alike. So I just want to say keep pushing, keep grinding, uh, and we appreciate all that you do for us. Um, congratulations.

Ben Kingsbury 1:45:35

Man, I got teary-eyed when I when I put two and two together. That's pretty cool. Yeah, big shout-outs to Black Toil, aka Malik. Thanks, man. Um that was an awesome episode. And it was like one of the last music episodes that we did before we shifted full on into uh just comic talk. So hopefully you're doing well, man. Okay, speaking of short box OGs. This is like this is your life. I guess you could say that, right? Short box is played a big part. But speaking of short box OGs, this next voicemail. Come on, man. Is it Walt? No, no, not yet. Not yet. Oh, I know. I kind of ruined the surprise there, but it comes from our guy, one of the biggest supporters of ours. One of the first. I mean, he's uh holds a lot of firsts to his name when it comes to short box history. Nick Wagner.

SPEAKER_04 1:46:16

I knew it was Nick. Hey guys, Nick Wagner from Black Hive Tattoo here. Just wanted to call in and congratulate you on 400 episodes. I never doubted you for a second. I knew you were gonna do it. I think you all have done an awesome job. It's been a lot of good guests and hosts over the years, but I gotta point out that I was the first uh guest and I was your first Patreon subscriber, and I might have been your first paid advertiser. You have to check it with Butter on that one. If it wasn't, I was one of the first, so whatever. Anyway, it's been a fun trip watching you go from a spider-infected garage all the way up to Butter doing uh convention panels and just all the people of the years, Drew and Walt and all the current hosts. I mean, just Caesar Ed and Ashley are just such a good foil for Butter. Keep him in line.

Ben Kingsbury 1:47:11

Here's another 400 Nick, more like keep me out of line. Nick.

SPEAKER_25 1:47:17

Thank you, uh, thank you for that, man.

Ben Kingsbury 1:47:19

Yo, Nick has a lot of accolades. Like when we uh uh because he he had hit me up with like, you know I'm gonna send this voice message, but I want to make sure I've got my facts right. First guest, first Patreon subscriber. And I want to say, first, I think sponsor of the show. Like without Nick, I would not have launched a Patreon. I remember like he invited me to coffee and he had a very stern talk with me in like the Nick Wagner way. He was like, Look, motherfucker, you're doing some good shit with this podcast, but you gotta go get paid. And I was like, uh yeah, I guess I should. Um, so Nick has been a big like champion of ours, and it was awesome. Like, yo, it's Nick Wagner, man.

SPEAKER_25 1:47:55

All right he gives great hugs, by the way. So if you see him, give him a hug.

Ben Kingsbury 1:47:59

Yeah, if you got like a little creak in your back and you need it kind of popped, yeah, just go ahead and do it.

SPEAKER_25 1:48:02

What are you trying to exploit the man? I was talking about just affection. You're like, yo, he's a good chiropractor.

SPEAKER_20 1:48:07

I can try and get that shit for free. Jordan.

Ben Kingsbury 1:48:11

All right, we've only got a few more, but nonetheless, this next voice message comes from from the past. Actually, it comes from some new friends of the podcast. Okay, cool, cool. Uh Ed, actually, shit, both of you have had a chance to meet him. C most recently had had a chance to meet this guy right here. Oh, okay. And it is our guy, Chris and Aaron, from the Oblivion Bar podcast. Uh see what they got to say.

SPEAKER_28 1:48:37

Hello, everyone. I am Chris Hacker. And I am Aaron Knowles, and we are the host of the Oblivion Bar Podcast.

SPEAKER_26 1:48:44

And we just want to shout out the short box podcast and the amazing milestone that they've just hit of 400 freaking episodes. From the Oblivion Bar podcast to you guys, it is amazing to be in the same space as you. And we appreciate what you do for the podcasting community, the nerd community, and we're just glad to be here with you.

SPEAKER_28 1:49:09

That's right. Yeah, huge, huge congratulations to uh most importantly, maybe our our good friend Botter, but also Cesar, who I was recently just on MCU trivia with, Ashley and Drew. Congratulations to all four of you guys. 400 episodes, such a huge milestone. Uh, we can't wait to get there ourselves. We're not even up to 200 yet, so you guys have far lapsed us by a ton. But uh, we have one question for you before we let you continue to celebrate this 400th episode. And it kind of centers around the idea of back in 2012 when you guys first started the short box podcast. What what initially sparked? What was that defining origin moment? I know that's such a boilerplate question for you guys, but I don't know if I've ever heard the origin. Aaron, have you ever heard the origin of the short box podcast at all? I have not. Yeah, so let's hear. I want to know what lit the fuse. That's right. Yeah. So let us know. Once again, congratulations to all four of you. We will continue to listen to the short box and uh many congratulations and uh we'll see you guys whenever we decide to do another episode together.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:08

Go yeah.

SPEAKER_28 1:50:09

Bye.

Ben Kingsbury 1:50:12

The music. It's pretty uh I would expect nothing less from some professional podcasters like Chris and Aaron. Such a such a good question, guys.

SPEAKER_25 1:50:21

Uh the origin of shortcuts. I've got this one. Don't make me fucking do it. Back when uh such a good question. Uh back when Drew and Butter were stealing trade paperbacks from Books a Million. Uh Butter would be like Butter used to come up to me and was like, yo, see, you're into the nerdist and short box and uh podcast and all that shit. And I was like, Yeah, you know, I am. And he said, um There we go. And he was like, uh, I was kind of toying the idea of doing it, and I was like, you should probably do it. And he did it, and it's all my fault. So you're welcome, everyone. He's uh he's like 45%. Now Walt would probably try and be like, uh, nah. Walt would call you actually ever loving. He would try, but uh, you know, that's it's kind of how it started, man.

Ben Kingsbury 1:51:10

Interesting. Such a humble man.

SPEAKER_25 1:51:11

I am. I humble. I wasn't stealing trade paperbacks from Books and Billy.

Ben Kingsbury 1:51:15

I told you when you were just swapping the stickers. Dude, that shit was so funny. You really were so what Steve hasn't told you is that he tried it a few times. No, I couldn't.

SPEAKER_25 1:51:26

I didn't have the stickers.

Ben Kingsbury 1:51:27

Or the cojones, dude. You guys like this. All right. If I may take this seriously, there's a little bit of truth to say.

SPEAKER_25 1:51:37

There's a lot of truth.

Ben Kingsbury 1:51:38

Uh me, Walt was doing a podcast, a comedy podcast. Greg Hopkins uh from Boom Studios at the time was like doing a comic podcast out of a comic shop that he was like running as well. I remember that. He invited me and Drew on. We had a blast. It was the first no, you weren't there. It was just me and Drew. I've been on that one. But you weren't there for us on that one.

SPEAKER_25 1:51:59

Oh, excuse me. I'm telling you the story.

SPEAKER_22 1:52:02

It's gotta be Butter's way, guys. No, no, no, no, no. I was there too, man. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_25 1:52:10

Don't hit me. Greg invites me and Drew on this podcast.

Ben Kingsbury 1:52:13

It's I can teta. We have a good time, and I remember telling Drew, I was like, yo, we should we should try to do one. And he was like, we should call C and see like if he gives us any tips how to do it. And I said, stop stealing from Books of Bill. C was too cool to hang out with us, all right? There was a point in time.

SPEAKER_25 1:52:35

My marriage was my marriage was failing, okay? That was the real reason. Like I said, you were too cool to hang out with us.

Ben Kingsbury 1:52:39

My first marriage. Look, he had a lot going on. I remember calling C and like trying to ask for pointers, and he was like, Yeah, man, like He's like, Don't get married.

SPEAKER_25 1:52:48

That's my advice. I forgot what advice he gave. I gave you the Jack Kirby advice, comics will break your heart. Something like that.

Ben Kingsbury 1:52:56

And then all credit goes to Walt because at that point, the crew that he was doing the podcast with, uh, the main uh host, Scott, who had the barn, who had the equipment, was like, yo, I want to build a network. Walt, if you want to come up with a podcast and do it on your own, feel free to.

SPEAKER_25 1:53:13

I mean, if all credit means they gave you rent space, but not ideas, that's fine. All credit, sure. We came up with the idea. I'm agreeing with you. I just said that. We came up with the idea.

Ben Kingsbury 1:53:25

Walt ends up going to the comic shop that me and Drew were working at.

SPEAKER_17 1:53:28

I did not know this.

Ben Kingsbury 1:53:29

Universe of superheroes. Thank you, Ed. Thank you, Ed. But long story short, uh, Walt pitched the idea to me and Drew. He was like, yo, let's do a comic podcast. We're already in this comic shop for hours talking comics. Let's get behind the mics. Let's see what we can do. And we recorded the first episode, and I'll never forget Scott showing us how to set things up, and he was like, Have y'all even thought of a name for your podcast?

SPEAKER_25 1:53:51

And everyone was like, I got this, the short box. Everybody likes it. We're doing it.

Ben Kingsbury 1:53:56

Kind of something like that. I think everyone looked around, and I want to say it was either Walt or me. One of us was like, I think it was Walt. Walt was like uh the short box, and we were like, all right, let's run with it for now. That was Walt's idea? It was either me and him said the short box. Clearly, not an idea, man. Clearly.

SPEAKER_17 1:54:17

It's real like Bob Kane, Bill Finger. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_25 1:54:19

I feel like Bill Finger a little bit. No, Bill Finger. That's fine.

Ben Kingsbury 1:54:23

C was too cool. It's fine. It took until episode, I think, four before we could finally get C on. You guys said. And then you know what happened? Look, look. C disappeared for 25 years. 25 years? Like C just disappeared. He came on one episode and we were like, oh wow, I think we found one.

SPEAKER_25 1:54:39

You went to the store to get cigarettes. Never came back. I was producing scarcity for the market.

Ben Kingsbury 1:54:45

Chris, you could hear the full story when we finally drop this documentary. You know what I mean? 20 years. When we dropped the documentary.

SPEAKER_17 1:54:52

We can make a documentary about the documentary.

Ben Kingsbury 1:54:54

All will be revealed. Alright, next one. Our guy Shaggy Black called in of something. Oh, what? You know it's going to be good. Here's Shaggy.

SPEAKER_10 1:55:01

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, the co-host of the Cinema Villains Podcast proudly brings to you a 400th episode shout-out to the Short Box Podcast. I am your hostess with the most of Shaggy Black, with the poorest of audio, sending love to Ashley C Drew, Ed, and of course Barter's big-headed ass. All jokes aside, I am very happy to not just call y'all friends, but call y'all family, man. Barter, thank you for inviting me to be on several episodes as your bench warmer when you couldn't find anyone else with the qualifications to be on that episode to take one of those seats. Thank you so much for that. I also uh appreciate the shit out of y'all, and I hope y'all hit 400 more episodes. Love y'all, man. Y'all be good.

SPEAKER_25 1:55:52

Hell yeah, man.

SPEAKER_18 1:55:53

Thanks, buddy. My big-headed ass approves.

Ben Kingsbury 1:55:55

Big head ass. Yo, do y'all remember when Shaggy Black was just an emailer? Y'all remember when Shaggy Black was just a meme? Yeah. Yeah, but now he runs a successful podcast called The Cinema Villains.

SPEAKER_25 1:56:04

So Yeah, I like how he threw that in there. That was funny.

Ben Kingsbury 1:56:07

As any good podcaster should. Let's buy a new microphone. That's it. Yeah. Come on, Shaggy. Step your game up. Be like Chris, all right? Where's the music bed?

SPEAKER_25 1:56:14

No, we want the synth wave. We want all that shit.

Ben Kingsbury 1:56:17

Yeah, that's effort. Alright, speaking of fellow podcasters and friends of the show, this next message comes from our guy, Corey Torgeson. Torgeson!

SPEAKER_25 1:56:26

Oh, Corey.

SPEAKER_13 1:56:31

Short box. Jesus Christ. Cesar. Nihongoro Benkyo Do. Ashley, how's that little one? Edmund, thanks for keeping my Instagram feed down with the thickness. Botter. Congrats on reaching 400. I swear 300 was just yesterday. By now my general love for you as individuals and enjoyment of the podcast is known enough, so let's touch on one specific point that has recently dawned on me. When a podcast is short a host or two, or maybe rushed for time, or has any normal life event that runs interference, it's common for that upcoming episode to miss a bit of that muchness that listeners love. But with Shortbox, it's humorously different. You get amazing creators and people who change the fabric of comic history with nonchalance. Ashley Cesar and Ed are out, well, I guess I'll see what Jeremy Holt is doing. Gotta attend a convention this weekend, guys. Sorry, I'll just post an interview with Jonathan Hickman and Scotty Young. Really not feeling it this week, y'all. I'll just see what Bill Morrison's up to. Your low bar is much higher than anyone else I've listened to. Your worst content, and I use that very loosely, is just people talking passionately about something they love. Beyond that, you quite literally bring the stars closer to the layman and make comics as a genre feel like something real and tangible, not just a book in your hands. You have a ton more submissions, so just keep up the good work. Corey T signing out from Tampa.

unknown 1:58:00

Damn.

SPEAKER_13 1:58:00

Oh man. Come on.

SPEAKER_17 1:58:01

That is best radio.

Ben Kingsbury 1:58:02

That's really good, man.

SPEAKER_22 1:58:04

Damn it, Corey. That's fucking that shit's man.

Ben Kingsbury 1:58:06

Yo, big shout outs to Corey, man. Huge shout out to Corey. Thanks, dude. Uh, The World is My Burrito, by the way, is the name of Corey's podcast for anyone that enjoys that uh amazing radio voice. Corey's got a hell of a voice for a podcast. Uh speaking of first time callers, longtime supporters, our guy T Mix sent in a fucking voice message.

SPEAKER_22 1:58:26

Holy shit.

Ben Kingsbury 1:58:26

I sounded like over it just then.

SPEAKER_22 1:58:28

Sent in a voice message! You get a message! You get a message!

Ben Kingsbury 1:58:31

Alright, here's T-Mix.

SPEAKER_29 1:58:33

Yo, what up, short box? Come key here, T Mix. Just calling in. That's amazing. 400 episodes, congratulations. Um excited to listen to this episode. I'm excited to hear the family back together. Um looking forward to seeing what you guys do next. Hasta la próxima, mis amigos.

Ben Kingsbury 1:58:54

Damn, it was so cool to hear that and see how to read that.

SPEAKER_25 1:59:02

Hasta la próxima cabrones, putas.

Ben Kingsbury 1:59:06

It's really cool to hear like someone like a team's who who emails like every week, like uh Mac Jacobson who emails uh you know and supports. Like to hear their voices is awesome. It's kind of like a reverse effect, right? Like these guys have heard our voices week, you know, every week for years. Right. And this is our first time, you know.

SPEAKER_25 1:59:23

First time hearing them, and it's grotesque.

Ben Kingsbury 1:59:27

Man, that was cool though. That was cool. But here is uh the second to last voice message, and it comes from our guy Warren Evans, aka Bard of Darkness, who also emailed in his voice message.

SPEAKER_25 1:59:41

Is he a speakpipe guy too?

SPEAKER_23 1:59:43

No, Warren wanted to go ahead and add some flair to it, much like Chris and Aaron and your boy Warren, aka Bard of Darkness, aka the host of Simpsons is Greater Than, a wonderful podcast that you should listen to when you're done with this. Um, but in all seriousness, I am ringing in today uh to send some love to the crew over at Short Box and uh to tell you all a little story. So if it wasn't for Botter and Cesar asking me some time ago if I would come on the short box to talk about my collection, I'm not sure I would have a podcast anyway. I don't know if I would have even thought to myself, oh, you know, maybe I can also do a podcast. And also, I know I wouldn't have had the help that I've had from Bodder when it comes to just all the little things, setting up a buzz sprout, doing all the things that, you know, are a little intimidating when you don't have that community directly surrounding you. So uh the short box uh is not only great for the city of Jacksonville, but it's helped a lot of people see the upside of doing a podcast. So I think you all deserve a little bit of an extra pat on the back. And again, just congratulations. 400 episodes is such a milestone. That is fucking insane. And uh, I'm sure there will be 800 more because it'll never stop. All hail the short box.

Ben Kingsbury 2:01:11

Peace. Oh man, thanks, dude. All hail the short box. Thanks, Warren. Y'all want to get that tatted right after this? Yeah, we'll get to you. Yeah, Nick Wagner will fucking be like, uh, nah. I feel like Nick Wagner is waiting for the water. I was waiting for Warren to be like, fuck Austin.

SPEAKER_25 2:01:26

Do it.

Ben Kingsbury 2:01:29

I think had he known Austin was gonna send in a voice map, he probably would have.

SPEAKER_25 2:01:32

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe he'd have just been like, you know, I'm just gonna rise above it.

Ben Kingsbury 2:01:35

By the way, Warren's podcast debut was on the short box episode 259 back in 2019.

SPEAKER_25 2:01:42

Check it out.

Ben Kingsbury 2:01:43

Look at him now, an uh an accomplished podcaster himself. Love to see it. Thanks, Warren. Appreciate your brother, love you. Alright, last but not least, all right, speaking about, you know, celebrating milestones, m trip down memory lane, talking about the origin of the show. You know we couldn't do this pod in this episode without hearing from our guy, Walter Gantt. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02 2:02:10

Yo, was Goody Shortbox Nation? Was good short box? Walter Gantt. Wanna give a shout out to the short box for getting the episode 400? YG. Lil' Wayne would be proud that y'all made it to that number. If you know, you know. Um, just sitting back right now, going through the little last little bit of my stack. And I was like, yo, man, let me go ahead and get this voicemail off real quick. Reading that new saga joint. Somebody never really stopped. New Fables, new Black Panther run, and this ultimate invasion. And I appreciate y'all folks for staying on top of what y'all been doing over there. And yo, man, congrats. And we'll pick this up next time I'm around the way. Take it easy, y'all. Peace.

Ben Kingsbury 2:03:04

Walt again, man. Come on. OG. OG. The show would not be around without okay, walt, man. That is every voicemail we got. And I, yo, I'm I'm without words of how absolutely happy I am.

SPEAKER_25 2:03:20

You know, I'd like to say something. I'd like to say something. And I've been keeping my mouth shut for a little bit. And I would I would like to roast you a little bit, Butter. I think you deserve it. With all this praise that you've been given, maybe a little bit of roasting. Because right now I feel like everybody's like, yo, 400 more. But all I see is phase four of the short box cinematic universe. That's all I see.

SPEAKER_24 2:03:43

And it's hard to watch.

SPEAKER_25 2:03:47

And did Butter ever beg you to come on the show? Beg you? Beg? Yeah. Has he ever begged you? Has he ever used words like stay, quote, stay on, or hey, come back, as if maybe you've retired? Um. Thank you. Um poor Ashley, who is not here, gets objectified every episode. Oh, yeah. And Ed's whispering at Butter. This is a behind the scenes. He's whispering at Butter like the checks don't go through. I just want to let you know the checks aren't going through. When do I get to escape? When do I get to escape? And I think I think Bodder is actively. I have to say, I say this with love. I think Butter is actively trying to create a campaign that he is charismatic enough to carry this podcast, and he's treating us like we're the she-hulks of the franchise. But if any of us were to leave, endgame. Okay? Why just last night, Botter Milligan. Botter Jamiriquai Williams. Milligan Jamiriquai. Butter Jamiriquaiquai uh Milligan. I told you never say my last name, middle name on the show. Begged me, begged me to come on the show. He begged me. This couldn't be more true. This is 100% true. Do you know why? Do you know why? Here's the reason. Because for a while, those of you who have been listening, at its height, the short box podcast had a slogan for our patrons. It is Make Mine Shortbox. Powerful. Concise. Accurate. Now Bodder's on the street selling watches in his Jordans, saying, Why not short box? Why not short box? And speaking of Patreon, Butter is really good at funneling our funds right back into the show.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:38

Well.

SPEAKER_25 2:05:38

Why every month, our faithful friends, your money goes right into Butter's Invisalign braces? Wow. You coconut toothed son of a bitch. What about my teeth? Okay? They're fucked up too. I could bite a wall.

Ben Kingsbury 2:05:54

Oh my God. My mouth.

SPEAKER_25 2:05:56

My invisalign. How can you fucking smile at me like that? Go ahead and show up all that support. Go ahead. You cheesy son of a bitch. Why don't you take another picture on Instagram? You got the personality of a dead moth. But seriously, that is enough roasting. Um, I just wanted to uh I told Butter I was gonna do that ahead of time.

Ben Kingsbury 2:06:14

Damn, that was good. Because I knew I didn't think you had it written out.

SPEAKER_25 2:06:17

No, because I knew I knew a lot of this stuff was gonna be very uh as it should be. Uh I'm all kidding aside, as it should be, Butter. Without you it wouldn't happen. And it's true. And I want to say from the bottom of my heart, and I know I speak for Ashley, now she's here, and I know Ed probably feels the same way. Thanks, man. Um, thanks for being a good friend, thanks for being a good host. Thanks for orchestrating an environment and a culture where we can all essentially be ourselves and be the best version of ourselves for each other. And not just everybody in this room. Everybody who's heard the show. Because as we say, anybody that listens to the uh short box or even comes to any of our live events, uh you're not just a part of the short box nation, but you're part of the short box family. And that's a legitimate thing that you have helped create. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I love you, man. And uh I wanted to rib you a little bit before I said any of the things I said just now.

Badr Milligan 2:07:20

So you welcome you to do that to me.

Ben Kingsbury 2:07:27

I'm gonna let you finish. No, that was fucking beautiful. I I needed I needed to break the tension. That was fucking beautiful. I did not expect that.

SPEAKER_25 2:07:35

Much like the Marvel universe, you cannot handle dramatic moments. You will undercut them with a joke. That's fine. I still love you.

Ben Kingsbury 2:07:41

Yeah, I still learned it from James Gunn. We love you, baby. Shout out to my boy Josh Sweeton, treating women like shit. That was good. Man, it means a lot to see coming from you. Thank you. Seriously, that was fucking beautiful. Thank you. All right, Ed, now speak highly of me, good sir. We did it already. Did it again? All right, look. Listen to it. This has been this has been one of the funnest episodes we've done in a while. Uh the only thing I wish we could have done differently is had uh Ashley here with us. Like, that is probably the only thing I'll say about this one. It's a shame the way she died. Man, that cat was really bad. Wait, did Ashley get scratched by Stacy X or something?

SPEAKER_25 2:08:20

Ladies and gentlemen, toxoplasmosis is not a joke. Get yourself checked.

SPEAKER_17 2:08:24

It'll be a closed casket funeral. Oh too far, eh?

SPEAKER_24 2:08:31

No, I was buttercide. What I said was cool. What I said was cool and funeral and too far.

Ben Kingsbury 2:08:39

Yo, to all of our listeners out there that have stuck with this whole episode, we thank you. You are you deserve a medal. You guys deserve round and applause. But seriously, 400 episodes. Couldn't have done it without our listeners, our supporters, our friends, our guests. Until next week, I've already got a few interviews lined up. One that I will not say, but just know.

SPEAKER_25 2:09:06

Stay tuned. Stay tuned.

Ben Kingsbury 2:09:08

It's been a long time in the making, and it's gonna be awesome. We got some, we got some, we got some shit lined up for you guys, all right? Real shit lined up for you guys.

SPEAKER_25 2:09:17

See how context makes that sound not so good.

Ben Kingsbury 2:09:21

All right, we done. Peace, y'all.

SPEAKER_01 2:09:33

Hey, it's Ashley. I just wanted to clarify why I missed the 400th episode. Um, I'm not sure what the guy said was uh going on with me, but um, I was all ready. I had my uh champion season books, I had read my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to uh talk about with C. I even got some chips and salsa for the guys. I was all ready to go. Um I had to leave after work. I work at a vet hospital, and uh turns out my last room of the day, there was a full-blown Florida panther in there um that attacked me. So I had um to fight off a panther, and I still was trying to make it. Um, made it to urgent care. There was a lot going on in there. There was um coughing people, screaming babies, it was chaos, um, made it through urgent care, uh, was pretty excited to, you know, say that I could still do the podcast and have a story and make it on time. Made it into the parking lot and ran into um Simu Lu, who um was training for uh Chang Chi 2, um asked me what was going on because I looked pretty beat up. I told him I fought off a Panther. Um he was so intrigued that he asked me if I could uh teach him some moves. So we just went on the beach um and I taught him um some training stuff for uh the next Chang Chi movie, and that is why I did not make it to the podcast. Sorry I missed you guys.