Walt 0:00

No one's gonna be like David Fix on that motherfucker's house.

Drew 0:07

Ladies and gentlemen, Shortbox Podcast is recorded live from Jacksonville, Florida.

Badr Milligan 0:32

Yo, Short Box Nation. Hello again. Welcome back and thanks for pressing play today. If you're brand new, welcome to the show. I'm your host, Badr, 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. Or in today's case, you'll hear from the original fanboys, the original host who put their blood, sweat, and tears into creating this year podcast and getting it off the ground way, way, way, way, way, way back in the summer of 2012. That's right, Short Box Nation, I'm proud to present to you episode 500. Alright, this is a special monumental moment in short box history. It's a milestone episode that honestly most podcasts uh don't reach 500 episodes, right? So this is a big deal for us, and I'm so glad to be celebrating it with you, the listeners, as well as my co-host for today. All right, I'm talking about my brothers from other mothers. First up on mic number two, we got Mr. Andrew Torres calling all the way in from motherfucking Denver. Hello, Swedish pizza. The big homie Woke is also on said podcast. Yo, wolves in Orlando. I'm in Orlando. It's hot as hell here. Yes, we're pouring live from Orlando is Woke. We got the original trio on the podcast today. Joining us to celebrate this special moment. Uh pour yourself a drink, light up if that's your thing, kick your feet up, turn up the volume, and get ready for a damn good time. But first, whoa, are you pouring up a drink? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't worry about that. Just keep doing what you're doing, bro. Yo, it's just addable funny. That is super funny. Yeah, it's like super net set.

Walt 2:19

I'm over here, like, yo, it goes into what we were just talking about, though. Pull you up a drink real quick.

Badr Milligan 2:24

Yeah, that is true. He is taking my yeah, he is taking my drink.

Walt 2:27

That's why I was like, yo, I gotta let him pull one up.

Badr Milligan 2:29

Yeah, well, look. Let's take care of business because you don't make it to 500 episodes without a little help or a lot of help along the way. Big shout outs to our sponsors, including our presenting sponsor, coverprice.com. They are the ultimate comic book price guide and collection management tool for comic collectors. All right, if you want to know what your collection is worth right now, visit bit.ly slash the short box, or just click the link in the show notes. That's a long URL to remember. Click the link in the show notes. You'll get access to cover price for one dollar for a month. All right, it's normally $8 a month, but you can save $7 on a one-month trial. It's a great tool. I use it. You should check it out. Once again, coverprice.com, visit bit.ly slash the short box, or click the link in the show notes to get the app for a dollar. And we gotta thank Gotham City Limit Comic Shop for being a sponsor as well. They're the best damn comic shop here in Northeast Florida. You can visit the shop for yourself here in Jacksonville, Florida on Southside Boulevard, or buy comics for them online at GothamCityLimit.com. All right, that's our sponsors. Big shout outs to coverprice.com. Big shout out to Gotham City Limit. We couldn't do this without them or without the loyal supporters over on the short box Patreon. You guys are the best. Seriously, we couldn't do this without you or the sponsors. And while I'm on uh a shout-out kick, all right, let's give it up and let's raise a glass and cheers. The short box extended family and uh all the co-hosts of the past of short box past that has helped us get here. All right, I'm talking about our day one, super day one, super early year co-host like Amber. Big shout outs to Amber, big shout outs to Ryan Gunwitch Black. All right, that's a little throwback for for you longtime listeners. Big shout outs to Grant, big major love to Adam Waller, Chris Hojola, all right. Much love to the exceptional Edmund Danzart, much love to the first lady of the short box, the matriarch herself, Ashley Lenny Hoy. Of course, I gotta give a shout out to my boy Cesar Cordero. Alright, so many amazing, incredible voices and people have graced these mics and put real sweat and tears into helping us keep this show afloat and building this community for the last 14 years. Alright, it wouldn't be right to celebrate this moment and not mention them by name. But today I'm celebrating with my brothers Drew and Walt. We're taking it back to day one, episode one, and I just you know celebrating with the founding fathers of the short box, alright? So without further ado, boys, how are we doing today, man? How y'all feeling? Happy Friday. I got off work.

Walt 4:55

Well, I didn't get off work, I just left work early.

Badr Milligan 4:59

Did you tell him you were recording a 500 episode?

Walt 5:01

No. I just told, I just told my boss, I said, hey man, it's about two o'clock. I'm not doing this no more. I don't like looking this late on a Friday. I didn't tell him all that. I didn't go that far. But by like, you know, by two o'clock is the type of gig I do. We not whatever ain't came by lunchtime ain't gonna happen on a Friday. Let me be real clear. That's that's Monday work. Yo, it's Monday problems.

Badr Milligan 5:28

That's a Monday problem. That that's that's a future me problem. It ain't a current me problem.

Walt 5:32

Yeah, that's not a current me problem. So I got off work, shot up, I mean, took the took the bus home, got off at my bar real quick, had one drink. The bar to already know I only come in there and get one drink. Because it always be dumb hot this time of the day. I'm not walking home with all that stuff I'll be carrying. So I get off there, have one drink, take a lift home. This is how you know I didn't got old and lazy too, and take a lift home for like whatever it costs, and then be like, all right, cool. I tip these folks because I'm not gonna do that walk with this laptop and my backpack and my um my whatever provisions I went and bought from 7-Eleven, basically my squares for the week, for the weekend, and all that good stuff. I'm not doing that. So I have that one drink, tip her good, and now she just knows my face and my name.

Badr Milligan 6:24

So we good. Damn. Well, you've really laid out that Friday. I that was a thorough, thorough plan. Drew, how you doing today, man?

Drew 6:32

Pretty good. No complaints. Uh got off work early. I've been watching Narcos. I've been running through, I'll do the speed run on Narcos season three per your recommendation. Hey, look, it's a great show. It's a great show. Yeah, and I had to call you because of that big ass shootout. So now I'm here.

Badr Milligan 6:48

Yeah, we're watching old shit to celebrate this 500.

Walt 6:52

Hey, but guess what? It goes back to what we've been talking about for years. There's too much of everything now. So now that there's too much of everything, no one is watching anything at the same time.

Badr Milligan 7:01

Yeah, it's impossible. Time doesn't exist when you have a hundred shows that you need to, you know, like the concept of like a show being old and new, I think is kind of irrelevant for me personally. It's like, is the show good?

Walt 7:14

Because I have the show good, and then I'll jump on it. Yeah. Like, I'm low-key, I've never watched the episode of Euphoria, honestly, until like about three weeks ago when this new season started. I was just working from home and I was like, oh, let me just see what's happening. And I was like, oh, this show is insane. So I've been kind of watching them now.

Drew 7:32

Okay, hey.

Walt 7:35

I didn't watch last week's episode, but now I'm kind of like intrigued enough to go back on Euphoria. Yeah. And one time I'll probably just one time I'll just sit back and watch all of them. But I'm I'm just kind of catching up on Invincible. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're on the Invincible train? Yeah, I've been watching it now. I'm on I'm on season three. I got two episodes. I did not realize these episodes were an hour long. That's like most shows. I did not realize that that card. Invincible did not start out an hour long.

Badr Milligan 8:07

45 minutes, 50 minutes. You might as well round it up.

Walt 8:10

It's like 50, it's an hour.

Badr Milligan 8:11

Okay.

Walt 8:12

It says 51 minutes.

Badr Milligan 8:14

It's a solid uh 50-minute show.

Walt 8:16

No, no, I'm not. What I'm saying is this it is basketball playoff season right now, and it's NHL playoff season right now. Oh my god.

Badr Milligan 8:24

I got my sports, goddammit. Yeah, I ain't got time for this shit.

Walt 8:27

Bro, I look, I really don't, and then this year is a World Cup year. So, like, typically when I would be trying to catch up on any of this stuff would be like coming up after basketball season in.

Badr Milligan 8:37

Yeah.

Walt 8:38

But my daytime is gonna be built. Not even my daytime, my evenings now, because these since the World Cup is in America this year, those games are gonna be coming on in the afternoon and in the evening. They're not gonna be coming on in the morning, like how typically it is. Like, you know, you watch World Cup and it should be done by like four o'clock. I got the rest of my day to go. That ain't gonna be the case.

Badr Milligan 9:01

Real quick, we fell down one hell of a tandem, like rabbit hole. I love when Walt gets to talking about his TV watching like habits right here. Yeah. Um, but real quick, I want I want to bring up, I want to get us into our main event if you don't mind. I had tasked all of it. We can go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had tasked all of us with this being the 500 episode. I thought it'd be a good idea if each one of us was to go seek out and find a 500th issue comic book to talk about. Which which uh surprisingly was a lot more. There was a lot more comics that had hit 500 than I had originally uh anticipated. I guess what what came to mind when you guys thought of 500? Was there like one specific comic that came to mind when I said, hey, what go find a 500th issue comic book to read?

Drew 9:49

Um uh Amazing Spider-Man 500.

Badr Milligan 9:51

Okay.

Walt 9:52

I thought X-Men 500, and then I was like, well, I also want to read something I normally don't read. So I was gonna try to read Green Lantern 500, but I couldn't figure out what the 500 issue of Green Lantern was. Yeah, I which we can come to that tangent later. Sure.

Badr Milligan 10:10

We're kind of here right now because um uh that that was something that I I made note of is that you know Google to find a couple of those. Yeah, and I mean I I knew that some of the flash and Google don't work no more. No, not as well as you would want. Sometimes uh they give you that AI overview and it's completely wrong. But some of the ones that I I think I'm right there with Drew. I think Amazing Spider-Man 500 came to mind because that cover, that J. Scott Campbell cover, is uh iconic. I've seen it on posters, I've seen it on shirts, I've seen it.

Drew 10:42

Uh it's the one where he's like he's swinging and Henry Jane is behind him, and then you have all the rose gallery underneath him.

Badr Milligan 10:50

Yeah. It's one of those images, if you when you see it, you're like, oh, I've seen this a hundred times. So I knew that I wasn't I was expecting a lot of like the flagship iconic heroes to have a 500 Spider-Man, I was like absolutely detective, Superman. I think what came as a surprise as I was doing research into what other yeah, was was uh comics like Archie was hit 500, but that's not surprising.

Walt 11:14

Basically, you had to assume that any book that started from in the 1950s and up that has kind of had a continual run would have a um 500 issues. That's why I said Green Lantern. Because there should be 500 issues of Green Lantern, yeah. Of um just going off DC alone, I would say there's about four or five of them. So I would say the two main Batman books, the two main Superman books, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash, and that is it. I don't think any of those other ones should they may have 500, but those are the five that I think would have.

Badr Milligan 11:53

Yeah. Yeah, it turned out that there was, I think where it got a little confusing with DC was in my initial search, uh, Flash, there was like uh at least Google's uh, you know, Google return like, hey, Flash had a 500 issue. But that wasn't necessarily the case. It's like it's the 500 issue is technically Flash volume two, 150, because if you you'd have to tally it up in total from volume one to 500.

Walt 12:19

Yes, but that's that leg this goes into the bigger problem right now. Go off, Wall. Go ahead. It's the fucking is the bullshit of them like restarting books all the time.

Drew 12:30

Yeah, yes. I like now now Spider-Man is there's like 10 volumes of Spider-Man.

Walt 12:36

There doesn't need to be. Amazing Spider-Man is Amazing Spider-Man. Yeah, so those books should just only have the legacy number on them.

Badr Milligan 12:43

That's it. But I mean we know why they do that, why they renumber, because it's not easier to do that.

Walt 12:50

That doesn't mean for us to have this conversation that we have, we're celebrating American legacies.

Badr Milligan 12:56

The short box? Yeah, I agree. Absolutely. American legacy is a good thing. And then we also said American Legacies are comic books that have been going on forever. Sure, yeah, that's a good way to put it.

Walt 13:04

So, like, bro, that you've been able to survive from basically right after the Great Depression and World War II till now is an achievement.

Badr Milligan 13:15

Agreed. Yeah.

Walt 13:16

It should be treated as such, and it shouldn't be treated like just because people feel intimidated by jumping in and issue 600 doesn't mean anything. That thing should only say issue 600, new arc starting. That's it.

Badr Milligan 13:29

Yeah, appreciate it. No, appreciate it.

Walt 13:30

Because guess what? We wasn't tripping when we would see issue 200 of a book. No. I'm not about to go back and read the other 200 issues. I just picked up this one now.

Badr Milligan 13:38

You know, and I I I want to uh come back to this later. Uh because I do have a I do want to hear y'all thoughts on continuity. Uh, I've been thinking about continuity a lot. Well, I don't know if you've heard of this book called All of the Marvels. I think I probably told both of you guys about it.

Walt 13:50

I bought that book, I just haven't had a chance to read it yet.

Badr Milligan 13:53

Okay. Because they they the author talks a lot about continuity and how it can be both good and bad. Um, and I want to I want to circle back on that. But I want to say some of the other surprising comics that have also hit 500 that now I'm like, oh, that's not that too, that's not too surprising. But 2000 AD is currently well over, I guess, 2300 issues. Like they hit their 500 issue back in 1986. I thought that was pretty.

Walt 14:23

I've never read that book before. 200 AD?

Badr Milligan 14:25

Like none of them?

Walt 14:26

Yeah, I've never read it.

Badr Milligan 14:27

None of them. That is a blind spot, 100%. I agree. That's a blind spot for me. I know, so like I've read, uh, I mean, I have read a couple of 2000 AD for Judge Dread, like the uh uh uh Judge Death series. I've read those. And they're really short to read, too. It's not like you know, um, they're just like anthology stories.

Drew 14:47

Did uh did you by can't see what Mad TV?

Badr Milligan 14:51

Oh, Mad Magazine.

Drew 14:52

Yeah, mad magazine, sorry.

Badr Milligan 14:53

No, I I did not.

Walt 14:54

Um like I said, uh I think for this they would have they would have had well over they would have had like a thousand. That book that went on forever. Yes, it's still going on right now.

Drew 15:04

Did they they brought it back? I think so, because they um because of that, the the absolute universe is doing so good that they made a parody. Oh, okay. They did a mad magazine absolute parody. So uh yeah, but that's different than the actual Mad Magazine, dog.

Walt 15:17

I'm talking about the actual Mad Magazine.

Badr Milligan 15:20

A quick Google search says Mad Magazine is currently on issue 601, which is was released in uh August 2026. Okay. Yeah, pretty crazy. Okay, so anyway, back to what I was saying. I I tasked each one of you, hey, find 500 issues to read and let's talk about it.

Drew 15:34

Yeah, 500 issues to read.

Badr Milligan 15:36

Yeah, read 500 issues in 48 hours is what is what the insane. I just downloaded the the fucking internet to my brain. I just plugged in my iPad, Marvel Unlimited to my brain. Um, so let's do a round table and I want to hear what comics you guys read. Um, and then we can kind of just go from there. Drew, I'm gonna I want to start with you. What did you end up uh choosing uh for the assignment?

Drew 16:04

Okay, so I did Flash and it was like you said, it's not there's no issue 500. Like there's not a flash 500. You have to like figure out like where the numbering is, and it's volume two, um, issue 150. Okay, which is Flash's technical 500. So and what's crazy is like I don't even think DC cared about cared about the 500 because they just kind of went with it. What year did it come out? Yeah, I'm looking it up. Oh, this was like Mark Wade Wally West. So this would have to have been this is literally after Barry Allen had died.

Badr Milligan 16:39

Yeah, it says um July 1999, written by Mark.

Walt 16:44

So this is the same issue I kind of discovered with Green Lantern, but that's why I didn't read that book.

Badr Milligan 16:48

Yeah, yeah.

Walt 16:49

I wanted to read it, but we'll get I'm I'm jumping ahead.

Drew 16:52

Yeah. So I I read that one. That one was okay, in the sense of like it's it was the tail end. It was like issue six of six, so I'm literally catching the tail end of it, and I read it to see if they did anything, but it just came out like a regular issue.

Badr Milligan 17:06

So it wasn't like a big deal or an anniversary issue.

Drew 17:09

I would say it was a big deal because some of the stuff I I think maybe like like I don't want to assume, but since Mark Wade was writing it, he probably was like, I I would assume that DC editorial would tell them, like, hey, this is this how many issues you're writing. Maybe. Yeah. But in this one, it's it's a time traveling, and it's one of those like um Wally West fights the anti-monitor in a different universe. So it was definitely pretty interesting, but it it deals with the same things that like Wally West is always gonna be running into Barry Allen's shadow. Yeah, like he's never gonna feel good enough. And he's always like, Whoa, what this do, and this is so it was okay. And then I read Amazing Spider-Man 500, and to me that one was a bigger deal because that had um Ramada Jr. and Ramada Sr.

Badr Milligan 17:58

Oh, they both were drawing? Oh, they're both drawing, yeah, yeah. Oh wow.

Drew 18:02

So I and so then Ramada Jr., he took care of all of the Spider-Man panels, and then Ramada Sr. did all the Peter Parker uh panels. And this was another time traveling, which is crazy. It was a time traveling issue as well.

Badr Milligan 18:16

I want to ask this real quick because with 500 issues, you would imagine them being a, you know, they're I think all of the ones I found on the like the ones that Drew mentioned outside of the flash one are usually like oversized, they're like 50 plus pages, maybe.

Drew 18:30

Um 96 pages for one low price.

Badr Milligan 18:33

Yeah. Yeah. Do you guys do you guys prefer those kind of issues as uh like do you prefer what type of extra content do you prefer in those? Well, I'm I'm saying, like, do you prefer you want like splash pages? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm saying, like, do you prefer when they have the when they do those issues, those anniversary issues? Do you prefer like it's one story, one, you know, all 50 pages as one story? Do you prefer like a uh uh uh like knowledge-style backup stories?

Walt 19:08

Like uh it should be 50, okay, let's say it's 96 pages, right? Give or take? It should be 50 pages or 40 pages of the wrap-up of whatever the main storyline is going on right now for that book. Oh, so you don't want to. I'll just use Amazing Spider-Man. Let's say it's 96 pages of Amazing Spider-Man. It should be 50 pages of them wrapping up that story, and then the next um the next 40 pages should be four separate 10-page stories, or three-page, or three, or whatever the math is, of the other great creators that have written in that book. And their people and their and their artists come back to actually draw those books.

Badr Milligan 19:52

Let me refine that question. Do you want an issue like a 500 to be a standalone where I can pick it up and read, or do you prefer it to be the end of, you know, a part of that continuity? It sounds like well, you're of the latter.

Walt 20:06

It needs to be of continuity, and then the back half of the book should be the greatest people who ever wrote on this book that everyone kind of recognized it always like how we always bitch about somebody like not doing something, or some like uh let's say Dan, issue 500 for Amazing Spider-Man, Dan Slash should have 10 pages in that book. Stan Lee should have 10 pages in that book. And then I can't think of the another person, but that's what I'm saying. Somebody like that.

Drew 20:39

You make it a legacy. You make it legacy.

Walt 20:41

Those are the only books that deserve all these covers.

Badr Milligan 20:44

Okay. Alright. So Drew, to go back to you, because I I'm kind of familiar with that story. Like it's it's a I what was the story about? What was the premise?

Drew 20:54

So the story, the story is about Peter Parker is in he's in the future and he's in the past. I don't know how they split him up, but he's watching himself about to be bit by the spider and he can stop it and change his entire life, and then he's at the tail end, he sees like her older version of himself, and he's um he's at uh Aunt May's grave, and he's about to fight a bunch of cops that are like are trying to like arrest him. So then a big fight breaks out, and at the same time, um Peter is watching both his younger self and his older self, and he's like, I can go and change it or not, but then Doctor Strange is uh talking to him and like, no, do not do that. He's like, I'm gonna try to bring you back. So he brings him back, and then he brings him back to the curtain continuity where uh all the Avengers are trying to like stop a um like a world ending event, but Spider Man has all the information and he tells them, he goes, Hey listen, I need you to trust me. Um I don't even think he doesn't need you to trust me. He like tells them that they shouldn't do this, that, and the third. And they're like, what do you think? They're like, nah, that sounds right. Like, makes sense. And Peter talks about like the fact that he's been Spider-Man for so long, he's earned everybody's respect. And that's why they didn't second guess anything he said. Like they actually believe.

Badr Milligan 22:14

I like that approach where it's like, hey, we're going to celebrate the mythos of someone like Spider-Man that has had so many years. You know, everyone knows the classic story. You know, he gets bitten, he's got to make, you know, a with great power, responsibility, all that stuff. But, you know, they tell it in a in a in an original, like this kind of time travel retrospective story. I do appreciate when they do that rather than just give us like the greatest hits or, you know, um uh regurgitate that. Like uh, like, and I guess what we should mention that that issue is written by J. Michael Sravinsky, and I think this was like in the middle of him and Ramita's like kind of very iconic run, that 500 had hit. So it's like I think they were both firing on all gears, anyways.

Drew 22:55

Yes, 100%. The artwork is really good. Uh uh, it has a Spider-Man feel to it, and it goes through his greatest hits because while Doctor Strange is pulling him, like Peter ends up in the like the most important parts of his lives. Uh and the end is really, really sweet. So he like ends up running Doctor Strange gives him his birthday. Did you find out it's it's his birthday? Like he's fighting and all this, he finally gets home, and then Doctor Strange gives him a gift, and it's like it's five minutes with Uncle Ben. So Uncle Ben comes up and they have like a whole conversation. So and that's Ramada Sr. So they're all having a like a whole conversation.

Badr Milligan 23:33

I think I think in hindsight, where we're at now, knowing that you know, um Ramita Sr. has passed away, it's just Junior. I think that makes that issue a little more sweeter, you know. The fact that, you know, you get to see like father and son. Because I mean Ramita Sr. and Junior, I mean, like Ramita Sr. was the next guy up, you know, after uh uh Ditko left. You know, so like you got that legacy, and then Junior made a name for himself. I think that's really cool that you get to see father and son work on this character that means so much to both of their careers, but especially to senior.

Drew 24:04

Yeah. Especially the fact that they added the whole Uncle Ben and Peter Parker aspect of just these two dudes that like Yeah, agreed 100%.

Badr Milligan 24:12

So Drew sounds like of those two, amazing Spider-Man what 500 was more your gym. All right. Yeah, it wasn't even a risk. That's stupid. Um, real quick, uh now when it comes to like these anniversary issues, I had mentioned like, you know, uh, like, well, I think your answer is really good in terms of like re-inviting some of the iconic creators to come back and do like stories. Like, do you guys do you guys prefer what about like the the um uh I can't think of the phrase, but like the extra content. Like, do you guys like more backup stories? You guys and do you guys care for like character sketches or like write-ups or anything else?

Drew 24:49

The one thing I want is the the backpack things that shows all the covers.

Walt 24:53

Okay, that part, all the coverage. That all the covers thing, and then the other thing, if you want to get whoever's a leading Spider-Man um person who has studied Spider-Man like a college club course or whatever, have them write a thing in the back on why. And then the last 10 pages or whatever, all those covers. Agreed. Either you're gonna have them write that in the back or the front. But if you write in the back, then people are more likely to read it just because.

Badr Milligan 25:25

I'm a I'm a big fan of having like uh an educated person write a dope ass like essay or write-up on why, you know, a character. Why this means what it means. Yep. Agreed 100%. Well, let's pass it to you, man. What what uh comics did you end up reading for this?

Walt 25:38

Well, I only re ended up reading fully one, but I will tell you about my follies with two others before I get to the one. So the first one was the Green Lantern thing, where I couldn't figure out what it was, and I was like, bro, I'm running out of time. I ain't got no time for this shit. The second one was Fantastic Four 500.

Badr Milligan 25:59

I was expecting you to do that one.

Walt 26:01

And I I think Mark Wade write that one too. Mark Wade did. Mark Way did write that one. And I'm gonna get to how far I got into the book. It seemed like he regurgitated some of his shit from Amazing Spider-Man, because guess what? Beginning of the book, our good buddy Dr. Strange is up there talking. And then I had to, then I had to look at my phone and was like, oh, we're gonna be doing this at five. I gotta charge his phone, and then I'm kind of like chilling and I'm still kind of relaxing from getting all work. I don't know what I'm gonna have. And my homegirl called me. So I just I just don't have no time to read this book. If she wouldn't have called me, I probably would have tried to power through it real quick. But I was like, well, I'm talking to her. Daughter just graduated. I remember when she had the kid and all this other shit.

Badr Milligan 26:46

I think in a weird way, this is kind of related because I think that issue, you know, like Valeria is like I think that issue introduces I think Valeria, I think. You won't be able to do it. Actually, the more I think about it, I don't think it is, but I think it is kind of sweet that you decided friendship and family over a book about friendship and family. Yes. I got the real thing at home. I got the real thing.

Walt 27:08

So I just put the book down, and then the book I the book I end up reading, yeah, I just live it.

Badr Milligan 27:20

I mean, I is it safe to say I I think we all ended up reading our doing our homework assignments on the iPad, right? You know, like I think we already didn't.

Walt 27:29

I end up having to, but I could have did, I could have gone pulled that out the box. I had that book. You have Fantastic Four 500? No, I have the the book I read in a box. Okay, whatever. X-Men 500. X-Men 500. Which doesn't surprise me 500.

Badr Milligan 27:40

Real quick, have you guys ever to me, this is like maybe a cheat code, maybe not too many people know, but reading digital, have y'all ever tried to hook up your iPad to like a bigger monitor or your TV and read like your digital comics that way? It feels fancy.

Walt 27:53

Absolutely not. And now I'm gonna start doing it because that's the only way to read those DC books. Because that's my that's my biggest issue with the DC books, is that the um with the DC Unlimited is that it's not as good as the Marvel Unlimited as far as like the uh guided view.

Badr Milligan 28:09

The guided view. Yeah, the guided view. Yeah, yeah. I'm telling you right now, put uh connect your iPad to your big ass TV, dim the lights a little, pour a little drink up, set that shit to guided view, and it's like a movie. Yeah, that comic book feels like a movie, baby.

Drew 28:25

I read that's how I read Tom King's Batman when the DC app came out. When the DC app was out and you were able to get it, I put it on you, I put it on the Roku, and I just had my like a clicker. I felt like I was giving a presentation on combo books. I was walking around my room. You had a lady. Steve Steve Jobs had a black t-shirt, turtle, jeans in, walking around reading it.

Badr Milligan 28:46

Yeah, like if you look right here, you can see clean clay man really emphasize the cleavage on the cat woman right here in this panel. Let's zoom in, folks. All right, well, so you couldn't read uh Fantasy 4500. Sorry.

Walt 29:00

I got to about, let's say, about 10 pages in. I was like, I don't have no time. The homie just called me. I need to tap in with her. Tap tap. So I was like, I had already read the X-Men book when I got home and you sent me that initial text about this thing. I was like, oh, I probably should read this X-Men because the book I thought was X-Men 500 was not X-Men 500. So I'll make sure I went reread it, and there we go. So I'll tell you, I will tell you my brief journey with this book. I read the whole thing. And it was the I feel like it was the second issue after they got to San Francisco. So it's the the the start of Utopia. So um at the end of the book, Cyclops does the thing that Professor X does in Korkoa, where he just talks to all the mutants. But at this point, you gotta remember the mutant population had dwindled down to like the 200 or whatever. So he was like, if you come here, you save the X-Men are here. They all in the bay. So they all in Moran County.

Badr Milligan 30:05

San Francisco, right?

Walt 30:07

Yeah, so yeah. So Moran County is basically where um George Lucas lives. So it's got to walk on ranch is that is Moran County. Oh shoot, cool. So um, and it's outside of it's in the bay, but it's outside of like Oakland and San Francisco County, or whatever. Um what else happened in that book? Um Magneto doesn't have his powers. I forgot that part. The high evolutionary is the guy who's giving him his powers. He some artist gets a bunch of decommissioned sentinels, and then the sentinels attack like this art established art um installation because they are the art installation or the sentinels. Because the mutant the mutants are there, so this artist was so um douchey, he said, um, why not bring their worst enemy there? Hey, this is cool. That's fucked up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's how people work though. So um so that was kind of legit for the issue, and it didn't feel like a 500 issue, but it was it was okay 500, but not um what I thought the issue was. I thought the 500 issue honestly was an issue where I don't know why I thought it was the extinction, the first issue of the extinction agenda. Oh, that's way too much. Or the one that that hope popped up in. That's what I thought the 500 issue was. Yeah.

Badr Milligan 31:26

And I don't know if if we mentioned this, uh, but X-Men 500 was released in 2008. This is, and also I I didn't know that it was written by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction. Two of our, I mean, safe to say two of our favorite. Oh, yeah.

Walt 31:39

Yeah, but the problem was the problem was the art. I don't give a fuck. I watched something the other day about how all these Terry Dotson covers are worth all this money. I don't care.

Badr Milligan 31:51

Oh, you're not a Terry Dotson fan at all.

Walt 31:53

I thought you were gonna say, I thought you were gonna say you already know. The other, my other least favorite two of my least favorite artists drew this book. Greg Land and Terry Dotson. It's a lot of Greg Land and Terry Dotson.

Drew 32:04

And they're both the same. They're both the same. They're like they're the same thing. You better watch it, man.

Badr Milligan 32:09

Wait, when did we start hating Terry Donson? We've always hated Terry Dotson. I've never hated Terry Dotson.

Walt 32:14

I think uh my problem with Terry Dobson is that how Greg Land draws flat, he draws bubbly. Oh, wow. If that makes sense. Yes. Yes. And you can compare the two. That's what I'm saying. Okay, and I don't particularly care for either of that because I like shit like um What's our boy's name who used to draw the boy we were going crazy for when we started this podcast? Who was um Pena? I like that kind of draw.

Badr Milligan 32:47

Well, who's your favorite uh X-Men artist? I've always been curious.

Walt 32:50

Oh, to be honest with you, the the two people who drew um House of X and um Powers of X right now, those who dudes Yeah, Silver and um the dude who, you know, technically Pepe Lorez.

Badr Milligan 33:04

Pepe Laraz.

Walt 33:05

Yeah, Pepe Lorez is Pepe Lorez is the best X-Men artist, damn near if we're being honest. That dude is incredible.

Badr Milligan 33:11

But but I mean, these are like relatively new guys that I mean 2018, 2019 of uh House X, Power X. You're saying like those are your favorite artists?

Walt 33:19

Yeah, because the problem with the X-Men books is basically they put whoever's the greatest artist of the time is basically gonna draw X-Men. So now I'm picking between Jim Lee and David Finch and all these other people. Okay. Okay, okay.

Badr Milligan 33:33

No, that's a solid lineup.

Walt 33:34

No one's gonna be like David Finch sucks at drawing. That motherfucker's awesome.

Drew 33:41

Oh, so you know you got Steve McNeven.

Badr Milligan 33:43

I mean, you know, well, I almost I almost read X-Men 500 because I one, I remember that this uh had a a there's uh there's a Greg Land cover, but there's a really dope Alex Ross cover to X-Men 500 and a super good uh Michael Turner cover um that I I think is one of the best covers out there. But I remember like really being into this, I was collecting this run, this era of X-Men, and I thought the decision to move them to San Francisco was really interesting at the time. Obviously, we look at it now, it's like, you know, is it safe to say that was a they were kind of ahead of uh placing the X-Men in a different location? I mean, I guess you can't really say that because they they did move them to Australia at some point.

Drew 34:30

They moved them to space, they they moved them to a different place, a lot of places.

Badr Milligan 34:33

So yeah, they did get them. I just remember I just remember thinking San Francisco was such an interesting choice at the end of the day.

Walt 34:40

It was an interesting cover because it was an interesting choice because they've done it before with a superhero because Daredevil spent some time in San Francisco too, if I'm not mistaken, correct? I would love to see X-Men in the South. That's what I'm wrong. They're in the South now.

Badr Milligan 34:54

Alabama. They moved to Alabama.

Walt 34:57

They're in New Orleans now. What? No, well, the rogue team.

Drew 35:02

Is Shaki Bucks gonna show up as one of their villains?

Walt 35:05

It's in New Orleans, but again, I'm just not reading those books because I don't know. Maybe I just put too much into how good that I know that people have their issues about how the Kakola era ended or whatever, but I choose to remember the great times I had there. It basically for me, like 95% of that run is pretty good. I don't care what anyone says. Because I I don't read comic books to make sure I can make money off of them. I read them to enjoy the story. Well, you're kind of like Well, real quick, real quick.

Badr Milligan 35:40

Uh you're our resident X-Men fan. I what do where does this era of X-Men like, how is it remembered? Like the Matt Fraction, Greg Land, you know, the X-Men are in San Francisco. Like, how is that remembered?

Walt 35:51

Do you know what they end up doing in the grand scheme of things? What they end up doing inadvertently was cleaning the slate from all of the previous things that happened. So basically, with them starting up, so with all those pretty much, I would say from that the Marvel Brain Trust that we all love. So that's when they had Brewbreaker and Fraction and Tanahasi Coates and Hickman and all these like dumb great writers in a room. And Kelly Sudakonic is in the room. Because you got you gotta think like a lot of books from like, let's say from the 80s had like, from the 80s had X-Men and Spider-Man tie in specifically. This is a better way to put it. The business era of Marvel until the end of the business era, which is technically Secret Wars, that stuff cleaned up a lot of that bad continuity, or started to lead the way to clean up all the weird continuity. And then so by the time Hickman came, like they brought in some people to finish up those um runs that kind of ended up into the whatchamacallit. So that was a start of the cleanup with those people. They added some things, but they cleaned up a lot of bad continuity that happened in between Claremont to Zim. That's what I would say. So anything that happened after Claremont and until that um Avengers Disassemble portion. So those people kind of came into the forefront after that. They spent the next seven to eight years cleaning up continued on those X-Men books. Whether people like them or not is irrelevant. They were there for a cleanup job to make sure that their second biggest property was easier to jump into. And that's that's to be commended. Well, yeah. Because I jump back in after the fact.

Badr Milligan 37:51

You brought up Secret Wars. Can I share? I don't think this is a hot take as much as it's a strong personal opinion. Um, when people talk about continuity and and things like headcanon, right? Like where I think one thing I'm always interested in is especially people that love, you know, long like DC and Marvel, I think are perfect examples where there's like super long continuities and years and years and years of stories. I think it's it's always interesting to ask someone, like, where does their headcanon end? Unless you meet someone that is still actively reading and they've been a fan for years and you know they've got all in their head. I think for me, when I think about that question, I think the my in my personal opinion, the last great Marvel story, and I think where my headcanon truly ends is Secret Wars, Hickman's Secret Wars from 2015, and I will die on the hill to say for anyone, I think that is the perfect. I think that's a perfect spot to like if you were to ever stop reading Marvel, ending of that story is like a a great spot to end. I think for me, that is when I stopped collecting Marvel stories on a or keeping up with it on a regular basis. I think it does such a great job of being being at the end of the Marvel Universe story, and you know, with the whole Fantastic Four emphasis, the first family, all that. What do you guys think about that? I guess where does your headcanon end?

Walt 39:15

I don't think that my head cannon doesn't end there because I, you know, I was deep into Cocoa shit because I was just a Hickman guy. But and right now my head cannon is ending at um this what is it, Infinity? Is that what um Hickman just wrote? Yes. And he brought back the inhumans after they killed off the inhumans. I was like, bro, you built you did this big build-up to just kill all these people, and now I'm pissed. But I don't I don't find what you're saying to be insane. Because that the ending of that book is so perfect. Like I say, that's the ending, but that's the ending of the Bendis run. As much as we talk about it, whatever, that's the ending of the Bendis run of those books. Yeah. He may have been the best writer of those people, but that was the end of everything that Bendis had done basically up to that point.

Badr Milligan 40:10

Yeah.

Walt 40:10

And then they gave him that X-Men book, or what I think they gave him the X-Men book after the fact. I think that came after I can't even remember now because now I'm kind of lit.

Drew 40:18

It's $500. No, no, no. So like he did his Avengers and then Avengers. Oh no, he left after that because he went to go to the Superman book. Yes, he did.

Walt 40:30

Yeah, he went to go to the Superman book.

Badr Milligan 40:31

Yeah, yeah. That's the end of the business.

Walt 40:34

That's the end of the business era. Period. But Hickman was the best writer of that period over there.

Badr Milligan 40:39

Yeah.

Walt 40:40

And now they got him on these special assignments because they can't really get him to commit, commit to like a long series no more.

Drew 40:47

But I'm like, I feel like if I was Hickman, if I was Hickman and after all the legwork I did for making X-Men cool, readable, and doing all that stuff, just for them to throw my shit out the window and pretend like it didn't happen, I'd be I'd be salty as dick. Dog, this is a good thing.

Walt 41:02

Let me be real clear. My issues with the editor are are yeah. That's Tom Bravo, right? Yeah, that's that's fire, dude. You need to fire him. Well, they're not gonna buy you know why they're not gonna buy him? Because of what he had did for the advent, he's the adventures editor. Yeah. Okay.

Badr Milligan 41:20

Long time, too.

Walt 41:21

He was the long time. Guess what you didn't do? The CD. Save the fuck over there. He needs to come over here. He could have saved the fuck over there. But, Butter. Yes, let me ask you a question. Don't hit it. Come on. Yeah, I'm here for it. What was a 500 book you read?

Badr Milligan 41:36

Hey, there we go. That's the type of baton pass I like, Walt. Okay, I read three books. I was trying to read. Yeah, real shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Drew 41:47

Act like he runs a podcast. Yeah, fucking.

Tupac 41:53

Hey, yo, check it out, motherfucker.

Badr Milligan 41:56

Yeah. Yeah, take that. Okay, okay. I read I read three. First, I read Batman 500, released in 1993. Uh, it is done by, it is written by Doug Minch, uh, who is also integral to like uh those early uh Moon Knight for sure. Uh drawn by so it's it's got three different artists, and it's split into uh chapter one and chapter two. Chapter one is drawn by Jim Aparel and Terry Austin, you know, fucking legends in their own right.

Walt 42:22

Legend people.

Badr Milligan 42:23

For sure. Chapter two, though, was drawn by Mike Manley. And when I tell you, I was unfamiliar with Mike Manley's game until now. The chapter two is fuego. Like it, I it reminded me so much of David Mazzekelli's uh Born Again, like just how gritty it was. I'm telling you, I it it's it's a wild comparison, but I'm telling you, Batman 500 um also has a dope-ass wraparound cover by Joe Quissada and Kevin Nolan. Amazing. It's uh it's one of those covers, if you see it, you're like, oh, I've seen this on other stuff before. But I've seen this in dollar bins. And and I guess that's why I've been asking about like these 500s, because a lot of them so far, you know, uh, I think if we were to celebrate a 500 now, I think the the the common uh uh thing now with big anniversary issues, whether it be annuals or you know, 25th issues, is that they'll be like completely standalone stories versus something like Batman 500, where it is part 19 of the nightfall story. You know what I'm saying? It's like the number didn't matter so much.

Walt 43:28

Hold on, wait a minute, hold on. Is that the fucking wait a minute? You talk about is that the story with Azriel in it?

Badr Milligan 43:33

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Walt 43:35

I had that book.

Badr Milligan 43:37

Yeah, it's a good one. It's it's as a kid. So this issue, 500.

Walt 43:41

The Chrome cover, right?

Badr Milligan 43:43

Yes, yeah, yeah. Yep. Die cut, all that.

Walt 43:45

I did not realize that was a 500 issue. Yeah.

Badr Milligan 43:48

That book came out when? 1993.

Walt 43:52

I had that book.

Badr Milligan 43:53

I'm telling you, it's it's really good. It so it's the final chapter of the Nightfall run, and it it is Focus uh specifically on John Paul Valley. So he's the new Batman right now because you know Bruce Wayne is recovering from getting his ass beat from Bane. He's in a wheelchair. John Paul Valley has stepped into the role of Batman. He's like a different Batman, right? He's like a lot more brutal. He's a lot more focused.

Walt 44:16

Wowly violent.

Badr Milligan 44:17

Yeah, and super violent. And he's determined to get extract revenge on Bane on behalf of you know of Bruce Wayne. So it is all about John Paul Valley. And it's also the issue where he premieres like his Azreel suit. So in the big Which, by the way, thank you, Drew, for bringing that up. I gotta say, I think Azreel's has one of the dopest suits. And I and this is the obviously he's got like his like the red hoodie flame one, right? And but this one is like the chrome, more like a metal Batman suit. I forgot that he's got like basically two different suits.

Drew 45:02

What is that called? Like a thigh belt. He has a thigh belt.

Badr Milligan 45:05

Yeah. So this issue is basically like hey, John Paul Valley like making his own Batman suit and him and Bane uh have like a big showdown in front of like all the GCPD. When I tell you, it is an amazing issue. It was like, I didn't know what I was getting into with this. I was like, oh whoa, this is like in the middle of nightfall. Okay, uh I was trying to remember a lot of details, but it's one of those like standalone issues. There's a lot of action. It is like it's it's worth the read, I gotta say. That was a Fuego issue. Uh so I read Batman 500, and then I read Iron Man 500, which was released in 2011, written by Matt Fraction, art by Salvador LaRocca. Uh, there's actually three artists in this because they're this is telling a kind of like one of those future present. It's like three different timelines. Well, two different the future as well as the present story. So the present story, which focuses on Iron Man and Spider-Man, is drawn by Salvador La Roca. And then the future story is drawn by someone named Kano, and then uh Carmin De Gian Dominico. I think that is.

Drew 46:09

Oh my god, I love Carmen.

Badr Milligan 46:11

Oh, he's dude, he is when I tell you when you see the two, when you bounce between the two different stories, yeah, it's a kind it's a lot of fun. Because Salvador La Roca, you know, is a lot more like paintery, it's more like rendered, you know, he does digital, but it looks painted. Um, but then when you get into Carmen's uh uh artwork, it's a lot more scratchy, a lot more energetic.

Drew 46:31

Yeah, everybody just looks like they haven't slept in weeks.

Badr Milligan 46:37

Or they got like dark eyeliner and mascara under his eyes. I don't know what it is, yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, I will say the story doesn't really, it's a little all over. It's one of those where it's like, okay, I see what you're doing. You're trying to tell two different stories where it's like the actions that Spider-Man and Iron Man do in the present is impacting the future. And this is cool. It's basically at this point, Iron Man, and I'm trying to recall some certain details. Iron Man in this run has lost his memory or he has like uh No, he's making himself stupid. Yeah, he's like basically He's been deleting his memories. That's right, because his brain's like a hard drive, he's deleted all his memories and he's trying to remember things at the same time. And one thing that he remembers is like, oh shit, on my free time, I built this weapon of mass destruction and I don't quite remember where I put it. And he goes to Peter, he's like, dude, where's my car? Dude, where's my weapon? Dude, where's my weapon? So he goes, he goes to Peter, he's like, Hey, I think I had you help me build this, and Peter's like, Oh, you talking about that? Oh, yeah, no, that was a really terrible idea. We hid it somewhere. Well, then it at the same time, you're seeing um this future story where it's like Tony is a slave of the Mandarin. The Mandarin has him like hooked up to all these machines, he's keeping them alive to keep him alive, and that's grime. Uh, and he's got like War Machine is basically like this authoritarian like police force, and there's a lady named uh a girl named Jenny Starks, who is supposed to be Tony Stark's uh daughter in the future, and she's like rebelling against it's like you know, one of those apocalyptic, like you know, underground the worst case scenario, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so the story is a little all over the place because they don't explain a lot, they don't tell you much of like what the weapon actually is or what's going on as you know, they kind of just throw you into it. So I'll say, story-wise, left much to be desired. I also realized that um this jumped the so you know Matt Fraction starts writing this Iron Man run, I think in twenty 2008, shortly after the first Iron Man movie. And I remember being a huge fan of that run. I'm I think Drew will vouch when we first like that run, before that note.

Walt 48:48

That's like a classic Iron Man run.

Badr Milligan 48:50

When me and Drew first started hanging out, and I would I would talk his ear off about this Iron Man run. I think I was the biggest Iron Man fan at the time because of this run.

Drew 48:58

Um, do you want to know something that's even cooler and crazier? That Iron Man run, and only I think Butter will appreciate it. Tony Stark is um Sawyer from Lost Salvador La Roca took a lot of Sawyer stills. Like really like mirrored, mirrored Tony Stark after Sawyer.

Badr Milligan 49:22

I had no I always thought that he was mirroring um, you know, at the time, uh uh Robert Downey.

Drew 49:27

No, he doesn't he does mirror mirror Robert Downey Jr. a lot, but a lot of like the uh panels um have been taken off of lost stills and is of Sawyer.

Walt 49:37

And Sawyer was Sawyer was that dude at that time. Yes, he was. He was the man.

Badr Milligan 49:43

Sawyer was that dude. Hell yeah. So anyway, so Matt Fraction writes up to issue 33, and then they immediately jump to 500, right? It's like boom, 500 issues of Iron Man is here, and then they continue the um the numbering that way. So after that, it's 501, 502, and so on and so on. So, anyways, I think that is a story that you can read solo, but at the same time, it probably helps to read the previous run. I think when I had read it originally years back, I had read all it the context was there. So, anyways, I would say it was my least favorite of the of the three I read. The other 500 issue I read was actually that Archie 500, which was released in two, and no, no, no, it was released in in the year 2000. It is written by Angelo De Casari? I'm saying it wrong. Drawn by Stan Goldberg, who I do know is one of those like Archie artist names that you know he's like a gold. He's the archie drawer. Yes. When I tell you this Archie issue was so fucking fun. Like it is, it is incredibly I like Archie books, bro. Bro, it was it and it was shorter than the rest. Like, you know, Iron Man500, Batman 500. I think they're like, you know, 42 issues or 50, you know, they're obviously a little more. This Archie comic was like 27 pages, and it was so meta.

Walt 51:00

Like there's a straight Betty Veronica action.

Badr Milligan 51:03

No, no, no. Check this out. Okay. So the first story is um, the first story is Archie. There's an Oprah Winfrey show in the Archie universe, and it's like some funny name. I forget what it's called. Um, well, actually, I can pull it up right here. Hold on, one second, one second, one sec. So the first story is just like a quick little fun little like a story of the okay, okay. Where is that? Where's it at? Where's it at? Okay. Archie is on his way to a taping of the Over Weeply show. Over Weeply is the name of the Over Weeply, uh, where his family and friends have gathered to celebrate his anniversary. The problem is the longer they wait for Archie because he's running late, he's driving up to this taping, this studio, driving a truck full of Archie comics that he plans on dumping and sharing with everyone. So there's that story, and then the the main story is a very meta story called Happy Anniversary. And it's like, it's just like your typical Archie shenanigans, like around the context of the 500. So it's like everyone that he meets is like, oh, this is my 500th date with Betty and Veronica. Veronica's like, oh, let's celebrate our 500th date by letting me fly you out to Paris. We'll go to this club, we'll have this nice dinner. Meanwhile, Betty overhears it and she's like, oh shit, it happens to be my 500th date with Archie. So, Archie, I want to take you roller skating. Meet me after school. And Archie obviously has an Archie problem. He's like, fuck, I can't be there for both of them. So he ends up getting the tension on purpose, and it happens to be his 500th detention that he's gotten. So, like, you know what I'm saying? It's like all these like little gimmicks and meta commentary about like 500. So uh the character Reggie ends up like player hating and dirty Mackin. There's a lot of dirty Mackin and Archie.

Walt 52:47

Because Reggie's a dirty Mac, bro. That's how you know he's he is a dirty Mac, he's the definition of a dirty Mac. And you can't explain Dirty Mackin, and nobody be like Reggie from Archie. Reggie from Archie, dirty Mac to her.

Badr Milligan 53:00

Yeah, so it's like so. Reggie's like, oh, bet. I I'm gonna go ahead and play, I'm gonna go ahead and use this opportunity to get Veronica to dump Archie so I can date her, and this will be my 500th little trick that I've played on. So it's a bunch of like funny little um, you know, 500 quips and commentary.

Drew 53:17

That's cool.

Badr Milligan 53:18

Yeah, so highly recommend. I think out of all three of them, Archie might be my favorite just by a little because I wasn't expecting it to be that much fun. The Batman is number two. I read it last. I tried to read the Spider-Man, but I just ended up running out of time. Uh but the Archie was fuego.

Walt 53:39

Look, I'll say this much. The Mark Wade Archie books were incredible. Dude, and I was pissed when they ended up.

Badr Milligan 53:47

I've never read that.

Walt 53:48

I was pissed when they ended, and now I know this year they're redoing all the Archie books again, I think.

Badr Milligan 53:54

Yeah. Oh really?

Walt 53:56

I want to say they sent them to not Dark Horse. They sent them to someone else.

Badr Milligan 53:59

I think Oni. I think we talked about this. Oni, Oni Preston.

Walt 54:02

I think so. So that's cool. But they got a bunch of um, let's just say top top-tier people to write these books.

Badr Milligan 54:12

Yeah.

Drew 54:13

I wanted to read Chips and Darcy's Jughead because I know that he did a lot of Archie's uh before. That's a good point.

Walt 54:19

I mean that before Archie because Archie's one of those comic books that you don't realize is a comic book when you're a kid.

Badr Milligan 54:24

Dude, well, this issue made me realize I had me a strong Archie phase. I've had a super strong Archie phase when I was younger. Like I would read, my I would beg my dad. My dad was buying me Archie comics and little those digests from when Dixie every time.

Drew 54:44

Right next to the crossword and the winter fresh and the juicy tree. So the Archie book.

Walt 54:49

I feel like I don't know if they're still there. I feel like I seen an Archie book. I think they are.

Badr Milligan 54:53

They are. They absolutely are.

Walt 54:54

I feel like I seen an Archie book like a month ago, give or take. At public.

Badr Milligan 54:57

So do y'all know? Um, this was new to me. Do y'all know what year Archie um debuted? Like if you just had to take a guess. Well, what what year do you think Archie debuted? Them people going to SOCOP, so 56. Okay.

Drew 55:13

When was Back to the Future? When did Back to the Future come out? Like when did um when did Marty go back into the past?

Badr Milligan 55:21

Drew, if you had to guess, what year?

Drew 55:23

Uh 1968.

Badr Milligan 55:25

Okay, you guys are both way off. Archie debuted in Pep Comics number 22, which was released in December 1941. And then he got his I could have been wrong about the year.

Walt 55:38

I was not wrong about a soccer.

Drew 55:39

Is there a archie? Did Archie ever go to World War II or Vietnam? Have they ever done any type of thing? Archie, they've done everything for Archie, bro.

Badr Milligan 55:48

Archie's been around forever. Yeah. My my favorite Archie series no one talks about is Archie gets hooked on heroin during the 70s era. Yeah, yeah. Archie comes back from Vietnam now. He's got a dope problem. Damn it.

Walt 56:07

Archie came. Archie came back and jumped you with a thing for a thing for being a means whip. Oh my god.

Badr Milligan 56:14

Archie very archie and the dead presidents. You guys are fucking stupid. Okay. Archie. All right. This is part of the we've kind of gone through the main crux of the show, so we can go wherever we want. But whatever I would like to take it, since we are celebrating our own 500 episode. And well, you mentioned um you brought up the Fiona Staples, Mark Wade, Archie run. And anytime I hear Fiona Staples, obviously I gotta think about saga. And I was thinking about saga earlier today because Saga came out.

Walt 56:44

Just on another break.

Badr Milligan 56:47

No surprise there. It doesn't surprise me. But do y'all remember another trivia? Do y'all know what year saga number one came out? I want to say, was it the year we started? It was the year 2012. Issue one came out in 2012. And I think when I think about them early years, and now I kind of just want to reminisce about like those early weeks.

Walt 57:09

It'll be 2040. It'll be 2040. He said the book is going to like 120 or something like that. I think they're like 70 or 80 or something. Oh, yeah. There's a finite number that he already said. I will have to go in the books to look.

Badr Milligan 57:22

When I think about the first, you know what I'm saying? It's like obviously I've had the the short bikes on mine. I've had like I've been very nostalgic. And I was thinking about like the those first couple of episodes, in the first episode we recorded, you know, like that we started recording this pod in the summer of 2012. It just took us a while to release episodes because we were we were waiting on Cody to build us a website, get the RSS feed up. But we were recording episodes like in the summer of 2012. We didn't release the first one until December 15th, 2020.

Walt 57:53

Oh, you it took that long for Cody to get on point.

Badr Milligan 57:56

Bro, it was Cody. Yes, it took him. Okay, there you go.

Walt 58:00

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Badr Milligan 58:01

Because I was, you know, I'm I was looking at the release date, December 15th, 2020. First episode of Short Box. Um, The Stranger was the name of the episode, but we recorded it. A little Scrubs joke for you guys out there.

Walt 58:14

It took crazy, and now Scrubs is back. I have not watched, I watched a half of the first episode, and I have no idea. Oh, wait, wait.

Badr Milligan 58:20

You're saying like they're like a whole new show is back.

Walt 58:23

Yeah. Oh, we bought Scrubs Scrubs. Yeah, I didn't know that. JD JD went back to Sacred Heart. And um, him and what's I can't think of the blonde girl's name. But him and her, him and Elliot bro got divorced.

Badr Milligan 58:38

Oh, I didn't know that. Okay. Interesting. But as I was saying, this might be now I'm gonna have to like check this out. It's a body, it's on Hulu. Good to know. But it got me thinking about how how I can't not think about those first couple years of the short box and us doing this podcast and not think about image comics and how it was really dope that we started this podcast around the same time that Image was having one hell of a like a renaissance, like a like a you know what I'm saying? And and I think what makes it even dope, aside from having a a channel and a vehicle to talk about that time frame, was that we were also me and Drew at least were working the shop at that point. Yep, and it was like we were so close to that era of of comics, and you know, like saga. It was like every week, Image was putting out a brand new number one that was like game changing Saga, Black Science, Deadly Class, Deadly Class, Southern Bastards.

Drew 59:40

Yo, Deadly Class. Oh my god, dude. Did you guys hear that Southern Bastards is is getting an um Yeah, TV show. It's either it's a TV show or animated.

Badr Milligan 59:50

No, it's a TV show. They're doing just doing a pilot um to start it.

Walt 59:54

They're gonna bring back, are they gonna finish the fucking story?

Badr Milligan 59:57

They are not.

Drew 59:58

I think they're just going to be. They're bringing Cody Rhodes to finish the story. That's a less than joke.

Walt 1:00:02

Yeah, yeah. Again, look, I get it that Jason Latour, I you know what? Let me shut the fuck up.

Drew 1:00:13

Probably.

Tupac 1:00:16

I'm about to say he was creepy. He wasn't, you know, the other shit.

Badr Milligan 1:00:22

So anyway. Well, I bring all that up to say, I guess I have I have personally shared the stories of like those first, that first recording, those first episodes. But I don't know if y'all have ever had a chance to like really voice it. And I mean, it and if y'all have, then fuck it. I'm asking again. I have not. Well then, well, you kick us off, and then Drew, I want you to chime in. Actually, you know what? I'm gonna give you a specific question, and then Drew, I got you a specific one. Well, what do you remember the first time that you met us? Because I think me and Drew have a certain memory.

Walt 1:00:51

But what do you remember? Okay, so this is we're about to really get into Riverside Lore.

Badr Milligan 1:00:58

Hey, but real quick, real quick, the double entendre. We get into Riverside Lore recording on Riverside. Come on, man.

Walt 1:01:05

Okay. So I can't think of Carrie's last name. But Carrie, I think right now, is like one of the main cooks at one of those fancy restaurants downtown. So Carrie used to own her own um Italian, not really bichro, but she kind of had like an Italian market or whatever. So I would go there and they would make and I would get this specific sandwich. So she had a turkey club on I'm also really getting into lore. Oh, man.

Badr Milligan 1:01:35

Yeah, I had no idea you were gonna bring up a turkey sandwich.

Walt 1:01:39

We're talking sandwiches. She would make this turkey club for me, but she made it the first time, and I was like, it's not enough meat on that sandwich for me. This is when I was a real fat ass. And I was like, this is not enough meat for me, but I'm gonna get it this time. Next time, we're gonna work on this together. And I have no problems paying for the extra ingredients you're using on the sandwich. That is not a problem for me. I want my sandwich to be the way I want it. So she kept making, so we got this sandwich completely thorough. And she said, you can get this version of the turkey sandwich, turkey club sandwich, or you can get the waltz version. And the walk version was making people pass the fuck out because it was a cabin too much. But as she was cooking the sandwich, I would walk around the corner to the shop. Because that was a that was a week I always got paid, and I tried to be a little bit on point at that time. I wasn't making that much money. So I would try to be at least a little bit on point to go in there and try to clean out my pool as much as possible. And that's how I met you guys. So we went in there and we was talking because I knew it was gonna I knew it was gonna take her a little bit to make the sandwich. So we were talking and she got a rap and all this other shit. So guess what? She's gonna be able to make a sandwich. I can come back. Because you met you met. Sandy ain't gonna go bad in 15 minutes. Nah. And we and we were in there talking about um what was the um the dame dash shit? The DD 172 or whatever?

Badr Milligan 1:03:11

D one, yeah, yeah. Real quick, whoa, whoa, whoa, real quick, real quick. I think, and Drew, you feel free to chime in. Well, I think you met Drew first because I remember Drew telling me, uh, and maybe some additional right, real quick, some additional context for those that don't know our history. Me and Drew were working at a comic shop here in Jack's called Universe of Superheroes around 2012, 13-ish time frame. And then Walt was uh shopping at said shop. And Walt, I think I you met Drew first because Drew told me when I came when we were hanging out, yo, I met this really cool guy. I think you would fuck with. He's a really big hip hop head. Drew, does that ring a bell? 100%.

Walt 1:03:50

Okay, the other problem is that my man, not Drew, but who's the guy who used to be the main guy that worked at all the time? Tim Groom. The worst poor puller ever. By far. His his level of not putting this shit in your pool, unprecedented, at least for me.

Badr Milligan 1:04:10

Unprecedented is fucking funny.

Walt 1:04:12

Yeah, unprecedented. I'd be like, hey bro, I'm missing. I one day I'm gonna have to really go through my books to figure out what the fuck I'm actually missing that should have been in my pool. Yeah, yeah. Because he was so bad at it. But anyway.

Badr Milligan 1:04:26

What do you remember from uh uh me and Walt that first time? What stands out?

Drew 1:04:30

I stand out the standout. I remember me and you being in the shop when Walt came in, and we would just like I would get excited when Walt would come in. Because there's some people that would come in and they would just get some weird, creepy shit, and couldn't talk to some people. You're just like okay, but Walt just like very relatable, respectable, and just like you know, anytime you meet him, you're like, This guy just talks so cool. Like, yeah, yeah. And I just remember us being very, very young, and just like when he would come in talking to him was just like made my day in the sense of like I was like, Yeah, I really like talking to this guy, the guy knows what's up.

Badr Milligan 1:05:06

I remember us talking, I remember us talking out loud in the shop, if that makes sense, as if no one else was in the shop. Because I think I one memory specifically that stands, and Drew, I think it maybe it is the one that you're mentioning. Walt walked in and we both screamed, yo, it's hip hop. At the time we just called Walt hip hop, and then we would just talk like and I like granted, that shop wasn't always busy, like on Wednesdays, it was slammed, Saturdays slammed. But I think Walt, you would come in like when it was kind of like I'm a Friday person, I'm always a person.

Walt 1:05:38

Because when I got paid, I've always been a person that like support and I'm smoking a cigarette and I'm about to go ahead and pour another drink. But this conversation came up earlier this week with me and a guy gig. A man should be able to support the habits he has. So if I'm a comic book head, guess what? I need to be able to. Support my convoy habit. Cigarettes, whatever my vice is, I need to be able to support that. If you like Warhammer, you gotta support Warhammer. That's all I'm saying. So I support the habits I have, and the minute I get paid, after I pay my actual bills, I'm gonna go and pay my other bills that are actually bills. And a comic book pool is in essence a bill. No, for sure. It is a bill. Straight up. It's a bill. That is a big bigger. It's a building gets bigger. So you need to go there every week or every two weeks.

Badr Milligan 1:06:40

And they will evict you by removing your pull list.

Walt 1:06:44

Guess what? If you don't come in to the people, if you're on this Patreon episode, or if you're on the mainstream.

Badr Milligan 1:06:52

Real quick, well, this is the 500th main episode. You're on the main feed, brother.

Walt 1:06:57

Okay, that's okay.

Badr Milligan 1:06:58

Millions of people are listening.

Walt 1:07:00

Okay, bet. So even better. So what it goes down to is this when you don't come pick up your pool and they forget to put your book that's in your pool, in my pool, guess what they're gonna do? Take your book and put it in my pool. That's what they do. Yeah. So that's probably what Tim was doing, maybe to me.

Drew 1:07:25

Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. Tim, yeah, yeah. Because if somebody was asking for something, Tim would go right into the system, see who had who would have that book, and he's like, oh, this person doesn't pick up this person, so I'll be able to get him another copy later or whatever. Yeah, yeah.

Badr Milligan 1:07:38

And then Tim, I will admit, you know, no shade that Tim was really good at knowing who would pick up on the regular and who he could like, okay. Let me like Drew's point. Let me let me hook you up because I know they won't be here in two weeks, and I can have a replacement for them. Yeah, we love Tim though.

Walt 1:07:59

And I fuck with Tim. And it's not like Tim was like a bad person or anything.

Badr Milligan 1:08:03

No, yeah, I didn't have any comment rendering. We were all, yeah, we were all young. All right. All right. Let me ask you, let me ask you guys this. Um, because now I'm just gonna stick in this pocket here. What do y'all remember? So we talked about what we remember from our first time meeting each other. What do you guys remember from that first episode, that first recording when we got together?

Walt 1:08:24

I don't even know why we it's a dance live bar.

Badr Milligan 1:08:27

You know what I wish I would have done more is because I was trying to look up, I was like, damn, I really, I mean, now nowadays I take I take a lot of photos. For me, it's kind of like a great way of you know, just when I need to recall some shit.

Walt 1:08:40

You know what? Hold on. Let me be real clear. The older you get, let me be real clear. Anyone can take any picture of me anytime they want to. You know why? Because you once someone is gone, they gone, gone. You recognize you don't have enough photos of them or any of that shit.

Badr Milligan 1:08:57

I was looking up, I was trying to find, and I may have done this before. I've I was trying to find, I was like, what's the earliest photo from those, you know, beginning years of short box? And I don't have many. I have like a very few, but I wish I would have taken more pictures of the actual space of the shed and all of that. So I I guess I'm looking for you guys to help me kind of flesh out some of those memories.

Drew 1:09:20

One of those people still have that shed back there. I don't think it was up to code.

Walt 1:09:29

I can't remember, I can't remember what Sky Magic. Oh, why are we talking? Hold on. Before we go any further, uh-huh, this podcast in essence started because of we had me, Sky Magic, and Willis L'Roy had an idea to start a podcast network. Before podcast networks even was a thing. Yes, we had the idea. I was like, well, look, I know people who can do podcasts that I talked to. It was you two guys, and it was also Shayla and Bethany that both worked in the library. I thought they could do a girl podcast, and then I can come on there every so often and shoot a bunch of bullshit. And that was my initial idea because those guys didn't have anybody who they could go with. And Shayla and Bethany did a couple, I think. And I don't think they even got that far. A couple maybe push it. I think they came on there with me on the short box on the short box. But I had the we had an idea and we had a plan. But you know, you gotta be committed to the shit. In order for a podcast to even remotely grow, you kind of gotta, you gotta even gotta be committed to it.

Badr Milligan 1:10:48

100%. And at the time, like, it's like, what the fuck are we doing? What is a podcast? I think, I think for us, we already were doing this just without Mike. So when you were like, hey, I got a spot for us to record this thing called a podcast, and I think it also helped that me and Drew were big fans of the other podcast that you were recording with said Willis and Scott. Like we would we would talk about side hustle that podcast as if you weren't like our friend that we would see every week. Like it was like looking back, it was kind of silly that we would mention the jokes y'all would mention on the podcast as a you know what I'm saying? It was like it was interesting to have that kind of real real big Sandusky joke. He loves Sandusky jokes.

Drew 1:11:31

Oh my god, he loves Sandusky jokes. Wow, you're bringing me back. Okay, I was like, no, the biggest thing that blew my mind memory-wise is listening to that podcast and then finding out that Will is white. Because he is shit.

Badr Milligan 1:11:45

I'll never forget that voice. Yeah, we had a totally shitty. Yeah, we had a met your co-host, Walt, and then I remember you invited us to go hang out at Wall Street, R.I.P. Wall Street. Um, and that's when we got to meet change of Wall Street.

Walt 1:11:57

Yeah, Wall Street ain't Wall Street overall.

Badr Milligan 1:11:58

And real quick, it uh to its credit, Riverside uh Liquor Lounge is fire. It's it's a dope ass spot.

Walt 1:12:04

What is Riverside Liquor Lounge?

Badr Milligan 1:12:06

Oh, it's a dope, it's it's Wall Street 3.0. It's nice as fuck. Well, next time you're in town, uh we'll go.

Walt 1:12:12

Is it Wall Street? Is it the old Wall Street or something? Yeah, it is.

Badr Milligan 1:12:15

It is you're I don't think you're allowed to smoke. I know that that the tears you're gonna be saying I knew it. I knew it. But but I want to say real quick, I'll never forget walking into Wall Street, and then you were like, yo, this is Will. He does the podcast. Y'all like the podcast? This is Will. And I remember thinking, yo, you're not black. Like, what the fuck? Where'd your voice come from? Um, Drew, what do you remember about our first record? That shed.

Drew 1:12:40

That shed. Honestly, that shed. To me, that shed that is so iconic because you we had to go through the house and then you go to the back and you just see the shed. And it was just it was dope. I just remember being like, like, oh, this is fucking cool. This is tight. So I will always remember the shed.

Badr Milligan 1:12:55

Yeah, I I was thinking about that too, where it was. I remember thinking like how official I felt. I mean, in hindsight, it's like it was just it was Scott's backyard shed where he had someone living on the second floor of said, it was like a shed barn, like a shed and a barn.

Walt 1:13:13

And I hope people were my homegirl.

Badr Milligan 1:13:15

But he would occasionally walk, he would occasionally walk downstairs and be like, yo, what y'all doing while we were recording? It'd be like, yo, we're recording a podcast. He was like, oh what? He'd be like, oh what? This is my backyard. But I remember walking, I'll never forget walking into that that shed. And I guess for some context, uh Scott Magic, big shout outs to Scott. We would not have the podcast without him. Yeah. He was an audio guy. He was in bands, so he had a lot of audio equipment. And I'll never forget seeing the little setup that he had. At the time it felt, you know, not to get too flowery, but I remember it felt magical because he had like he had like he had like the Christmas lights. Yes, thank you. He had the Christmas lights lit up. He had like this big, I'll never forget this big ass mixer board. And I was like, whoa, we're like, oh, we're in a studio. Oh, yeah.

Walt 1:14:06

He was an actual A V guy. That was his job. He actually did the um AV for the hotel. He still does the AV for Mayo Clinic. Yeah.

Badr Milligan 1:14:14

I think so too.

Walt 1:14:15

He just moved from um from Jacksonville to the Phoenix area, give or take. Oh, yeah. Okay. He's in Arizona. Somewhere. He's out there. Hottest.

Badr Milligan 1:14:27

But I'll never I also I also remember there was a dry erase board that we would use. Like we would just show up. Because on Sundays we would record on Sundays. That was always our day.

Walt 1:14:37

Sunday or was it Saturday? It was Saturday evening.

Badr Milligan 1:14:39

No, it was Sunday. Because y'all recorded Friday side hustle. And then on Sunday.

Walt 1:14:43

Oh, it couldn't have been Sundays in the summer.

Badr Milligan 1:14:45

There's no way. No, I'm telling you.

Walt 1:14:50

We always cooked out on Sundays. Oh, because Saturday. It was Saturdays. You're right. Saturday afternoons. 100%.

Badr Milligan 1:14:56

You're right, you're right. Yeah, you got that. And and I think that also vary because sometimes Scott, obviously, it was like his house, so he'd be like, I kind of don't want people, you know, like I'm chilling. So we'd work around his schedule. But I remember we would pick up, well, either Drew would drive, I would drive, we would pick up, you know, we would all get in the car. We wouldn't even like pre-plan. We would just plan on the way there. And then write it on that dry erase board, and we would just go. It's like we had no concept of like segments or runtime or we definitely weren't editing back then. I don't know if y'all ever heard any of the old episodes there or not. So like it was canceled. I'm canceled. We were some horny boys, I'll tell you that much. All right. I'll tell you that much. We were some naughty boys.

Walt 1:15:39

The show was was kind of split between comics and happens. Comics and hip-hop. And hip-hop.

Badr Milligan 1:15:45

Yeah. Our two big loves, our two big shared interests.

Walt 1:15:48

And what happened was that hip-hop kind of changed. Well, it didn't really change. It just um the rappers got worse. So we're gonna talk about like bad rappers all day.

Badr Milligan 1:16:01

Agreed.

Walt 1:16:02

Because if you notice that like most of we'll just use Joe Budden show as an example, they don't talk about rap. They're gonna be talking about rap music tomorrow because old boy dropped three albums. Three albums? I was up this morning and seen that shit and was like, absolutely not. I haven't listened to one of them yet. Nah. I'm gonna listen to them to at some point, probably when we get out the phone, but I have not had the time to listen to three albums of him whining? Absolutely not, my nigga. Absolutely not. Are you kidding me?

Drew 1:16:32

Of him whining is perfect because the first song is literally him bitching.

Walt 1:16:38

Yeah, so I don't even have to listen to the shit to know that most of the songs are gonna be about. A quarter of those songs gonna be three. He out here doing Chris Brown shit, and what he could have did, honestly, and this is how I know this dude just don't be thinking like everybody else. He could have dropped this album this week, this album next week, and then the album the third week. He could own at least a quarter of the summer, because I'm sure there's good songs on there, but guess what? It's not good songs enough for me to listen to three albums in one fucking day. What are we talking about, bro? Play just I agree.

Badr Milligan 1:17:10

Can I also mention, I think another memory that comes to mind, an integral one at that, but one that we kind of just shot from the hip. I'll never forget Scott was like the guy to press record for it. Like we were so I'm I know I was green, super green. I didn't even know. I yeah, I think I jumped in as the tech guy. I was like, I think one of us needs to be the tech guy, and that's gonna fall on my nerdy ass. But I remember Scott would set up everything for us and even like press record, and he'd be like, hey, just call me when y'all done. And I'll forget when when he came back, I think it was either we recorded the episode or he had press record, he was setting everything up, and then he was like, Hey, by the way, what's the name of y'all podcast? And we all looked at each other, and I think I think the lore goes, I think Walt, you mentioned short box or I mentioned it. And I think Drew, you gotta be the tiebreaker. Does anyone remember who said oh the short box?

Walt 1:18:00

I'm gonna say you said the short box because guess what? I only bought long box.

Badr Milligan 1:18:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Walt 1:18:06

I didn't start buying short box because you told me that was an option.

Badr Milligan 1:18:10

You are fucking stupid. I only comic box. Comic box. That was good. That was good. Real quick, I guess I've always been curious because I remember thinking, like, oh, we just shot that from the hip. It was just like, uh, we didn't think about the name. We just wanted to get on the mics and talk. That's how it was.

Walt 1:18:24

The problem with the name is that somebody else has the short box, so we had to change the name of the Jack Shortbox or whatever. Because someone else already had short box.

Badr Milligan 1:18:31

Yeah, I didn't find out until a couple years later that there was the thing that separated us us is that the short box, there was another short box podcast. But they started two years later. I I guess my question is this if we could go back, I guess was there ever another name that we should have considered, or you would have absolutely not.

Walt 1:18:49

Nope. Short box is a perfect name for what we're doing over here because it evolved into a short box situation. In what way? What does that mean? We pretty much only talk about comics on this bitch. Like, and and guess what? The only thing, you know what else you can put into short boxes that don't exist no more? Music magazines. Ooh, okay.

Badr Milligan 1:19:10

Technically, you didn't you'd need that magazine box, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

Drew 1:19:12

Yeah, I honestly, I don't know. Would you ever change the name?

Walt 1:19:17

I have thought about because short box is like middle call memo, so you would be nah. This fool out here acting like Brian McKnight right now.

Tupac 1:19:27

He probably name his other kid, he probably name his new kid the short box.

Walt 1:19:35

No, no, he's gonna name this kid T shortbox, T-H-E-E short box. What are we talking about here? Nah.

Badr Milligan 1:19:44

We not enough. Imagine if my mom at when I turned 21 was like, you know, Bonner is a hard ass name to pronounce. I I think Bradley is the name we called it. She was like, I meant to call you. I will say, I remember I remember early, Drew had recommended. He was like, Man, I think this was like way back. He was like, Man, we should have called it bags and boards. And I I still did as they think about what the show would have been like had we called it bags and boards, because it just rolled off the now, now there is a show.

Walt 1:20:20

Bags and boards is what we do when we hang out.

Badr Milligan 1:20:23

Yeah, that's a Patreon show.

Walt 1:20:25

So basically, we still get to use bags and boards, but we only use bags and boards as an ancillary name. Oh, well, please.

Drew 1:20:33

Okay, all right.

Badr Milligan 1:20:36

We're chilling. You with the boys, all right? You ain't gotta drop ten dollar word. I'm gonna get the ancillary tomorrow in the settings.

Walt 1:20:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying.

Badr Milligan 1:20:44

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, all right. One more question, one more question. Um, now we just kind of in our deep bag. Has your relationship with comics and or podcasting changed in any since being podcasters yourself? Like doing a comic podcast, has it changed the way you interact or or um uh uh enjoy comic books in any way? Absolutely, or as a podcast or for podcasting.

Walt 1:21:09

I won't you can go first and yeah, go drink.

Drew 1:21:12

It it has changed because I mean when we were first doing this, I was very much in like into podcasts, listen to my bag of podcasts, and then a lot of like you know, a lot of podcasts have changed. The nerdist doesn't exist, fat man and batman doesn't exist.

Walt 1:21:28

I thought about that today. I thought about the nerdist because I was listening to um Sex, Drugs, and Money and Matt Mirror's wife was on there, and it was a repeat episode of how they were trying to go through and have a kid. Yeah, yeah, I remember that. And then I went through and listened. I went through and tried to say, what is Matt Mirror doing now? And I have no idea what the kid is doing now.

Drew 1:21:52

Because I feel like him and his wife actually did a podcast talking about trying to get pregnant. Yes, correct. Okay, 100%. You are correct. Yeah, so I really don't know how that story ends for them. Or they had a child. Oh, congratulations on that, then yeah, yeah. Because I yeah, I just remember listening to the nerdist, really enjoying it, and then Fat Man on Batman to me was just so dope and awesome. And then once sponsorships came and obviously things change on podcasts, like I was like, nah, like I'm done listening to those tunes like that. And it's just like to me, it's like so hard to like get into a new podcast.

Walt 1:22:28

That part is not that hard for me. So I'm gonna piggyback off you. So what happened was for me, I and because I was an early podcast adopter. So I would listen to Joe Rogan in the beginning. This is how early I go back, and I had to stop listening to Joe Rogan because I was like, he had one of them um mind calendar niggas on there, and I was like, what does that mean?

Badr Milligan 1:22:52

Someone that believes that like the world will end when the mind calendar ends. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yeah.

Walt 1:22:57

And I was like, you know what? This is a stupid podcast. I'm done with this. This is how far back I go. And this happened when I stayed on Atlantic Boulevard. Damn. Before I met y'all.

Badr Milligan 1:23:09

Yeah, that's like early.

Walt 1:23:10

This is when I first moved to Jacksonville. So we're talking about 2000 and we talking about 2007. I started listening to Joe Rogan's podcast. Oh shit. Yeah, this is yo, he's been piling for a while. That's why he gets paid when he gets paid. Yeah, yeah. So anyway.

Badr Milligan 1:23:26

Joe Rogan used to have literally like five 10-minute ads in the beginning of his episode selling like dick pills and energy pills and stuff.

Walt 1:23:35

Just how much podcasts are changing in general. I can't get an Adam and Eve thing no more. So I can't go, I can't. Everybody's too good for Adam and Eve. And then like, yo, I can go in there and just order like a like a bunch of condoms real quick and go on about my day. I order condoms and sex toys and all these other stuff. Can't do that no more on a podcast. Everybody too good for Adam and Eve. But then everybody was out here selling um fucking like fleshlights. Full stock. All these podcasts that weren't on like a major, major company were selling flashlights. But for me, my podcast listening really changed when it became more black people in the space. So I'm always gonna listen to like black folks talk because I'm black. So I kind of want to hear what niggas is talking about. Because I just be sitting here in like in a circle in a bubble by myself. Do you listen to 520 in the morning? Sometimes. I don't listen to it all the time, but Jeff Teagan, Jeff Tegan is the funniest dude that ever lived there. Bro, that dude is hilarious.

Drew 1:24:38

Yes, 100%. Um, Shaggy got me into them because like anytime I hang out with him, he always has it on. And Shaggy's a big sports guy. Like, yeah, I mean, he he loves New York Knicks.

Walt 1:24:48

So I've been like, Well, I don't know he should have listened to Joe Buddh podcast at the beginning of this week for damn sure. Okay. The first fucking 15 minutes of Joe Button this week was him playing the Knicks. He was playing like every New York song that says he started off playing Frank Sinatra, and then he started going to all the other I'm from New York songs and all this shit. And in between interspersed was the Knicks hitting 19 of the first 23s. And he was like, oh, three, three, three, three. And it was fucking hilarious. Damn. So what I'm saying is that I've been listening to podcasts since podcasts existed. Because I need to listen to something at work. And I've never been a person who don't have these headphones in my ear.

Badr Milligan 1:25:37

Damn. Now that you bring it up, well, I think I have never seen you without a pair of wired Apple headphones. Like I might, I think subconsciously I've bought I buy them all the time now. Um for my work.

Walt 1:25:53

Because I'm not gonna spend fucking $120 and move headphones. The minute headphones stop being normal headphones, guess what? I'm just gonna buy these cheap ones until they burn out and I go get another cheap pair. Because God forbid I drop a pair of $120 to $40 headphones, and I'm gonna be irate at me, and you're gonna be irate that I thought that I could keep a pair of $100 air.

Badr Milligan 1:26:23

Drew, we gotta team up, Drew. For Christmas, we gotta team up and get one for sure. Do not buy me no shit like that.

Walt 1:26:29

You can just buy me a bunch of these. You can buy me four pairs of these or some shit.

Badr Milligan 1:26:33

I don't care for both of you. All right, so you guys have talked about how your relationship podcasting has impacted being podcasters yourself. How about from a comic perspective? Has has has your relationship with comics changed any since being a part of the show, starting the show?

Walt 1:26:51

In what way? I'll go first and then Drew, you can follow me. My relationship has changed because I'm just not gonna read as many comic books now. I'm just not after that. For me, as a Krakoa, I was just not gonna be out here spending like basically $150 every time I go to the combo shop. That's insane. That is, but I was doing it because I was really trying to keep up with all those books. Yeah. And now there's nothing that attracts my attention enough. So now I'm kind of following the the botter mode of like, I'd rather just grab some of these indie books from my favorite creators, and then if someone tells me some book is good, I'll grab that other stuff. But that's kind of where I'm at right now.

Badr Milligan 1:27:40

And I think to that point, I think that's been the biggest change, is that because the show at some point evolved from being like, you know, us kind of just, you know, catching up and talking about tops we wanted to to being a more interview style show, is that I've had the opportunity to interview so many different creators, and I think it kind of opened. Opened up my eyes to the to the industry in a way where I want to support the creators as much as I can, especially indie creators. I think hearing so many different stories about how difficult it's been to get in the industry, how difficult it is to maintain a legacy and do work, and you know, like, and not just like from creators, but also all the news that we see about how the industry can break a creator down, you know, how they're not paid accordingly, how you know there is no uh they don't have any rights to these characters. I think the podcast has helped me appreciate creators a lot more.

Walt 1:28:36

It's capitalism, bro. Yeah, real shit. Is he gonna be a person who wants to support the creators? This is why I feel the way I feel about like like people like I ain't gonna say like Joe or whatever, like yo, I'm paying for anything that people create, whether it's pornography or fucking a movie. Yeah, yeah, all that shit to me, all art is the same and support the shit that you like so people continue to make the shit that you like. And that's what it really really boils down to support your favorite creator so they create creating. Yeah, and if you can't and if you don't do that, then the game is a game. But guess what? Those people aren't gonna do this forever. And I don't think it's cool to see a go fummy for the He-Man dude. What do you mean? Some people is talking about they need a go fummy for the dude who created fucking He-Man and Mattel. Oh, oh, oh. Yeah, so yeah, that's it. That's what I'm saying.

Badr Milligan 1:29:34

And I think we see that a lot.

Walt 1:29:35

Where it's like we should never see that. Why these people not get they may at this point, they're gonna, this is gonna be the second or third major movie of fucking He-Man.

Drew 1:29:45

Yeah, it's it goes back, okay. To answer your question, uh B, um, I hate the state of comic books in the way that it is right now. I do not respect it, I do not like it. I it's quality over quantity. I'm sorry, it's quantity over quality. I I I told you a couple days on on the phone. Absolute Batman number 20 has a hundred and twenty variants. That exactly, exactly. Yeah, exactly. It's seriously, like there's no reason to have that, and it's just like you guys really do you lost, you lost it. You really lost it.

Walt 1:30:19

They lost it, but guess what? You know who they got bought by recently. Disney. No, oh who? Paramount. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We should not know all these corporate mergers and all this other bullshit either.

Drew 1:30:29

No. But it at the same time, like, I don't have any, I don't have any type of respect. Like, I'm telling you, the state of comic books right now, I'm waiting for this bubble to burst because of the state of everything that's going on in the world. And comic books is like an elective, it's not it's not a need, it's a want. It's a leisure, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's just one of these where I like to tell you how, like, being in the podcast, being in the comic books, and stuff like that, like, bro, when like when we were in it, I wanted to buy all the issues. I wanted to stay up on date because I wanted to give really good quality episodes. But I'm making myself crazy and bleeding myself dry to read everything and do it the like legal way, in the sense of it buying, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, buying everything and everything, like something. I'm like, nah, man, like fuck that. Like, honestly, like uh it kind of it really does make me upset and sad that this is like the state of where it's at, where it's like like variants were cool, like in the early 2000s, that they were like a one one in 50 variant, a one in the room.

Walt 1:31:31

It OD'd on bariants because they can't because they can't OD on issues no more, so they OD on bariant. Yeah, so your barians become this shit where it's like one in every 500 and that type of shit.

Badr Milligan 1:31:43

Can you play devil's advocate? Can I may I play devil's advocate real quick? You better. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me play devil's advocate. Because I I I hear what you're saying. You know, absolute Batman has a hundred variants, you know, every issue now. You got blind bag, craze, and all that.

Drew 1:31:59

That to me is cool. Like, I like that. That's cool.

Badr Milligan 1:32:02

I if I'm being honest, I am more, I am okay with the variant thing more than I am with the blind bag. Only because I am not, I I see gambling becoming more and more ingrained in the biggest.

Walt 1:32:15

Don't even get me started on that bullshit. That's are we? That's a whole other podcast. Sports fans. Sport fan, baby. That's a whole other podcast. Yes, we're not gonna talk about it.

Badr Milligan 1:32:24

So so I will say blind bag to me is is more, I think, uh uh detrimental in the long run to uh, but in terms of the variants, just talking variants specifically, it's not, I guess what would you say to like you don't have to buy the variants, right?

Walt 1:32:40

It's like buy the variants. What what I'm saying is this you don't get an opportunity, you acting like everyone gets an opportunity to buy those variants. He said 120 variants. Some of those variants are just gonna be two.

Badr Milligan 1:32:53

Sure.

Walt 1:32:54

There's gonna be only two issues of that variant, and now that variant issue is the most expensive issue of said book.

Badr Milligan 1:33:01

I guess what I'm getting at is I see something like Absolute Batman 20 had a hundred variants, but I'm not I don't care. I I just want to buy one.

Drew 1:33:08

No, that's predatory, man, because you're taking advantage of people that are completest. You have people that are like like really love and care about comic books and the medium, and they want to come like you want a complete set. You want a complete set. Like, and there's some people and here's the thing there's some people that care about it, and some people that don't care about it and stuff like that. But for the most part, like yo, you you go to the comic book shop, you're like, I I've these are my people. I like them. I really like and and that's cool. If you have a job that can afford you all that, that's awesome. But like, not for the average Joe.

Walt 1:33:40

And keep cooking, because the other issue to me is that the comic book industry needs to cater to children. We we are doing this podcast and we're having a ball doing it. But this is the same way I feel about Star Wars shit. A lot of this shit is kid shit that we are, I don't want to say arrested development, but the people who are completely like Drew is talking about arrested development motherfuckers. I like to read a good story, and I'm not gonna read a fiction book. If I'm gonna read a book, I'm gonna read uh an actual like non-fiction book. That's what I'm typing on read. Yeah. This is where I get my non- this is where I get my nonfiction from. It's comic books. Yeah.

Drew 1:34:26

This to me, this to me are is my like um what is it called? Like um your stories, like the young and the restless, the oh, this ain't my stories, bro.

Walt 1:34:34

That's good stories. But what are you talking about? Uh no, they call um soapers. These are my comics. Yeah, exactly.

Badr Milligan 1:34:43

You know, I I I think that's what made reading that Archie really refreshing, is that Archie to me represents It's not built into that mode at all. It's low stakes, it's easily accessible, people from any age can enjoy it, and there isn't such a uh uh like this very glaring capitalist angle to it. It's like, you know, like there isn't, you know, a collector's mentality, I think, to Archie. My thing with the variant conversation is that this isn't new. Like the 90s had this issue. And I mean, granted, we've we saw what happened to the 90s in that bubble, but I don't I guess I I I start I would get worried about the number of variants if it becomes blatant that the cre that the creative, the the storytelling becomes second to that.

Walt 1:35:32

No, you're talking about 102 fucking variants. The storytelling is not variant to what the fuck we're talking about right now. It's a hundred and two variants. That's a crazy amount. That's a that that number is so absurd that I didn't even know that that was a number until he said the fucking shit.

Drew 1:35:49

Are you kidding me? 102 variants, bro. And all it is, dude, all it is is literally. So if you want to like break it down, it's literally 50, it's 50 variants. The only difference is is 50 of the big trade dress have absolute Batman and the other one is virgin, like you said. It's like it doesn't have the apps, so it's just like a full um either or I'm saying that is a level of scammer shit, yeah, that the world we live in right now.

Walt 1:36:17

So, like, no, I I could 100% disagree with like nah, bro.

Badr Milligan 1:36:23

Uh I can I can see how it would leave a bad taste. But let me ask you this. Drew, last time we talked, we were talking about how dope absolute Batman is.

Drew 1:36:30

No, absolute Batman is dope, but don't fucking don't insult me and then come up with 120. Like, bro, but it is dope. But that's what I'm saying. Like, that is so disrespectful to the readers. Like, yo, the book is fine. Yo, the book is yo, like he said, the book is perfect. You don't need to fucking mess with it. Why do you need to add all these different colors to it?

Walt 1:36:48

You need no more than 20 variants of a book, and that's that's being insane. Yeah, straight up. Okay, cool. If you want to do 20 variants of the people that actually buy the book, yeah, because the way that DC works, DC is really more on that model of paying for that app. Sure.

Drew 1:37:05

At this point, if I swear to God, if I go to a comic book convention and I see a dude in front of me with all 120 issues to get him signed in front of me, I'm punching that motherfucker in the back of the kidney as hard as I can. You're gonna see it on TMZ, you're gonna see it on Reddit. Like, yo, just make sure you're not wearing shit a short box shirt. It doesn't exist. It shouldn't exist. I'm gonna be dressing up like Daredevil Bluey, just handing out justice.

Badr Milligan 1:37:32

Oh my god. I feel like I feel like I'm getting uh episode one flashbacks. We are I I try I I we tapped into something. All right, y'all don't fuck with the variants.

Walt 1:37:42

I don't fuck with the bear, I don't fuck with the barriers, I don't fuck with the gambling, I don't fuck with the gambling at all. Hold on, hold on. Especially in this time where people, where groceries are four times what they fucking cost. And like Drew said, this is a this is a hobby, not a necessity. Nah, bro, I don't need that shit. Every so often I may luck out, and my guy will send me a bearing because he fucked up. And then he send me the regular version of what I wanted. I'm fine with the regular version because I'm buying comic books to read.

Drew 1:38:18

I'm at that age where I'm okay with the second printing.

Walt 1:38:20

Yeah, I'm at that age where the second printing is. Oh, but Drew, I told somebody about your book, I told somebody about your Spanish ass a couple of weeks ago. I was telling them, I was like, man, my man Drew used to have this hobby when he was in the game for real. He goes by the first issues of books, and this motherfucker had first issues of Walking Dead, Invincible, and all that. I was just talking about that.

Badr Milligan 1:38:42

Yeah.

Walt 1:38:42

And that man taked the fuck out of me. She was like, oh, you can have this shit. I haven't read this book a bunch of times. Yeah. This book is worth what it's worth right now. This bitch will go down. Let me get this bitch out the paint.

Badr Milligan 1:38:53

We were literally just talking about the. Yeah, yo. We were talking about um Drew having a couple of invincible ones. And so Drew, to Walt's point, Drew has always been good at keeping his finger on the pulse of stuff and selling.

Walt 1:39:13

It's not so much that shit. Drew, Drew was a smart person that I go to the shop on Wednesday and I just ask the guy politely, put every number one in my box. And I'm either gonna buy this number one or I'm not. And the number ones I'm gonna buy are gonna be the ones that are um not on like Marvel and DC for the most part. I'm not gonna buy them.

Badr Milligan 1:39:36

Yeah, yeah.

Walt 1:39:37

Because those are legacy characters. Yeah. But Walking Dead, I can I can take a risk on that. That book is $1.95, $2. I can take a risk on that. Back in the day. That book being worth fucking $10,000 is not what anyone seen. Invincible and worth $10,000 is not what anyone seen. So that's the best hobby for comic book collectors. You want to get into this shit and you a kid, just buy all the number one.

Badr Milligan 1:40:03

Yeah.

Walt 1:40:04

And get a parent that's within the put in the bread for you getting number one.

Badr Milligan 1:40:08

Yeah, yeah. I mean, shit, you need a parent if you're a kid trying to buy comics. 20 20 bucks that that lawn money ain't gonna do it.

Drew 1:40:15

Yeah, 20 bucks when we were collecting, like when we started off, 20 bucks could have bought us how many? How many issues?

Badr Milligan 1:40:21

Oh, at least 10. I mean books was like $2.99.

Drew 1:40:25

Yeah, $299. These books is $5.99 right now. Yeah, yeah. But like I was saying, $20 when you got the fucking the discount, especially if you paid cash. If you paid cash, I miss it.

Badr Milligan 1:40:34

I love me a good cash discount. All right, gents. Um, I think we are uh we're getting to the the finish line here. Um, I want to end it by asking what we've been enjoying. All right, let's end it on a high note uh and do an impromptu little champion season.

Walt 1:40:48

I'll go real quick. I'll go warrior. I'll go warrior is the book I've been enjoying. And that is Leo Williams and um David Balderon, I think is his kid's name.

Badr Milligan 1:41:01

Is this a comic book?

Walt 1:41:03

Yeah, the comic book.

Badr Milligan 1:41:04

Okay, okay. So from Ignition Press, okay.

Walt 1:41:07

Yeah, yeah, Ignition Press. I I I gotta finish the last issue because I just got my pull in. I just paid for my pool. My pool is so low right now that I just got my pool in. Because I was like, yo, okay, it's like 60 bucks, okay. 10.

Badr Milligan 1:41:22

Well, real quick, can you tell us what the hell Voyeurs? I'm looking at the A cover, by the way. I I refuse to find a variant for it. I'm looking at the A cover and it's a little bit of it's a sexy cover. And I I feel like I know why you would champion it, but what is the premise? What is it about?

Walt 1:41:38

The premise is that the girl is basically the woman is a is a seller of fine art. And um, she's a sealer of fine art at um places where fine art exists. She meets a guy, and the guy was like out here scoping her, like how we talking about on his cover. He's scoping her on the cover. And then they start talking, and that guy is a head of security. And I've not finished the fourth issue yet. But that book I've enjoyed. I've been reading that. I like the storm book. Um, and as far as combo is concerned, as far as music is concerned, Kaylani album I liked a lot. Like that was the album I've been kind of playing, and then I'll go to my my little playlist. And then as far as movies are concerned, the last movie gonna see was Devil Wars Product 2. Oh, okay. Did you watch the drama?

Drew 1:42:36

Um, no. Okay. What about Project Hail Mary?

Walt 1:42:41

Oh, yeah, Project Hill Mary. Oh, you're talking about the drama, the um, oh, the drama was fine.

Drew 1:42:45

Dude, the drama was fucking insanely good.

Walt 1:42:49

Yo, the drama's good. Oh, okay, hold on. Okay, okay, okay. So the drama was good, and so was um the other movie I've seen. Project Hail Mary was good. And I don't want to turn my phone over anymore because I think I did it like twice here because somebody asked me for something. I had to send them something doing his thing. But um, I went to go see, I went to the movie's last, the last movie I see was Double Wars Prada. Okay. So I'm gonna go next week and I'm gonna see my plan is you go see Obsession, um, Is God God or Is God Is in the Grogu movie. Okay. Because I've been I've been kind of on point with going to the movies. That's what I've been actually staying on point with to go to the movie theater to go see this stuff. Oh, and the other thing is this I will tell you my main champion season, if you have Shudder, Tales from the Crypt is on Shudder, and I'm done. The original Tales for the Crypt? The original Tales from the Crypt is on the club. Why have they not made a sequel to that?

Drew 1:43:55

I'm talking about that's a TV show, it's not a YouTube. Oh, not Tales from the Crib. I'm thinking Tales from the Hood. Sorry. They have like three Tales from the Hood, but those are right to DVD.

Badr Milligan 1:44:04

I think they're ready to be. Yeah, that was good. All right, well, that was solid. Drew, what about you, man? Anything the champion? Sports.

Drew 1:44:15

You're gonna get me shut on that.

Badr Milligan 1:44:17

That sounded like a Cesar ass answer.

Drew 1:44:19

Because living here and like Shaggy, Shaggy loves video games, comic books, manga, and sport. Sport has been the one thing that I'm just like, oh, this is like I've been watching some good basketball, seeing some good bot basketball, and I've just been I've just been in a basketball mood lately. Um I love like I've been watching the uh the Cavs, and then I've been watching uh, was it the Spurs and the Timberwolves? Because both of them played well, the Cavs play the night.

Walt 1:44:49

The Cavs and tonight, whenever this podcast comes out, it's game six of the Cavs and it's game six of the um Spurs game tonight.

Drew 1:44:57

Yeah, the the the Spurs player Wemby, like bro, that thing, like not that that thing. Sorry, he's a he.

Walt 1:45:03

Oh no, no, that thing.

Drew 1:45:07

Bro, he is we ain't seen we ain't seen no shit like that ever. That don't exist. No, not at all. So, like, I've just been really in in a fan of just like watching sports. Um, being in Colorado, obviously you already know, like, every everything here is sports, it's sports, it's sports, and it's like, oh, okay, like what sport? Like you would just use the Florida Gator's football, basically.

Badr Milligan 1:45:31

No, no, straight up Jack Iceman, baby. No, no, no, bro.

Walt 1:45:34

We only out there, it is Denver Bronco football, and then it's Nuggets, and then it's Avalanche, and then it's other shit. But no, that is a Denver, that's a Denver Bronco place, dude.

Drew 1:45:47

I it and it's like anytime I get on the train or if I'm walking, I can keep a tally of people wearing any type of sports memorabilia, yeah, even if they're not playing right now. It's crazy to me. So that to me has just been very, very crazy because you everybody ain't you from Florida?

Badr Milligan 1:46:04

Real quick, uh, this is a complete random question. Do y'all remember when do y'all remember when the universe closed? What year that was? Universe of superheroes?

Drew 1:46:15

Damn, it would have been when Nick. It would have been after we all left. Yeah. When did he be closed? Because he kept the same name, right? Did he keep the name or did he change the name? He met the universe for a little bit and then he changed it to Black Hive Tattoo.

Badr Milligan 1:46:26

No, no, he changed it from he changed it to Black Hive from Universe, Black Hive Comics, and then it became superhero hive, and then Coliseum took over. I thought, because I'm like, I was trying to do the timeline. I was like, when did me and Drew start working at the shop? Podcast was you know 2012. I I reached out to Nick, Nick Wagner, big shout outs to him. I was like, hey, can you tell me when you took over the shop? And he says, it looks like I took over in November 2012. Oh, wow. Yeah, that that kind of throws my timeline off, like big time. So I guess we worked the shop like 2011.

Walt 1:46:59

He took over. That was him silently taking over.

Badr Milligan 1:47:02

Hmm. Okay. Yeah, it throws me over.

Walt 1:47:05

It was silently taking over. I was still down there, and your boy, um, what was my man who was on it before? James. James Basham. James Bascom. James as was still there when I left.

Badr Milligan 1:47:20

Yes.

Drew 1:47:20

He was still up there working. But um Nick Nick Cape kept him um on as the face because of the fact that he was uh a great um rapport with you.

Badr Milligan 1:47:33

I think he was still, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a good point.

Walt 1:47:34

And another word, rapport.

Badr Milligan 1:47:37

Yeah. You know what I'm about to do? I'm about to report my dream here in the city.

Drew 1:47:48

Bumble.

Walt 1:47:48

What you gonna champion before you can do? Yeah, what you champion? What you chapter?

Badr Milligan 1:47:52

Um, I'm gonna champion, I'm gonna keep it, I'm gonna keep it late. I'm gonna champion Archie, because I did not, you know, just a wholesome fucking comic book that has been going on since 1942. I mean, that's Archie is Americana, man. I mean, comic books are Americana, all of that. So I'm I'm gonna champion Archie.

Drew 1:48:14

You know what?

Walt 1:48:14

Basically, all bullshit.

Badr Milligan 1:48:18

You and then go to the sock hot.

Walt 1:48:22

What these have been trying to do with all this other shit is what Archie has been doing for years. Archie is basically an American mango.

Badr Milligan 1:48:29

Wow. Holy shit. Well, you should have led with that 30, 45 minutes ago. That's been dope.

Walt 1:48:36

We'll go into that later.

Badr Milligan 1:48:37

That's another episode for everybody. So I'm I'm a champion Archie, and then most importantly, I'm a champion. I'm a champion us. I'm a champion the short box, I'm a champion of the short box nation. Because at the end of the day, 500 episodes.

Walt 1:48:50

The patronies. The patronies.

Badr Milligan 1:48:53

We love them. Uh, but most importantly, man, uh even patrons or or not, I think it is worthwhile to shout out the listeners in every aspect, whether it's someone that has been riding with us since day one, someone that maybe has been on and off, maybe this is their first time. It is truly insane to think how long we've been doing this. Uh, the short box. I mean, you know what I'm saying? 14 years is crazy, 500 episodes. And I mean, truthfully, it's not even 500 episodes. We've released way more than that, but yeah, I do want to say none of this would be possible or worthwhile without people listening.

Walt 1:49:25

So big shout outs to the can I say something real quick also to end this.

Badr Milligan 1:49:29

Yeah, yeah, but come on.

Walt 1:49:32

You have been fantastic with keeping this alive. Fuck yes, hell yeah, bro. Big up hell yeah. If you could just when I left and when Drew left, you could have just stopped doing it because me and Drew could have moved on from my life. You would have been doing a whole bunch of other shit.

Badr Milligan 1:49:50

I could have been famous. I could have been rich by now. I could have you rich.

Tupac 1:50:00

Pretty enough, man. You could have you could have went on and done the buttons. Bro, yeah. Honestly, bro, you're wasting your time. You're wasting your potential. You're wasting your potential. He's a sexy man. You could have been throwing that. You could have been out here throwing that thing. Yo, yo.

Drew 1:50:13

You could have been like OnlyFans podcasting shirtless.

Tupac 1:50:16

Like, you could have been out here showing feet.

Badr Milligan 1:50:19

I could have been right now watching the sunset in the Galapalos Island with a linen shirt having a little bit of a little bit of a little importantly showing feet.

Walt 1:50:34

And it's been a beautiful game. And then the one homie kept that shit going for a long ass time. And it's been good anytime I tap into the shit. You've been running this race.

Drew 1:50:47

You've been running this race a long time, bro. Yeah.

Badr Milligan 1:50:51

They're like, yo, did he get did he get the memo that that race ended?

Walt 1:50:56

You was actually people came through.

Badr Milligan 1:51:00

All right. You guys have been great. Yo, Short Box Nation, as you can tell, this has been a damn fine time. Uh, we've talked a little bit about everything, right? We talked about 500 issues. We celebrated issue 500. We got into a very heated conversation about variant covers. If you enjoyed the show, if you want to chime into the conversation, man, I would love for you guys to text us some fan mail. You can also leave uh voicemail now. Uh, there's a link in the show notes. But that's what we got for you, man. Uh, we have made it to 500 episodes, 14 years in the making. Who's to say where we'll be at uh 14 years uh later, you know, uh 500 episodes later. With that being said, yo, Short Box Nation, we love you guys truly. Thank you so much for hanging out. And we'll catch you next week. Peace.