Full Transcript for Unspoken Issues #176 - Final Night #1

the Star Wars lore at that point. 40 00:02:10.699 --> 00:02:12.240 Have they ever won one of these polls, or are 41 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:14.360 they always kind of the Dark Horse in the race? 42 00:02:14.819 --> 00:02:19.750 Not a single Dark Horse comic Has won a poll yet. 43 00:02:20.370 --> 00:02:24.849 And it definitely shows here what the results. We have 44 00:02:24.849 --> 00:02:30.810 1% of the vote. So unfortunately, not much love to 45 00:02:30.849 --> 00:02:33.909 Black Pearl, which again, I didn't know anything about the book. 46 00:02:33.930 --> 00:02:37.770 So it might be representative of what our listeners also 47 00:02:37.789 --> 00:02:41.430 had not heard about it either. Our 19% of the 48 00:02:41.490 --> 00:02:44.349 vote is our image entry here, which was shattered image 49 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.650 number one. I remember picking that up off the shelf. 50 00:02:47.669 --> 00:02:49.430 This is my vote, by the way, but I was 51 00:02:49.449 --> 00:02:51.409 really hoping to have the opportunity to read it again 52 00:02:51.969 --> 00:02:54.509 because it's been a while. I just know big, kind 53 00:02:54.530 --> 00:02:57.639 of like crisis-level event, but this is kind of Image's 54 00:02:58.180 --> 00:03:02.680 take on things. Evan, any experience picking up Shattered Image 55 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:04.080 at all? Were you ever interested in that? 56 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:05.460 No. 57 00:03:05.979 --> 00:03:07.819 Okay. I had a feeling. 58 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:11.289 I think we've talked about this before. I I have 59 00:03:11.330 --> 00:03:14.129 a blind spot for early Image. I don't know why, 60 00:03:14.210 --> 00:03:16.189 and now I'm picking up. I'm sure a lot of 61 00:03:16.229 --> 00:03:19.210 people thought this would be their retirement, but I'm picking 62 00:03:19.250 --> 00:03:21.409 up a lot of Image comics in dollar or less 63 00:03:21.469 --> 00:03:23.689 bins and just having fun going back and reading them. 64 00:03:23.849 --> 00:03:26.400 I would have enjoyed a lot of them, but no, 65 00:03:26.500 --> 00:03:28.740 I didn't know much about this. I was pretty much 66 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:31.319 strictly Marvel at this point. 67 00:03:31.580 --> 00:03:32.520 Okay, that's what I thought. 68 00:03:32.580 --> 00:03:34.639 And no disrespect, it's just because Marvel's better. 69 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:35.740 Oh. 70 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:36.419 That's really it. 71 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.099 All right. Armstrong, you got any commentary on Shattered Image 72 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:40.300 at all? 73 00:03:41.310 --> 00:03:43.090 Yeah, I think I said this is the dark period 74 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.340 for me. I was back into comics by this time, 75 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:50.659 but wasn't picking up everything as much. The book weren't 76 00:03:50.699 --> 00:03:53.419 as readily available as they would eventually be, so I 77 00:03:53.460 --> 00:03:56.939 didn't pick up all this stuff. But I think I 78

00:03:57.060 --> 00:03:59.020 did get the first issue of Shattered Image. I don't 79 00:03:59.060 --> 00:04:02.340 remember anything about it. I know Kurt Busiek wrote it, right? Yeah. 80 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:06.639 Going on to the second place winner here, this was 81 00:04:06.699 --> 00:04:08.340 the one that I thought was going to take it 82 00:04:08.419 --> 00:04:10.280 because I thought there were going to be a lot 83 00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:14.199 of Liefeld stans that were voting. But I'm starting to 84 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:16.579 realize that that may not be the case with the 85 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:19.259 fan base that are willing at least to vote on 86 00:04:19.300 --> 00:04:21.360 these polls. And that's Avengers number one. 87 00:04:21.379 --> 00:04:21.439 So. 88 00:04:22.509 --> 00:04:24.889 This is not, help me out, who wrote the Avengers 89 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:26.639 that we really like, the one that we covered already? 90 00:04:26.660 --> 00:04:27.660 Kurt Busiek. 91 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:31.819 Kurt Busiek, again. Yeah, so this was not that Avengers 92 00:04:31.860 --> 00:04:35.980 number one. This was the Liefeld Heroes Reborn Avengers number one. 93 00:04:36.379 --> 00:04:41.180 Now a two-time loser in the polls. Oh, wow. When 94 00:04:41.220 --> 00:04:45.620 we covered Avengers number one years ago for the Heroes 95 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:49.050 Return number one, it was up against Heroes Reborn number one, 96 00:04:49.069 --> 00:04:50.389 I believe. 97 00:04:50.889 --> 00:04:51.310 Okay. 98 00:04:51.350 --> 00:04:56.569 The Busiek. Music and Perez issue won that poll, and 99 00:04:56.629 --> 00:05:02.790 now the Liefeld and Chappy Ape, maybe, artist, has lost 100 00:05:02.829 --> 00:05:03.629 this poll. 101 00:05:04.949 --> 00:05:05.610 That's a bummer. 102 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:08.019 Maybe one day we'll get around to it. 103 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:09.360 Yeah, it might win something. 104 00:05:09.379 --> 00:05:10.899 Put it up against Skrull Kill Crew. 105 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:16.300 Guaranteed win. Guaranteed win. All right. Any other thoughts there, Evan, 106 00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:17.810 on Avengers 1 by Liefeld? 107 00:05:18.269 --> 00:05:19.629 I did read some of that. I had a friend 108 00:05:19.670 --> 00:05:21.370 who was getting a lot of the Heroes Reborn stuff, 109 00:05:21.410 --> 00:05:23.250 but I did not keep up with it. That's one 110 00:05:23.290 --> 00:05:26.029 of those that I want to go back and read 111 00:05:26.069 --> 00:05:28.290 at some point, if for no other reason than to 112 00:05:28.350 --> 00:05:31.439 justify my dollar bin purchase of the World War III 113 00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:34.879 crossover with a bunch of Jim Lee characters. 114 00:05:35.699 --> 00:05:38.319 So did you did you pull like all of those issues? 115 00:05:38.339 --> 00:05:39.000 You got all of them? 116 00:05:39.410 --> 00:05:41.329 Yeah, yeah. A couple years ago, I found them all 117 00:05:41.470 --> 00:05:42.389

in a dollar box. 118 00:05:42.829 --> 00:05:44.899 May have to borrow them at some point, because I 119 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:47.040 don't think I have the whole set. And me and 120 00:05:47.060 --> 00:05:48.740 Chris have talked about those quite often. 121 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:50.899 It's a fun crossover. Yeah. 122 00:05:51.699 --> 00:05:54.120 I want to read it, plus it's something that we 123 00:05:54.139 --> 00:05:56.750 don't think will... Well, at the time, we didn't think 124 00:05:56.790 --> 00:05:59.449 it was, but we've definitely crossed the bridge now where 125 00:05:59.490 --> 00:06:01.389 Marvel and DC are working together again. 126 00:06:01.410 --> 00:06:02.649 Yeah. 127 00:06:02.990 --> 00:06:03.449 I don't know if. 128 00:06:03.970 --> 00:06:06.009 That's the main reason I got it, is I'm like, 129 00:06:06.069 --> 00:06:07.810 I don't know if this will ever be reprinted. I 130 00:06:07.870 --> 00:06:10.430 like having... weird things like that. 131 00:06:10.949 --> 00:06:11.230 I get it. 132 00:06:11.730 --> 00:06:14.350 Well, then we come to our winner. So this is, 133 00:06:14.370 --> 00:06:17.139 with 48% of the vote, it's The Final Night. So 134 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:19.720 this is the first issue of a large event that 135 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:23.540 happens in 1996, which I didn't really know much about, 136 00:06:23.579 --> 00:06:25.860 and I did do a little research and figured out 137 00:06:25.939 --> 00:06:28.519 what the endgame is here, and I think I understand 138 00:06:28.579 --> 00:06:29.100 why now. 139 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:30.579 Now, that's an Avengers movie. 140 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:34.610 I mean, excuse me. But yeah, I think I understand 141 00:06:34.670 --> 00:06:37.670 why this is such a big deal, because this is 142 00:06:37.730 --> 00:06:42.730 like This is the first kind of like issue or 143 00:06:42.750 --> 00:06:44.829 the first part of an event that leads to Hal 144 00:06:45.110 --> 00:06:51.519 Jordan's redemption arc. Because by the end of this, you 145 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:52.360 have read it, right? 146 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:53.279 Spoiler alert. 147 00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:54.160 Yeah, be right. 148 00:06:54.220 --> 00:06:56.420 I have not read it, but I knew what happened 149 00:06:56.500 --> 00:07:00.399 because I bought 99% Marvel at this point, but I 150 00:07:00.540 --> 00:07:03.019 read Wizard and I kept up with a lot of 151 00:07:03.079 --> 00:07:05.639 what was going on. So no, I haven't read this. 152 00:07:05.910 --> 00:07:10.649 I do know. how it ends. So I have sort 153 00:07:10.689 --> 00:07:12.889 of a parallax view of it, if you will. 154 00:07:12.910 --> 00:07:16.269 That doesn't come around for another eight years. 155 00:07:16.790 --> 00:07:18.550 Look, I was this close to saying it's a bit 156 00:07:18.589 --> 00:07:20.480 of a paradox, and I'm like, that wasn't his name. 157 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:23.360 But I'd already decided to make a bad joke, so. 158 00:07:23.860 --> 00:07:24.389 Power through. 159 00:07:24.420 --> 00:07:27.199 Making an even worse one wasn't going to slow me 160 00:07:27.220 --> 00:07:31.019 down any. Yet the only tie-in I think that I've 161 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:36.279 read to this was this started right shortly after Peter 162 00:07:36.300 --> 00:07:41.180 David's run on Supergirl. And so there was a crossover 163 00:07:41.259 --> 00:07:45.430 where in Leesburg or whatever the town was that Supergirl 164 00:07:45.459 --> 00:07:48.870 had set up shop. When the sun went out, Gorilla 165 00:07:48.889 --> 00:07:51.829 Grodd showed up, mind-controlled her, made her wear leather pants, 166 00:07:51.910 --> 00:07:56.470 real villain stuff. So that's really the only familiarity I 167 00:07:56.509 --> 00:08:00.629 had other than getting updates from Wizard about how this unfolded. 168 00:08:02.230 --> 00:08:04.449 Armstrong, how about you? Final Night, you picking it up 169 00:08:04.529 --> 00:08:05.110 off the shelf? 170 00:08:06.029 --> 00:08:09.629 No, I had not read this. I would eventually read 171 00:08:09.689 --> 00:08:13.300 it about 20 years later when I borrowed the trade 172 00:08:13.339 --> 00:08:16.300 from a friend of mine, and I read all four 173 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:19.199 issues or whatever, and I remember almost nothing about it. 174 00:08:19.500 --> 00:08:20.579 Okay, all right. 175 00:08:20.860 --> 00:08:23.360 Did not leave a big impression, but yeah. 176 00:08:23.550 --> 00:08:25.449 All right, well, I've got a synopsis here, and again, 177 00:08:25.629 --> 00:08:28.310 just to let everybody know, I did read the prologue, 178 00:08:28.509 --> 00:08:31.069 so I include that in the synopsis. Other comments before 179 00:08:31.110 --> 00:08:31.569 I get into it? 180 00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:33.759 Just don't keep us in the dark. 181 00:08:34.379 --> 00:08:40.500 No. Anyway, here we go. Alright, the final night, number one, well, 182 00:08:40.519 --> 00:08:43.539 the prologue and then number one, opens Far From Earth 183 00:08:43.700 --> 00:08:47.970 on New Tamaran. Alright, where an unnatural cold is descended 184 00:08:48.029 --> 00:08:51.830 upon Starfire's adopted world as a mysterious force begins draining 185 00:08:51.850 --> 00:08:55.830 the system's sun. When an alien woman named Dusk arrives, 186 00:08:55.990 --> 00:08:59.269 Starfire becomes convinced that she has come to warn them 187 00:08:59.769 --> 00:09:03.299 rather than attack them. But Starfire's sister and the Tamaranians 188 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:06.279 see her as an enemy. Their attempt to fight whatever 189 00:09:06.340 --> 00:09:10.039 is consuming the sun ends in disaster, and Starfire ultimately 190 00:09:10.100 --> 00:09:15.149 helps Dusk escape just before New Tamaran is destroyed. And again, 191 00:09:15.169 --> 00:09:18.509 I just want to point out here, like, we get 192 00:09:18.529 --> 00:09:21.429 in the first issue, they figure out a way to, like, 193 00:09:21.490 -->

00:09:24.289 translate what Dusk is saying. When she arrives, she's speaking 194 00:09:24.370 --> 00:09:28.980 an alien language. On New Tamaran, that doesn't happen. They 195 00:09:29.019 --> 00:09:31.360 just have no idea what she's saying, and they think 196 00:09:31.379 --> 00:09:34.679 that she's actually in league with whatever, or possibly believe 197 00:09:34.730 --> 00:09:36.909 that she's the one that's tied to what's happening to 198 00:09:36.950 --> 00:09:38.549 their son. So they treat her as a spy, but 199 00:09:38.570 --> 00:09:41.529 of course Starfire sees something different in her, and I 200 00:09:41.750 --> 00:09:44.429 think they join minds at one point, I think is 201 00:09:44.470 --> 00:09:46.950 what happens, and she sees what's happening, I think, if 202 00:09:47.009 --> 00:09:49.210 I remember correctly. Chris, did you read the prologue? Am 203 00:09:49.250 --> 00:09:49.570 I right? 204 00:09:50.370 --> 00:09:51.669 I did, and that sounds right. 205 00:09:51.970 --> 00:09:52.629 Okay, all right. 206 00:09:53.190 --> 00:09:55.570 So she had no idea it was just Peter Parker 207 00:09:55.610 --> 00:09:56.309 in a disguise. 208 00:09:58.389 --> 00:10:01.950 Wrong universe. Although that would have been cool. 209 00:10:01.970 --> 00:10:03.250 Wasn't that one of the Slingers, Dusk? 210 00:10:03.289 --> 00:10:05.629 That was one of the Slingers. Okay. Yeah, you're right. 211 00:10:05.649 --> 00:10:07.179 I understood my own reference. 212 00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:07.899 You did. 213 00:10:08.539 --> 00:10:12.159 Saur ultimately helps Dusk escape just before New Tamarin is destroyed, 214 00:10:12.179 --> 00:10:17.919 leaving Starfire as the apparent sole survivor. And again, it's 215 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:23.259 not because the sun... This thing causes the planet to explode. 216 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:27.750 It's actually Starfire's sister uses some kind of weapon, I think, 217 00:10:27.769 --> 00:10:29.950 to try and take Starfire out because she thinks he's 218 00:10:29.990 --> 00:10:32.409 a traitor or something. And then the planet explodes as 219 00:10:32.450 --> 00:10:36.080 Starfire's out in the cosmos. So, all right. So Dusk 220 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:38.259 makes her way to Earth where Superman and the Legion 221 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:41.870 of Superheroes and a massive gathering of other heroes as well, 222 00:10:42.029 --> 00:10:44.990 learn the truth. An enormous entity known as the Sun 223 00:10:45.029 --> 00:10:48.289 Eater is headed directly for Earth's sun, consuming light and 224 00:10:48.330 --> 00:10:51.570 heat as it travels. The heroes immediately launch several plans 225 00:10:51.610 --> 00:10:54.049 to stop it. Mr. Miracle and others attempt to contain 226 00:10:54.100 --> 00:10:56.980 it with a boom tube, only to discover that the 227 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:00.799 Sun Eater does not exist entirely within their dimension. Kind 228 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:02.039 of throws a wrench in the plans, I guess. 229

00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:02.980 Maybe when that happens. 230 00:11:03.419 --> 00:11:06.320 It stinks. Superman then leads another team in creating an 231 00:11:06.379 --> 00:11:11.029 artificial second sun, hoping to lure the creature away. But 232 00:11:11.090 --> 00:11:14.210 while the sun eater consumes their decoy, it quickly resumes 233 00:11:14.269 --> 00:11:17.629 its course toward the real thing. Even Superman is nearly 234 00:11:17.730 --> 00:11:20.529 overcome by the terrible cold. Superman is like, I've got 235 00:11:20.549 --> 00:11:23.289 to stop this thing. And Firestorm's like, no, man, we 236 00:11:23.330 --> 00:11:27.970 need you alive. I have no idea what his plan was. Meanwhile, 237 00:11:28.009 --> 00:11:32.509 the Phantom Stranger learns that even the Spectre will not interfere, 238 00:11:32.809 --> 00:11:35.350 believing the fate of mankind may be part of a 239 00:11:35.429 --> 00:11:38.899 higher judgment. As the heroes realize that every attempt has failed, 240 00:11:38.919 --> 00:11:42.340 the Sun Eater begins moving across Earth's sun, plunging the 241 00:11:42.379 --> 00:11:47.340 planet toward darkness. Watching the eclipse spread over Metropolis, Lex Luthor, 242 00:11:47.500 --> 00:11:52.809 on vacation, delivers the issue's final declaration. Mankind may be 243 00:11:52.870 --> 00:11:57.090 facing its final night, but it is not going down 244 00:11:57.149 --> 00:12:00.519 without a fight. So there you go. That is a 245 00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:05.940 synopsis of the prologue and first issue of The Final Night. 246 00:12:06.039 --> 00:12:09.490 So I will go issue number one. Evan Bevins, what's 247 00:12:09.500 --> 00:12:12.009 your notes there, sir, on the issue? 248 00:12:14.009 --> 00:12:16.429 This one's always seemed kind of odd to me because 249 00:12:16.450 --> 00:12:21.990 I've read since then at least two DC crossover events 250 00:12:22.029 --> 00:12:27.549 that involve the full evacuation of Earth and reality restarting, so... 251 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:31.440 While I understand that the sun being extinguished is a 252 00:12:31.700 --> 00:12:35.360 significant problem, I don't know. It doesn't strike me as 253 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:38.580 much more than maybe a slightly longer day at the 254 00:12:38.700 --> 00:12:39.600 office for the justice. 255 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:42.110 Yeah, it seems like something they should be able to handle. 256 00:12:42.669 --> 00:12:44.750 Like, it's kind of tall in the writing. You can, 257 00:12:44.769 --> 00:12:46.970 because they do, but eventually you're going to have to 258 00:12:46.990 --> 00:12:50.870 tell a story that doesn't involve all of reality being 259 00:12:50.909 --> 00:12:54.230 destroyed because Grant Morrison has indigestion or something. 260 00:12:54.769 --> 00:12:54.970 So. 261 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:58.379 They can't all just have escalating stakes, but it kind 262 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:01.149 of reminds me of, to make it about Marvel again, 263 00:13:01.190 --> 00:13:03.549 because why not, of the Bloodhunt crossover a year or 264 00:13:03.570 --> 00:13:05.730 two ago. I'm like, really? The Avengers are going to 265 00:13:05.769 --> 00:13:10.120 sweat vampires? But that said, that's from the outside looking in. 266 00:13:10.179 --> 00:13:13.600 This does do a good job of letting you know 267 00:13:13.659 --> 00:13:19.049 the stakes and showing you very quickly... why your go-to 268 00:13:19.230 --> 00:13:21.450 solutions aren't going to work. It's like, I just send 269 00:13:21.470 --> 00:13:24.909 Superman up there and have him blow on it really hard. Or, yeah, 270 00:13:24.950 --> 00:13:28.059 get the magicians to do something. So it does do 271 00:13:28.179 --> 00:13:30.340 a good job of that. I thought I was a 272 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:33.299 little confused by a couple things. Again, because I wasn't 273 00:13:33.340 --> 00:13:35.700 regularly reading DC at this point. I wasn't sure why 274 00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:39.049 the Legion was hanging out in the 90s, although that's 275 00:13:39.090 --> 00:13:41.970 why they were able to translate, because the Legion had 276 00:13:42.070 --> 00:13:46.620 universal translators. Right. that either was better technology or maybe 277 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:50.059 had that language in since they're originally from the 30th century, 278 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:53.870 and then Brainiac 5 whipped up another one to allow 279 00:13:53.929 --> 00:13:58.870 her to speak to everybody. Right. But yeah, I wasn't 280 00:13:58.909 --> 00:14:01.210 familiar with why the Legion were there. 281 00:14:01.230 --> 00:14:01.649 Same. 282 00:14:02.309 --> 00:14:05.389 They time travel more than Jesse Starcher would if he 283 00:14:05.429 --> 00:14:09.159 had the opportunity. But yeah, it seemed like they were 284 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:12.889 just hanging out in Metropolis. So another thing that lent 285 00:14:12.909 --> 00:14:15.480 some gravitas to it was that they had already heard 286 00:14:15.509 --> 00:14:18.679 of this Darkest Night, which is not to be confused 287 00:14:18.700 --> 00:14:19.639 with Blackest Night. 288 00:14:19.899 --> 00:14:20.480 That's right. 289 00:14:21.059 --> 00:14:24.009 Because I think Kyle Rayner was in the background somewhere, 290 00:14:24.049 --> 00:14:27.429 but there was a conspicuous lack of Green Lanterns given 291 00:14:27.590 --> 00:14:30.129 where this story, where we all know this story's headed. 292 00:14:30.889 --> 00:14:34.320 So Alpha Centurion was a character I was not familiar with. 293 00:14:34.379 --> 00:14:37.679 I meant to dig out my DC encyclopedia, but. 294 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:41.779 There was a lot of characters in this. It's clearly, obviously, 295 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:44.210 in an event book. You want to get everybody in 296 00:14:44.230 --> 00:14:46.309 there that you can. But yeah, one of my notes 297 00:14:46.350 --> 00:14:50.129 here is it's confusing. When you're not familiar with the universe,

298 00:14:50.350 --> 00:14:53.100 specifically the continuity at the time, there's going to be 299 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:56.429 a lot of faces... that you probably are just like, okay, 300 00:14:56.470 --> 00:14:58.850 who is this guy? Unless they introduce themselves. 301 00:14:59.269 --> 00:15:02.480 The continuity nerd in me wanted to know more, but 302 00:15:02.500 --> 00:15:04.600 the story, I had no trouble following. It's like, there's 303 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:07.049 some superheroes. That dude has a ship. So yeah, it 304 00:15:07.100 --> 00:15:10.539 didn't interfere with my understanding of the story at all. 305 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:13.620 Other than that, I said, it's mainly set up. I 306 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:16.740 think this was all to, again, to clear the deck 307 00:15:16.899 --> 00:15:18.960 of things where I was like, oh yeah, the DC 308 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.929 superheroes can do this pretty well. I'm sure Superman could 309 00:15:21.950 --> 00:15:24.029 light the sun back up or whatever. So it kind 310 00:15:24.070 --> 00:15:27.090 of sets it up and I haven't, it's on one 311 00:15:27.110 --> 00:15:29.509 of my many unofficial to read lists, but I haven't 312 00:15:29.549 --> 00:15:31.029 gone and read it, but I got to think we 313 00:15:31.049 --> 00:15:34.509 get into more of the story itself after this issue. 314 00:15:34.549 --> 00:15:37.129 This is all setting the table for what they can 315 00:15:37.169 --> 00:15:41.019 do with it. I have to think that even the 316 00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:45.059 Sun Eater itself is secondary to the story they're wanting 317 00:15:45.100 --> 00:15:48.159 to tell about heroes in the face of certain doom 318 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:51.509 and redemption and stuff like that the sun eater is 319 00:15:51.610 --> 00:15:53.590 just a means to an end to tell that story 320 00:15:53.649 --> 00:15:55.110 i know we don't really rate things but if i 321 00:15:55.149 --> 00:15:57.029 was grading this i guess it would be an incomplete 322 00:15:57.070 --> 00:16:00.889 like it's a good intro but my assessment of the 323 00:16:00.929 --> 00:16:02.639 story is going to be what comes next. 324 00:16:04.629 --> 00:16:06.779 I like that i think you're right because on my 325 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:09.860 again never read the event but i was reading what 326 00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:14.840 it was about and it's definitely an event where the 327 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:18.059 heroes are faced with just coming to grips with the 328 00:16:18.100 --> 00:16:21.190 fact that There's nothing we can do. What are we 329 00:16:21.230 --> 00:16:23.669 going to do? And a lot of the tie-ins are 330 00:16:23.909 --> 00:16:27.529 essentially about that. So I thought that's an interesting concept 331 00:16:27.610 --> 00:16:30.970 for a book. I had read that I think, and 332 00:16:31.110 --> 00:16:33.080 maybe you guys saw this as well, it was Stuart 333 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:35.000 Eminen that kind of came up with the

genesis of 334 00:16:35.019 --> 00:16:36.980 the idea. He's our artist here, which, by the way, 335 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:39.980 didn't give the creative team, because I'm on top of things. 336 00:16:40.419 --> 00:16:45.580 Carl Kessel is the writer, Stuart Eminen. Penciler, Jose Marzan Jr. 337 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:46.240 is the inker. 338 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:47.759 Lee. 339 00:16:49.730 --> 00:16:56.350 Luffridge? Or Loveridge? Colorist? The letterer is Gas-pon? 340 00:16:57.370 --> 00:16:58.009 Gaspar. 341 00:16:58.370 --> 00:17:01.470 What are you looking at here? Are you inside the cover? Yeah. 342 00:17:01.690 --> 00:17:05.059 I'm pretty sure that's an R. It is. It's Gaspar. 343 00:17:05.539 --> 00:17:08.539 Because what's strange is the next book that we talk about, 344 00:17:08.619 --> 00:17:09.779 Gaspar's the letterer, right? 345 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:10.400 Yes. 346 00:17:10.750 --> 00:17:12.410 The next book we're going to talk about is the 347 00:17:12.470 --> 00:17:15.349 letter in the next one, too, which is crazy. But yeah, 348 00:17:15.369 --> 00:17:16.690 go ahead. Sorry I interrupted you. Anything else? 349 00:17:16.710 --> 00:17:19.549 So you can tag both these episodes with Gaspar Saladino. 350 00:17:19.670 --> 00:17:23.349 Ali Morales, assistant editor, and Dan Thorslund, editor. Okay. That's 351 00:17:23.369 --> 00:17:24.930 what the interior credits are. 352 00:17:25.430 --> 00:17:26.910 I thought this was a Thorslund book. 353 00:17:27.650 --> 00:17:28.190 You can tell. 354 00:17:28.210 --> 00:17:28.839 Sure. 355 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:33.059 We're all over it. Speaking to Evan's comment about Kyle 356 00:17:33.079 --> 00:17:35.319 being the only Green Lantern we're seeing in this, I 357 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:37.079 think this was in the era before. 358 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:40.579 He had started to rebuild the Green Lantern Corps, so 359 00:17:40.619 --> 00:17:41.920 he was the only Green Lantern. 360 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:43.509 Oh, yeah, you got a point there. 361 00:17:44.769 --> 00:17:48.369 Except for Alan Scott, who was going by Sentinel, maybe, 362 00:17:48.390 --> 00:17:48.950 at this time. 363 00:17:48.970 --> 00:17:49.190 Yes. 364 00:17:50.410 --> 00:17:52.349 And we did see Guy Gardner, but not a Lantern 365 00:17:52.369 --> 00:17:52.890 at the time. 366 00:17:53.210 --> 00:17:54.279 Yep, he was a warrior. 367 00:17:54.519 --> 00:17:55.319 He was the warrior. 368 00:17:56.339 --> 00:17:58.160 Alan Scott was out here hunting mutants. 369 00:17:59.019 --> 00:18:02.900 Can't wait to see Nathan Fillion in that warrior tattooed card. 370 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:07.640 If you can pull it off, you can pull it off. 371 00:18:07.980 --> 00:18:08.519 Go for it. 372 00:18:09.569 --> 00:18:12.349 I did notice, I'm glad you mentioned Stuart Eminen. You 373 00:18:12.369 --> 00:18:13.910 can tell this was kind of early in his career 374 00:18:13.930 --> 00:18:17.529 because I think he did All New X-Men when Bendis 375 00:18:17.609 --> 00:18:20.069 brought the original team back. And so I really liked 376 00:18:20.109 --> 00:18:23.269 his art in there. This seemed to be a bit earlier. Again, 377 00:18:23.349 --> 00:18:25.650 you're never going to get me saying, hey, this comic 378 00:18:25.670 --> 00:18:28.680 book has bad art. No, but it's not quite as 379 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:31.539 sharp as what I expected. when I saw his name 380 00:18:31.630 --> 00:18:33.940 on it, and that's a stylistic choice. I can tell 381 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:37.349 everything that's going on. Not necessarily my favorite depiction of it, 382 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:38.039 but nothing bad. 383 00:18:38.619 --> 00:18:40.220 Yeah, that's one of my notes. As far as what 384 00:18:40.259 --> 00:18:42.480 we get in here, it's not my favorite. I feel like, 385 00:18:43.380 --> 00:18:44.940 I don't know if it's the pencil and the coloring 386 00:18:44.980 --> 00:18:47.789 coming together, but I will say in my research, yet again, 387 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:50.150 Stuart Eminen even says that this was not his favorite 388 00:18:50.250 --> 00:18:52.789 art that he has done. He said that the inks, 389 00:18:53.150 --> 00:18:56.759 he felt, made it look at least passable enough Something 390 00:18:56.779 --> 00:18:59.799 about the coloring and the artwork, it just did not 391 00:18:59.880 --> 00:19:02.059 look the greatest to me, and that's my personal opinion. 392 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:05.880 I thought it was perfectly serviceable. I like Stuart Emmett 393 00:19:05.900 --> 00:19:08.700 a lot, especially his Star Wars stuff he's done recently, 394 00:19:08.779 --> 00:19:11.029 and as Evan said, the all-new X-Men run he did 395 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:14.730 was really good. You can tell this is a lot 396 00:19:14.849 --> 00:19:17.849 earlier in his career. You can still kind of tell 397 00:19:17.890 --> 00:19:22.089 that it's him in some of the facial expressions and stuff. 398 00:19:22.130 --> 00:19:24.910 It still kind of looks familiar, but it's Not nearly 399 00:19:24.970 --> 00:19:27.740 as refined as what he would turn into later. But 400 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:29.480 I don't have any complaints about it. It's just not 401 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:32.619 as good as his more modern stuff. 402 00:19:33.259 --> 00:19:33.460 Yeah. 403 00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:38.079 I always like reading these crossovers that kind of just 404 00:19:38.099 --> 00:19:42.490 give you a little window into the current status of 405 00:19:42.869 --> 00:19:46.210 the DC or Marvel Universe. We mentioned Guy Gardner as 406 00:19:46.269 --> 00:19:50.980 Warrior at this point. This is pre-Grant Morrison's J. so 407 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:54.359 we haven't got to those big stories and got the 408 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:55.660 big seven back together yet. 409 00:19:55.799 --> 00:19:58.880 Which confused me a little because the cover has pretty 410 00:19:58.920 --> 00:20:03.529 much Morrison's JLA. I was like, I don't

remember this 411 00:20:03.569 --> 00:20:06.130 being in Morrison's JLA. Well, there's a reason for that. 412 00:20:08.569 --> 00:20:11.349 And also, like, Dr. Polaris is a good guy for 413 00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:13.049 some reason. I was not sure about that. They do 414 00:20:13.069 --> 00:20:15.450 kind of reference that at one point in the issue 415 00:20:15.490 --> 00:20:19.630 that he's basically there under Amanda Waller's orders for some reason. 416 00:20:20.269 --> 00:20:22.430 But I've never known him to be anything but a supervillain. 417 00:20:22.450 --> 00:20:24.769 So I was kind of surprised to see him pop 418 00:20:24.809 --> 00:20:26.210 in here as kind of one of the good guys. 419 00:20:28.289 --> 00:20:31.829 His explanation was like, hey, you know, it affects me, too. 420 00:20:31.990 --> 00:20:35.170 I'm like, OK, fair argument, I guess. 421 00:20:35.640 --> 00:20:38.079 Yeah, that's kind of a fun crossover idea. Like whenever 422 00:20:38.140 --> 00:20:42.880 there's something that's not just Galactus or Darkseid coming to 423 00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:45.180 cause a fight, that's going to be a big superhero battle. 424 00:20:45.220 --> 00:20:48.299 Like when there's a force of nature thing that threatens everything, 425 00:20:48.619 --> 00:20:51.079 it kind of gives the heroes a different battle to 426 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:54.599 wage than just punching and kicking the bad guy, which 427 00:20:54.660 --> 00:20:59.819 is kind of interesting. The Legion showing up here, as 428 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:02.279 Evan mentioned, they're kind of stranded in this time frame. 429 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:05.839 I'm not really a Legion fan. fan. Not that I 430 00:21:06.180 --> 00:21:08.220 necessarily dislike him. I've just never really read much. The 431 00:21:08.269 --> 00:21:11.190 only things I can think of is when Jeff Johns 432 00:21:11.230 --> 00:21:13.910 had him as part of the Superman run he did. 433 00:21:13.930 --> 00:21:17.630 I read some of the Mark Waid, Barry Kitson, Legion 434 00:21:17.769 --> 00:21:20.930 book in the like he had aughts, which was good. 435 00:21:21.009 --> 00:21:23.130 But I'm just not like that familiar with him. I'm 436 00:21:23.150 --> 00:21:25.630 very curious who this blue centipede guy with the red 437 00:21:25.670 --> 00:21:29.400 hood is. Oh, that's Gates. Gates? Okay. 438 00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:31.920 I think he does portals. Okay. 439 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:33.380 That makes the name applies. 440 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:34.059 Right. 441 00:21:35.109 --> 00:21:37.230 But yeah, I'm not familiar with that guy. He certainly 442 00:21:37.369 --> 00:21:39.710 stands out. So I was curious about him. 443 00:21:40.329 --> 00:21:42.380 I have a Hero Clicks figure of him, and I 444 00:21:42.579 --> 00:21:45.380 read something with him in it. I recognized him, but 445 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:47.180 I could not tell you from where. 446 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:51.700 Tacky on sighting. That's always fun for me because I 447 00:21:51.740 --> 00:21:53.700 like that character, even though I would guess he probably 448 00:21:53.720 --> 00:21:56.599 has less than 30 appearances in total. I was kind 449 00:21:56.619 --> 00:22:01.319 of curious in this last panel with Lex, and I'm 450 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:03.950 sure it's explained more in the further issues that I 451 00:22:04.049 --> 00:22:06.940 have forgotten. But is it just me, or does it 452 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:10.420 look like he's, like, golden legs or something? Or is 453 00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:11.720 that just supposed to be. 454 00:22:12.660 --> 00:22:14.579 I feel like, I thought that was the hue, but 455 00:22:14.599 --> 00:22:16.019 then again, I don't know. 456 00:22:16.259 --> 00:22:17.859 I think it's just a trick of the lighting. I 457 00:22:17.900 --> 00:22:19.599 don't know if you picked up on this, the sun 458 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.339 had been blacked out at that point. 459 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:25.259 But it looks bright there, wherever he's at. 460 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:30.180 Yeah, I chalked it up to, like, okay, well, this 461 00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:32.000 has got to be because they're playing with the lighting 462 00:22:32.059 --> 00:22:32.519 and somehow. 463 00:22:32.579 --> 00:22:36.160 I was just curious, his consort there, Erica... appears to 464 00:22:36.180 --> 00:22:38.720 be all white skinned. So I didn't know if there 465 00:22:38.740 --> 00:22:41.000 was something going on with like, is this an era 466 00:22:41.049 --> 00:22:44.650 of Lex Luthor where he had gold plated skin or something? 467 00:22:45.869 --> 00:22:50.029 Dude's on vacation. I could be, I could be tan 468 00:22:50.430 --> 00:22:52.730 broadens their bronzer or whatever, you know, he's trying to 469 00:22:52.750 --> 00:22:55.619 get himself a nice tan. Have no idea. I don't 470 00:22:55.660 --> 00:22:58.200 remember anything about Lex Luthor turning gold. I did not 471 00:22:58.220 --> 00:23:00.460 cover that. But that's pretty much all I got. 472 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:04.200 This was a pretty good setup issue. Um, Again, not 473 00:23:04.220 --> 00:23:07.180 a ton of action. There's setting the stage, calling the 474 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:10.480 stakes out, and we would see where it goes from there. 475 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:12.140 I did see where it went from here, and I 476 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:16.329 don't remember. So, again, didn't make a great impression when 477 00:23:16.390 --> 00:23:18.589 I read it 10 or 12 years ago, but hey, 478 00:23:18.650 --> 00:23:21.849 maybe that's just... I've read, at this point, probably a 479 00:23:21.869 --> 00:23:25.369 million comic books, so it's no surprise when stuff slips 480 00:23:25.410 --> 00:23:27.069 through the mental cracks there. 481 00:23:28.109 --> 00:23:30.069 So i'll give my notes here real quick i did 482 00:23:30.089 --> 00:23:32.470 want to talk just real quick about dusk she right 483 00:23:32.509 --> 00:23:34.849 now she just

feels kind of like the herald of 484 00:23:34.890 --> 00:23:37.910 the story like hey the sun's going out neat character 485 00:23:38.049 --> 00:23:42.250 but nothing much other than she's helpless and she's trying 486 00:23:42.269 --> 00:23:44.910 to help or hopeless is probably the best word because 487 00:23:45.170 --> 00:23:47.630 she definitely wants to try and help these other people 488 00:23:48.109 --> 00:23:50.789 try to avoid ending up like other planets that she 489 00:23:50.809 --> 00:23:53.130 had already been on and apparently i imagine her planet 490 00:23:53.170 --> 00:23:58.160 as well um Once she lands on earth, this escalated 491 00:23:58.210 --> 00:24:00.589 really quickly. Like she gets there and then all of 492 00:24:00.630 --> 00:24:02.890 a sudden, like everybody's like, okay, let's put a plan together. 493 00:24:03.410 --> 00:24:04.990 Seeing everybody there, you knew it was going to be 494 00:24:05.009 --> 00:24:07.859 a big event. The Legion, I liked the Legion showing 495 00:24:07.910 --> 00:24:09.700 up here. Do I know much about them? No, I 496 00:24:09.720 --> 00:24:12.619 know that they're from the future. And when the Legion 497 00:24:12.660 --> 00:24:17.579 appeared on the page, I'm like, Saturn girl, that's about 498 00:24:17.619 --> 00:24:20.500 as far as I got. I didn't know anybody else really. 499 00:24:20.519 --> 00:24:23.140 I had no clue. Luckily, they were good enough to give. 500 00:24:23.369 --> 00:24:25.529 Everybody was able to get their names out there at 501 00:24:25.569 --> 00:24:29.130 some point. But again, you guys mentioned the whole Darkest 502 00:24:29.170 --> 00:24:32.430 Night thing. That obviously makes it pretty ominous. Is this 503 00:24:32.450 --> 00:24:34.750 going to be a big deal? And sure enough, it 504 00:24:34.789 --> 00:24:37.230 may just very well be. As for the Sun Eater, 505 00:24:38.069 --> 00:24:39.730 I do like the Sun Eater as a threat here 506 00:24:40.210 --> 00:24:43.630 because it's not just some big villain that Superman can 507 00:24:43.670 --> 00:24:45.490 go up and punch or anything like that. This is 508 00:24:45.529 --> 00:24:48.029 just kind of like this natural disaster that's occurring here. 509 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:52.960 so again there's there they got to try to figure 510 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:57.359 out a way to you know avoid this calamity from 511 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:00.880 happening the boom tube plan i thought was pretty interesting 512 00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:02.900 mr miracle's like let's just suck it into a boom 513 00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:05.400 tube and transport it over i think barda is the 514 00:25:05.460 --> 00:25:07.440 one that comes up with it like let's just transport 515 00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:10.329 it to the source and which i think what is 516 00:25:10.349 --> 00:25:11.750 that the end of the universe is that what that 517 00:25:11.829 --> 00:25:12.529 is yeah. 518 00:25:12.430 --> 00:25:15.230 The edge of the known universe do you think Mr. 519 00:25:15.269 --> 00:25:17.750 Miracle was like, thanks for the vote of confidence, honey, 520 00:25:17.829 --> 00:25:20.099 but this is a little... She's like, oh yeah, we'll 521 00:25:20.140 --> 00:25:24.319 just do a great escape. Mr. Miracle's like, yeah, sure. 522 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:27.880 It's called the Sun Eater, definitely in my wheelhouse. 523 00:25:28.339 --> 00:25:30.920 Right. Of course that plan fails. 524 00:25:30.940 --> 00:25:33.109 You know she probably wears the pants in that house. 525 00:25:33.430 --> 00:25:35.250 And I would let her. There's not going to be 526 00:25:35.289 --> 00:25:36.130 any argument for me. 527 00:25:36.210 --> 00:25:38.210 Oh yeah, no, I'm not faulting him at all. I'm 528 00:25:38.250 --> 00:25:40.170 just saying I would love to see his interior monologue. 529 00:25:40.190 --> 00:25:40.410 It's like. 530 00:25:41.390 --> 00:25:42.130 Yeah, sure. 531 00:25:42.150 --> 00:25:42.759 I can do it. 532 00:25:43.769 --> 00:25:46.099 So, yeah, their idea is to transport this thing through 533 00:25:46.119 --> 00:25:47.740 the boom tube, get it over to the other side 534 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:49.660 of the universe or whatever, just get it out of 535 00:25:49.859 --> 00:25:54.279 Earth's orbit or whatever. And that fails because of dimensional 536 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:56.900 reasons not really explained, other than the fact that it 537 00:25:56.940 --> 00:26:00.109 just can't really exist in different dimensions. So I assume 538 00:26:00.130 --> 00:26:01.170 the boob tube can't work. 539 00:26:01.569 --> 00:26:03.509 Clearly, you have not spent a lot of time around 540 00:26:03.529 --> 00:26:04.309 boom tubes. 541 00:26:04.410 --> 00:26:06.589 I have not. And then we get, like, one of 542 00:26:06.630 --> 00:26:10.049 the cooler Plan Bs ever, which is let's just create 543 00:26:10.109 --> 00:26:15.160 a sun, which was pretty cool. So everybody that has 544 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:18.660 any type of energy-creating power, they shoot it all into 545 00:26:18.700 --> 00:26:23.500 this huge ball and try to, I guess, bring the 546 00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:28.390 sun eater over there, which I don't know... I don't 547 00:26:28.430 --> 00:26:31.750 know the validity of that plan, but it obviously didn't 548 00:26:31.789 --> 00:26:33.650 work very long. I didn't know what they were going 549 00:26:33.670 --> 00:26:35.390 to do once the sun eater comes over there and 550 00:26:35.410 --> 00:26:37.269 starts eating their son or whatever that they created. Are 551 00:26:37.289 --> 00:26:40.279 they going to just push it out? I have no idea. 552 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:42.400 Either way, Matt fails. 553 00:26:42.420 --> 00:26:44.700 No, maybe they're hoping he's not greedy. You eat one son, 554 00:26:44.759 --> 00:26:47.279 it's like Tatooine might have had a better shot. 555 00:26:50.299 --> 00:26:52.609 I do like once the issue... Once you start to 556 00:26:52.650 --> 00:26:57.180 realize the stakes

in the issue, there is... Obviously, this 557 00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:00.769 sense of hopelessness. They are trying to come up with 558 00:27:00.789 --> 00:27:07.130 these plans to fix this large-scale, world-ending event, and they 559 00:27:07.190 --> 00:27:09.490 just don't know how to fix it. And this is 560 00:27:09.549 --> 00:27:13.349 issue number one. We're creating suns, we're using boom tubes, 561 00:27:13.369 --> 00:27:15.789 we've got gatherings of huge heroes, and we can't make 562 00:27:15.829 --> 00:27:17.119 this thing go away. 563 00:27:17.130 --> 00:27:21.339 Unfortunately, Elon Musk hasn't arrived on the scene yet to 564 00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:26.630 prepare everyone to escape the Earth. They can't colonize another planet, 565 00:27:26.730 --> 00:27:27.890 so they don't have that option. 566 00:27:28.289 --> 00:27:30.269 They'll throttle down the satellite. 567 00:27:30.690 --> 00:27:32.329 No, no, he's not there. 568 00:27:32.349 --> 00:27:35.059 We've got Lex Luthor. Who needs Elon Musk? 569 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:40.180 I thought they were the same person. You guys got 570 00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:41.940 any thoughts on the Spectre and how that is? Evan, 571 00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:43.740 I'll throw it to you. What's your thoughts on the Spectre? 572 00:27:44.619 --> 00:27:46.480 I don't know a lot about the Spectre. He's always 573 00:27:46.500 --> 00:27:49.049 been this character that I'm like, oh, hey, they're talking 574 00:27:49.089 --> 00:27:51.210 about God in comics. I wonder what that's like. And 575 00:27:51.250 --> 00:27:54.099 then it's like, oh, he's just the Vengeance. of god 576 00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:55.819 so i don't know he's always been one of those 577 00:27:55.859 --> 00:27:57.759 characters that i wanted to read more about and then 578 00:27:57.779 --> 00:28:00.380 the one time that there was a specter number one 579 00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:01.640 i read it i'm like i don't want to read 580 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:05.230 that anymore i don't know a lot about him but 581 00:28:05.289 --> 00:28:08.809 yeah if he is representing god's vengeance rather than god's 582 00:28:08.890 --> 00:28:11.750 mercy and grace then i could see him going yeah 583 00:28:11.809 --> 00:28:13.609 well looks like you guys are up to creek without 584 00:28:13.650 --> 00:28:17.039 a paddle i can't do anything seems bad but i'm 585 00:28:17.059 --> 00:28:19.740 gonna scare this dude into jumping out a window that's 586 00:28:19.799 --> 00:28:20.480 my job. 587 00:28:21.539 --> 00:28:24.319 I love how Phantom Stranger is like, I always get 588 00:28:24.359 --> 00:28:26.460 here right at the last moment, right when I shouldn't be, 589 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:29.400 and this dude had jumped through the window. What was 590 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:29.980 that story? 591 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:34.029 See, the Phantom Stranger is another character that I haven't 592 00:28:34.109 --> 00:28:36.930 read much of, because once I found out more about

him, 593 00:28:37.589 --> 00:28:40.170 I think it was hinted at, and then eventually, I 594 00:28:40.190 --> 00:28:42.329 think in the New 52, it was confirmed that he's 595 00:28:42.390 --> 00:28:45.410 Judas Iscariot. Oh, really? And I was like, oh yeah, 596 00:28:45.450 --> 00:28:48.109 that's somebody's image I'd like to see rehabbed. I'm not 597 00:28:48.170 --> 00:28:51.049 saying there can't be a good story in it. I'm 598 00:28:51.089 --> 00:28:55.450 just saying I don't necessarily... Sure. I don't necessarily trust 599 00:28:55.769 --> 00:28:58.250 some of the writers to have the same interest in 600 00:28:58.309 --> 00:29:00.710 it that I would, which, that's fine. We can all 601 00:29:00.730 --> 00:29:03.160 have different opinions. But yeah, The Phantom Stranger and The 602 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:06.200 Spectre are two characters that I've gone, hmm, I wonder 603 00:29:06.259 --> 00:29:07.940 what that guy's all about. And then I do a 604 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:10.119 little research and I'm like, hmm, I wonder what else 605 00:29:10.180 --> 00:29:10.619 I could read. 606 00:29:11.660 --> 00:29:15.619 Armstrong, you got any thoughts on The Spectre, Phantom Stranger? 607 00:29:16.019 --> 00:29:18.799 Now, he's kind of pulling a Uatu here, saying he 608 00:29:18.819 --> 00:29:22.000 can't interfere. They at least addressed it. And, of course, 609 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:27.839 the Spectre, the way this series resolves, down the line, 610 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:30.220 Spectre becomes involved again. Yeah, he does. 611 00:29:30.569 --> 00:29:32.309 Yeah, he does. 612 00:29:32.849 --> 00:29:34.369 Yeah, I don't know much about the Spectre. It seems 613 00:29:34.430 --> 00:29:38.549 like they're going to have the Avatar of God's Vengeance 614 00:29:39.210 --> 00:29:40.940 play a big role in the DCS. Universe, but that's 615 00:29:40.980 --> 00:29:45.900 the only hand of God they use ever. Maybe it's 616 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:48.650 because these are action-oriented comic book series. 617 00:29:49.490 --> 00:29:49.769 Right. 618 00:29:50.230 --> 00:29:54.130 Interesting that they don't have any other of God's personality. 619 00:29:54.630 --> 00:29:55.180 Well.... 620 00:29:56.769 --> 00:30:01.069 To be fair, Zariel in JLA, I did love the 621 00:30:01.109 --> 00:30:03.930 way Morrison portrayed him. I thought that was very cool. 622 00:30:04.470 --> 00:30:07.769 One of my favorite moments in comics is how Zariel 623 00:30:07.930 --> 00:30:11.069 acquits himself in World War III, different World War III 624 00:30:11.089 --> 00:30:14.579 that we talked about, but the JLA finale for Morrison 625 00:30:14.779 --> 00:30:16.680 is one of my favorite things I've ever read. 626 00:30:18.539 --> 00:30:20.980 Well, I agree. This is a good setup issue. It 627 00:30:21.019 --> 00:30:24.849 does its job. The Sun Eater has arrived. Every major 628 00:30:24.930 --> 00:30:29.950 solution has failed. Earth is starting to lose its sun. 629 00:30:30.750 --> 00:30:32.369 I think if I'm going to pick something out of 630 00:30:32.410 --> 00:30:34.470 here that I was most interested in seeing how or 631 00:30:35.849 --> 00:30:37.619 what was going to happen in the next few issues, 632 00:30:38.099 --> 00:30:40.480 I definitely was interested to see how these heroes are 633 00:30:40.500 --> 00:30:45.440 going to react when they have to genuinely accept the 634 00:30:45.519 --> 00:30:49.019 fact that there may not be an answer. And the 635 00:30:49.059 --> 00:30:51.319 good thing is that's kind of what they explore with 636 00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:54.460 this series is my understanding. So eventually they'll get there. 637 00:30:54.519 --> 00:30:57.380 We'll figure out how to beat this thing. But up 638 00:30:57.460 --> 00:30:59.779 until then, it's like, gosh, what do we do? How 639 00:30:59.799 --> 00:31:01.500 do we go with this? And I think I started 640 00:31:01.539 --> 00:31:04.039 this earlier. Stuart Eminen's the one that kind of had 641 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:06.660 the idea for this, where I guess the thought came 642 00:31:06.740 --> 00:31:09.700 to him about, like, what would a story be about, like, 643 00:31:09.740 --> 00:31:12.769 with the sun basically going out? He was thinking of 644 00:31:12.789 --> 00:31:16.170 a Superman story. And, of course, it evolved into this. 645 00:31:16.190 --> 00:31:18.710 I think Kessel and him worked together and came up 646 00:31:18.730 --> 00:31:21.829 with this. But, yeah, good setup issue for an event that, 647 00:31:22.869 --> 00:31:25.980 really is going to lead into a pretty big changing 648 00:31:26.059 --> 00:31:28.980 event for one of the main characters of the DC universe. 649 00:31:29.460 --> 00:31:31.259 It's a good start. So there you go. 650 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:33.519 I did like the way this opened up with that 651 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:38.240 kind of late afternoon sun on Metropolis. And then it 652 00:31:38.420 --> 00:31:42.369 ends with essentially the same shot with the sun blocked out. 653 00:31:42.390 --> 00:31:44.250 I thought that was a pretty cool way to bookend it. 654 00:31:44.910 --> 00:31:47.789 All right, Chris, you good? We ready to pick a panel? Yeah, 655 00:31:47.829 --> 00:31:51.039 I'm ready. All right, I'm picking first. I'm going to 656 00:31:51.059 --> 00:31:54.099 pick the one that Evan was just talking about. The 657 00:31:54.119 --> 00:31:57.769 very end, though. I like how we see Metropolis and 658 00:31:57.789 --> 00:31:59.549 the Daily Planet, and we were talking about the hues 659 00:31:59.609 --> 00:32:02.589 and stuff of an eclipse, and you can see it's 660 00:32:02.609 --> 00:32:07.289 just a big black dot that's covering 90% of the 661 00:32:07.329 --> 00:32:10.579 sun and just barely some light's getting around it. Although, 662 00:32:10.599 --> 00:32:11.299 I didn't picture the. 663 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:17.019 Sun Eater, most of this comic, I don't think it's 664 00:32:17.099 --> 00:32:21.019 just a

perfect circle, but anyway, it's a perfect circle 665 00:32:21.140 --> 00:32:24.859 in that panel where it's eclipsing the sun. So anyway, 666 00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:26.759 that's my panel right there. I like the way that 667 00:32:26.799 --> 00:32:28.460 that looked. It kind of gives you an idea in 668 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:32.460 the sense of what's to come. So that's my panel. Evan, 669 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:32.940 I'll throw it to you. 670 00:32:33.779 --> 00:32:36.500 Let's see. I'm going to go with, I think it's 671 00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:42.049 page 12, just with Mr. Miracle's team launching into space 672 00:32:42.380 --> 00:32:45.710 to take it on. You got interesting mix of people 673 00:32:45.750 --> 00:32:49.549 you got a new god a legion member tachyon captain 674 00:32:49.650 --> 00:32:54.539 adam dr polaris and maxima which i'm not sure what 675 00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:56.460 maxima is gonna do there but she. 676 00:32:56.279 --> 00:33:00.200 Has i wanted the same thing i was like well okay. 677 00:33:00.299 --> 00:33:02.440 So maybe along the lines of big bardo to where 678 00:33:02.500 --> 00:33:05.259 it's more like you sure you can come rather than 679 00:33:05.339 --> 00:33:10.430 argue with her she's gonna go anyway and it's probably 680 00:33:10.450 --> 00:33:13.329 gonna get broken And that's not a sexist thing. I'm 681 00:33:13.349 --> 00:33:18.640 just saying they're strong-willed women. Also, I'm getting distracted by their... 682 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:23.200 They all look like they're Methodist pastors with the headset mic. 683 00:33:23.740 --> 00:33:27.750 Yes. It was so funny because when that transition happened... 684 00:33:27.940 --> 00:33:32.099 She's telling the story, and I thought that she was... 685 00:33:32.940 --> 00:33:34.460 I didn't realize what was going on, and then all 686 00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:36.490 of a sudden she's got the microphone, and I'm like, 687 00:33:37.490 --> 00:33:40.549 what is she delivering here? Is she up on stage 688 00:33:40.589 --> 00:33:42.630 delivering an Apple keynote or something? I don't know what's 689 00:33:42.650 --> 00:33:42.950 going on. 690 00:33:42.950 --> 00:33:45.089 Thank you for coming to my TED Talk about. 691 00:33:44.930 --> 00:33:47.839 The Sun Eater. Oh, it's the Universal Translator. 692 00:33:47.859 --> 00:33:50.579 I was just watching Avengers the other day, and everybody 693 00:33:50.740 --> 00:33:54.160 in the Avengers movies, they all have these microscopic earpieces, 694 00:33:54.279 --> 00:33:57.849 and everybody can talk on... the same channel and everything, 695 00:33:57.970 --> 00:34:00.289 even if they're not originally hooked up, whereas the rest 696 00:34:00.309 --> 00:34:02.289 of us are waiting for our Bluetooth to pair. 697 00:34:02.650 --> 00:34:03.190 Right. 698 00:34:03.609 --> 00:34:05.650 Even before that. So yeah, I imagine if you were 699 00:34:05.670 --> 00:34:08.030 reading this in 1996, you're like, yeah, they got their 700 00:34:08.050 --> 00:34:11.010 tech set. And now it's like, even me who lived 701 00:34:11.050 --> 00:34:13.360 through it is like, well, why don't they just fax 702 00:34:13.389 --> 00:34:13.820 each other? 703 00:34:15.780 --> 00:34:18.679 Fax. Chris Armstrong, you're up, man. 704 00:34:19.559 --> 00:34:23.500 I think it's page 17, the third panel, kind of 705 00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:28.530 the big bottom panel, which is all the Heroes juicing 706 00:34:28.590 --> 00:34:32.349 up the new sun. Got some digital effects in there, 707 00:34:32.409 --> 00:34:35.750 which are pretty popular around this time. I don't know 708 00:34:35.769 --> 00:34:38.610 who the bookend characters are. I'm assuming they're Legion members, but. 709 00:34:39.130 --> 00:34:40.409 Ultra Boy's on the left. 710 00:34:40.949 --> 00:34:43.369 Okay, and there's a girl, it looks like, on the right. 711 00:34:43.849 --> 00:34:48.550 Yeah, I think she's the one who gets frostbite on 712 00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:50.679 the next page. So I want to say Sun Girl, 713 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:53.380 but I literally don't know if that's a thing. Yeah, 714 00:34:53.400 --> 00:34:56.679 Sun Girl. Nope, never mind. She was created by Jeff Johns. 715 00:34:57.260 --> 00:34:59.039 So probably not her. 716 00:34:59.460 --> 00:35:00.119 Not her. 717 00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:02.840 He's on the set of Conspiracy Theory at this time. 718 00:35:07.300 --> 00:35:09.820 Oh, man. Now that's a movie. 719 00:35:10.019 --> 00:35:13.300 That is a good movie. I've never read Catcher in 720 00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:13.659 the Rye. 721 00:35:14.039 --> 00:35:15.900 Yeah, neither have I. 722 00:35:16.280 --> 00:35:19.760 I know of the book because of that movie. 723 00:35:19.900 --> 00:35:27.730 So we've got Firestorm, Sentinel... Kyle, GL, Ray, Fire, and Superman, 724 00:35:27.809 --> 00:35:31.690 along with these two mystery members, to me anyway, firing 725 00:35:31.710 --> 00:35:33.130 up the sun. That's what I've got for my panel. 726 00:35:33.150 --> 00:35:36.139 Yeah, that is a really great panel. That's probably one 727 00:35:36.179 --> 00:35:39.820 of the more striking panels out of here, for sure. So, yeah, 728 00:35:39.900 --> 00:35:44.579 great way to kind of showcase the teamwork and plan B. 729 00:35:45.820 --> 00:35:47.500 All right, well, there it is. We did it, guys. 730 00:35:47.519 --> 00:35:50.159 We talked the final night, number one, and it is 731 00:35:50.199 --> 00:35:53.550 still light outside, so that's good. Let's go ahead and 732 00:35:53.610 --> 00:35:56.849 get into plugs. Evan Bevins, I'll let you go first here, man. 733 00:35:56.889 --> 00:35:59.150 What do you got going on over there in your 734 00:35:59.269 --> 00:35:59.789 neck of the woods? 735 00:36:02.429 --> 00:36:05.630 Well, if you like my ideas but hate the sound 736 00:36:05.650 --> 00:36:08.949 of my voice, you can head over to Substack and 737 00:36:09.070 --> 00:36:12.920 check me out there. It's at EB asterisk 51.

That's 738 00:36:12.940 --> 00:36:15.480 where I kind of moved my blog material over to. 739 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:18.800 I am Doing something that's never been done in the 740 00:36:18.840 --> 00:36:22.099 history of internet blogging or other content creation and re-watching 741 00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:25.119 the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And I've also been bringing back 742 00:36:25.239 --> 00:36:28.599 Free Comic Friday. Just took a look at Street Fighter 743 00:36:28.679 --> 00:36:31.920 number 100, which they gave away for free a few 744 00:36:31.940 --> 00:36:36.429 years ago. And so just finding some cool stuff to 745 00:36:36.510 --> 00:36:38.809 read about there. Jesse and I get together once a 746 00:36:38.849 --> 00:36:41.369 month for Snap material. Let's talk about the mobile game 747 00:36:41.409 --> 00:36:44.409 Marvel Snap. And also once a month over on the 748 00:36:44.460 --> 00:36:47.840 Magazines and Monsters channel, I get together with Billy Dee 749 00:36:48.119 --> 00:36:51.639 and Ed Moore, and we go through Marvel Fanfare, a 750 00:36:51.840 --> 00:36:54.440 prestige series from the early 80s with all kinds of 751 00:36:54.460 --> 00:36:55.239 different characters. 752 00:36:56.820 --> 00:36:59.510 Awesome stuff. All right, Chris Armstrong, what do you got? 753 00:36:59.530 --> 00:37:05.110 Yeah, you can find me on social media like Instagram, Twitter, 754 00:37:05.190 --> 00:37:09.469 Blue Sky, at Brodyman34. com. I've also got a couple of 755 00:37:09.550 --> 00:37:12.190 movie podcasts that I do with my buddy AJ. They 756 00:37:12.289 --> 00:37:14.889 haven't been updated in a while, but they're on your 757 00:37:14.929 --> 00:37:18.030 podcatcher of choice under Small Screeners, where we talk about 758 00:37:18.050 --> 00:37:21.769 direct-to-video and made-for-TV movies, as well as Because Movies, where 759 00:37:21.809 --> 00:37:24.949 we cover any other type of movie content we feel 760 00:37:24.989 --> 00:37:25.610 like talking about. 761 00:37:26.929 --> 00:37:29.949 Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, go check out the Unspoken Issues podcast. 762 00:37:29.969 --> 00:37:32.380 We've got all sorts of great podcasts on the Source 763 00:37:32.449 --> 00:37:35.400 Material Comics feed, so you should be able to punch 764 00:37:35.440 --> 00:37:38.610 that into... Any podcatcher, you can probably punch it into 765 00:37:38.650 --> 00:37:40.369 YouTube and you should be able to hear us talking 766 00:37:40.389 --> 00:37:43.840 about 90s comics a lot. Source Material Comics Podcast, where 767 00:37:43.860 --> 00:37:46.739 we talk about comic books of any era. And then 768 00:37:46.760 --> 00:37:50.019 I do a podcast called The Source Material War Journal, 769 00:37:50.059 --> 00:37:52.519 which is just me doing a solo shot on my 770 00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:55.949 run through the ongoing Punisher series from 1987? 771 00:37:55.929 --> 00:37:56.030 86? 87? 772 00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:58.199 I can't remember when it started. But I am up 773 00:37:58.219 --> 00:38:04.550 to issue 20. So I have made my way through 774 00:38:04.570 --> 00:38:07.090 a good chunk of the series, at least a fifth 775 00:38:07.150 --> 00:38:08.750 of it, I think now. Well, that being said, we're 776 00:38:08.769 --> 00:38:09.230 getting out of here.