บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ "Deadly Class" by Rick Remender Issues 4-6 (Ep. 23)

--> 00:02:41.759 My name is Antonio. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.599 My name is Ben, and y'all are listening to a comic book podcast. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:57.840 By two guys who have not read a lot of comics, but are looking to get involved, read some cool stories, um, go to Vegas, go to a Grateful Dead concert, get high on acid, and um, I don't know, probably probably a bunch of people are gonna die. 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:03.840 Yeah, and then we're gonna, you know, reckon with the the moral and intellectual consequences of our actions. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:05.840 Yep, that's what we're that's what we're doing today. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.000 Yep, we're doing a book club, we're reading comics. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:09.599 Thank you guys so much for joining us. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:10.080 Yeah. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:13.360 Today we are returning to Deadly Class. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:14.719 Yes, it is a return. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:16.639 Yes, and it's also return of the pod. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:17.039 Yeah. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:18.879 Because we have been away traveling. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:19.919 Yes, we have. 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:23.840 I went home and saw some family, which was great, back in back on the East Coast. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:33.280 Yeah, I went uh I went up to Alaska with my girlfriend, which was kind of crazy, did a bunch of outdoorsy things, which is very different from being in LA, at least for the time being. 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:41.599 And funnily enough, the chapters we're about to read, the characters go on a little Vegas side quest, and I too went on a little Vegas side quest weekend. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:43.599 Yeah, I was wondering where that was going. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:47.759 Yeah, so yeah, I too did murder. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:50.240 No, no, I had no murder in Vegas. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:50.800 Nope. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:53.360 No, just a tattoo, just a fun night out. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:53.759 Yeah. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:55.840 Um, way better time than these guys have. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:58.639 Yeah, way, way better for a lot of reasons. 00:03:58.719 --> 00:03:59.199 But we're back. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:03:59.680 We're back. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:04.879 We're ready to pot it up um and and and dive back into some more Deadly Class. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:09.759 Um, for for those of you um that may not have listened to the last one, go check out the last one. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:11.199 We did issues one through three. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:15.520 We talked about, um, gave a little bit more background on Deadly Class as a whole. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:26.639 Um, the writer, artist, uh, that whole team, writer is still Rick Remander, artist Wes Craig, colorist Lee, Lewidge, literary Russ Wooten, and then editor Sebastian Gurner. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:30.079 Um, but we're gonna just be getting back into it and doing issues four through six. 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:41.839 And just to remind you guys, this is about like a uh Harry Potter-ish school, but it but if it was very adult, very Quentin Tarantino and all about being assassins. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:42.560 Yes. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:51.040 Um, and it's a super rated R adventure filled with violence and drug use and uh probably more violence. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:52.000 Yeah, all that. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:05:01.519 And it's rendered in just some of the like most striking art we have encountered on this whole comic book podcast journey so far. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:02.959 Definitely true, definitely true. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:04.000 That's another one, you know. 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:06.560 What what else do you want me to say other than go pick it up, right? 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:07.519 That's just what it is. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:21.120 Um But yeah, this this these issues are um intense, they're super, super cool to look at, um, really amazing art um from the illustrations themselves to the color to everything. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:22.800 Um definitely go pick it up. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:26.639 But yeah, we're gonna dive into issue number four. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:29.600 Um so I'll give our little summary here. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:40.000 So anyway, last time Marcus had uh basically killed this old guy that he knew to kind of try and complete his assignment at this assassin place. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:46.800 But anyway, Marcus uh Master Lynn ends up failing Marcus for this assignment because he had no proof that the man that he killed had actually done anything wrong. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:51.120 And it actually turns out the guy that Marcus thought was a bad guy was uh an undeserving war hero. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:52.879 So uh a little bit unlucky for Marcus. 00:05:52.959 --> 00:06:00.480 But Marcus gets thrown in the ditch, which is the school's solitary confinement, um, for a week to kind of you know think about what he did, all that kind of stuff like that. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:09.759 But then his whole crew of Willie, Saya, Marie, uh Maria and Billy break him out, figuring out figuring he's kind of, you know, it'll be fine if they get him back as long as it's fourth four of the week. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:20.720 And then um they head to Vegas for this Grateful Dead concert that kind of doubles as a crazy plan to kill um his friend Billy's abusive father, who's this crooked cop who dumped him at this assassin school. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:30.399 Um, and what's even kind of crazier at the same time is that Maria ends up starting to have a crush on Marcus despite being with Chico, um, who we know is one of the leaders of the Hispanic group at the school. 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:32.560 Um the group ends up getting scammed buying drugs. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:39.839 Marcus takes too much acid, dubs himself the acid king, and then we end up learning that Chico's actually secretly following them. 00:06:39.920 -->

00:06:47.759 Um, and one of the characters that we saw before, who's this kind of guy from Marcus's uh boys' home that burnt down, um, is also following them. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:49.519 So it's gonna get spicy. 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:51.120 It's gonna get spicy for sure. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:07:03.120 I think things that stand out to me about this issue and also this little bundle of issues is this Vegas thing straight up feels uh, you know, like pulp fiction um in a lot of ways. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:11.600 And in all the crazy things that happen, all the drug use, all the violence, uh, you know, um sort of shock value way it's presented to us. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:16.639 Yeah, and the way that it I don't know if you said this right, but the way that it jumps around too, I feel like in some ways feels that way too. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:17.120 Right. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:25.439 Like one one crazy action leads immediately to another crazy action which triggers this fourth or third, you know, it's like you know, the these chain events. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:35.759 These chain events that are jumping around, and you kind of get I it's also like there I feel like there are moments in here that kind of feel like pulp fiction y that you're kind of like, when is this happening in the context of what's going on? 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:39.759 And part of that's due to to Marcus' trip, but um pretty well. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:46.240 But the first page is some really cool storytelling because we open with Marcus getting interrogated by a police officer. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:49.839 So we and then we kind of flash back to what's happening. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:53.680 Um, but it starts, which I think is just really, really smart storytelling. 00:07:53.759 --> 00:08:03.759 Like it starts, we have all these questions right off the bat, and we're already worried about how things are about to pan out for our protagonist, Marcus. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:08.560 Yeah, I mean, they're also like, even just on this first page, they're talking about doing so many drugs, dude. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:09.360 It's crazy. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:11.600 It's like he's he's talking about, you know, where am I? 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:23.360 Should I I should know that it started two days two days ago with pot snow capped with angel dust, um, which is something that they only learned afterwards, and they did like cocaine, they're doing ether, it's like absolute insanity. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:30.959 He talks about like flash-frying billions of brain cells, but this is the intensity that we're getting into like right off the bat in this story and in this issue. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:35.840 Uh he's also looks down at his hands and we see they are covered in blood. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:39.519 This is why he's sitting across from from this police officer who's checking out his ID. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:44.559 That's when you flashback to his professors basically failing him for the for the assignment. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:45.039 Yeah. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:48.799 Um, and this says that he's about to face some severe punishment. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:56.480 Uh Marcus is arguing that he confessed to burn like burning people, uh burning a village, torturing a village in the war. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:56.639 Yeah. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:08:59.759 Uh but there's no uh like actual evidence of that. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:02.240 So uh who's who's to say? 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:02.960 Who's to say? 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:05.679 And you can't just you can't just go around killing people. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:10.879 Which is crazy the way that they have it set up where they're like they're judge, jury, and executioner. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:17.279 You know, like they're doing the whole thing, but they are emphasizing weirdly the judge, they're like, Yeah, you have to find someone guilty. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:18.399 Actually judge, yeah. 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:24.879 Yeah, but you j have to j if you judged wrong, we're gonna punish you for it, which is um weirdly good. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:27.600 Yeah, well, I mean Assassin's School, I guess. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:28.159 We'll see. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:29.759 Yeah, that's a good point. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:39.919 But yeah, anyway, so then we f we jump forward to his uh as Antonio mentioned in the summary, the homies busted him out of solitary, solitary confinement, and they are on the road. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:40.720 On the road. 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:48.000 And the we got this beautiful like flash of orange and sort of like creamsicle as they're doing that drive to it is very creamsicle. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:48.720 Yeah, bro. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:49.600 It's beautiful. 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:55.519 It is, and they're driving down, and then you know, Billy turns to to Marcus and just says, I need you to kill my dad. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:58.639 And that's uh that's literally the whole part of this mission. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:02.000 Yeah, they're just I mean, they're doing like again, off the bat, they're doing Coke. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:06.480 You got Maria and um Saya that are like becoming like best friends over this Coke. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:13.039 And then this is also the first time where you know Maria starts indicating her interest in Marx as well. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:13.279 Yeah. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:15.200 We got this blurb here that's nice. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:23.519 He says, Billy told me that we're going to Las Vegas to kill his dad, a degenerate gambler who left his family in the lurch, only to appear reappear years later to make their lives even worse. 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:24.960 He was a smuggler or something. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:28.639 He'd put Billy in the school to toughen him up, and it did. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:34.399 Tough enough to want to see his dad killed for everything he had done to him

growing up, just not tough enough to do it himself. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:40.559 Word of my kill had spread, and it just felt good to be wanted, even for something as fucked up as this. 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:42.000 Yeah, dude, it's crazy. 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:49.600 He really starts becoming this like um Yeah, this like figure, and it's even something that actually Chico points out later on, which we'll which we'll talk about. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:11:05.200 But um Yeah, it's starting to get crazy and so they're driving to this um Grateful Dead concert, which ends with this kind of or which ends up with this kind of crazy where's Waldo-esque type of uh panel again. 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:15.120 Um but they end up buying drugs off this guy, and uh for some reason, bro, Marcus is like trying to act like he's the the big like cool guy. 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:17.360 He says, I'm the fucking acid king. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:30.559 Yeah, and he basically is just like uh you know, he basically thinks that they're like debunk drugs, and everybody's like, holy shit, like even the guy who sold them the drugs is like holy shit, and then 36 minutes later he's like shivering and shaking underneath a car, like freaking out. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:44.960 And then they go to Circus Circus, which is when the art actually also just really like takes a even crazier turn, and they play with this concept of Marcus being on acid like crazy. 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:54.480 Even in one other little section I want to highlight as well is this part uh where they're at night, like they're in the car at night, and everything is uh these like dark, deep blues. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:07.039 And that's also where we see that Chico is following them and he has a gun, and then he gets buzzed by a motorcycler, and we don't we don't exactly know who that is, but you know, we can infer that it's uh it's another pursuer. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:09.600 So it's like setting up the tension. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:14.399 Um, as Antonio said, the whole drug deal transaction is really funny. 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:17.519 The the Where's Waldo splash page is absolutely incredible? 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:18.399 Where's Wally? 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:19.840 Yeah, yeah. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:25.919 There's all these little smaller panels um that are like zoom in of moments in time. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:33.039 So we get the full, and you can spend like a whole few minutes just looking around and taking in all the storytelling they have in the background. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:40.639 Um, people getting in fights, people dancing, people playing music, people going in and out of porter potties, people giving each other directions. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:42.159 Um it's amazing. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:43.440 Yeah, it is. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:44.799 It's super cool. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:13:00.159 But yeah, anyways, you were you were now we're jumping to what you said, these really psychedelically rendered panels where they're they're pulling back up to Vegas, they're on the strip, uh all their faces are to Marcus, look like these abstract neon signs. 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:01.360 Yeah, we're playing. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:07.440 Shout out to Scotty Boy, but we're playing with a whole bunch of different types of types of art styles here, I feel like for sure. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:23.039 Obviously, we keep the there's mostly like realistic or you know, the kind of same type of um uh relationship between realism and not with the way that they've drawn them, but in these moments where Marcus is like really, really tripping, we get to kind of stretch into other artistic styles, which is pretty fun. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:33.759 And even some of the moments that to other people might be appearing normal, like here he is, they're trying to open the door in the hallway and everything is is uh warping, like laffy-taffy or whatever. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:36.320 And um, yeah, it's it's just crazy. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:38.240 So then they're they're in the hotel room. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:40.879 Um Maria's trying to seduce Marcus. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.120 Marcus is just absolutely tripping out. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:45.519 We see Chico is pulling up to the hotel. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:50.159 Yeah, he's got a gun too, so this is not about to be uh this is not about to be fun. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:58.799 Um and then that's when we see also the final panel has everybody else uh um everybody else leaving the room. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:05.679 Marcus is alone just staring at the television, and we see a little bit of what he's seeing, which is like clowns crawling through the mirrors. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:07.440 He's on all the acid. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:14.639 Um and then we see our our like absolutely terrifying uh freaking Yeah, guy who pulls off his motorcycle helmet. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:18.879 So we again we've we've seen two supposed antagonists coming after them. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:30.320 We've got Chico and then somebody that was wearing a motorcycle helmet, and now what we're seeing is that dude is the guy that we talked about in the last couple of issues, who's like this guy from Marcus's boys' home that got burned down. 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:32.000 This guy's like kind of disfigured. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:37.039 I'm assuming it's due to the the the place being burned down and also just his like rough lifestyle. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:46.639 But you know, he'd be doing bestiality, he'd be saying slurs like he's just like the worst guy on the entire planet, bro. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:51.759 He really do be doing bestiality, and also it kind of wildly, that's kind of his main thing. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:52.639 Like when we get the first thing. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:53.039 I don't know. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:54.320 It's weird how much he talks about it. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:59.679 He just, yeah,

like when that cop pulled up on him in the earlier episode, he's like pat, he's like standing behind a goat. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:02.639 He's like, I just, just, just yeah. 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:10.799 And he, I mean, we'll, you know, he's he's talked about, I think he's referred to to having sex with animals just openly, and he will continue to do so in these itch. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:14.480 Also, they they give him such an insane entrance dialogue right here. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:15.759 He he shows up again. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:21.039 This is who we're describing as this person, and he shows up and he says, bubble bubble toil and trouble. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:23.600 And he's disfigured, his nose is like burned off. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:24.960 He's like a witch, right? 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:26.960 But he's yeah, he's a problem. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:27.519 He's up to no. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:28.879 But so that's how this issue ends. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:37.360 We've got we've literally got probably the worst combination of things for Marcus, which is him being high as absolute shit, and then the most psychopathic demon in the world. 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:38.720 And Chico are not. 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:48.480 She's talking about he's gonna die. 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:49.840 He's gonna die for that for sure. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:58.879 There's a part where they're talking about, let's see, um, Billy and Maria are in the back seat, and he's saying he's not into you. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:01.759 And he says, Marcus, oh Billy, the boy's already in my web. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:04.159 And he says, I don't know, look at him, he's dumb for Saya. 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:12.320 And then she says, in my experience, a boy will change his goal from unobtainable to obtainable once he's realizes once he realizes which is which. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:15.679 And then he says, By that logic, you should settle for me. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.519 And she says, Doesn't work for girls. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:18.960 We want what we can't have. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.799 Which is I think is just some interesting, uh, interesting writing. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:27.200 Hilarious him trying to fucking slide his way in there, but sick. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:29.120 He's it'd I think you spin in game, I think. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:30.639 He's trying to spit some game. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:31.600 Look, man. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:32.559 Yeah, brother. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:33.279 Yeah nah. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:33.840 Yeah. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:35.840 He thinks he likes her, but he's super wrong. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.200 Isn't Saya your best friend? 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:38.240 Yes, but she's not into him. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:41.519 And you think this new kid needs you bringing him into more trouble? 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:43.759 I mean, you've been Chico's girl as long as I can remember. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:46.240 And that

dude ain't no kind of problem anybody needs. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:47.519 Uh he's not. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:48.159 He's not. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:50.320 He's driving, he's got the gun, he's ready to go. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:56.399 Um but yeah, wraps up with uh psychopathic murderer number two, I guess, uh, or number one. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:57.440 I mean, it's because he's number one. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:16:58.000 Whatever, yeah. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:16:58.639 He's number one. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:16:59.120 Yeah, man. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:00.559 But that's how that one wraps up. 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:01.759 Um issue five. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:02.879 Yeah, issue five. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:13.519 So in Vegas, uh Billy goes to set a trap on his father's hotel room door, but his dad, they basically end up running into his dad, and the fight starts early, and his dad starts choking him. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:14.240 It's just Billy. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.440 Marcus ends up hearing this from the other room, goes into the room. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:20.960 Again, he's still tripping on acid, but he he ends up killing the dad with a lamp. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:23.759 He swings this big lamp as Billy's getting choked out. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:25.920 Um, and really kind of complicated. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:29.839 Billy's first words to his dad when he's dying are why couldn't you love me? 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:36.079 Um, he tells Marcus that his dad deserved it, but then kind of there's this great kind of quote that he has, which we'll definitely read. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.880 But he basically ends up saying, you know, maybe we're the bad guys. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:41.039 Maybe we're not actually the good guys, right? 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:42.559 Um, I know. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:44.160 Surprise, surprise, surprise. 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:48.400 Um, but Marcus is continuing to trip and heads back to his room and gets surprised by Maria at the door. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:57.359 She's like all like half naked, ends up starts kissing him, and then they're gonna start having sex, and then Chico walks in and he starts shooting at Marcus. 00:17:57.519 --> 00:17:59.519 Marcus jumps out the window, is like grabbing a palm tree. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:02.880 There's like this whole action scene of him like coming down. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:05.039 Chico and Maria are fighting. 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:06.960 Chico knocks her out, chases Marcus. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.279 They crash the 7-Eleven window into a fight. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:11.599 They're like cutting each other, fighting each other. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:15.279 Uh Chico ends up basically taking Marcus to the ground and starts like stomping him out. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:17.200 And that's that's where that chapter ends. 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:22.319 So you can see that like we got we got the drugs and whatever else, and now we're about to ramp up like crazy. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:25.519 Yeah, this whole this whole chapter is just straight action scene. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:25.839 Yep. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:33.680 Um, I mean, there was a there was plenty of action, it felt like in the first one, but you know, really that we have all the all the payoff for the setup that we've just had. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.839 And again, we open with uh Marcus getting interrogated by this police officer. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:40.480 Um he's like, How much acid does it take to kill somebody? 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:42.079 I guess it depends on how strong it was. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:43.759 The hippie ran off pretty fast. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:45.519 Good indication I took too much. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:46.640 Why did I do it? 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:52.559 Answer makes me nauseous, blood soaked, overdosed, uh nearing mental and physical collapse, all to impress them. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:53.359 Look at that. 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:56.240 That's a pretty interesting view into Marcus's psyche, I feel like. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:56.559 Yeah. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.519 All to show them how fucking fearless and cool I am, to hide the truth. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:04.000 I'm terrified of being alone, terrified of another year without a friend, without a home. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:06.079 Now I remember what I was just thinking about. 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:08.079 They left me watching TV for hours. 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:12.880 They left me with that punk rock lunatic, and that's when thing and that's when things got bad. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:13.759 Yep. 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:27.200 So and this is also we also get a little it's actually even more weirdly like Tarantino, but like I'm just noticing that there's these these the three like squares that are on top of the middle of these panels as it kind of goes. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:32.240 But so we're also jumping in between him being interrogated again and him being back in the room watching TV. 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:37.839 Um and looking at his own reflection in the TV, he sees his skull like superimposed under his face. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:50.000 What's also hilarious here is that, you know, again, um we get some nice kind of like um interesting panels where there's action, uh not crazy action yet, but just uh multiple moments kind of happening within the same panel with different dialogue. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:20:00.319 We also get this hilarious thing where Billy is like the tin man from uh The Wizard of Oz for like a single individual panel, um, which is pretty hilarious. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:05.839 Um, but um Billy is basically like, I'm gonna go uh set up this trap for my dad. 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:09.839 And then Mark's watching TV and he starts hearing all these like noises from next door. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.880 He goes in, Billy's trying to choke out and kill his dad. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:15.680 Um his dad Billy flips him.

00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:24.000 The jump of color to this too, like up until this point, we're in these beautiful like blue and purple of the the dark hotel room and the the glow of the TV. 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:30.559 And then we jump to this, like it's all like flesh colored, it's all pinks, it's all interesting. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:38.880 Um, which sort of like has the gives you that feeling of the skin on skin, like up close personal violence that's going on. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:39.359 Wow. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:40.400 Um that was great. 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:41.119 That was great, bro. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:41.680 That was really good. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:42.720 Do you know what I mean, right? 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:44.319 That was great. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:45.920 Um, yeah, it's interesting. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:50.319 And then this his dad, Billy's dad saying, All I ever wanted was your obedience, pecker head. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:52.480 Wow, pecker head, that's a very classic one right there. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:53.680 And he's choking him out. 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:56.240 So they starts with Billy trying to choke out his dad. 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:05.680 And his dad flips it on him, starts choking him out, and then um Marcus comes in, swings a lamp, and just like just like honestly, like on first hit, just like kills. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:05.920 Yeah. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:08.720 And Billy's immediately, I never asked you for anything. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:09.039 Why? 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:10.079 Why couldn't you love me? 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.079 And in that scene where it's why couldn't you love me? 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:14.160 He's drawn as like a little tiny boy. 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:16.240 Yeah, and that's like Marcus kind of like seeing that. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:18.960 And he goes on to say, you know, what was so bad you couldn't love your own son? 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:24.559 And you know, Marcus is grabbing, he's like, dude, we have to hide the body, we made so much noise, you know, all this different kind of stuff like that. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:29.599 And and again, Marcus is still tripping, so he's seeing like neon clowns and shit like that. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:30.799 He's he's having a time. 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:33.599 He's also immediately taken responsibility off Billy. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:35.039 Like, yeah, uh that's true. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:36.640 Billy's like, Jesus, what did I do? 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:38.400 And Marcus is like, I killed him, Billy. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:40.400 It wasn't you, I did it. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:55.680 Um, which again I think comes from his he's so like the whole point of this episode is he's so scared uh of being alone and he's so desperate to win uh the admiration and affection of three means necessary as being seen here. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:58.079 Yeah, killing a dude's father is is nuts. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:59.759 But anyways, then they end up out in the 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.599 Hallway and they realize they lock themselves out of their fucking room. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:07.279 He's like, Marcus, he's like, tell me you didn't let the door close. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:10.880 Tell me you didn't lock us out of the fucking room covered in my dad's blood. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:12.240 He says, I did. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:12.720 I did. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:15.920 And then they go into the casino, which is lights. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:16.799 You've got Mr. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:20.880 T jumping out of the um slot machines and shit like that. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:25.200 But Marcus actually ends up winning money, which is really interesting. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:38.640 Um which classic immediately uh he's down there on his hands and knees scooping up all these coins in the bucket, and immediately draws the attention of a police officer who who grabs him, which is they do not want the police on them right now. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:39.359 Yeah, no. 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:40.079 Uh yeah. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:42.799 This is it doesn't matter, it's my money, I didn't do anything wrong. 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:49.119 And the police officers, I hope that's true, or you're gonna be you're gonna be buried in a mountain of honey baked monkey shit. 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:49.680 Yeah. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:23:09.119 What I also actually kind of love about the art, I mean, maybe it's been like this and I just haven't noticed, but there are a couple of panels throughout this kind of thing where like that one where the cop says that to him, where Marcus's face is like all stretched out, and there's a little panel later on where the cop is like talking to him, um uh just saying like he's he says, Son, you have a uh a head full of dumb shit. 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:22.880 But basically there's this moment where the cop is like pointing at him, and the cop is like, you know, 3x this like he's just like large and his hand is like huge as big as Marcus's face, and Marcus is like um like accordion receding back into like his own neck. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:30.640 It's kind of this like fun, like cartoonish um thing that I feel like I maybe I'm misremembering some stuff from earlier, but I think it's like I think it's just because he's on acid. 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:38.000 Yeah, I think it's them doing the storytelling of like uh the yeah, like he's just not perceiving his reality correctly. 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:40.240 So we like they're letting us in on that, you know. 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:40.880 That's fun. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:41.200 That's fun. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:48.160 No, it's really cool, and it's and exactly what Antonio is saying, like it's all being used for great like to great storytelling effect. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:59.680 They're not just drawing cool shit for the fun of it, like everything like it really feels like all of their choices they're

making, you at least can try to read some meaning or infer some kind of intentionality about it. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:01.759 Um, which is just awesome. 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:03.279 Yeah, it absolutely is. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:08.640 And so um what ends up having with this cop is that the cop's like, hey, listen, you you shithead. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:09.599 How about I take the money? 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:12.319 Like, you got a fake ID, it's like the worst fake ID he's ever seen. 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:19.200 He says, you know, you took a photocopy of someone else's driver's license, changed the date with a pen and laminated it, and you use blue ink. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:22.000 Um and he says it's a felony, all that kind of shit like that. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:26.240 But so Marcus basically gives a copy, he's like, Yeah, please take the money, just like let me out of here. 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:27.119 He goes, he goes. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:28.640 This fun moment in the elevator. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:29.599 Yeah, please tell me this. 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:30.799 Tell me the fun moment in the elevator. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:36.559 Oh, well, I mean, it's just more he's like in the elevator next to these two huge uh like bouncer-looking guys in suits. 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:38.720 He's like, Shit, I smell like armpits and ball sack. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:40.240 They must think, they must think I'm being a dick. 00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:40.559 Fuck. 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:41.920 I don't remember what to say in the elevator. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:43.359 Say something, or they'll think you're rude. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:48.400 He goes, Boy, oh boy, they uh they sure do build them big in Vegas, huh? 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:51.680 And the guy's just looking at him, he shrinks tiny immediately. 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:52.960 He's like, What the fuck was that? 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:53.519 Jesus Christ. 00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:54.160 I blew it. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:55.839 They think I'm the world's greatest asshole. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:57.359 Um it's great. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:01.680 I think again, I I love like the cartoonishness of what they're what they're playing with, like here. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:09.359 Um and he goes from this paranoid, like paranoia in the elevator, immediately knocks on the door, and what goes down? 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:12.400 The door is open, and it's Maria standing there, she's like half naked. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:13.839 She grabs him, pulls him in the room. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:16.079 She says, You ever been laid on acid acid Marcus? 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:20.559 He says, I've never been laid, and she said, Better still, which is wild for a couple of different reasons. 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:28.960 But right after that, Chico busts in the door saying, Motherfucker, and he starts shooting uh at Marcus, and Maria's yelling at him to run. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:30.400 Maria actually jumps in. 00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:31.839 I mean, she's like on some real shit. 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:34.720 She jumps in uh aft at uh Chico. 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:39.119 You know, Chico's saying, you know, after everything I've done for you, um Marcus is jumping out the window. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:41.359 He's like, again, he's hallucinating still. 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:47.759 He's like, you know, you stand on the ledge of a window looking at a six-story fall, a jilted gun-wielding maniac behind you, hallucinating so badly. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:49.359 You know, can't be sure it's a palm tree. 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:50.400 It's the only option I have. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:26:05.039 And this is also a really kind of fun um series of panels where it's like white space and then action moment and white space, and there's dialogue that's like interspersed through all of those, where sometimes it's on the white space, sometimes there's a panel with no dialogue, sometimes there's a panel with dialogue. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:10.319 You know, it's a whole um thing that's super fun that again kind of shows this is the beauty of the medium, right? 00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:22.960 That kind of shows you a little bit into again, like what Marcus is feeling, where it's just kind of these like moments that he's like kind of remembering as he's like falling through the air in this like insane situation, but catches a palm tree, slides down. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:26.240 Um of these movements too, not to keep it. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:29.519 I feel like this some of the writing, this is the writing is so good. 00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:31.440 I just feel like we gotta You absolutely do need to. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:33.519 Let's see, he's like, fuck, is Chico gonna kill her? 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:34.160 Should I have run away? 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:34.880 Should I have helped? 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:35.359 Too late. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:36.799 You're in midair now, coward. 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:38.319 Uh Maria told me to run. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:39.920 I'm no street fighter, and she knows it. 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:41.039 I was about to get laid. 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:42.000 How great would that have been? 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:44.319 But sleeping with Maria would kill my shot with Saya. 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:46.880 But Maria is nice and super cute and she's into me. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:50.319 But I feel like a million suns exploding in my chest when I'm next to Saya. 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:54.079 Maria would be settling, and that's not fair to her, which actually is pretty mature. 00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:54.640 Yeah, yeah. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:56.799 You know, that would be settling, that's not fair to her. 00:26:56.880 --> 00:26:59.119 And then he's like, Maybe this isn't the right time to think about this. 00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:00.079 Am I in mid-air? 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:00.960 I am. 00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:03.279 Uh I am. 00:27:03.599 -->

00:27:08.079 Just like that's a hilarious little but also very like these are good character moments. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:08.480 Yeah, yeah. 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:13.440 He's not just wasting wasting dialogue with like, oh, I hope I grabbed the palm tree. 00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:14.319 He's right, right. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:15.279 It's like all of these. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:22.240 And it is kind of funny to use this like heavy action moment to actually talk about the like emotional things. 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:25.839 That is uh, you know, you're killing it tonight with this with this analysis, my brother. 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:26.880 I don't know, man. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:29.119 I'm just hey, I'm just looking, I'm just looking at the art, bro. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:30.640 I'm just looking at the art, yeah. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:31.599 But crazy. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:38.880 He also uh freaking this is apparently his girlfriend that he loves so much, he's about to kill Marcus over it, and he just smacks her in the face with a gun. 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:45.279 It's actually pretty freaky when she hits the ground because it's like they the way that they draw her eyes is like very much that she's just like knocked. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:46.960 Yeah, um it's insane. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:51.440 We got Marcus and Chico chasing him through Vegas, the light out past Circus Circus there. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:54.960 Very classes, they're jumping over cars, everything's honking, right? 00:27:55.200 --> 00:28:03.359 Um uh saying Marcus is saying he's screaming behind me, but I can't make uh out the words over my heart, it's gonna explode, you know. 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:08.799 Um and then yeah, they're sprinting and then end up smashing through the glass at this 7-Eleven. 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:11.599 Um Chico's got a switch and he slices Marcus. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:14.240 Marcus grabs a piece of glass and slices Chico. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:17.039 Um and Chico, bro, Chico's a freak. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:26.240 He gets it's like I I've been watching all this anime recently with uh with Hannah, and and these moments where they get like sliced or hit, and then they're like smiling at you, they're like, oh, good for you, whatever else, right? 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:29.200 But so anyway, that happened, that moment happens with Chico, it's getting crazy. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:32.000 Marcus actually then starts getting the shit beat out of him. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:40.319 Um and uh and the stomps, the sound effects they're giving us for these stomps are crack, crack, which feels like some bones are breaking. 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:41.119 Yeah, it definitely does. 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:50.400 And actually, I might even read some of this dialogue off of their fight because it it's Marcus's kind of internal monologue here, which again gives us some to his uh some ideas of his psyche, but he says the cut calms me. 00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:51.440 This is that's where he gets sliced. 00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:55.759 A familiar sting, an old memory, a coping mechanism, a thought that gives control. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.279 It's okay, it just doesn't matter. 00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:04.319 Humanity is meaningless, a sp a spurt of consciousness marrying a once perfect void of space, or marring a once perfect void of space. 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:07.519 There is no God watching over me, nothing ever stops the beatings. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:08.880 My life is insignificant. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:13.359 Um, a short, dull buzz, a brief flicker, and the universe moves on. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:14.799 None of it means anything. 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:16.240 It was just shit that happened. 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:19.200 And so this is very much like PTSD for Marcus. 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:22.559 Oh, and the last thing it says, and then it was done, and when it's another big crack. 00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:31.920 But so this is very much PTSD for Marcus experiencing, you know, just remembering all the shit that he's experienced on the street, getting fucking beat up, getting stabbed, getting whatever else. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:35.279 I think that they also the way that it says, you know, a coping mechanism, right? 00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:38.559 Which I think was also another kind of interesting thing after getting cut, whatever else. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:42.480 Um He's also accused of being uh like a psychopath or a sociopath, right? 00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:45.839 Like even I think it's something he maybe thinks could be true about himself, right? 00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:47.440 Yeah, he is wondering about that. 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:55.200 Um and it's interesting, actually, there was a moment in I think maybe even the last issue where Saya says to him something about, oh, like I can't just kill this, whatever else, I'm not a psychopath. 00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:57.279 And she says this to Marcus, and he's like, What do you like? 00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:58.240 You think I am, right? 00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:00.559 And there's this kind of little moment of dialogue between them. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:02.880 But yeah, so he kind of thinks he could be. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:05.519 Seems like other people are maybe thinking that too. 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:18.960 Um but I feel like the interesting thing about just the way that he thinks about this shit, I think that there is like this, oh, you know, there's n you know, there's no God, there's no nothing, none of this matters, I think, does contract what some of those things are. 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:29.200 But I think that he his emotional understanding here, I think, is uh something beyond what most psychopaths would be capable of. 00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:30.559 So it's pretty interesting. 00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:36.480 Um but that leads us to the end of this issue here with him getting basically stomped out. 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:39.519 Um

and I don't know, man. 00:30:39.680 --> 00:30:41.440 I don't know what's about to happen with this kid. 00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:47.920 Uh this was actually funny enough where I had stopped reading last time, and I had to before we did this when I had to read, I had to read issue six. 00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:52.559 Um Well, let's see, we can dive into issue number six. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:55.039 I'll give our I'll give our little summary here. 00:30:55.519 --> 00:31:06.400 So after Marcus is getting stomped up by Chico, police are arrive to arrest Chico, but he grabs a cop's gun, kills all the officers, kills the store owner, and then keeps beating on Marcus. 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:09.200 But luckily for Marcus at least, the the crew shows up. 00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:12.720 Um Maria ends up revealing the truth about kind of Chico's family. 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:21.200 There's this whole kind of contentious moment between them, um, because I rest the rest the rest of the gang, like Willie and uh is it Willie and Billy and uh and Saya and all of them. 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:23.839 I just told me Willy Willie and Billy is crazy. 00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:25.599 Willie, Willie is the the black kid. 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:27.759 Right, who's from Compton, who didn't actually kill. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:28.319 Yeah, yeah. 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:28.799 Exactly. 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:30.640 And then Billy, we just killed his dad. 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:32.079 Um well not we, but they. 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:43.680 We have a I love I love the the uh the crew is like there's like white, white guy, black guy, Hispanic girl, Asian girl, and then a South American protagonist, right? 00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:44.559 He's from where's he from? 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:46.000 Ecuador is from City. 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:50.079 Yeah, it's it's yeah, his family from I can't remember if they're like from there, but but yes. 00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:50.880 But whatever. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:57.440 He's he because the the the Hispanic like the Latino gang immediately approached him and were like, well, you could join us or whatever. 00:31:57.680 --> 00:31:59.200 Um but is he biracial or something? 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:00.319 I mean, I don't remember what the deal is. 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:02.240 I can't I yeah, I can't remember off the top of my head. 00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:05.440 I wish I'm like trying to go back and like look now, uh like in my notes. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:06.720 But I think that you're I think that you're right. 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:09.200 I mean, and they were definitely-I mean, his name is Marcus Lopez Arguello. 00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:26.240 And I think an important thing-I mean, obviously there's just like having the different token members or whatever, but I think one thing about this crew, I think that's actually kind of important now that we're fixating on it, is one of the first things that we get told about the school is everyone is sorted

into these like gangs, basically. 00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:33.599 It's like it's like a prison, and their squad is a collection of individuals from all different gangs, yeah. 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:36.000 Which I think is that's important. 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:55.279 Yeah, it's kind of also it's like subverting, it's another thing that subverts the uh some of the like Harry Potter school bullshit that's that's under underneath, but also I think probably what the author is uh is trying to get at, like is probably part of the themes, you know, like different kinds of unity, not based on uh background and identity or whatever. 00:32:55.599 --> 00:32:56.000 Right, right. 00:32:56.160 --> 00:32:59.359 It's about um yeah, it's about who you are as people and shit like that. 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:00.640 But um Imagine that. 00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:01.839 Imagine that, yeah. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:10.319 But so Maria ends up basically revealing that um Chico's family, you know, Chico kind of always talks about like he says this shit to her, like, oh, you know, I we took care of you, all this kind of shit like that. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:14.319 But basically, they ended up really realistically using her as like a tool to get close to Target. 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:19.599 She's this you know, girl that can get close to these certain people, plant bombs, essentially raising her as their son's property. 00:33:19.839 --> 00:33:27.039 Um Willie ends up grabbing a gun in this situation and threatens Chico, threaten, threatens, threatens Chico, but can't pull the trigger. 00:33:27.119 --> 00:33:33.359 Um, even after Chico basically goads him into it, um, you know, saying, like, hey, you know, I heard the rumors that you never actually killed anybody, I bet you can't do it. 00:33:33.519 --> 00:33:35.200 And Willie's not able to do it again. 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:45.359 Maria actually jumps in in this moment where Chico's actually back to gonna go back to um beating up Marcus, and she ends up actually slitting his throat with one of her um her fans. 00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:55.440 And um what's crazy is this whole thing is going on, and then the boy, the the stalker from the boys' home pulls up with a shotgun and basically explains all of this. 00:33:55.519 --> 00:33:59.680 Like it's so wild, but he pulls up and just tells you like the worst story of all time. 00:33:59.839 --> 00:34:08.320 Um he says the animals were his only childhood friends, and that he killed his father after his dad shot one of his cats, which this dude was probably like having sex with or some shit like that. 00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:09.920 Um I mean, I think that's a good one. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:10.880 He dex definitely was. 00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:16.960 I mean, I don't know if he was like, you know, I'm just about the specifics of it, but but he says swoops up a cat on the way out. 00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:33.599 I know, but he says um basically he does this like weird grandstanding thing

where he's like he doesn't want to fight Marcus right now because Marcus is obviously like tripped out, um, but he ends up leaving, taking Chico's corpse and a cat that he randomly finds um and says some weird shit too, which we'll talk about. 00:34:33.679 --> 00:34:52.079 But after everything though, they're driving back after this Vegas trip, and Marcus um and we'll we'll read the actual dialogue and and or at least internal monologue from this, but Marcus ends the issue actually feeling kind of connected to the people that are around him and feeling this resurgence of the feeling of actually wanting to uh wanting to live, which is pretty wild. 00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:54.559 So crazy, dude. 00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:56.960 This is just like a wild issue. 00:34:57.119 --> 00:35:04.960 Again, it this sounds like just such a nightmare of all of this shit going down while you're just like high out of your mind on acid. 00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:07.360 Yeah, I mean it's a nightmare no matter what. 00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:15.119 That is that is also true, and the and then with the additional layer of like his reality completely warped, yeah, distorting. 00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:17.840 Uh it makes for such a good read though. 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:18.800 So yeah, it does. 00:35:18.880 --> 00:35:30.239 Like the fact that we're dealing with this thing where the cops come in and they're like, Don't move shit stain to Chico, and then uh Marcus is lying on the ground seeing this like chocolate candy bar talking to him that's like head trauma and an overdose of LSD. 00:35:30.320 --> 00:35:31.599 Great hoobity-doobity. 00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:32.960 That's a bad mix, ain't it? 00:35:33.039 --> 00:35:36.000 And you know, Marcus is just saying, What is going on? 00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:37.519 And he just, yeah, he's just tripping. 00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:40.079 This is hell, you silly butthole. 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:41.199 Yeah, dude. 00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:45.039 But it's just he's literally and that overhead shot though. 00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:49.920 I mean, it's again like this con the comedy is juxtaposed with the overhead shot of the 7-Eleven. 00:35:50.159 --> 00:35:52.719 Marcus is in a pool of blood. 00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:58.320 So much blood, and this is all from um all from Chico just like stomping. 00:35:58.559 --> 00:35:59.760 Stomping the shit out of him. 00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:02.159 It's a rat like stomping glass in everything. 00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:03.440 Like, yeah, it's insane. 00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:05.679 Marcus is in real bad shape. 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:06.639 Yeah, real bad shape. 00:36:06.800 --> 00:36:10.000 And he's got this chocolate alligator calling him a silly butthole. 00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:20.000 Yeah, and then Chico's on the ground about to get you know taken up by the cops, but he jumps in, kicks the shit out of one guy, grabs a dude's gun, shoots the other guy, so basically kills these cops. 00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:23.760 The owner, the the you know, the store clerk here at the 7-Eleven, she's screaming. 00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:26.400 He just turns, and this, I mean, this guy's for real. 00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:31.599 Like uh, you know, he's at the assassin school for real, I feel like he just turns, shoots, and kills her. 00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:34.159 Um, we end up basically realizing there's this trail of blood. 00:36:34.239 --> 00:36:36.400 Marx has been trying to sneak away this whole time. 00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:38.800 You know, here's actually something I didn't fully understand. 00:36:38.880 --> 00:36:41.440 I mean, is this just him tripping when he starts talking about Jamaica? 00:36:41.679 --> 00:36:43.519 He's like, Jamaica, I knew it was a good call. 00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:45.679 Say you wanted Maui, but that's too built up. 00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:46.320 Now this is not a big thing. 00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:46.960 Totally, yeah. 00:36:47.039 --> 00:36:48.800 He's just in he's in a he's in the dumpster. 00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:52.320 He's in the dumpster and he's like, This is just yeah, we drink that's so funny, bro. 00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:53.280 We drink red stripe. 00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:58.320 Red stripe is like the, as you might even know this, but like the classic Jamaican beer. 00:36:58.480 --> 00:37:01.679 Um, and we drink red stripe and buy cheap weed. 00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:04.880 Uh, that's some crazy, some crazy shit that he says out there. 00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:06.000 But yeah, read it, read it. 00:37:06.320 --> 00:37:08.320 He says, We drink red stripe and buy cheap weed. 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:09.840 She fucks me on the beach at night. 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:11.679 She wails like a dying coyote. 00:37:11.920 --> 00:37:13.840 Saya, also, again, remember that he says Saya. 00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:25.760 He does not say Maria, but he says Saya for her, I die for her I'd, and then Chico's like terrifying, like shadow-covered face peers into the dumpster that he's hiding and says, Yo, come on, man, get out of the damn trash. 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:29.679 He basically picks him up, starts smacking him against the wall and shit like that again. 00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:31.039 Um that is crazy. 00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:35.280 He's like he his hallucination is he's lived like a whole little mini life with her. 00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:35.760 Yeah. 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:36.400 So crazy. 00:37:36.639 --> 00:37:37.840 It's like this is an island paradise. 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:40.559 And I love that, yeah, it's like Sai wanted Maui, but that's too built up now. 00:37:40.639 --> 00:37:43.760 It's like there's decisions that have been made in this, yeah, in this you know, life. 00:37:44.400 --> 00:37:47.760 It feels kind of Rick and Morty, you know, like there'd be um in a good way. 00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:48.320 In a good way. 00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:48.800 Yeah. 00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:52.880 Yeah, and I think I mean, so yeah, it's insane. 00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:58.639 It's

just re-re-emphasizing a point you made earlier about him really being one, like he's like an upperclassman in the assassin school. 00:37:58.719 --> 00:37:58.800 Yeah. 00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:01.840 So far, Mark, you know, Marcus is the only one in our squad who is so far. 00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:06.559 Actually killing every time it's just like blunt object bashing in someone's head, right? 00:38:06.719 --> 00:38:10.960 This guy, like Chico easily kills three police officers. 00:38:11.360 --> 00:38:14.239 Three police officers and an innocent bystander, like no problem. 00:38:14.400 --> 00:38:24.159 Um, so that also you know is terrifying because Marcus is threatened by him, but also is like, yo, what's our squad gonna look like in a in a couple of years at this school? 00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:24.960 Yeah, yeah. 00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:30.719 And it's I mean, Chico's just screaming at him, he's like, you know, Marcus is trying to be like, bro, I didn't know she was your girl. 00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:34.159 And she goes, but you know, he's saying, have the fucking balls to own up to it. 00:38:34.239 --> 00:38:35.679 Um, you know, nobody here has to die. 00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:37.199 You know, this is a ticket to your reputation. 00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:37.840 You take the gun. 00:38:37.920 --> 00:38:43.679 He he basically he does this kind of twice now, where he's like, he's like, go ahead, like try and get to the gun, try and fucking kill me. 00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:47.599 Um, and then you know, Marcus is tripping out, sees the gun, like talking to him, all this kind of stuff like that. 00:38:47.760 --> 00:38:51.519 Says, try, you know, you got this one, gonna have to do it like we did it in the old west. 00:38:51.599 --> 00:38:54.000 You miss 100% of the shots, you don't take ombre. 00:38:54.559 --> 00:39:03.920 Um, and but he never ends up reaching it, and then Chico just stomps the shit out of again, stomps the shit out of out of him again, and then all of the rest of the crew end up running up. 00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:06.239 Um I forgot he even did this, bro. 00:39:06.320 --> 00:39:11.679 He just stabs Billy, he just like takes like a shiv and just stabs Billy right in the stomach, like immediately. 00:39:11.920 --> 00:39:16.079 Um and then there's a big fight back and forth with They're trying to talk him down. 00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:17.440 He's like, just calm down, think about this. 00:39:17.519 --> 00:39:19.599 You can't kill another student, Masterland will flay you. 00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:20.239 I get it, man. 00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:21.440 You're super pissed, but that classic. 00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:22.960 And again, this is him trying to talk him down. 00:39:23.039 --> 00:39:26.960 I have a leader actually being rational, even though we're here on a mission to kill Billy's dad. 00:39:27.119 --> 00:39:30.079 I feel like maybe that's also like a change in his perspective from before. 00:39:30.480 --> 00:39:31.920 Right, because he's like, You're gonna regret this. 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:32.800 Like, you can't be killing him. 00:39:32.880 --> 00:39:36.800 Like he he feels some type of way about like he's processing the fact that they just killed his dad. 00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:41.440 Yeah, and as he's trying to talk him down, yeah, as you said, Chico just stabs him right in the stomach. 00:39:41.519 --> 00:39:45.199 Um, and then Maria starts yelling, basically saying, you know, you're so insecure, Chico. 00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:49.519 Um, you know, you gotta hurt anyone that looks at you wrong, you gotta kill every guy that I look at. 00:39:49.679 --> 00:39:50.719 And they're going back and forth. 00:39:50.800 --> 00:39:53.679 And then he says, After everything my family has done for you, you'd be dead if it weren't for me. 00:39:53.760 --> 00:39:55.280 And then she says, I am dead, motherfucker. 00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:57.519 I never asked for your help, I never asked for any of it. 00:39:57.679 --> 00:40:04.719 Your family didn't save me, they used me to kill a sweet little Chico who could get into any place, get close to any target, a sweet little Chico to plant bombs on your rivals. 00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:06.320 Is that what your love is, Chico? 00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:09.039 Using me as a mule, using me to cart explosives. 00:40:09.280 --> 00:40:10.960 Is that how your family shows love? 00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:12.480 Um, and he says, Shut the fuck up. 00:40:12.559 --> 00:40:15.119 And then she says, forcing me to be to be their son's whore. 00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:17.840 And that's when he turns around and punches her in the face. 00:40:18.320 --> 00:40:24.320 Um I mean that I think is also again, all these kids are just fucked up. 00:40:24.480 --> 00:40:35.599 Like they're just all living terrible, terrible lives and trying to find some semblance of connection or um uh what word am I looking at? 00:40:35.679 --> 00:40:37.599 Something in the chaos uh order in the chaos, right? 00:40:37.760 --> 00:40:40.320 Like that's all that they're trying to find throughout this whole thing. 00:40:40.719 --> 00:41:08.239 Yeah, and it's so I mean I just I think the uh you know, especially as adults, it's like it's kinda it it makes you think about uh like Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones or like like we not everybody obviously, but a lot of like it's a it's a real pleasure to read stories about uh like morally conflicted, morally ambiguous people going through absolutely crazy shit that you we couldn't imagine going through. 00:41:08.400 --> 00:41:16.480 Um like we you don't always want to just see a bunch of heroes fighting a bunch of bad guys, and you know, it's all cut and dry. 00:41:16.639 --> 00:41:16.880 Right. 00:41:16.960 --> 00:41:22.880 It's like the whole thing, like every single thing about like I don't know, like obviously we're rooting for Marcus and the gang, but it's what you're saying. 00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:26.719 Like, these are all like you know everybody's got some shit

going on. 00:41:26.960 --> 00:41:32.079 Everyone has some absolute shit going on, and there's a very easy case to be made that they're all terrible, terrible people. 00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:35.119 Except for Willie, except for yeah, except for Willie. 00:41:35.599 --> 00:41:38.159 Although he's doing his whole life, like what? 00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:47.679 Like I guess, yeah, he hasn't killed anybody, but he's just pretending what he he he's like a he's just trying to front, like he's fronting so hard that he's a mass murderer. 00:41:47.920 --> 00:41:50.239 Yeah, I mean, yeah I know that is an interesting thing. 00:41:50.400 --> 00:41:52.000 Amongst a bunch of actual murders, right? 00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:53.440 And then Willie, yeah, it's pretty dangerous. 00:41:53.519 --> 00:42:01.039 But Willie ends up basically picking up this gun, um, the gun that Marcus was originally going for, and you know, he says, you know, get the fuck out of here, Chico, or I'll kill you. 00:42:01.199 --> 00:42:11.679 And Chico basically calls out his bluff and he says, Yeah, you, Willie, the big Compton gangbanger, you know, I'm terrified because uh because I know all that hard-hitting gangbanger shit you get up to in Compton, except I hear these rumors. 00:42:11.840 --> 00:42:19.039 People saying you didn't kill those bangers that shot up your pop, saying you're just you just shit you in your britches while they killed your old man, that uh that you can't pull the trigger. 00:42:19.199 --> 00:42:24.000 And he basically starts stepping on Marcus again, and Willie's you know yelling and saying, you know, do it again. 00:42:24.079 --> 00:42:28.320 I don't want, you know, our people at war of the ship, but you kick him one more time, I'm gonna I'm gonna kill you. 00:42:28.559 --> 00:42:32.159 Mark uh Chico does it again, and Willie just he can't do it. 00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:41.280 Even when Saya is yelling at it, you know, shoot him, Willie, do it, and Chico even goes over, pulls the gun directly up to his forehead and says, Go on and do it, and and Willie just can't do it. 00:42:41.599 --> 00:42:44.639 I'm not gonna lie, this is like a huge Willie L in my opinion. 00:42:44.719 --> 00:42:46.320 This is a little bit of a Willie L. 00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:58.000 But it's you know, you can't you can't be who you're not, and I guess in this situation, if there were somebody to not be, this is probably who it is. 00:42:58.400 --> 00:43:01.760 And I mean, obviously, I'm not I'm not here saying he should have killed that dude. 00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:03.119 Yeah, no, but okay, but let's be real. 00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:05.760 In this situation, he's gonna kill all of that. 00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:06.880 Right, this is what I'm saying. 00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:14.880 They uh it's one thing to not be willing to go through with killing, like having trouble just murdering this homeless man in the previous chapters, right? 00:43:15.039 --> 00:43:21.280 Given the scenario they're in, he willingly went on a trip to kill one of his best friends' dad. 00:43:21.440 --> 00:43:23.119 That's true, which they succeeded at. 00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:30.960 Their other plan was to buy a bunch of acid and sell it, so he's trying to openly do drug dealing, which they didn't even execute well. 00:43:31.119 --> 00:43:31.280 Yeah. 00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:46.639 Then uh they've now they're involved in the scenario where this guy Chico has killed three police officers, an innocent bystander, he has thrown a knife into your other best friend's belly, and then he has physically assaulted uh freaking Marine. 00:43:47.039 --> 00:43:56.719 Everybody, everybody, he's kid he's actively killing Marcus, and he puts the gun on it's like He's like literally saving everybody around you right now, and and yeah, Willie can't do it. 00:43:56.800 --> 00:44:02.480 And then what's even crazier is that right after that, he grabs the gun from Willie and says, You know, I always knew you were a punk, you just got that look. 00:44:02.559 --> 00:44:04.639 People that act hard never got the fire. 00:44:04.719 --> 00:44:14.239 Uh, and I'm not worried about Master Lynn because Master Lynn, you know, I ain't ever gonna find out about any of this shit because I'm gonna murder every one of you, pendejo motherfuckers. 00:44:14.400 --> 00:44:17.760 Uh, and then crazy big little splash moment. 00:44:17.840 --> 00:44:20.239 Um, well, not full splash, but big enough over the top. 00:44:20.400 --> 00:44:26.320 Yeah, it is where Maria slices Chico's throat with one of her like razor fans. 00:44:26.480 --> 00:44:38.480 Um again, someone's gotta I mean the you had to make Maria, you had to make the the girlfriend of him be the one to go kill him with a knife instead of pulling the trigger when he has the gun pressed through his own head for you. 00:44:38.639 --> 00:44:39.119 I don't know, bro. 00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:47.119 She says, you know, um we get the gurgle and shit like that as he kind of slides down the wall, and we also see the moment where Maria and Chico actually see each other, right? 00:44:47.199 --> 00:44:49.199 Like they look each other in the eyes right before he dies. 00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:52.880 She says, I'm sorry, um, but looks away, right? 00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:55.679 Which and everybody, all of the whole gang is watching this happen. 00:44:55.760 --> 00:44:57.679 Um we get a panel of everybody's face. 00:44:57.840 --> 00:45:00.239 But then these lines I think were amazing, actually. 00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:00.880 Yeah. 00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:01.599 Read them. 00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:02.239 Go ahead, go ahead. 00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:03.440 Oh, just of of her. 00:45:03.760 --> 00:45:04.480 Just this whole end thing. 00:45:04.559 --> 00:45:14.320 Like, I think it's so like the we have this this whole scene of just absolute trauma, and then the the button that Marcus puts on it here, I think is is funny and deep. 00:45:14.639 --> 00:45:17.840 Wait, you're gonna have to

you read it because what you're talking about. 00:45:18.239 --> 00:45:18.400 My fault. 00:45:18.480 --> 00:45:19.199 Oh, just this whole part. 00:45:19.280 --> 00:45:23.039 I think like because now again, this is like to Maria's character, right? 00:45:23.119 --> 00:45:25.519 Like, she's just had to slice this dude's throat. 00:45:25.679 --> 00:45:26.639 She's like, I'm sorry. 00:45:26.960 --> 00:45:27.840 Everyone's traumatized. 00:45:27.920 --> 00:45:30.000 Like it's an absolute insane thing for her to do. 00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:31.840 They're in this absolute horror story, right? 00:45:31.920 --> 00:45:33.679 And she immediately does kind of ride for him, right? 00:45:33.920 --> 00:45:38.239 Right, and she immediately goes and cradles Marcus, and she's like, Oh my god, are you okay, Marcus? 00:45:38.400 --> 00:45:39.360 Like, what are we talking about? 00:45:39.440 --> 00:45:44.320 They all need, I mean, obviously, he's been like curb stomped to death almost, but it's like I'm having a hard time, Maria. 00:45:44.719 --> 00:45:46.320 I'm not the acid kig. 00:45:46.559 --> 00:45:48.320 And she's like, No one expected you to be. 00:45:48.480 --> 00:45:50.400 And that is the That is a very sweet moment, I think. 00:45:50.719 --> 00:45:53.920 It's a sweet moment, and that's the only moment of vulnerability. 00:45:54.000 --> 00:46:00.239 That's the only time in all of these chapters where Marcus isn't fronting, yeah, that he's totally in control and he's the man. 00:46:00.480 --> 00:46:01.599 Damn, what does that mean, huh? 00:46:01.840 --> 00:46:02.000 Right. 00:46:02.079 --> 00:46:09.920 He's fronting to the cops, he's fronting to his friends, he's fronting to the people he's killing, he's fronting at he's fronting to the hippies about being the acid king. 00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:10.320 Yeah. 00:46:10.559 --> 00:46:20.880 Um and this is the one time he admits vulnerability, and the girl that is cradling him immediately reassures him, being like, It's okay, no one expected you to be And it's not even the girl he fully likes. 00:46:21.039 --> 00:46:21.920 God damn it. 00:46:22.079 --> 00:46:22.800 It's so close. 00:46:22.880 --> 00:46:24.719 But anyway, um Do you know what I'm saying? 00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:25.199 I don't know. 00:46:25.360 --> 00:46:27.760 That's not very many words, and it's also a joke. 00:46:28.079 --> 00:46:37.760 It's a but it's it is like a a moment, like a very meaningful moment where Marcus, I think, very specifically feels like somebody actually cares about him. 00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:53.119 Like she just kind of she just killed kind of for you, and then turned away from the dying person that she's been around for the last however many years who whose family did take her in in one way or another, and she's like now like cradling you, making sure that you're okay. 00:46:53.280 --> 00:46:55.199 Um she's a fucking real one, dude. 00:46:55.519 --> 00:46:56.800 She is kind of a real one, bro. 00:46:56.880 --> 00:46:57.760 It's kind of crazy. 00:46:57.920 --> 00:47:07.039 Um it's also hilarious that Marcus is like like the acid is the least of the world, like it's probably it's probably the thing that's gone the best out of everything. 00:47:07.440 --> 00:47:08.239 Everything that's happened, yeah. 00:47:08.320 --> 00:47:08.480 Yes. 00:47:08.719 --> 00:47:10.000 Like that's the first thing he brings up. 00:47:10.079 --> 00:47:12.000 But then I'm having a hard time. 00:47:13.840 --> 00:47:15.199 I'm having a hard time, Maria. 00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:19.440 But then that other dude pulls up and he says, Holy shit, that was amazing. 00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:20.880 Some show y'all put on. 00:47:20.960 --> 00:47:25.440 Uh, I figured now's a great time to make my appearance, his crazy face, whatever else. 00:47:25.519 --> 00:47:28.079 Um, don't get no, you know, what does he say? 00:47:28.159 --> 00:47:31.519 Now don't none of y'all get uh get no idea to do anything stupid. 00:47:31.599 --> 00:47:34.480 I'm the worst motherfucker you have ever met in all your lives. 00:47:34.960 --> 00:47:36.800 Drop that fancy fan, inshallah. 00:47:36.960 --> 00:47:37.679 That's crazy, bro. 00:47:37.760 --> 00:47:38.960 He's such a piece of shit. 00:47:39.039 --> 00:47:45.760 Um but Marcus actually starts recognizing this guy, and he looks fucking terrified uh of this dude. 00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:53.920 Um and uh well, again, kind of funny that this dude also calls out Willie basically saying, All you guys are vicious except for this dude. 00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:55.599 This guy's monumental pussy. 00:47:55.679 --> 00:47:57.119 Um that shit, you know, it's shameful. 00:47:57.199 --> 00:47:57.920 And he goes on to basically. 00:47:58.320 --> 00:47:59.280 That shit just now. 00:47:59.519 --> 00:48:00.159 Shameful. 00:48:00.480 --> 00:48:00.880 Shameful. 00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:07.360 And he goes on, but he goes on to say this crazy, and I'm actually just gonna read this because you guys get the the gist of how truly insane this guy is. 00:48:07.519 --> 00:48:11.199 He says it's people like like you, reason I just can't steer clear to all together. 00:48:11.360 --> 00:48:12.239 Animals you can understand. 00:48:12.480 --> 00:48:14.159 Animals can't lie, can't let you down. 00:48:14.320 --> 00:48:15.679 My ma and pa, they weren't perfect. 00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:17.519 I had what you called a dysfunctional family. 00:48:17.679 --> 00:48:19.199 Animals were always my best friends. 00:48:19.280 --> 00:48:24.639 I had a couple cats growing up, they were the only source of solace for me as a young boy until my top my pops caught me with one. 00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:27.840 Shot little synonym with a 22, tore into me something fierce. 00:48:28.000 --> 00:48:33.519 I got him back good uh though, got him good, and that landed me at the boys' home where I met my bunk mate, Marcus. 00:48:33.679 --> 00:48:34.079 You remember? 00:48:34.480 --> 00:48:36.800 And then he says the F-word slur. 00:48:36.880 -->

00:48:38.000 Um he says, What's the matter? 00:48:38.159 --> 00:48:40.239 Y'all better train up this motherfucker to be ready to defend himself. 00:48:40.320 --> 00:48:46.880 I'm a sadistic twit regneck redneck who likes to fuck sheep and torture flies, and and I am his mortal enemy. 00:48:47.039 --> 00:48:51.280 I want him in shape for a real Barn word, uh real Hollywood barn dance. 00:48:51.440 --> 00:48:57.199 Um and then he takes Chico's corpse, finds a random cat on the street. 00:48:57.440 --> 00:49:00.559 Also, he calls he calls Chico a frickin' slur too. 00:49:00.719 --> 00:49:00.960 Yeah. 00:49:01.199 --> 00:49:04.239 Um then he goes, he's then titlickers. 00:49:04.320 --> 00:49:06.880 I'm taking all Chico with me, never know when you'll need a dead slur. 00:49:07.280 --> 00:49:07.920 Yeah, crazy. 00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:12.159 And then he goes on to say, you know, he grabs this cat, he says, Poor girl, you're all skin and bones, ain't been fenodies. 00:49:12.320 --> 00:49:13.679 Come on, I got just the thing. 00:49:13.920 --> 00:49:15.280 Even the cat is questioning this. 00:49:15.440 --> 00:49:18.400 All these guys are looking at him like, what the fuck just happened? 00:49:18.639 --> 00:49:23.280 And then it cuts to um a whole bunch of Do you actually want to read this? 00:49:23.840 --> 00:49:27.360 I mean, also just that, yeah, like to put a pin on that absolute lunatic. 00:49:27.440 --> 00:49:31.119 He just watched all of this go down, didn't interfere, didn't help anybody, pulled up. 00:49:31.280 --> 00:49:32.480 He didn't even hurt them. 00:49:32.559 --> 00:49:35.920 He just announced to them that he's Marcus's mortal enemy. 00:49:36.079 --> 00:49:43.360 He lets them know he likes to fuck animals, and then he takes Chico's corpse and a cat off-screen and just walks out. 00:49:43.440 --> 00:49:45.119 Like, what in the world? 00:49:45.599 --> 00:49:55.119 Really the worst thing I've there are too many terrible things that just occurred in the same like two pages of this guy. 00:49:55.440 --> 00:50:00.159 And they try and again they had tried to adapt this into like a like a teen show? 00:50:00.480 --> 00:50:01.440 No, I don't think so. 00:50:01.599 --> 00:50:01.679 Right. 00:50:01.840 --> 00:50:03.599 I don't think that that's gonna work very well personally. 00:50:03.920 --> 00:50:06.159 No, this is this is insane. 00:50:06.400 --> 00:50:08.480 But anyways, yes, the the the we're closing it out. 00:50:08.559 --> 00:50:09.760 You want to read, you want to read these actually? 00:50:10.400 --> 00:50:10.719 Why not? 00:50:10.880 --> 00:50:16.320 And basically all of this is cutting to drive carefully, come back soon, which is it's it's them back in the car with the the top down. 00:50:17.760 --> 00:50:21.760 And it's just them them processing uh this whole just insane experience. 00:50:22.079 --> 00:50:22.719 Yeah, and it's kind of wild. 00:50:22.880 --> 00:50:28.400 I mean, there's just moments where Maria and Marcus are sitting next

to each other, Maria kisses him, you see Saya looking back at Marcus. 00:50:28.639 --> 00:50:32.559 You know, it's like kind of this weird triangle that I feel like is starting. 00:50:32.639 --> 00:50:32.960 But yeah. 00:50:33.119 --> 00:50:37.760 I'm gonna read all this um kind of internal monologue that goes on here because it's pretty telling of what's going on. 00:50:37.840 --> 00:50:41.280 But so he says, We buried Billy's dad deep in the Mojave Desert. 00:50:41.360 --> 00:50:42.000 No one said a word. 00:50:42.079 --> 00:50:46.400 We got stitched up at one of those secret backdoor medical clinics listed in our guild handbook. 00:50:46.559 --> 00:50:50.800 Um the acid had worn off, but the adrenaline fried our nerves. 00:50:50.960 --> 00:50:54.159 The doc gave us enough Valium to keep moving to fight the paralysis. 00:50:54.320 --> 00:51:03.360 Uh at some point uh in the way in the oh at some point on the way I dozed off for the first time in days, woke back up in the streets, falling into that dark hole until eventually I just accepted it. 00:51:03.519 --> 00:51:06.639 Accepted my descent, accepted each day would be worse than the one before it. 00:51:06.800 --> 00:51:09.360 A horrible tattoo had spread all over my arm up to my face. 00:51:09.440 --> 00:51:13.119 The lady who gave it to me was was there in the shadows where I used to live. 00:51:13.199 --> 00:51:15.280 She took my hand and led me to the bay by the water. 00:51:15.440 --> 00:51:18.480 She kissed me and whispered, Life tattoos us with damage as a reminder. 00:51:18.559 --> 00:51:22.880 It's inked into our face and it's inked into your face and body now. 00:51:23.119 --> 00:51:26.480 It won't be visible when you awaken, but people who know what to look for will see it. 00:51:26.639 --> 00:51:28.159 Other victims of the same needle. 00:51:28.400 --> 00:51:35.119 It takes time to see them, takes time to see anyone's real damage, but your people will see the colors like a flag, and they will call you home to them. 00:51:35.360 --> 00:51:42.480 And then Marcus goes on, I woke up with a profound and indescribable feeling, a s a specific sensation I haven't had since I was a kid, since my parents were alive. 00:51:42.639 --> 00:51:45.360 A feeling I hadn't had since childhood, and even then only once. 00:51:45.519 --> 00:51:46.800 A friend had come over for the weekend. 00:51:46.880 --> 00:51:50.639 I remember having so much fun, it was absolutely perfect, and then suddenly it was over. 00:51:50.800 --> 00:51:52.960 My friend had gone home, and I was left alone. 00:51:53.199 --> 00:51:57.199 I was sitting on a swing where moments ago we were laughing and playing, but everything was quiet. 00:51:57.360 --> 00:52:07.039 A sudden drop-off from the connection felt moments before, a punctuated ending following b uh followed by that involuntary reflection that happens when life quickly changes from fast to slow. 00:52:07.280 --> 00:52:16.320 And even though I haven't felt it since that day, I'm at home in it cocooned in the tranquility and peace of some last piece of some last piece of innocence that still exists in my heart. 00:52:16.559 --> 00:52:23.920 A small boy sitting on a swing watching the sunset, finally wanting to live in a place surrounded by death. 00:52:24.719 --> 00:52:38.239 So Wilde's introduction again back to Marcus's psyche, and it is pretty intense to like go through all of the shit and come out of it like feeling alive, right? 00:52:38.719 --> 00:52:44.239 I think it obviously is like his he feels this deep connection to the people around him at this point, right? 00:52:44.320 --> 00:52:47.360 They and that's like the weird thing, also, I guess, about like trauma, right? 00:52:47.440 --> 00:52:55.039 Is like that's why there's the concept of like trauma bonding, and I think to a certain extent all these kids had some of that just from the experiences they've had in their life so far. 00:52:55.199 --> 00:52:58.880 But then this, you know, really I think is gonna solidify this group moving forward. 00:52:59.039 --> 00:53:02.559 And I mean, they all killed somebody together, they all buried a body together. 00:53:02.719 --> 00:53:09.519 There's uh you know, there's few things in life that that bind you together like that kind of thing, especially when it's kind of some shit that you're supposed to do. 00:53:09.840 --> 00:53:11.119 Especially when you're a high schooler. 00:53:11.360 --> 00:53:18.639 Like the whole um and it also I think just sets the stage for how amazing this story is gonna be overall. 00:53:18.800 --> 00:53:25.039 Like Marcus, like this is these these six chapters are like just filled with horror. 00:53:25.280 --> 00:53:25.519 Yes. 00:53:25.679 --> 00:53:31.119 Like it's uh these three obviously are insane, this Vegas arc, but everything that was going on before that was absolutely terrible. 00:53:32.400 --> 00:53:40.000 He's having a good time, and it's like he's all of a sudden coming into himself, he's all of a sudden feeling peace for the first time in like his whole life. 00:53:40.079 --> 00:53:43.920 It's like, oh man, he's like meant for this in some crazy way. 00:53:44.239 --> 00:53:49.519 He's meant for this in some crazy way, and I think it also just indicates how like truly emotionally fucked he is. 00:53:49.599 --> 00:53:53.679 Like he is looking for any kind of connection at all. 00:53:54.000 --> 00:54:09.360 And I think the thing with it also kind of shows up with the thing with Maria in a weird way, too, where like he admits to like in some ways liking Saya more, but is also like down for um Maria because she it's a difficult one. 00:54:09.440 --> 00:54:11.519 I mean, that's also on some Shakespeare tragedy. 00:54:11.679 --> 00:54:16.960 I mean, it's like we're saying it's a love triangle, but this isn't just like a like you know, a twilight love triangle. 00:54:17.039 --> 00:54:19.440 It's like, oh, I have two hot, two hot people, love me. 00:54:19.519 --> 00:54:21.039 It's

like this is very human. 00:54:21.199 --> 00:54:22.719 This is like the way they're having this, you know. 00:54:22.800 --> 00:54:29.760 It's like here's this person, here's this person that's treating you so well and uh just riding for you like crazy. 00:54:30.079 --> 00:54:37.760 But when you look at this other person, it feels like there's a nuclear reaction going on, and you just don't feel the new and they've him and Saya like barely interact. 00:54:38.000 --> 00:54:40.639 Yeah, out of all the characters, they interact the least low-key. 00:54:40.800 --> 00:54:43.280 They just like make eye contact through the rearview mirror here. 00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:44.159 Right. 00:54:44.239 --> 00:54:47.440 Yeah, there's some unspoken something that's going on there, which is interesting. 00:54:47.599 --> 00:54:49.519 But it is very human, like you said. 00:54:49.679 --> 00:54:52.800 I think a lot of this is like that's kind of the weird thing about this, right? 00:54:52.960 --> 00:55:01.360 Is there's so much that feels, you know, Assassin's School is whatever else that feels so distant from you know who we are as people. 00:55:01.519 --> 00:55:21.039 I mean, even just us, but just like I feel like the general person, and then you know, the the beauty of stories like this that are good is that they take something that's like so insane and so foreign, and then they try and bring you into the story by basically being like, there are things about this that are not so different and not so crazy foreign, like whatever else that bring you into that world, even more so. 00:55:21.440 --> 00:55:31.039 I think it's also just um it's very cool how this book doesn't like the story isn't glorifying any of this. 00:55:31.199 --> 00:55:31.440 Yeah. 00:55:31.599 --> 00:55:36.639 Like it's very cool, obviously, but what it's it's not uh going out of its way. 00:55:36.880 --> 00:55:40.079 Like it's making it's make like we're supposed to feel horrified, yeah. 00:55:40.159 --> 00:55:42.079 You know, by this whole by this whole situation. 00:55:42.239 --> 00:56:10.559 Um we're supposed to be horrified by what we're witnessing, and I think con like this story works especially well in this medium, like being told through comic form, cause at least for me, because while there's such brutal violence and insane scenarios going on, the the reality is when it's depicted in this like cartoon form and drawings, and so much of it is our own minds piecing it together, it's a lot easier to sit with than if we were to be seeing like a one-to-one TV show of this. 00:56:10.800 --> 00:56:11.760 You know, at least for me. 00:56:11.840 --> 00:56:14.159 Like, I like obviously I watch a lot of violent media. 00:56:14.239 --> 00:56:20.880 I'm not saying I'm like squeamish or whatever, more than average, but there's ways in which like I don't seek out like gory horror movies and stuff. 00:56:20.960 --> 00:56:25.920 Like there's there's ways in which like I just don't really, I don't know, I

don't really need to be watching that movie. 00:56:26.079 --> 00:56:38.239 And then in this form, it's like it's it's more palatable depicted through these drawings, and then also the just absolute artistic depth that they're presenting it to us. 00:56:38.320 --> 00:56:43.440 Like they're they're showing it to us in like it feels like like high art low-key. 00:56:43.599 --> 00:56:48.880 Like these frames, some of these, some of these pages are like could be on the wall, you know? 00:56:49.119 --> 00:56:51.199 Yeah, I think that's definitely true. 00:56:51.440 --> 00:56:52.960 Um yeah, wow. 00:56:53.360 --> 00:56:56.000 And it's beautiful, like it's it's it's showing us these images. 00:56:56.159 --> 00:57:05.920 I guess that's really what I'm trying to get at is it's it's depicting them that it's depicting them in a beautiful way, but not glorifying it. 00:57:06.159 --> 00:57:07.199 Yeah, beautiful tragedy. 00:57:07.360 --> 00:57:08.400 Um, yeah. 00:57:08.639 --> 00:57:20.639 And you actually, you know what is kind of funny about that beautiful tragedy thing is I realized, and lucky for all you guys that are still listening, but I realized there was something that I forgot to read from um the chapter when Billy and Marcus had just killed Billy's dad. 00:57:20.719 --> 00:57:28.719 Um, and just the way that this is kind of told after this, where Marcus is still tripping on acid and Billy basically says, You think you're having a hard time, Marcus? 00:57:28.800 --> 00:57:31.840 I mean, I mean shit, my dad deserved to die, but fuck me, that was heavy. 00:57:32.000 --> 00:57:37.440 And then there's this moment where he says, I'm feeling like maybe we're really not good people, like maybe we're the bad guys. 00:57:37.519 --> 00:57:40.159 And the the text keeps getting smaller as he's saying it, right? 00:57:40.239 --> 00:57:45.679 Which is, I think it's kind of a one, it's like funny because he's walking away, and so it makes sense that the text is getting smaller. 00:57:45.760 --> 00:57:54.320 Um, but it's also kind of like uh, you know, we're not it's like in the even in the story, we're not gonna like fully acknowledge that we're all like bad people yet. 00:57:54.400 --> 00:57:57.760 It's like even you as the reader are like supposed to kind of barely acknowledge it because it's so small. 00:57:57.840 --> 00:58:01.280 It's like it's like if you're actually looking at these pages regularly, you just can't read it. 00:58:01.599 --> 00:58:03.039 But anyway. 00:58:03.360 --> 00:58:11.840 Another thing we got to get to before we we sign out here is the so the additions that I have, I have I have this collected in this giant like coffee table book size thing. 00:58:12.079 --> 00:58:13.760 Um, which what are these called? 00:58:13.840 --> 00:58:14.079 I don't know. 00:58:14.159 --> 00:58:14.880 I forget what it's called. 00:58:15.199 --> 00:58:15.840 Like a compendium. 00:58:16.079 --> 00:58:20.239 Yes, but it has these ones basically collect uh which issues. 00:58:20.320 --> 00:58:22.079 This has issues one through 16, right? 00:58:22.239 --> 00:58:23.599 But this is as far as I've gotten too, bro. 00:58:23.679 --> 00:58:27.119 So everything we read from now from this point, I have to be it's about to be new and fresh. 00:58:27.280 --> 00:58:27.519 All right. 00:58:27.599 --> 00:58:30.079 I got one last thing before we wrap up for today. 00:58:30.239 --> 00:58:37.280 There's this really interesting afterword that actually I only got to read, and Ben was so great to tell me to stop talking about it before we got on the podcast. 00:58:37.440 --> 00:58:41.679 But there's this afterward um in my version of this that's um on Kindle. 00:58:41.840 --> 00:58:49.920 Um and it's the uh the author Rick Remender um basically writing about kind of where some of the inspiration from this came from and things like that. 00:58:50.159 --> 00:58:56.400 But he basically goes around talking about his family moved around every two or three years to a new neighborhood, meaning he had to start over and make new friends. 00:58:56.639 --> 00:59:00.239 Um he talks about kids being vicious um in the eighth grade. 00:59:00.320 --> 00:59:01.760 He'd been living in the same area for a couple years. 00:59:01.840 --> 00:59:04.320 That's when he kind of got into um skate culture. 00:59:04.400 --> 00:59:08.639 It seemed like in Phoenix, like the Los Angeles punk and skate culture, it kind of blended in there. 00:59:08.800 --> 00:59:14.639 Um and then in this year of 1987, he says that this is the year that cooked him into the person he is today. 00:59:14.719 --> 00:59:19.440 So it's probably not a coincidence that it's also the year that Marcus entered the strange and frightening King's Dominion School of the Deadly Arts. 00:59:19.519 --> 00:59:21.119 So again, that's pulling from his own story. 00:59:21.280 --> 00:59:36.880 But he basically says that he moved to this um small town an hour south of Phoenix where he didn't really fit in being a punk kid, and he spent the first couple years of high school being endlessly fucked with by rednecks, jocks, and hillbillies in a foreign place far from home, basically until he turned 16 and he got his driver's license and left home. 00:59:37.199 --> 00:59:43.280 He says, uh, and this is the direct stuff, he says, high school was always a perfect magnification of my lifelong feeling that I don't belong anywhere. 00:59:43.519 --> 00:59:47.199 Over time, after I got back to Phoenix, I re Phoenix, I reconnected with a group of friends that felt like home. 00:59:47.280 --> 00:59:50.960 We were the kids out behind the gym being disenfranchised and smoking weed between classes. 00:59:51.119 --> 00:59:53.039 Uh remember when high schools had a smoking area? 00:59:53.199 --> 00:59:59.039 We were the outcasts and the freaks, the punkers, the goths, skaters, hip-hop kids, dropouts, gearheads, and all the colors of the freak rainbow. 00:59:59.280 --> 01:00:01.360 This is what's another crazy

thing, though, that he says here. 01:00:01.440 --> 01:00:08.480 He says, Phoenix was a violent place in the late 80s and early 90s, and standing out in a city like that led to numerous beatings, stabbings, and shootings among my friends. 01:00:08.639 --> 01:00:12.800 I've seen a man shot in the head, uh, I had a friend shot in the back while trying to flee a gunfight. 01:00:12.880 --> 01:00:15.519 I had a friend overdose on heroin before he shot himself in the head. 01:00:15.679 --> 01:00:19.199 Another was stabbed, and I was personally jumped and brutally beaten by gangbangers twice. 01:00:19.360 --> 01:00:21.920 Violence was just something that you get used to being around. 01:00:22.159 --> 01:00:36.239 And then he goes on on this next page to basically talk about, you know, he wanted to explore this time in his life, explore the feelings of being ostracized and disconnected, um, with including some of the real life danger, that some of the stuff, you know, is a magnification of what he um experienced kind of growing up. 01:00:36.400 --> 01:00:45.920 He talks, but he goes on to talk, you know, really talk highly of his co-creator Wes Craig and the editor Sebastian Gurner spending hours countless hours on the phone, making this, you know, the best that they can make it. 01:00:46.000 --> 01:00:52.559 He talks about when he sees, you know, when you see Wes draw skate uh rats bombing the streets of San Francisco, they look like the skate rats you knew in the mid-80s. 01:00:52.719 --> 01:00:56.960 When you see a goth girl, a straight edge kid, or a stone or a metalhead or a rockabilly kid, they are authentic. 01:00:57.039 --> 01:01:01.039 In those pages, my lord Wes is a superstar of art, Jive, and disco dreams. 01:01:01.280 --> 01:01:06.480 He goes on to say Lou Lowridge and I spent an entire night drinking scotch talking over how he was going to approach the colors. 01:01:06.639 --> 01:01:10.880 It's really the fun of making creator own books, sitting around with a friend working together to make something new. 01:01:11.039 --> 01:01:17.360 Then we all worked with Russ Wooten, who cooked up our very striking and distinct logo and lettering style in Presto, the comic you now hold in your hands. 01:01:17.599 --> 01:01:19.440 The story takes place in a recognizable world. 01:01:19.519 --> 01:01:22.400 There's no magic, no spaceships, no one can fly or shoot I-beams. 01:01:22.480 --> 01:01:27.519 It's a coming-of-age story about broken kids expecting to deal with a violent world, or expected to deal with a violent world. 01:01:27.840 --> 01:01:31.519 It's the eighties, no cell phones or email, and many of these stories are based on true events. 01:01:31.599 --> 01:01:35.199 I've never tried quite anything quite like this before, and I've never had so much fun making a comic. 01:01:35.440 --> 01:01:37.440 Hard to believe 1987 was twenty-seven years ago. 01:01:37.519 --> 01:01:40.239 It's a good thing for me I never grew up, or that might make me feel old. 01:01:40.559 --> 01:01:43.039 But so that's his little blurb at the end there. 01:01:43.199 --> 01:01:45.599 Oh, that is that's incredible. 01:01:45.760 --> 01:01:46.000 Yeah. 01:01:46.159 --> 01:01:48.719 That's so um I mean, what a book, man. 01:01:48.800 --> 01:01:51.440 I'm just so excited to keep reading, honestly. 01:01:51.840 --> 01:02:01.840 Um I hope some of you guys have uh have have checked it out or are feel inspired to check it out based on these uh these episodes we're doing. 01:02:02.079 --> 01:02:02.320 Yeah. 01:02:02.480 --> 01:02:26.159 Um it really just kind of goes to show like um again, beauty of the art form and I think the um you know funny things that we've talked about before of just like the in some certain cases and some certain eras, like the lack of respect for an art form that you know I think is so beautifully put here by Rick Remander, is is is emotional and intense and draws from powerful like real life experiences. 01:02:26.320 --> 01:02:29.280 Um and this is just uh this is a great comic. 01:02:29.440 --> 01:02:29.920 It's a great comic. 01:02:30.079 --> 01:02:30.719 It's a great comic. 01:02:30.960 --> 01:02:31.360 Hell yeah. 01:02:31.519 --> 01:02:32.320 Go pick it up. 01:02:32.639 --> 01:02:33.599 Thank you guys for joining us. 01:02:33.840 --> 01:02:34.239 Yeah, thank you. 01:02:34.400 --> 01:02:35.039 Um we're back. 01:02:35.119 --> 01:02:36.480 There's a great first episode back. 01:02:36.559 --> 01:02:38.480 Yeah, and uh a lot of stuff to come. 01:02:38.559 --> 01:02:45.119 We we were just chopping it up earlier, talking about all the all the plans and um you know what type of stuff we're we want to do with the comic. 01:02:45.199 --> 01:02:53.760 But one thing, one thing we can say with near certainty is that we're gonna be doing a uh a little a little LA Comic Con arc. 01:02:54.000 --> 01:03:08.800 Uh, and we're we're gonna figure out how to try to bring you guys along for that experience to some extent and um bring kickback comics to some other people at Comic Con who the people who might uh you know might wanna might wanna be part of the part of the squad. 01:03:08.960 --> 01:03:10.079 Yeah, maybe we'll all be friends. 01:03:10.239 --> 01:03:10.719 Who knows? 01:03:10.960 --> 01:03:11.679 Yeah, who knows? 01:03:11.840 --> 01:03:13.280 But thanks very much, guys, for listening. 01:03:13.519 --> 01:03:21.920 Um kickback comics, kickback comics pod on Instagram, you know, five star subscribe, hit that bell, all that kind of shit like that. 01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:23.119 But thanks so much for listening. 01:03:23.360 --> 01:03:24.320 Yeah, peace, everybody. 01:03:24.559 --> 01:03:25.360 Peace.