DC All-In Comic Event - E01 - Darkseid Reborn - DCUniverse

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[00:01:13] Welcome to Comics Versus, where the Lorehounds your guides to DC Comics. I'm John.

[00:01:18] And I'm John. Today we'll be talking about DC's new All-In Event, including the introduction of a brand new universe of Underdog Heroes.

[00:01:27] John and I will be focusing on four comics today. DC's All-In Event number one, Absolute Batman number one, Absolute Wonder Woman number one, and Absolute Superman number one.

[00:01:40] If you haven't read them yet, head to your local comic book store or follow along as we recap the stories.

[00:01:45] If you want to talk comics with us, email your feedback to lorehounds at thelorehounds.com or head over to our website at thelorehounds.com and use the contact form.

[00:01:59] If you want to support us directly and get early and ad-free access to our episodes plus exclusive content, click on the link here in our show notes and subscribe on Supercast for Patreon.

[00:02:10] And before we get started, just a quick spoiler warning. We'll of course be spoiling the four comics John mentioned, but spoilers for the rest of the DC comic universe and cinematic adaptations are on the table.

[00:02:54] They sure are.

[00:02:55] So, um, I think I told David this once, but I must've been maybe like 10, 11 years old.

[00:03:08] And there was an older kid on, on, on, on my block that I lived in here in Brooklyn.

[00:03:14] Um, maybe like 19, 20.

[00:03:18] And, you know, I grew up with him.

[00:03:20] He grew up with my sister.

[00:03:21] So they're very familiar with each other.

[00:03:25] And one day he was like, yo, I'm getting rid of my comics.

[00:03:28] Do you want them?

[00:03:30] And I'm like, yeah, sure.

[00:03:31] And he gave me like this bag of comics must've been over 200 comics.

[00:03:38] Oh, wow.

[00:03:38] And that was my first real foray into collecting comic books.

[00:03:45] I had picked up different comics here and there from the corner store and stuff like that, but had never been on a reading bench of sustained runs.

[00:03:54] And he introduced me to, you know, comic book collecting.

[00:04:00] And I still have the majority of those comics to this day.

[00:04:05] Wow.

[00:04:05] So those comics, were they a mix of Marvel and DC?

[00:04:08] Yes.

[00:04:08] Were they other parties?

[00:04:09] They were all over the place.

[00:04:11] More primarily Marvel and DC, a lot of things from like the early eighties.

[00:04:18] He collected things from the late seventies.

[00:04:21] I think the first thing that I read was an oversized Conan the barbarian.

[00:04:26] Okay.

[00:04:27] And it's like a tabletop book, but it's a comic book.

[00:04:31] And that was the first thing that I actually picked up out of the bag and read.

[00:04:34] So for a very long time, I was a big Conan the barbarian fan.

[00:04:40] So yeah.

[00:04:41] Do you know Robert Jordan from the Wheel of Time wrote a bunch of Conan books?

[00:04:44] Yes, I do.

[00:04:45] I do.

[00:04:45] I haven't gotten a chance to read them yet, but yes, I do know that he delved into Conan's history a bit.

[00:04:52] So yeah.

[00:04:54] And that's how I got into comics.

[00:04:57] I would say throughout my, you know, teen years, I was in and out.

[00:05:07] And then something clicked again, maybe after college in my mid twenties.

[00:05:14] And I was just like, you know what?

[00:05:16] I went to the comic book store around, around where I lived, which is still here by the way, because I'm still in the same, same area, same neighborhood.

[00:05:24] Um, and I just walked in and it was just like being home, you know, and the guy who owns it, great guy.

[00:05:34] Um, my, my, my, my kid calls him uncle.

[00:05:37] You know what I mean?

[00:05:38] So, oh, wow.

[00:05:39] Yeah.

[00:05:40] He's a staple of the community and, you know, sell, he used to sell games and comics and cards.

[00:05:45] And that's where all the nerdy kids would meet with the cool kids who are, you know, just there to buy their games for their PlayStations and Xboxes and stuff like that.

[00:05:56] And, um, yeah.

[00:05:58] And ever since then I was just like, you know what?

[00:06:00] Yeah, I'm back.

[00:06:02] Well, I'm glad you're back because that's how we met.

[00:06:04] Yeah.

[00:06:06] This may be the first episode we've done just you and me.

[00:06:09] I think because I usually don't go in for the comic stuff.

[00:06:12] Yes.

[00:06:13] But I'm so glad that you're here because I, um, I, I had seen the cover of absolute Batman and I went, oh, that's cool.

[00:06:24] I want in on that.

[00:06:26] That looks interesting.

[00:06:28] And I had no idea where DC was.

[00:06:32] The last time I read DC comics was in around 2017 or 18.

[00:06:37] Okay.

[00:06:38] I, um, I never read them until I was an adult.

[00:06:41] I had seen movies and stuff.

[00:06:42] I had, I had been into like the Spider-Man movies.

[00:06:45] I had been into, uh, some of, some of the Marvel movies when I was a kid.

[00:06:49] Uh, and, and my grandpa had shown me like, you know, the Tim Burton Batmans.

[00:06:54] Yes.

[00:06:54] And, uh, the, the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, which hence the theme song today.

[00:07:01] And so my, my interest in superheroes was like fine, but, but never in the comic universe.

[00:07:07] I just didn't get it.

[00:07:08] It just wasn't my thing.

[00:07:09] If I, I was more into, um, non visual reading, I guess.

[00:07:14] Right.

[00:07:14] You know, it's sort of its own language and it's hard to get into if you didn't grow up on it.

[00:07:20] But I think that the, the recent drives by both DC and Marvel to really create on ramps for people has been a really good thing.

[00:07:32] Absolutely.

[00:07:34] Absolutely.

[00:07:34] Absolutely.

[00:07:35] I think, um, a lot of the, the pushback that people get from comics is, is as if it's not real reading.

[00:07:43] You know what I mean?

[00:07:45] Mm-hmm.

[00:07:45] So people tend to, to shy away from getting their kids involved in, and reading comic books because they don't feel like it's actual reading, um, because of the pictures that, so it has a almost stigma attached to, to certain comics.

[00:08:02] And the thing is, comics have expanded my vocabulary, expanded my worldview, um, grappled with a lot of issues that, you know, a lot of literature, um, authors are afraid to grapple with.

[00:08:18] Mm-hmm .

[00:08:19] You know, so the allegories, you know, um, for, well, they're well known, you know, X-Men and all of these things that you could hark on in our real life, in our real world.

[00:08:33] Um, I think comic books expose me and I know it exposed a whole lot of people to these sorts of concepts that we were trying to grapple with, you know, in our everyday lives.

[00:08:43] So, um, yeah, I just think it's a, it's a great for way foray into a different world.

[00:08:51] Um, the fantastic, the magical, and, um, yeah, and it could be, it could be a little bit nerdy and wordy too.

[00:09:00] So you get the both, the best of both worlds.

[00:09:03] You know, I, it's interesting.

[00:09:05] You say it's the, it's the pictures that drive people away.

[00:09:09] For me, what kept me away for a while was I never knew where to start.

[00:09:13] It's very hard.

[00:09:15] You hear that this has been going on since what the 1930s with DC and the 1960s.

[00:09:21] And I, it's before that with Marvel, but the, you know, the rise of it was in the 1960s ish, I guess.

[00:09:27] And I'm just like, where do I even start with this?

[00:09:30] And you're saying like, is it really resetting every few years?

[00:09:33] That's something that confused me.

[00:09:34] Like, is it resetting?

[00:09:35] Is it a continuity?

[00:09:36] But then I think something really great about DC all in, especially, and we'll get into what it is in a minute, but it really does create an on-ramp where I've only read a few of these comics so far, you know, pretty much what's out to date in the absolute line.

[00:09:54] And I've, I've read some other comics while I'm catching up on things, but as far as this storyline, I'm just reading this and I'm following it all.

[00:10:02] It is absolutely easy to follow what's going on.

[00:10:05] I understand the stakes.

[00:10:07] I understand the central conflict.

[00:10:09] They make that very clear.

[00:10:10] And it is, you know, these are your heroes.

[00:10:13] These are the characters you're following.

[00:10:15] These are the tropes we're exploring.

[00:10:17] And I think that's a really great thing to point out to people right now because we have, we've not gotten too deep into spoilers yet, but.

[00:10:23] If you're listening to this, just because you listen to the lore hounds and you're, and you're, you know, dipping your toe in.

[00:10:29] This is a great, great point to get it.

[00:10:30] I think there's only four issues that you really are like must reads out right now.

[00:10:36] Right.

[00:10:36] And I think that was the focus of DC to allow people to jump in and not feel lost.

[00:10:44] Right.

[00:10:45] So when they announced over the summer, what they were doing, they made a point to say, you know, when we thought of this.

[00:10:53] And we started writing out the stories.

[00:10:55] What we really wanted was to allow people who maybe have not picked up a Superman title to be able to pick up a Superman title and not feel lost as well as maintaining.

[00:11:08] The stories for those who have kept up.

[00:11:11] So they've done, I think a great job of providing both of those tent poles for folks.

[00:11:19] If you are following comics regularly, this does not do away with what you know.

[00:11:28] Right.

[00:11:28] If you're new to it or just getting back into it, this allows you a jumping in point where what you haven't followed is still there, but it's not there in such a dogmatic way that it doesn't make sense.

[00:11:42] It's the story that they're telling.

[00:11:45] Right.

[00:11:46] Right.

[00:11:46] I think, I think that's a great way to put it.

[00:11:49] John, we haven't really talked about our plans for coverage, but I put a section here so we could do it live on air.

[00:11:53] Do we want to do some regular check-ins over the course of this run?

[00:11:57] Yeah, I think so.

[00:11:58] I think with the three main books now, they're limited.

[00:12:03] So maybe.

[00:12:04] Yeah, I mean, every few months, like we'll check in and see where everything's at.

[00:12:08] I think we should definitely do that and see how it's going, what they're doing.

[00:12:12] And is it all, you know, as great as initially it seems it's going to be.

[00:12:18] Right.

[00:12:19] All right.

[00:12:19] Well, I'm going to hold you to it because I'm excited about this.

[00:12:22] Yeah, definitely.

[00:12:22] Please, please do.

[00:12:23] And we do also know that absolute flash is launching in the early 2025 and we have another couple absolute other issues that we're, we're not sure.

[00:12:35] We're not sure which the, which characters are going to focus around yet.

[00:12:38] Right.

[00:12:38] Right.

[00:12:40] So on hot takes now, what did you think of these four issues?

[00:12:46] I, man.

[00:12:47] Um, if you, if you follow me on, uh, if you follow the feeds on comics versus on our discord, I was blown away by each issue.

[00:12:58] I haven't, um, said anything about the Superman yet, but the all in, um, special, the Batman, the Wonder Woman, they were so well done.

[00:13:10] It was, it was just good stuff, good storytelling, telling, um, the artwork was amazing.

[00:13:18] Um, and I just, I really liked this world that they are building.

[00:13:24] I really want to see what else is there.

[00:13:29] What else is coming?

[00:13:31] What else are, how, how are these other heroes and villains re-imagine, you know?

[00:13:37] And I'm really, yeah, I think they, I, I think they've knocked it off the park personally.

[00:13:44] What about you?

[00:13:45] I'm also pretty hot on it.

[00:13:46] I'm also pretty hot on it.

[00:13:48] I, uh, I read, I actually read the all in event after absolute Batman because I didn't realize that it was tied to that at first.

[00:13:56] Oh, okay.

[00:13:57] I subbed to, so if people don't know, you don't have to buy the paper comics.

[00:14:01] You can get the app DC infinite.

[00:14:03] I think it's called.

[00:14:04] Yes.

[00:14:04] And you will get a time delay on the issues.

[00:14:07] I think it's three months.

[00:14:09] I want to say, but I could be wrong.

[00:14:11] Uh, and then you'll get whatever issues are three months old on, on that.

[00:14:15] It's on your phone or your iPad or your computer and you can read digital versions of these comics.

[00:14:19] And that's really useful for catching up.

[00:14:21] It's been really helpful for me to go and be able to sample a bunch of different comics without committing to five bucks a pop, you know?

[00:14:27] Right.

[00:14:28] Right.

[00:14:29] Cause it can add up.

[00:14:30] It can add up, especially following multiple runs.

[00:14:32] So I get it.

[00:14:33] It does.

[00:14:34] I get it.

[00:14:35] Um, so I read absolute Batman first.

[00:14:40] I was blown away and I went back and read all in and the setup is just so good.

[00:14:45] And we'll get into right after our hot takes.

[00:14:47] I want to talk about what is all in, but the setup is just so good.

[00:14:50] It really creates this central conflict that I've always felt was missing from my comic reading.

[00:14:56] Hmm.

[00:14:57] And I'm really excited to see where that goes.

[00:15:00] Okay.

[00:15:02] And then as I read them, absolute wonder woman was, you know, people were talking all about absolute Batman, but don't sleep on absolute wonder woman.

[00:15:10] Cool stuff.

[00:15:11] Yeah.

[00:15:12] Yeah.

[00:15:12] It's a Greek mythology.

[00:15:14] It's it's, it's, it's all there.

[00:15:16] It's all there.

[00:15:16] Everything you want is there.

[00:15:18] Uh, and she does have cloud strife sword for some reason, but from, from, from vinyl fantasy.

[00:15:25] Yeah.

[00:15:25] That's okay.

[00:15:26] Why not?

[00:15:27] But I like it.

[00:15:28] I like it on her.

[00:15:28] It looks good.

[00:15:30] And then absolute Superman.

[00:15:32] Fantastic.

[00:15:33] I mean, this was the one I think people were most nervous about because soups is such like a classic.

[00:15:38] He's just like Mr. Perfect.

[00:15:40] Right.

[00:15:40] And he's always been like the, the beacon of hope for everybody.

[00:15:43] And you go, well, how do you make that an underdog?

[00:15:46] Well, and, and it goes with what the premise is, right?

[00:15:52] Cause our, uh, antagonist says what the premise is.

[00:15:57] Right.

[00:15:57] You know, he, I have a quote.

[00:15:59] I have a quote.

[00:15:59] Exactly.

[00:16:00] Exactly.

[00:16:01] So that, that you pick up on that, that that's really great because that's what they want.

[00:16:07] Right.

[00:16:07] That's good storytelling.

[00:16:09] Yeah.

[00:16:10] Yeah.

[00:16:10] They really, you know, they tell you what to expect in the all in event.

[00:16:14] Yeah.

[00:16:14] The execution so far has been on point.

[00:16:17] Yeah.

[00:16:18] Yeah.

[00:16:18] They've not been explicitly.

[00:16:19] They say it explicitly in the all in event, just to tell you to set expectations, but then they don't say it explicitly in any of these three issues.

[00:16:26] Right.

[00:16:26] They are really showing and not telling.

[00:16:28] And that's showing.

[00:16:29] And I, and I, and I like that.

[00:16:31] They're showing like this lived universe, this live planet, right?

[00:16:36] Like these heroes, these people have lived a life.

[00:16:40] They are living life.

[00:16:41] They're not, it's not, uh, something that's static.

[00:16:45] Right.

[00:16:46] So they tell us what's happening, but our heroes don't know what's happening.

[00:16:49] You know, our characters don't know what's happening and they're just going about their daily, daily.

[00:16:57] And there's something else is up, but they have no idea.

[00:17:01] Yeah.

[00:17:02] They're kind of pawns.

[00:17:03] Right.

[00:17:03] Yeah.

[00:17:03] Yeah.

[00:17:05] Hmm.

[00:17:06] Well, very cool.

[00:17:07] Do we want to talk a little bit about what all in is what this initiative is a little bit?

[00:17:12] Yeah, sure.

[00:17:14] All right.

[00:17:15] So all in number one, um, the justice league has decided to open this membership roles to more heroes launching a new justice league unlimited guests.

[00:17:24] Justice league unlimited for those who watch the cartoon, the animation.

[00:17:27] Yes.

[00:17:28] Um, Superman recruits booster gold just before dark side merges with the specter and attacks justice league headquarters.

[00:17:37] The two are separated and dark side learns.

[00:17:39] And he is an equal and opposite force to Superman realizing he cannot win in this universe.

[00:17:44] He creates the absolute universe and vows to reach forge himself in a world of underdog superheroes.

[00:17:54] Yeah.

[00:17:54] It's, uh, there's this great quote right up the front.

[00:17:58] I wanted to read that was where dark side learns who he is basically.

[00:18:04] Mm hmm.

[00:18:05] And that was, this is somebody speaking to dark side.

[00:18:07] I don't remember who said it exactly.

[00:18:09] Specter.

[00:18:10] Specter.

[00:18:10] Okay.

[00:18:10] He says, everything has a balance to it.

[00:18:14] Our reality may be complex in many wondrous and terrifying ways, but there is also a raw simplicity to it for at its core is light.

[00:18:23] A force that expands, multiplies against all odds.

[00:18:26] Life emerges from the dark and races onward.

[00:18:29] It is hope.

[00:18:29] And if there is a being who embodies that hope, that energy, it is him Superman.

[00:18:35] But there is an opposing force to all that constraint control.

[00:18:40] And that is you in a way you are the true source of what holds it all back.

[00:18:45] That's just good stuff, man.

[00:18:47] It's chills.

[00:18:48] Yeah, man.

[00:18:49] That was good.

[00:18:50] And they, for, for those who may not know the truth, when he says that you are the true source wall that holds it all back.

[00:18:56] So in DC comics, there's a, of a literal wall at the end of the universe that if you break through the wall, there are unknown beings who predate the multiverse, predate the universe, predate it all, who will come through and wreak havoc.

[00:19:20] Um, so he says to dark side here that you are the true source wall that holds it all back.

[00:19:30] And that right there to me sums up the entire, that's everything because you have on one hand, like you said, Superman, and you have on the other hand, dark side.

[00:19:47] And that right there to, this has been the battle that DC has always told.

[00:19:53] Hmm.

[00:19:54] It's always been Superman, dark side to me.

[00:19:57] Okay.

[00:19:59] Great.

[00:19:59] The big bad has always been dark side.

[00:20:03] Even when there were other big bads, dark side loomed somewhere plotting.

[00:20:11] Okay.

[00:20:13] And Superman was always meant to be there to oppose whatever machinations that dark side came up.

[00:20:21] So to just bluntly say it in the story, I applaud them for doing that.

[00:20:30] So where, where is dark side from?

[00:20:33] Like what is he and when did he first show up in this universe?

[00:20:37] Well, dark side is, you know, as the specter says in, in this, in, in this comic, he explains that dark side was there when the universe was formed.

[00:20:48] Okay.

[00:20:49] Parts of the universe is actually imbued with dark side power.

[00:20:56] So in DC comics, you always have doppelgangers, right?

[00:21:02] Mm-hmm.

[00:21:03] Some other universe has another Superman, another Batman.

[00:21:07] There is none of that for dark side.

[00:21:08] There's only one.

[00:21:11] There are no doppelgangers.

[00:21:14] Dark side is, that's it.

[00:21:17] So this is a being that is everywhere, but it's still in some way, as we learn, constrained.

[00:21:29] Mm-hmm.

[00:21:30] Because his entire life force has never been all his.

[00:21:38] And in this comic, we learn that it's all back and he's struggling to contain it.

[00:21:49] He's struggling to contain all of his power.

[00:21:53] And this is what is driving him to create the absolute universe, to find his purpose.

[00:21:59] And what is his purpose?

[00:22:02] He wants to be the able to just end everything, but that's not his purpose in this universe.

[00:22:12] Yeah.

[00:22:13] It really reminds me of the wheel of time.

[00:22:15] It really does.

[00:22:16] Why do you say that?

[00:22:17] Because the wheel of time, I can't say too much because of spoilers.

[00:22:21] Yeah, of course.

[00:22:22] The whole central conflict is there's always going to be good and bad in the universe and

[00:22:29] both need the other.

[00:22:31] And you can't wholly wipe out the other one without both sides being gone.

[00:22:37] Mm-hmm.

[00:22:37] The universe, basically the universe will always make sure as long as one exists, the other

[00:22:44] must exist.

[00:22:46] And that's dark side.

[00:22:47] Yeah.

[00:22:49] And so I really love how this issue, you know, again, I'm new to this and it really

[00:22:53] sets it up right for me in my face.

[00:22:55] This is the big bad, but also he needs to exist.

[00:22:59] So what do you do with that?

[00:23:01] Right.

[00:23:01] That's complicated.

[00:23:02] That's awesome.

[00:23:03] That's a hard question.

[00:23:06] What do you do with that?

[00:23:07] Can you do anything with that?

[00:23:09] Right.

[00:23:10] Is the central question because, you know, he's been, they thought he's been gone before.

[00:23:16] He's died before allegedly, supposedly only to not have died.

[00:23:22] Right.

[00:23:23] So can you truly do anything with that?

[00:23:25] And that's the question that, you know, we have to ask ourselves.

[00:23:29] Right.

[00:23:30] But again, just, you know, without getting into new Genesis and apocalypse and new gods and,

[00:23:37] you know, God bless Jack Kirby and all of that.

[00:23:42] And I'm like, I'm not sure.

[00:23:42] But Dark Side Superman for me has always been the line, the central, what's the word I'm

[00:23:53] looking for?

[00:23:54] The tension point of DC Comics.

[00:23:57] And I just appreciate taking that concept that was heavy in my thought process and actually

[00:24:07] saying, yes, you're right, John.

[00:24:09] It is the central battle of DC Comics.

[00:24:13] You were right the whole time.

[00:24:15] I was right the whole time.

[00:24:17] But really interesting.

[00:24:18] I saw a Reddit post the other day where somebody said, who is the main character of DC Comics?

[00:24:24] And the answer people agreed on was, you know, overwhelmingly in the comments, they said,

[00:24:28] it's Superman.

[00:24:29] If he's the one, if he's the one who is the balance against evil, against the darkness, then that, that is the main character.

[00:24:37] And it's interesting because Batman is clearly like the more popular hero, like his comics are just going to sell more and just overwhelmingly popular.

[00:24:45] But Superman really, if you want to like look at character narratives, that's the center.

[00:24:51] Yes, I totally agree with that.

[00:24:53] I totally agree with that.

[00:24:55] Everything is, he is the son of the DC universe.

[00:24:59] So we've got literally, he's the son of the DC universe.

[00:25:03] So we've got two plot points here that we, that we need to focus on going in forward.

[00:25:08] We're expanding the Justice League.

[00:25:10] Justice League is now the Justice League unlimited.

[00:25:12] We're going there.

[00:25:13] New comic series launching in November after this episode airs.

[00:25:17] I'm I tell my pull list.

[00:25:18] So I'm going to follow along on that one.

[00:25:20] Yes.

[00:25:20] So that'll be good.

[00:25:22] That'll be good.

[00:25:23] And dark side versus Superman as the central conflict.

[00:25:27] That's that's two main things you got to know from this.

[00:25:30] The third thing is that dark side is not going to settle for.

[00:25:34] I just have to exist.

[00:25:36] He wants more.

[00:25:37] So do you want to read what dark side says when he goes and decides to create a new universe?

[00:25:43] So then later, when dark side creates the absolute universe or the else world, dark side creates a universe where all their advantages have gone, where they are small chaos rather than the system itself.

[00:26:00] A world where hope is the underdog, where it is the villain, the opposing force and where it will have to burn brighter than ever to shine at all.

[00:26:13] Like, come on.

[00:26:13] Doesn't that feel real this week?

[00:26:17] I don't know.

[00:26:18] We don't we don't we don't talk about certain things on this podcast just to keep it light and just to really just so that this can be a place where people can escape that.

[00:26:25] But but I just you know, the week of this stuff happening.

[00:26:31] And I don't I don't think I can avoid making a little bit of a comparison to how I'm feeling.

[00:26:35] Yeah, yeah.

[00:26:37] Well, it will have to burn brighter than ever before to shine at all.

[00:26:41] Like, come on.

[00:26:42] That's tough.

[00:26:43] Come on.

[00:26:44] That's tough.

[00:26:45] That's that's really again.

[00:26:47] This was written like six months ago, so I can't even say that they called it.

[00:26:52] We're not supposed to, you know, think of comics as being something that is literature.

[00:26:58] Hmm.

[00:26:59] Yeah, that's a that's a good call.

[00:27:01] That's a good call.

[00:27:03] Can you explain to me?

[00:27:05] So so there's a couple mentions in here that that me as a new reader, I'm I need a little clarification on.

[00:27:10] Yeah, there's some talk about the multiverse being sealed off being done.

[00:27:14] What what happened there was what was the multiverse and why is it gone now?

[00:27:19] So the multiverse was sealed off and the run that they just had by a man, Amanda Waller.

[00:27:29] Absolute power.

[00:27:30] Amanda Waller doesn't want heroes.

[00:27:37] And that comic story in that run.

[00:27:41] So she creates a world where she was able to actually depower heroes using a mazo and brainiac technology.

[00:27:54] So that doesn't sound good.

[00:27:56] Yeah, it wasn't good for the heroes.

[00:27:58] So she basically she was able to to block off access to other universes from our own universe.

[00:28:08] DC Comics has tried to consolidate because.

[00:28:13] You know.

[00:28:16] A lot of people were upset that they had so many variations of heroes and so many different worlds with new 52 and all of these takes that people didn't particularly like of their classic stories.

[00:28:37] So they and like we mentioned, it's five bucks a pop.

[00:28:40] And so if you really want to read everything, it's now adding up and adding up and you do have the option of, you know, being a little behind doing infinite.

[00:28:47] But it's it's it's tough.

[00:28:49] It's tough to add all that and time time to you can't you can't say here's 100 comics a month.

[00:28:55] Right.

[00:28:55] Right.

[00:28:56] So then there was so much.

[00:29:02] Backlash, I think, against the new 52 that they decided to return to the status quo.

[00:29:10] Right.

[00:29:10] Everything will not be.

[00:29:13] Um.

[00:29:15] Consolidated into one.

[00:29:16] We will have our classic heroes back, hence the return of the multiverse.

[00:29:21] So you get Earth one, Earth two, Earth three, Earth prime, all of these other other things that you're able to show, you know, DC from however long ago that someone may have appreciated.

[00:29:37] Bam, wow, pop Batman.

[00:29:40] That wasn't there anymore during the new 52.

[00:29:44] Now it's back.

[00:29:45] So that's the multiverse.

[00:29:47] The multiverse is allowing DC to tell stories of of their classic heroes.

[00:29:53] Okay.

[00:29:54] What what is happening now is that they cut it off.

[00:30:00] Right.

[00:30:00] It's closed off.

[00:30:02] So it still exists.

[00:30:03] It's just not connected now.

[00:30:04] It's not connected.

[00:30:05] Okay.

[00:30:06] Yeah.

[00:30:06] So what dark side is saying and what Spectre is saying is that wherever DC, let me, let me phrase it this way.

[00:30:18] Wherever DC comics takes you dark side is there.

[00:30:21] Right.

[00:30:22] His essence is everywhere.

[00:30:24] It doesn't matter if it's this universe or the universe of Earth prime or the universe of Earth 55 dark side essence is there.

[00:30:38] Now, with the closing of the multiverse, all of his power has come rushing back into it.

[00:30:44] Hmm.

[00:30:47] And he doesn't know what to do.

[00:30:50] He's like going nuts with he's overloading.

[00:30:54] Basically, he's never had this before.

[00:30:57] He's never been full.

[00:30:58] He's never been fully himself.

[00:31:01] And now he's fully himself.

[00:31:04] And or getting to the point to be fully himself.

[00:31:07] He wants to know why am I feeling this way?

[00:31:09] And what does the multiverse have to do with this?

[00:31:13] And the only one who can answer that question is the Spectre.

[00:31:17] And who is the Spectre?

[00:31:19] Where's he from?

[00:31:20] The Spectre is this.

[00:31:23] What do they call the Spectre?

[00:31:24] He's the vengeance of God.

[00:31:28] Well, that sounds terrifying.

[00:31:30] Yeah, that's what he is.

[00:31:32] He's one of the most OP overpowered persons in the DC and DC comics.

[00:31:37] So he's a spirit that inhabits a human, Jim Corrigan, and literally is God's vengeance.

[00:31:46] Well, don't mess with Spectre.

[00:31:48] That's what we've learned today.

[00:31:49] Unless you're Darkseid.

[00:31:50] I guess, yeah, Darkseid can mess with Spectre.

[00:31:55] Right.

[00:31:56] All right.

[00:31:57] So I got it.

[00:31:58] We've closed off the multiverse.

[00:32:00] There are still going to be comics in other universes.

[00:32:02] Just they're not going to connect now.

[00:32:04] Is that right?

[00:32:05] Well, we don't know.

[00:32:07] Okay.

[00:32:07] So right now there's no comics in the other universe.

[00:32:10] Right now we don't have, um, there are no, there are no comics that are saying, let's

[00:32:19] say they're talking about a power man, which is a Superman doppelganger from earth three.

[00:32:25] We don't have any of that stuff right now.

[00:32:28] It's all been in one main continuity, one main DC universe.

[00:32:33] All right.

[00:32:34] I'm in, I'm in on this.

[00:32:35] Let's consolidate.

[00:32:36] I'm in.

[00:32:37] Uh, for, for me coming in new, this is a godsend.

[00:32:43] I mean, yeah, Spectre send.

[00:32:44] Yeah.

[00:32:45] Yeah, definitely.

[00:32:46] Definitely.

[00:32:46] So here's my other question.

[00:32:48] So I, I, I think to me, the absolute universe feels like Marvel almost because the DC universe, I think a critique of it I've seen, but also I think it's, it's just a different vibe.

[00:33:03] Is that, you know, the justice league is like a revered organization, right?

[00:33:07] Like everybody's like, yeah, the justice league.

[00:33:08] We love that.

[00:33:09] They're all great.

[00:33:11] Um, I'm, I'm sure there's been issues in the past where they have PR issues, whatnot in the comics, but, but it seems like the over the, the long story in this, uh, in this universe is the justice league are seen as the heroes.

[00:33:28] And something that I think Marvel has done more public, at least in the MCU and whatnot has done more grappling with is.

[00:33:35] Well, people don't actually like people who are better than them a lot of the, a lot of time, right?

[00:33:41] They're going to, they kind of end up fearing them.

[00:33:43] That's the whole point of the X-Men.

[00:33:44] That's the point of Captain America, civil war.

[00:33:46] Uh, that's, you know, this, this whole idea.

[00:33:49] And I, I think the absolute universe gives the opportunity to say, all right, but what about a universe where people will fear them?

[00:33:57] And I think they will.

[00:33:58] I think we're going to see that in this universe.

[00:34:00] Oh yeah, I definitely agree.

[00:34:02] But I think for it's been bandied about like, this is DC's answer to the ultimate universe of Marvel comic line.

[00:34:13] Yeah. Can you, can you elaborate on that?

[00:34:15] So the ultimate universe in Marvel comics was early 2000 where they basically branched out a whole brand new universe full of your favorite heroes, but with different origins, with different personalities, with different battles, with different antagonists.

[00:34:35] Um, that was the ultimate universe.

[00:34:39] So very popular.

[00:34:42] Um, that's where we find miles Morales for the first time.

[00:34:47] Um, so this is really, you know, uh, I think, I don't think people are wrong when they say that this is DC's, you know, shot at creating an ultimate universe type of, um, story.

[00:35:02] I think, um, it is.

[00:35:06] But that's not necessarily, that's not a bad thing.

[00:35:09] No, I think that's a great thing is just make a, give everybody a fresh start.

[00:35:14] That's fine.

[00:35:14] Yeah.

[00:35:15] Reimagine what you have, preserve what you have, but everybody a fresh start to exactly.

[00:35:19] And this is what Marvel did.

[00:35:22] They didn't do away with their main continuity.

[00:35:25] They just created something new and said, we're going to give you these heroes in a new way.

[00:35:31] Right.

[00:35:32] New Peter Parker, you know, older Peter Parker, you know, just different differences with what you've already known.

[00:35:41] But we're not going to take what you already know and love.

[00:35:44] We're not going to take that away from you.

[00:35:46] And this is what DC is doing here.

[00:35:49] I think that's really cool.

[00:35:50] And I, I, I wonder, do you think we'll get a version of the justice league in this absolute universe?

[00:35:57] Yes.

[00:35:58] Okay.

[00:35:59] But it would be called the justice league, or do you think it's going to be something edgy?

[00:36:03] Oh, I always, I always, I always, I always lean.

[00:36:07] It's going to be edgy.

[00:36:09] All right.

[00:36:10] Fair enough.

[00:36:10] I always lean that it's going to be edgy.

[00:36:14] Well, I guess we'll see if our heroes can burn to shine at all.

[00:36:19] Shine.

[00:36:20] Yeah.

[00:36:20] Shine brighter.

[00:36:22] All right.

[00:36:22] Let's take a quick break.

[00:36:23] When we get back, we'll talk about the other issues.

[00:36:34] What do you think that's good?

[00:36:35] Wünschst du dir jemanden, der dich versteht wie kein anderer?

[00:36:38] Jemand, der deine Wünsche wahr werden lässt und mit dir das schönste Abenteuer deines

[00:36:43] Lebens erleben möchte?

[00:36:44] Die Commerce-Plattform Shopify revolutioniert Millionen von Unternehmen weltweit.

[00:36:50] Mit Shopify richtest du im Nu deinen Online-Shop ein.

[00:36:53] Ganz ohne Programmier- oder Design-Kenntnisse.

[00:36:56] Dank der effizienten Einrichtung und intuitiven Social-Media und Online-Marketplace-Integration

[00:37:39] And we're back.

[00:37:41] So, Jean, we've talked about the all-in special.

[00:37:44] I think it's time we get into Absolute Batman.

[00:37:47] Yeah, let's do it.

[00:37:48] Oh, yeah.

[00:37:49] Well, you've got to do the synopsis for me.

[00:37:51] I just realized we've got to do that before we talk about anything.

[00:37:54] All right, let's get into it.

[00:37:55] Absolute Batman number one.

[00:37:57] Intelligence operative Alfred Pennyworth returns to Gotham, where a gang called the party animals have raised the murder rate to an unprecedented high.

[00:38:06] He is tasked with observing their adversary, the Batman.

[00:38:09] He surveils Batman, who he learns is Bruce Wayne, a working class man who studied and trained his way through all of Gotham and knows all of its ins and outs.

[00:38:19] Rather than being an orphan, this Bruce Wayne's mother is still alive.

[00:38:24] Alfred tries to confront Batman, but Batman steals his motorcycle.

[00:38:28] In the end, we got a teaser for a new, never laughing Joker.

[00:38:34] Yeah, a lot of stuff in there.

[00:38:38] Where do I start?

[00:38:39] Let me just start with Alfred.

[00:38:42] What a great take.

[00:38:45] Yeah.

[00:38:45] I loved it.

[00:38:47] There was a show on Max, I think.

[00:38:52] Pennyworth, was it?

[00:38:53] Yes.

[00:38:54] That pretty much is this Alfred.

[00:38:56] Oh, really?

[00:38:57] I never watched it already.

[00:38:59] Yeah, he was like, I didn't watch all of it, but I caught a few episodes here and there.

[00:39:04] You know, when I don't have much to watch, I'll try to watch an episode of it.

[00:39:09] But this is him as a young man, you know, going through.

[00:39:17] Yeah, it's just, I love it.

[00:39:20] And I absolutely, because I didn't know where, what was happening.

[00:39:25] And then it's like, oh, this is Alfred?

[00:39:27] Oh, he's a mercenary?

[00:39:28] Oh, maybe he's not a mercenary.

[00:39:30] Who is he working for?

[00:39:32] I thought it was really a nice spin on the butler.

[00:39:36] Yeah.

[00:39:37] And it's really interesting because, you know, we all heard that it was going to be working class Batman.

[00:39:42] And that piqued my interest.

[00:39:43] That was part of, you know, I heard working class Batman.

[00:39:45] Man, I saw the giant Batman here with all the gadgets, kind of more brutal.

[00:39:51] I was like, all right, this is maybe for me.

[00:39:53] But then I go, well, what happened to his butler then?

[00:39:56] Because he can't have a butler if he's working class.

[00:40:00] I love giving Alfred agency.

[00:40:02] I love making him his own person and sort of having him meet Batman on his own terms.

[00:40:09] And can we talk about Bruce for a minute?

[00:40:12] Yeah.

[00:40:13] Why is he so huge?

[00:40:16] He just loves?

[00:40:17] The guy is stacked.

[00:40:18] I mean, like, he's like Bane.

[00:40:22] I know.

[00:40:24] Somebody said on Reddit, I saw somebody said, well, how big is Bane then if Batman looks like this?

[00:40:29] Like that?

[00:40:30] I'm like, oh, this is what Darkseid thinks of Batman.

[00:40:33] You know what I mean?

[00:40:35] Because he created this universe.

[00:40:37] If I'm going to make a new universe, then Batman's going to be shredded.

[00:40:39] Yeah, he's going to be huge.

[00:40:42] He's bigger.

[00:40:43] He looks bigger than Supe.

[00:40:46] Yeah.

[00:40:47] Yeah, I think you're right.

[00:40:48] He is.

[00:40:48] He just looks more physically imposing than Superman does.

[00:40:52] I think you're right.

[00:40:53] I think you're right.

[00:40:54] It's really interesting.

[00:40:55] I mean, he obviously is training at this gym.

[00:40:57] So I heard that the name of this gym owner that Bruce is training at is a villain in the main universe.

[00:41:04] Yes, Killer Croc.

[00:41:06] Nice.

[00:41:06] Who I never called Waylon, ever.

[00:41:10] They just casually dropped that.

[00:41:12] It was like, oh, okay.

[00:41:14] Let me find out who this guy is.

[00:41:16] And yeah, it's actually Killer Croc.

[00:41:19] So really, again, just weaving different stories and characters in places that you don't expect them to be.

[00:41:31] Because he doesn't seem villainous at all.

[00:41:34] So he's a gym owner where people from the neighborhood come and work out and box and learn how to protect themselves.

[00:41:43] So how bad of a guy could he possibly be?

[00:41:46] And Bruce is, of course, like, all right, I'll get you another bag, buddy.

[00:41:50] Sorry.

[00:41:51] After he breaks it.

[00:41:52] Yes, that's right.

[00:41:53] Which he broke the bag.

[00:41:55] Yeah.

[00:41:56] He broke the body bag.

[00:41:58] Well, thinking about his dad dying.

[00:42:00] Like, what is he on?

[00:42:04] I don't know.

[00:42:05] He's roided up Batman.

[00:42:08] And I'm not saying this because I don't like it.

[00:42:11] I really do like it.

[00:42:14] Because for me, again, to have Batman this physically imposing, right?

[00:42:23] What is it that they're trying to tell me about Batman?

[00:42:26] Yeah.

[00:42:27] I think it's that he's living for this.

[00:42:29] And one of the things that we learned, I think, is that he works in construction, right?

[00:42:33] Yes.

[00:42:34] And so I think the whole point is it's not just his time at the gym.

[00:42:38] He is basically, unless he's sleeping, he's working out.

[00:42:42] All the time.

[00:42:43] He's straining his body during work.

[00:42:46] He's going to the gym.

[00:42:47] And then he's being Batman.

[00:42:49] Those are his three activities.

[00:42:50] And he's just continually getting more ripped.

[00:42:53] And getting better at each of those activities.

[00:42:56] Right.

[00:42:57] And he's doing all of those other things to aid in being Batman.

[00:43:01] Yeah.

[00:43:03] Yeah.

[00:43:04] Because the construction gig is just to learn the layouts of different places.

[00:43:07] Yeah.

[00:43:08] Alfred has a really good montage where he's going through.

[00:43:10] He's like, all right, you interned with the mayor's office or something like that.

[00:43:13] Yes.

[00:43:13] You studied at this school with a full scholarship and you did that.

[00:43:17] So it's really interesting the way he says, like, you purposely went through every aspect of Gotham so that it was your city.

[00:43:25] And that's a really cool way to avoid the idea of, like, okay, so the whole point of Batman is he has all this money for the surveillance and the gadgets.

[00:43:33] And so he's able to tap into the network and can't do that now.

[00:43:37] He's working class Batman.

[00:43:38] So this is somebody who is burning brighter because he has to because he doesn't have the tech.

[00:43:44] He has to know the city with his mind.

[00:43:47] Why do you think Darkseid wants this?

[00:43:50] He just he wanted to see Batman at the gym.

[00:43:54] I mean, who wouldn't want him?

[00:43:56] I think he wants to put them in a weaker position.

[00:44:01] I don't think to me, I guess I'm reading this as Darkseid isn't creating the specific circumstances.

[00:44:08] He's not.

[00:44:08] No, he's just saying, I'm going to put you in a worse starting point and you're going to have to figure it out.

[00:44:15] Do you think he wants them to figure it out?

[00:44:17] Like he wants them to be better because he says in order to he wants them to, like, shine.

[00:44:23] Well, I don't think he wants them to figure it out, but I think to burn brighter.

[00:44:28] He probably realizes that they will because because I guess the whole point of this is there does have to be a combating good.

[00:44:36] Even if even if the world is made in the image of evil and even if the world is made to set you up for failure, some people will burn bright through and will shine in the end.

[00:44:50] And I think it's it's it's despite Darkseid.

[00:44:55] It's not because of Darkseid.

[00:44:57] Because of Darkseid.

[00:44:58] OK, anyway, very cool.

[00:45:02] Bruce Wade and chopping people's hands off.

[00:45:05] He's not he's not the main world Batman, right?

[00:45:08] Like he's still not killing.

[00:45:09] That's made explicitly clear by Albert.

[00:45:11] He's like, you're not you're aiming everything not to kill, but he's chopping hands off and he has no problem doing that.

[00:45:18] No problem.

[00:45:19] Like, yeah.

[00:45:20] Go to the hospital.

[00:45:21] If there's a hospital, you still have time.

[00:45:25] If there's a hospital like two blocks away, you might make it.

[00:45:28] It's like, or maybe it's the other way.

[00:45:31] They might reattach your hand.

[00:45:33] Yeah.

[00:45:34] Yeah.

[00:45:34] That's yeah.

[00:45:35] But I really want to see where this goes.

[00:45:41] Like after one issue, I mean, with all of them, I'm invested already.

[00:45:45] So, yeah, that doesn't need to be said.

[00:45:48] But I really want to see how he what is his.

[00:45:58] In comparison to the main continuity, Batman.

[00:46:02] Where besides chopping hands off, where are the personality differences?

[00:46:08] Yeah.

[00:46:09] We haven't seen a lot of Bruce.

[00:46:10] Right.

[00:46:11] Right.

[00:46:12] Yeah.

[00:46:12] Right.

[00:46:14] Yeah.

[00:46:15] I actually I picked up Batman 153 and 154, which are the newest ones that are part of the all.

[00:46:20] Yeah.

[00:46:20] I just finished 154 today.

[00:46:22] Really good.

[00:46:23] I just it's so interesting to see the difference.

[00:46:26] Right.

[00:46:26] This Batman is is so much more.

[00:46:29] I almost want to say reckless.

[00:46:32] No, this main continuity.

[00:46:35] Batman is truly a detective.

[00:46:38] And that is played up in this issue.

[00:46:41] 154.

[00:46:43] Everything he does is so calculated and you get to see his eye like for detail.

[00:46:49] Yeah.

[00:46:49] Because he is trying to solve things, not necessarily with his hands, but with his mind.

[00:46:56] You really get that.

[00:46:57] I don't know if we'll get that from absolute Batman.

[00:47:01] No, that's why I said he's more reckless.

[00:47:03] I thought.

[00:47:03] No, but I think he's younger.

[00:47:05] Okay.

[00:47:06] Okay.

[00:47:07] And the possibility exists for him to become that because of what Alfred said, the way that he was meticulously building and learning.

[00:47:20] Mm-hmm.

[00:47:22] Right.

[00:47:22] In order to come to Gotham to fix it.

[00:47:25] Yeah.

[00:47:25] So this is a way to maybe become more like main continuity Batman.

[00:47:33] Because main continuity Batman is already fully formed.

[00:47:38] He's fully, you know what I mean?

[00:47:39] Right.

[00:47:39] He's already who he is.

[00:47:41] He is the detective.

[00:47:41] He is the guy who sits behind and has a plan to take down everyone.

[00:47:48] I think maybe this absolute Batman will get there.

[00:47:53] But how long it takes him or the journey that it takes him to get there, that's going to be interesting to watch, to read.

[00:48:01] So I actually also picked up a compilation book of Batman Year One.

[00:48:08] Oh.

[00:48:09] The Frank.

[00:48:09] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:48:10] Yes.

[00:48:10] And I'm only through one issue in it, but I think I see what you mean.

[00:48:15] Because that early Batman is very reckless.

[00:48:18] Yes.

[00:48:18] And he's very much angry.

[00:48:21] Yes.

[00:48:22] And I just want to say, you know, the difference between the main universe Batman, where he's at now, and this absolute Batman, I think feels similar to the difference between the Christian Bale Batman and the Robert Pattinson Batman.

[00:48:36] Yes.

[00:48:36] Where one says, I'm justice, and the other says, I'm vengeance.

[00:48:39] I'm vengeance.

[00:48:40] Yes.

[00:48:41] And this Batman in the absolute universe feels like vengeance to me.

[00:48:44] It feels like vengeance.

[00:48:45] At this point.

[00:48:46] And again, that Batman from the Batman, Pattinson's Batman, is meant to be younger than the M's Batman.

[00:48:55] Right.

[00:48:56] That's true.

[00:48:57] That's true.

[00:48:57] So we have two who are just starting off.

[00:49:05] And how do they get to become the Batman that we know, that's the journey.

[00:49:14] That's what we're on.

[00:49:15] But I also kind of don't want him to become the Batman we know, because we have the Batman we know.

[00:49:19] No, I'm not.

[00:49:20] He may never get there, though.

[00:49:22] Yeah.

[00:49:22] Do we think Alfred's going to be Jiminy Cricket on his shoulder?

[00:49:26] Oh.

[00:49:28] Is that his role here?

[00:49:29] Oh, the angel.

[00:49:32] I hope not.

[00:49:34] But I can see yes.

[00:49:36] But I hope not.

[00:49:38] Well, now we have this conflict of Alfred has essentially been tasked with-

[00:49:42] Killing him.

[00:49:43] Yeah, he's going to have to betray his people if he's going to ally with Batman.

[00:49:50] Yeah, he doesn't want to.

[00:49:51] You're right.

[00:49:51] We already know he doesn't want to.

[00:49:53] Right.

[00:49:53] And so they're going to send another agent to kill them both, probably.

[00:49:56] Yes.

[00:49:57] And who would that be?

[00:49:58] Right.

[00:49:59] Right.

[00:50:01] Bane.

[00:50:03] Barbara Gordon.

[00:50:06] That's an interesting thought.

[00:50:08] That's an interesting thought.

[00:50:09] Talia.

[00:50:10] Before we leave Gotham, I want to ask you, what do you think of this new Joker idea?

[00:50:17] I'm intrigued.

[00:50:19] I'm intrigued by it.

[00:50:21] I will say that.

[00:50:23] I, you know, laughing Joker has his place.

[00:50:31] But I think a lot of the recent main continuity Joker has not been the happy clown.

[00:50:40] Yeah.

[00:50:40] You know what I mean?

[00:50:42] They've really played up on the villainous, on the, you know, really murderous type of

[00:50:51] personality that the Joker has always been, but has always displayed.

[00:50:57] They've always displayed it under this, you know, you know, silly type of, what's the word?

[00:51:03] Silly type of veneer.

[00:51:06] Right?

[00:51:07] Yeah.

[00:51:08] They've done away with that largely in the main continuity.

[00:51:13] So, you get to see a more savage Joker over the last few years.

[00:51:17] And it's going to be interesting to see how they play this one, where we don't have the

[00:51:23] levity.

[00:51:24] We don't have a clown who's laughing.

[00:51:26] Do we only have the savagery?

[00:51:29] He'll fall into acid and we'll be fine.

[00:51:31] Don't worry about it.

[00:51:31] Oh, gosh.

[00:51:32] I hope not.

[00:51:34] No.

[00:51:34] Yeah.

[00:51:35] I think this is something that I hope they have a good plan for.

[00:51:39] Right.

[00:51:40] You know, that's where I'm at.

[00:51:41] I'm not sold on it yet.

[00:51:42] It might work.

[00:51:44] Yeah, it might work.

[00:51:45] It might work.

[00:51:46] But we'll have to wait and see.

[00:51:48] But again, I just, I am really invested in, if you're going to do this type of story,

[00:51:57] then really go all out and just make the characters different.

[00:52:04] Yeah.

[00:52:05] Don't be afraid to go against the grain and to do something wacky or to do something,

[00:52:11] you know, outrageous.

[00:52:12] Just do it.

[00:52:14] Because this is the whole reason that this sort of story exists for people to take a character

[00:52:22] in ways that we don't expect them to go and to let it flow.

[00:52:30] Do it.

[00:52:32] So now let me ask you, what do you think of Bruce having his mother around and Superman

[00:52:40] not having his mother?

[00:52:44] As long as I don't ever have to hear somebody yell out, Martha!

[00:52:50] That's your mother's name?

[00:52:53] If we could all just purge the Ben Affleck rendition of Batman from our memories.

[00:52:59] As long as I don't have to hear that, I'm fine with it.

[00:53:02] I'm happy that this group has a parent.

[00:53:06] I'm okay with it.

[00:53:08] But it's going to be interesting because Supes knows his parents, has lived with them,

[00:53:14] has experienced life with them.

[00:53:19] So how does that change him?

[00:53:21] But also, Supes didn't have Martha and what's the other one?

[00:53:28] Jor-El?

[00:53:29] No, no.

[00:53:29] I meant his Earth dad.

[00:53:32] Oh, Pop Kent?

[00:53:33] Yeah, Pop Kent.

[00:53:35] He didn't have Mama and Papa Kent.

[00:53:37] So will he have the same?

[00:53:40] He's shown empathy already, but what is his tether to Earth at this point?

[00:53:46] I think that's going to be a question.

[00:53:48] That's an interesting question.

[00:53:49] That is an interesting question.

[00:53:50] Because they don't show it to us.

[00:53:54] Yeah.

[00:53:56] So any other thoughts on Absolute Batman before we go on to Wonder Woman?

[00:54:00] Nah, just it was a great first issue.

[00:54:04] Yeah, next week we get issue two.

[00:54:06] So let's see what we get.

[00:54:08] Yeah.

[00:54:09] All right.

[00:54:10] So Absolute Wonder Woman number one.

[00:54:13] When Harbingers are released upon Gateway City,

[00:54:16] Diana of Themyscira arrives to stop them.

[00:54:19] We then turn to Diana's backstory,

[00:54:21] where she was delivered as a baby to Cersei, who lives in hell.

[00:54:26] Apollo gives Cersei the Amazon and tells her that Zeus has destroyed the rest of her people.

[00:54:31] He also prohibits her from using the word Amazon

[00:54:34] and takes her ability to do so away.

[00:54:40] Cersei reluctantly raises Diana, who figures out her true nature,

[00:54:44] and leaves hell to defend the world.

[00:54:46] She stands against Harbinger Prime.

[00:54:50] What did you think?

[00:54:52] I do think this was the weakest of the three,

[00:54:55] but not by a large margin.

[00:54:57] I think the reason it felt the weakest to me was that it felt the most disconnected.

[00:55:02] This did not feel like it was part of the same theme set.

[00:55:09] Do you know what I mean?

[00:55:10] I think that there was a lot of living in Earth or Earth resembling societies

[00:55:17] in poverty and working class,

[00:55:20] and then you have Wonder Woman who's in hell.

[00:55:23] She's in literal hell.

[00:55:24] That's a different vibe to me.

[00:55:27] It's interesting.

[00:55:28] I think what Wonder Woman lost was her community.

[00:55:32] That was the main loss for this character.

[00:55:35] I guess there is that theme there,

[00:55:38] but for me, it felt more disconnected than the others.

[00:55:42] What about you?

[00:55:43] I really like that they flipped her being raised on paradise

[00:55:49] and being raised in hell.

[00:55:53] Because main continuity, Wonder Woman is raised on paradise.

[00:55:57] It's paradise island.

[00:55:58] It's paradise island.

[00:55:59] Right.

[00:55:59] The tough decision is, do I leave?

[00:56:02] Do I betray these people?

[00:56:03] Do I leave paradise?

[00:56:05] Do I leave paradise?

[00:56:07] I don't think it's a question of, do I leave hell?

[00:56:11] But Cersei, you just stay here.

[00:56:13] I mean, you know, I don't know.

[00:56:14] Yeah, go ahead, Cersei.

[00:56:16] You're not my real mom, but I'm just saying.

[00:56:18] I appreciate you.

[00:56:19] But yeah, I think it's a nice flip on the head

[00:56:22] to have this character who was from birth in the main continuity

[00:56:31] raised in a way that I'm not saying Cersei did not raise her with love,

[00:56:38] but raised in, like you said, a community.

[00:56:42] Yeah.

[00:56:42] In hell, it's just her, Cersei, and assorted demons that she makes pets of.

[00:56:50] Yeah.

[00:56:50] That's a drastically different, you know, upbringing.

[00:56:56] Yeah.

[00:56:57] That's a drastically different starting off point for a character who is seen

[00:57:03] as the defender of humans, as the defender of Earth,

[00:57:09] who is there to bring peace, to stop war, right?

[00:57:18] And now she has been raised in nothing but hatred all around her.

[00:57:25] How does she bring out that essence of Wonder Woman,

[00:57:29] which is supposed to be love?

[00:57:31] Yeah.

[00:57:32] And you know, there's a really great book called Mothers and Others

[00:57:35] that talks about alloparents, which are basically like other parents.

[00:57:39] That's what that translates to.

[00:57:40] Okay.

[00:57:41] And this idea is that the social scientist who wrote it,

[00:57:45] I can't remember the name, I apologize,

[00:57:48] says, you know, your parents are important,

[00:57:50] but what's really important is the people,

[00:57:52] the other adults in your life.

[00:57:54] You know, these people who stand in for parents at different times,

[00:57:57] these role models you get that are places that are safe to go

[00:58:01] when you don't get along with your parents,

[00:58:02] that are places that you can, you know,

[00:58:04] you can talk to these people.

[00:58:05] They can teach you different experiences that are outside your home environment.

[00:58:11] And it's so important for a healthy upbringing.

[00:58:15] No, not nothing for Diana here.

[00:58:17] Diana gets Circe and Circe is not happy about it either.

[00:58:20] Right, right.

[00:58:22] For a long, for a long time, she's not happy about it.

[00:58:25] Yeah.

[00:58:25] She's really, really reluctant.

[00:58:28] And what, what did the Amazons do to piss off Zeus?

[00:58:32] That's something.

[00:58:34] That, that is something I'm, I'm waiting to see who like,

[00:58:38] I don't know if he actually,

[00:58:40] if they're actually gone or if that's just a story that they tell.

[00:58:43] So.

[00:58:45] I really liked to, that we've got the Greek here.

[00:58:48] We've got the Greek gods here.

[00:58:50] We've got the Norse gods in Marvel.

[00:58:51] So they're, they're kind of dueling pantheons there.

[00:58:53] Yeah.

[00:58:54] Yeah.

[00:58:55] I've always, I've always thought that the Greek gods as portrayed in DC comics have been cool.

[00:59:04] I've never, I've never ever seen any of it.

[00:59:06] Yeah.

[00:59:07] So I'm excited to see more of it here because obviously this is going to be a main part of this.

[00:59:12] They're all in, in Wonder Woman's, you know, catalog.

[00:59:15] Like, so it's really, it's really awesome to see them bring that into this.

[00:59:23] But I, what do I know about the Harbingers?

[00:59:27] Nothing so far.

[00:59:28] Okay.

[00:59:29] That's a new thing.

[00:59:30] For me, it is.

[00:59:31] Yes.

[00:59:32] Okay.

[00:59:33] You know, um, they, I almost want to say they look like, I don't even know what they look like.

[00:59:40] They look like dinosaurs.

[00:59:43] So I'm not sure what they are.

[00:59:46] Um, but I'm more intrigued by this skeletal Pegasus that she flies.

[00:59:50] That's super cool.

[00:59:51] And then the red lasso too.

[00:59:52] I, you know, I joked about cloud sword, but the red lasso has me intrigued.

[00:59:56] Yeah.

[00:59:56] It's her lasso of truth in the main universe, right?

[00:59:58] Yes.

[00:59:58] Yes.

[00:59:59] What is it in this?

[00:59:59] It's the lasso of pain.

[01:00:01] I don't know.

[01:00:02] I don't know.

[01:00:03] The lasso, the lasso of justice.

[01:00:06] I don't know if it's, I don't think it's justice.

[01:00:08] Oh man.

[01:00:09] I don't know.

[01:00:09] I don't think it's justice because where was it forged?

[01:00:14] Was it forged in hell?

[01:00:15] That's a good question.

[01:00:18] That's a good question.

[01:00:19] Was it something that, you know, Cersei came upon that she took from, you know, the gods?

[01:00:26] Like I have a lot of questions about this.

[01:00:28] No, me too.

[01:00:30] And we do get this bit that I guess this is probably something that was already in DC comics,

[01:00:35] but this idea that the Amazons were keeping a lot of these mystical beings at bay and now

[01:00:40] they're free to do what they want.

[01:00:42] And Diana is the only one left to do anything about it.

[01:00:45] Well, not in DC continuity.

[01:00:48] That's what the, that's not the Amazon's purpose.

[01:00:50] The Amazon's purpose is to bring peace to the world.

[01:00:54] Okay.

[01:00:54] Okay.

[01:00:55] That's what Diana goes, leaves Paradise Island to do to fulfill that purpose.

[01:01:01] Okay.

[01:01:01] So you see Diana in the main universe says y'all have forgotten the mission.

[01:01:05] Yeah.

[01:01:05] Y'all have lost the plot.

[01:01:06] Not even lost the plot because they've been sealed away, you know, through the machinations

[01:01:10] of Zeus, of, of Hera, I should say.

[01:01:13] And, um, but yeah, the, the main purpose of the Amazons is to bring peace.

[01:01:19] So it's a little bit different.

[01:01:20] This seems as if they were known, they were out and about.

[01:01:24] And then the main continuity did not.

[01:01:27] Diana really for a long time was the only Amazon who, who appeared in the, in the world

[01:01:33] of humans.

[01:01:36] One thing I also love about this is her stature.

[01:01:39] Like when she, there's a panel, she's standing next to a soldier and she's at least six inches,

[01:01:48] seven inches taller than the person that she's speaking to.

[01:01:53] And I thought that was.

[01:01:54] Gal Gadot doesn't really do the Amazon thing like that.

[01:01:56] Does she?

[01:01:57] Nah, no, no.

[01:01:59] And I thought that was just a great rendering to show, you know, she's not dainty.

[01:02:05] Again, this is not somebody who is, and even in the main continuity, she, her stature is

[01:02:11] much larger than what we see on screen.

[01:02:15] Right.

[01:02:15] And then you go, well, would I rather somebody who captures the character better?

[01:02:19] Or would I rather somebody who's tall?

[01:02:21] You know?

[01:02:22] So I, I get it.

[01:02:23] I get the reasoning.

[01:02:24] Yeah.

[01:02:25] So I really appreciate the, uh, the way that they've, they've shown her to be, you know,

[01:02:31] larger than life because she is larger than life.

[01:02:34] Yeah.

[01:02:35] You know?

[01:02:36] So, and it, it, it's interesting too, because we just finished talking about how big Batman

[01:02:44] is.

[01:02:45] And now I'm looking at, at Wonder Woman and remarking about how, you know, much bigger she

[01:02:52] is than this normal human soldier, you know?

[01:02:55] So there has to be something here for me to pick up on.

[01:03:01] Right.

[01:03:01] And then, and then you're right.

[01:03:03] Superman doesn't do that whole.

[01:03:04] No.

[01:03:05] Hulking thing.

[01:03:06] It doesn't.

[01:03:06] It's so funny.

[01:03:07] I was watching the Christopher Reeve for Superman last night for just a little bit.

[01:03:11] And the way he plays Clark Kent is so funny to me.

[01:03:15] Cause he's just like hunches over.

[01:03:16] He's like, Oh, I'm just so scared of everything.

[01:03:19] It's so funny.

[01:03:21] And, but he's really like ripped underneath the knee.

[01:03:24] You know, when he has the Superman suit on, you see he's huge.

[01:03:27] And then you have this Superman and he's, he's kind of, he's kind of wimpy in comparison.

[01:03:32] Yeah.

[01:03:33] Still very powerful.

[01:03:34] Very powerful.

[01:03:35] But we don't even know how powerful yet because it seems as if, as it's the suit is doing something to maintain his power levels.

[01:03:44] Right.

[01:03:44] So.

[01:03:46] Well, I know we're chomping at the bit to talk about Superman, but I, any other thoughts on Wonder Woman?

[01:03:52] I think the reason I don't have a lot of thoughts on it is that this was mostly backstory.

[01:03:55] Whereas the other two felt like they had a good, I think the other two had a better mix of backstory and main plot.

[01:04:01] Cause so far in Wonder Woman, I've only seen her just fight in the main plot.

[01:04:06] Right.

[01:04:06] And that's, that's not really story.

[01:04:08] That's just a fight.

[01:04:09] Right.

[01:04:10] Um, yeah.

[01:04:12] Yeah.

[01:04:13] I thought again, the visuals, the drawing, the lettering all tremendous.

[01:04:18] And yeah, I just, I like this story where she is, you know, raised not in paradise.

[01:04:27] The idea of her being raised in literal hell.

[01:04:31] And that is something that I think is, um, that has interesting connotations that could lead to interesting change.

[01:04:40] And, and who, or maybe not, or does, is Wonder Woman constant?

[01:04:45] Are these heroes constant?

[01:04:46] You know what I mean?

[01:04:47] Yeah.

[01:04:47] No matter their circumstances, are they still what we think?

[01:04:53] It's a good question.

[01:04:54] And I'm, I'm really looking forward to episode, to not episode.

[01:04:57] I'm so used to covering TV now.

[01:04:59] Uh, issue two.

[01:05:01] I think issue two is going to be really interesting.

[01:05:02] I hope that we get more details on these harbingers and what Diana is really up to right now.

[01:05:08] Yeah, definitely.

[01:05:10] Shall we move on to the man of the hour?

[01:05:13] Yeah.

[01:05:14] Supes.

[01:05:14] Absolute Superman number one.

[01:05:16] All right.

[01:05:17] Society on Krypton has been divided into strict class levels.

[01:05:22] Jor-El and his wife, Lara, are condemned to the lowest caste as to voicing dissenting opinions against the ruling class.

[01:05:29] After miners become concerned about a planetary event, Jor-El attempts to shut down digging against the wishes of middle management.

[01:05:38] Literally the middle manager guild.

[01:05:40] That's what, I thought that was a little too on the nose.

[01:05:43] That was my one critique of this.

[01:05:44] I laughed out loud.

[01:05:46] Oh, Krypton begins to erupt with a toxic substance.

[01:05:51] Jor-El returns home with radiation burns to check on his wife and son, Kal-El.

[01:05:56] On Earth, Kal-El has gone undercover to protect the working class.

[01:06:01] In particular, he targets the Lazarus Corporation.

[01:06:05] Lazarus sends an agent to capture him, and Lois Lane is successful in doing so.

[01:06:11] Dun, dun, dun.

[01:06:12] Oh, boy.

[01:06:12] I saw Agent Lane and I was like, I don't know how I feel about that.

[01:06:17] Let's see where we go from there.

[01:06:21] You're not a fan of Agent Lane?

[01:06:23] Just not the fact that she's an agent, but the fact that they're adversaries right away.

[01:06:29] Right, right.

[01:06:30] It could be good.

[01:06:31] I just don't know yet.

[01:06:32] Again, these are all really teaser comics almost.

[01:06:36] But you're okay with Pennyworth being an adversary?

[01:06:39] Oh, yeah.

[01:06:40] That's super fun.

[01:06:41] I don't know.

[01:06:43] I don't know.

[01:06:44] Maybe you're convincing me right now.

[01:06:45] Okay.

[01:06:46] All right.

[01:06:46] Good.

[01:06:46] Good.

[01:06:47] Good.

[01:06:47] What'd you think?

[01:06:49] This was great.

[01:06:51] Yeah.

[01:06:52] I mean, there were a few moments where I said, man, I mean, Jason Aaron, who wrote it,

[01:07:01] is just hitting on every cylinder.

[01:07:06] You know?

[01:07:07] Just this is really...

[01:07:10] Yeah, this is great.

[01:07:12] This is what I signed up to read comics about.

[01:07:14] You know?

[01:07:15] Yeah.

[01:07:15] And it's really something...

[01:07:18] The art, the drawings, the coloring, is just really, really beautiful.

[01:07:27] You can feel it, right?

[01:07:29] When you're reading it, you can really feel when he's holding back his power.

[01:07:34] And I think you're right.

[01:07:35] It's extremely powerful in the art.

[01:07:37] Yeah.

[01:07:38] And, you know, one of the first thing I just...

[01:07:41] There's this little blurb.

[01:07:42] When he's...

[01:07:44] The book's first starts, and he's talking about the different classes and stuff.

[01:07:49] And he says,

[01:07:51] In the city's work, the clerics of the science guild.

[01:07:55] Like, the clerics of the science guild?

[01:07:58] That is...

[01:07:59] That's some good stuff right there.

[01:08:01] That's good stuff.

[01:08:03] Yeah.

[01:08:04] Like, the religion of science.

[01:08:07] That's what Krypton is.

[01:08:08] That is the highest order that you can be in if you are in the religion of science.

[01:08:13] And that is tremendous.

[01:08:15] That's great.

[01:08:17] That's great.

[01:08:19] And I do love that his parents both are barred from the science guild and condemned to be in the working class

[01:08:27] because they voiced dissenting opinions.

[01:08:30] And Lara, we learned, did that at nine.

[01:08:33] At nine!

[01:08:33] During SA critiquing the government at nine, and they said,

[01:08:36] Nope, you are going to be a mechanic.

[01:08:38] Yeah, something's rough with you.

[01:08:40] And, like, nothing wrong with being a mechanic,

[01:08:41] but pretty messed up that someone with all the qualifications to do what they want

[01:08:46] is stuck doing a job that they don't want because they had a dissenting opinion.

[01:08:51] Yeah.

[01:08:53] Dissenting opinions, boy.

[01:08:55] Yeah.

[01:08:57] I have a lot of them.

[01:08:58] So do I.

[01:09:02] So, this whole, I mean, Krypton dying in, like, an environmental disaster,

[01:09:07] that's a longstanding Superman lore bit, right?

[01:09:10] Yes.

[01:09:11] But is this similar to how it usually happens?

[01:09:16] We've never seen the gas eruption.

[01:09:19] Like, the planet breaks up, basically.

[01:09:21] It explodes.

[01:09:22] So this looks like that this is what is about to happen to the planet.

[01:09:28] What is interesting, though, the gas is green, which immediately made me think about kryptonite.

[01:09:37] Right.

[01:09:37] So this is some sort of—and Jor-El is hurt by the gas, the radiation from the gas.

[01:09:47] So tying that in, in a way, to what we already know is a weakness for Superman was a nice touch.

[01:09:55] But, yeah, this is generally how it happens.

[01:09:59] Yeah.

[01:10:00] Yeah.

[01:10:00] You bring up kryptonite and the green.

[01:10:03] I was just reading Batman and Superman World's Finest.

[01:10:07] I just read the first issue of that.

[01:10:08] Oh, yeah.

[01:10:09] And that's—I've heard it's going really well.

[01:10:11] And so I'm going to continue on that when I have a chance.

[01:10:13] It's just hard to catch up on everything.

[01:10:15] But I recall there's a whole bit about red kryptonite, right?

[01:10:19] The different colors of kryptonite do different things.

[01:10:21] Yeah.

[01:10:21] They do different things.

[01:10:23] So green will kill.

[01:10:24] Is that what it is?

[01:10:25] Green will eventually kill Superman, yeah.

[01:10:28] Okay.

[01:10:28] And then red will force changes.

[01:10:32] Yes.

[01:10:33] Okay.

[01:10:34] I don't know the other ones.

[01:10:36] They—oh, man.

[01:10:37] There's white kryptonite.

[01:10:39] They're magenta kryptonite?

[01:10:40] Like, how far has it gone?

[01:10:41] All right.

[01:10:42] So, yeah.

[01:10:42] So there's red kryptonite.

[01:10:44] There's green kryptonite.

[01:10:47] There are—there's gold kryptonite.

[01:10:51] There's blue kryptonite, white kryptonite, platinum kryptonite, yellow kryptonite, black kryptonite.

[01:11:00] There's all sorts of kryptonite.

[01:11:02] And they all do different things to people, to kryptonians especially, yeah.

[01:11:08] So it does affect non-kryptonians too?

[01:11:11] Yeah.

[01:11:12] Yeah.

[01:11:12] Some people can be affected by kryptonite.

[01:11:17] Yes.

[01:11:17] Hmm.

[01:11:18] Well, that's interesting.

[01:11:21] So what else we got here?

[01:11:23] We got a lot of stuff.

[01:11:24] We've got Kal-El being raised by his parents to—it looks like near adulthood.

[01:11:29] Like, he's an older kid.

[01:11:31] Yeah.

[01:11:31] He looks like a teenager.

[01:11:33] Yeah.

[01:11:34] Well, almost a teen.

[01:11:35] You know, 12, 13.

[01:11:36] At least had a decent childhood with his parents before—

[01:11:39] It looks like it.

[01:11:40] —being shipped off.

[01:11:41] He's not a baby.

[01:11:42] He's not like—

[01:11:43] No, right.

[01:11:44] I just watched the Christopher Reeve movie.

[01:11:45] Right.

[01:11:46] Where he just shows up butt naked and is like, hi.

[01:11:49] Hi, Martha.

[01:11:50] You're my mommy.

[01:11:52] Hi, Jonathan.

[01:11:54] John Kent.

[01:11:55] But yeah, just—

[01:11:57] It's really interesting because that's the upbringing that Bruce had before his parents were taken away from him.

[01:12:07] Right.

[01:12:08] Well, that's what I mean is it almost feels to me like they're inverting it.

[01:12:11] Yeah, they inverted it.

[01:12:14] It's kind of cool.

[01:12:15] Kind of cool.

[01:12:16] I think it's great.

[01:12:19] Yeah.

[01:12:21] What do you think that's going to do, though?

[01:12:22] Like, how did he get to Earth?

[01:12:24] We didn't really get the sequence of how he gets to Earth.

[01:12:26] Does he choose to go to Earth?

[01:12:28] Is he just sent there by his parents?

[01:12:29] Et cetera.

[01:12:31] I just don't know.

[01:12:32] I just don't know where we're going there.

[01:12:33] And I think—

[01:12:34] Is he the only one that was sent?

[01:12:37] Is he the only one that was left that was sent out to escape the destruction of the planet?

[01:12:44] They mentioned the city of Kandor.

[01:12:49] So there might be other—are there other Kryptonians in this universe?

[01:12:55] Is there a Supergirl in this universe?

[01:12:58] I have a lot of questions.

[01:13:00] I have a lot of questions, too, but mostly because I don't know anything about this.

[01:13:04] I'm trying to do it, John.

[01:13:06] I'm really trying to keep up with you.

[01:13:11] And this Lazarus stuff, I want to ask you, is there any kind of background for the name Lazarus Corporation?

[01:13:20] Not that I'm aware of.

[01:13:21] There is Lazarus in DC continuity, most famously the Lazarus Pit, which is what the League of Shadows uses and what Ross Agul uses to bring himself back to life whenever he dies or to rejuvenate himself as he becomes older.

[01:14:11] So there is that.

[01:14:12] And then you think about the Lazarus Pit, which is something that is found in the Earth that is not mined, but it's a pool.

[01:14:21] So here we have this corporation that's digging into the Earth to find riches.

[01:14:27] And then the Lazarus Pit is something that is found in different places on the planet that has the greatest riches, which is immortality.

[01:14:40] Yeah.

[01:14:43] Well, so we have a big time gap here.

[01:14:47] I think that's my biggest question is what happened in between Jor-El coming home and Kal-El becoming a savior of the working class here on Earth?

[01:14:57] I mean, I can see why, because again, he grew up with his parents and he knows what their status was.

[01:15:09] So I can see why he gravitates to where the story tells us he gravitates to, right?

[01:15:16] He wouldn't be on Earth and be at the head of a corporation or even working at the Daily Planet.

[01:15:23] You know, it totally makes sense that he's found a way of trying to help people who are at the bottom rung of society because that's where he and his parents were, apparently, on Krypton.

[01:15:38] And then they also repurposed the S logo.

[01:15:43] They say that that's the symbol of the lowest cast.

[01:15:46] Yeah.

[01:15:47] That's a deep cut right there.

[01:15:49] That's solid stuff.

[01:15:51] Yeah.

[01:15:52] Yeah.

[01:15:52] It's not.

[01:15:53] Didn't they say it was like a symbol of hope on Krypton?

[01:15:56] But now it's a symbol of shame.

[01:15:59] Not in this universe, buddy.

[01:16:03] Yep.

[01:16:03] Yep.

[01:16:04] Not in this universe.

[01:16:05] Very cool stuff.

[01:16:06] Very cool stuff.

[01:16:06] What do you think Lois Lane's doing?

[01:16:08] Do you think they're going to stay enemies or do you think they're going to ally?

[01:16:11] Do you think they're going to keep her an adversary?

[01:16:18] I will say that she will not be an adversary.

[01:16:26] Do you think they're going to fall in love?

[01:16:27] I do not believe they will.

[01:16:29] Okay.

[01:16:30] You think she's going to be sort of a cautious ally?

[01:16:33] Yes.

[01:16:35] I'm in for that.

[01:16:36] I think that feels right to me in this universe.

[01:16:40] I don't think they will be, you know, long-lust lovers.

[01:16:44] No.

[01:16:45] All right.

[01:16:48] Do you have any other thoughts on this issue before we start wrapping up?

[01:16:51] No.

[01:16:52] Just, again, if you just look at it, it's just a sight to behold.

[01:16:59] Yeah.

[01:17:02] Just everything from the coloring, it's just really spectacular.

[01:17:12] And the last thing I will say is the image of the person who's plugged into all the computers.

[01:17:24] I don't know if you remember that one.

[01:17:26] There's this person who has all these wires plugged into him, and he's at the screen looking and watching.

[01:17:40] Very, very, very much brainiac-ish.

[01:17:43] Yeah, yeah.

[01:17:44] People have been saying that, yeah.

[01:17:46] Very brainiac-ish.

[01:17:48] So it will be interesting to see if they make Brainiac extraterrestrial, or is he indeed human?

[01:17:59] That's a good question.

[01:18:01] That's a good question.

[01:18:03] I guess we'll find out.

[01:18:04] We'll find out.

[01:18:05] We got to wait for...

[01:18:07] Issue two.

[01:18:07] I think we'll probably find out, at least in this arc.

[01:18:10] I don't know if it's the next issue.

[01:18:13] I would hate for them to do that.

[01:18:15] I would hate for them to do that.

[01:18:16] Yeah.

[01:18:17] You know, because it's just so obviously it's there.

[01:18:22] So you don't have to do anything with the character, but at least acknowledge it.

[01:18:26] Yeah, let Supes find his footing a little bit first.

[01:18:29] Yeah.

[01:18:29] Yeah.

[01:18:29] But acknowledge it.

[01:18:31] Acknowledge it.

[01:18:31] You don't have to make him a part of the story.

[01:18:34] We don't have to make him antagonist, but just, you know, you already showed us and let's

[01:18:41] pay it off with acknowledging that this is who it is.

[01:18:45] Cool.

[01:18:46] Yeah.

[01:18:47] Well, Jean, we've been having a great time tonight, and I'm really looking forward to looking

[01:18:52] at this.

[01:18:53] I feel like, you know, I just said every few months, I'm probably going to come back to

[01:18:56] you next month and be like, this was a crazy issue.

[01:18:59] I hope so.

[01:19:00] We can do that.

[01:19:00] Maybe, maybe towards the end of each month, we can sort of take stock.

[01:19:05] Yeah.

[01:19:05] Take stock of what's going on.

[01:19:07] I hope, I hope we'll be able to work it out.

[01:19:09] I think let's not commit to a frequency, but let's just say we're going to be doing this

[01:19:12] regularly.

[01:19:13] Yeah, definitely.

[01:19:14] Definitely.

[01:19:14] And yeah, everybody who's listening, just go read some comics.

[01:19:21] It's okay.

[01:19:22] Yeah.

[01:19:24] All right.

[01:19:26] So quick programming notes that I did not prepare for.

[01:19:30] We have your Agatha long finale.

[01:19:34] Yes.

[01:19:35] Yes.

[01:19:35] It's out now.

[01:19:36] It's out now.

[01:19:37] And hopefully the, thank you, Alicia, for doing all that she does.

[01:19:42] And hopefully the feedback episode will be out tomorrow as well.

[01:19:47] Tomorrow, which is Friday.

[01:19:50] What date is tomorrow?

[01:19:51] Such a topsy turvy.

[01:19:53] The eighth.

[01:19:53] The eighth.

[01:19:54] Yes.

[01:19:54] There we go.

[01:19:55] It's going to be November eighth.

[01:19:58] And you're, we're also doing a wrap up this week on that too.

[01:20:01] Yes, we are.

[01:20:02] We are.

[01:20:02] We're all, all the Lorehounds who can get together.

[01:20:05] We'll get together.

[01:20:06] And we'll talk about Agatha, which should be fun.

[01:20:10] On the Lorehounds feeds as well.

[01:20:12] We have Silmarillion stories, episode 18 on Maeglin, which was a very sad chapter, but

[01:20:19] Marilyn and I broke that down.

[01:20:22] And we had an okay time doing it in a sad chapter.

[01:20:25] You know, we, we, I think we had a great time getting into the themes.

[01:20:29] It's just, it just gets very sad very quickly, but it's a lot of, it's a lot of really good

[01:20:33] info.

[01:20:33] So I hope people will tune in for that one.

[01:20:36] And we've also got coming Dune Prophecy.

[01:20:40] So stick around for that.

[01:20:42] And Silo is going to be starting up soon on the Wolf Shift Dust feed.

[01:20:47] So check that out.

[01:20:49] Alicia and Luke have screeners.

[01:20:51] So they're going to be, I hope, pretty soon after the episodes.

[01:20:55] So that'll, that'll be a lot of fun.

[01:20:56] I know they already have preseason coverage out.

[01:20:58] So go check that out.

[01:21:01] And other affiliates, we have the Nevermind the Music podcast now, which is always a lot

[01:21:08] of fun.

[01:21:09] I think we're going to be doing some cross promo on this feed soon, but for now.

[01:21:13] That's good.

[01:21:13] That's cool.

[01:21:14] Yeah.

[01:21:15] For now we have, let's see, they just did Jumpin' Jumpin' by Destiny's Child and Leaping

[01:21:23] Neuroplasticity.

[01:21:24] If you don't know, this is a music professor and a psychology professor analyzing music through

[01:21:31] both of those lenses.

[01:21:32] So it's very cool.

[01:21:33] It's very fun.

[01:21:35] And lastly, on the affiliates that are going right now, we have Radioactive Rambling.

[01:21:41] They are covering the Red Rising series right now.

[01:21:45] So if you haven't read that, go check it out and go listen to their podcast.

[01:21:50] I'm sure they summarized it pretty, pretty well too.

[01:21:52] I've listened to some of their coverage because I did read those books, but it's a, it's a good

[01:21:57] book series and it's a great podcast.

[01:22:00] That's how I'll, I'll do that.

[01:22:03] The first three are very much worth the read and they're still in that.

[01:22:06] So I'll, I'll, I'll listen to those.

[01:22:08] I think after that I fall off a little bit, but I did read them.

[01:22:14] It's, it's a, it's kind of fantastical sci-fi.

[01:22:18] Okay.

[01:22:19] Yeah.

[01:22:20] All right.

[01:22:22] John, any other thoughts before I do the thank yous?

[01:22:25] Um, I have my say after the thank yous.

[01:22:29] Okay.

[01:22:30] All right.

[01:22:30] All right.

[01:22:30] Let's do the thank yous then.

[01:22:32] Discord server boosters, Aaron K, Tlue the Thriller, Dork of the Ninjas, Doove71, Athena A,

[01:22:39] Tina, LeStu, Nancy M, Ghost of Partition, and Richard W. And then our lore masters,

[01:22:46] Samarshan, Michael G, Michelle E, Brian P, SC, Peter OH, Bettina W, Adam S, Nancy M, Doove71,

[01:22:55] Brian8063, Frederick H, Sarah L, Gareth C, Eric F, Matthew M, Sarah M, DJ Miwa, Andra B,

[01:23:03] Kwong Yu, Dead Eye Jedi Bob, Nathan T, Alex V, Aaron T, Sub-Zero, Aaron K, Deli V, Mothership61,

[01:23:12] Narls, Kathy W, LeStu, Jeffrey B, Elisa Yu, Neil F, Ben B, Scott F, Stephen N, and Adrian.

[01:23:23] Always last.

[01:23:24] Oh, and I, uh, oh no, I did read Scott F. I thought I missed one towards the end.

[01:23:30] All right.

[01:23:32] John, now that you're done laughing about Narls.

[01:23:35] Narls?

[01:23:36] What were you going to say?

[01:23:37] Thank you, everyone.

[01:23:38] And if I know this is DC Comics, but if you know me and we're talking about superheroes,

[01:23:45] there's only one thing to say.

[01:23:47] Feige, recast T'Challa.

[01:23:52] The Lorehounds podcast is produced and published by The Lorehounds.

[01:23:56] You can send questions and feedback and voicemails at thelorehounds.com slash contact.

[01:24:02] Get early and ad-free access to all Lorehounds podcasts at patreon.com slash thelorehounds.

[01:24:07] Any opinions stated are ours personally and do not reflect the opinion of or belong to any

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