Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of four guys on a comic and we're glad to have you back And this is Rusty Surfer and I'm here with everyone this week. No one is missing. I promise we have the Red Skull Hey, we have tap what up what up and we have the Canadian Nova Yeah, I'm here Funny people like he just said everyone would be here Yeah, I'm here and I like your I know that the viewers can't see it and already made a comment on it already But I'm liking the hairstyle today Nova. Thanks, man He's really liking your hair.
That's the second comment in 10 minutes Lord I'm gonna have to turn maybe a lot of things get too awkward. I think Rusty might have a man crush on the hair It's like an 80 and lover. Well people are So comic books So that brought us all together all right well guys we're back it's another week and that means more comics have been read So what's going on guys like what have you all been doing this week with comic books? Have you all found anything new that you just can't wait to tell me about yeah, what is it?
I? Did I'm not even joking I'm serious so this week I've been binging the heck out of The sixth gun with colon bun Brian hurt bill Crabtree I got the three deluxe editions I'm currently almost finished with the third edition of it and then also by colon bun and Brian hurt and bill crabtree The damned it's a five issue mini series from back in like 2006 But they've just recently re-released it like a couple weeks ago and a like a trade paperback format Because starting in May the damned is now going to be a new ongoing series. Oh, that's cool And both titles are absolutely amazing. I am a ginormous fan of the both of them and rusty Honestly, I think you would dig them as well and Nova's read the dam.
I don't think he's read the six gun yet But I know he's read the dam and I think no one can back me up on this I think it's up your alley wait so it's gone I was gonna say is six gun because like from the pictures you sent me and stuff that was the zombie stuff You're kind of so we're like you rather is it is it like a based in like the old west or okay? That's the vibe of getting from it So the basic premise of it is basically that there's six magical guns each gun is a different power such as like one like shoot Like in the shoot like the fire the hell fire one has like just like this amazing Explosions one fires one can like keep you young and stuff like when you kill somebody one can actually bring the souls back from the dead That it's killed things like that. There's like a bunch of different like locking these guns can do Yeah, it's kind of like the locking key keys honestly very reminiscent of that but when all whoever holds all six guns can unlock with this ancient evil buried deep within the earth and Basically create doomsday and start the world anew. What's cool?
So wait is an image title new? What is it under like on press on you press? Yep? Okay, that's interesting.
Yeah, it's so good. It ran for 50 issues What year did it start? Mid 2000s Okay, so it was after the dammed. Oh, yeah, the series has been done They released the first three the first 34 issues and the first three volumes of the deluxe hard covers The fourth volume of the hardcover is coming out later this year I think it's in August the fourth volumes coming out and these books are massive.
They're bigger than absolute editions They're like 13 and a half 14 inches tall giant oversized artwork One of my absolute favorite characters is this guy named? Well, he's not a guy's a nine foot tall mummy Asher Cobb God dude so good like actually my line pick is asher Cobb Okay, so you see my line pick like that's that's actually asher Cobb Yeah, no, the book is amazing and then I found out that they did the dam together So I went back and read that because it was only five issues and once again amazing stuff that one's like 1920s gangsters But with like demons thrown in the mix like so there's like humans that run stuff that are like mafia so and then there are demons They have like their own mafia. Okay, so It's gonna say if all three of you have already read it and I haven't read it then what's the problem here? Why have I not heard about this from I've just recently discovered this I know it's been out for a long time But me personally I just recently discovered it I was on like a colon bun kick for a while and I started researching some of his older stuff and obviously You know, I like horror and supernatural and those kinds of things so I started reading Oh, what's the other one that he has I started with an H Yeah, yeah, yeah, hero county yeah, hero county I started reading that one I was really good But also he done and I saw the sixth gun and the dam did everything else I just kind of went crazy over it and I love his his Creator own stuff.
I mean his marble stuff and we know is what I was all good too But his creator owned his top notch. Oh, I was saying Brian Hertz art is it's amazing Brian Hertz probably an artist it Most people probably never heard of unless they know the six gun and the damn things that but his art is so fun and awesome to look at That's cool. So red I saw you kind of snicker in there whenever I brought up that I'm an odd man out here Why are you laughing so much? I just had invincible came to mind.
That's all Actually read the first 30 issues of invincible The books So much Series that I've read from start to finish four times four times four times over that whole series and I'll read it It's time after the last issue drops. I you can read it six time after I finally finish it, right? Yeah, and then we can actually talk about it So where you had an walk in there buddy, we can actually almost done with the second art now So I think I'm on issue five of six of the second one. So it's taking you a week to read five issues I've read an article week basically.
I read an article last week and I'm gonna finish the art I have one art issue left so it's an article week. I've turned out on it. There's issues a lot. I read Last night just last night.
I don't know about you, but I'm going out on the Saturday nights Red Skull That's really I'm still a young gun. I know you got your family and your your wartime stuff and what not But I'm still going out trying to join myself. Nova knows we're don't you Nova? I do know it No, but reads more than five weeks though.
Yeah, I do read okay. You gotta realize this though I read those five issues and then I read a bunch of all to horror I went and read all my Marvel books for this week and I read books you think you've read this week nine or ten That's it. Well, no, that's a lot. That's gotta be more than that.
So I read just the five issues Yeah, it's more than that. I'd probably say 15 to 18 probably No much I read this week one and a quarter short boxes. Yes, that's ridiculous. I couldn't do that I've been I died was a Star Wars Marvel binge week and I have gone and I'm telling I told you before I am catching up I am buckling down catching up on all my reading that one So I started off with the Star Wars Marvel because I've been dying to read it I've been buying it collecting it since 2015 I've yet to actually sit down and read it all So that's what I've been doing and I'm telling you I've gone through one and a quarter boxes and read so much of it I'm telling you some of it is just so good.
What's your favorite Star Wars series right now? It's actually the main one is is pretty amazing. It's Jason Aaron. That's up to issue 29 and it is just phenomenal right now You're even like the current star wars.
I thought you met like old school stuff 15 the current yeah, there's a lot of Star Wars stuff that came out there is a lot of stuff But I'd say my close second though is Darth Vader 25 issues are just off the hook and that's Kieran Gillen right they did the That was and with Salvador Yeah And you know I always give Marvel a hard time on the crossover events and stuff I'm gonna tell you the best crossover event I've ever read hands down from current Marvel age is through Star Wars right now because they get Cross over with Darth Vader finding Luke Skywalker and trying to capture him and it crossed over between Star Wars Darth Vader and the one shot Vader down See I don't I want to call that I mean yes It is a crossover but I want to necessarily call that like a Marvel crossover like when you think Marvel crossovers You think like Civil War two and yeah humans versus X-Men So I think that's my own identity exactly Star Wars is like a boutique crossover So like it's okay because it doesn't cross over 80,000 books like all the other ones do When you think of 16 as a six yeah 16 or 17 different Marvel series that they've put out in the last two years of Star Wars Yeah from Star Wars Jesus. I don't know that many yeah You have Star Wars the Force Awakens. Oh we want an Anakin Vader Vader down C3PO Lando Oh Chewbacca journey into Star Wars yet Poe Canaan dr. Alfred Darth Maul Princess Leia Princess Leia Han Solo I had no idea for the dang Boba fat one man That's the one I'm gonna be jumping all over if they ever do it eventually and I'm gonna tell you they're doing a really good job The only one I could say I actually did not like was Obi-Wan and Anakin the Story was terrible basically they were young Anakin with Obi in the side so about how Anakin wants to leave The order and find his own way in the universe and so they go to a planet that they got a mysterious distress call and turns out It's a civil war and the civil war's been going on for so long They don't even remember why it was going on in the end Everybody was happy and a little fine.
It was it was everyone lived happily ever after he was a really really bad story I'm one of the best a little one shot for C3PO How he got his red arm as we seen from the force awakens and I'll tell you that was a really touching story really Yeah, you know basically the rebels had to go capture a droid that had information on where Admiral Akbar was being a hollostajat So all the rebels got killed and all that was left were four droids and and then the fifth droid being the one that they captured And one by one the droids were getting killed off to all that was left was C3PO and the droid that held the information Well in the end that bad droid Committed suicide I guess you can say in a way to save C3PO and all that was left was a red arm and C3PO needed one because he lost his arm during the issue And he keeps the arm as a remembrance to the lives lost or the joys that lost their lives through that issue It was powerful very well written, you know and he's like he wished that story was out before the movie to help people understand And it was really touching and actually really was touching Yeah, well, that's a great stuff I just have a couple issues left I need to catch up on the Darth Maul that just came out and Dr. Alfa which I gotta say is probably one of my new favorite Star Wars characters They made her into a badass. Are you guys familiar with her at all? No, she for her first appearance was in Darth Vader 3 or 4 right something like that Yeah, because I remember when that issue came out I was still buying the Darth Vader series and I remember my comic shop was trying to up-price that issue because they're like The internet apparently was like oh, it's a new care It's like the first new character from the Star Wars the new Star Wars universe or whatever They're like saying that at the issue is gonna go for a lot of money or something like that I ended up buying the issue and reading it and be like, okay Now look real quick But I do know that issue has gone up a price because of it She is a character basically almost think of a young female with an attitude similar to Han Solo, but she's a bad guy That's cool.
Yeah, and she doesn't care about anything but making a name for herself through working for Darth Vader even though She knows working for Darth Vader is a Community suicide. She knows eventually he has to kill her. Mm-hmm. She can live it up for now though, right?
Yeah, kind of and she does so much. She finds out looks guy walkers name with bulb of that she finds out where he's at she creates a droid army She steals the treasure from the Empire she does all these amazing things and at the end of it She's so bold. She goes to the Emperor. She just knocks on his doors.
Hey, this is what Darth Vader has been doing this whole time You know, she has some coins and it's just a character you really fall in love with and really enjoy Yeah, that's cool. It's right now Was it Darth Vader? Oh, I know for fact it's Darth Vader. I think it was three or four pretty sure okay Yeah, it's gone.
It's up there now a $15 price range. Okay, number three. Yeah, and it's only gonna go up a little bit more The variants though for that issue number three are really going up a price to anywhere in the hundred dollar mark. That's crazy.
Yeah, now I guess Beyond Star Wars now. No, but what did you get for it? What have you been reading this way dude? One thing that comes to mind I guess mostly because it was the best thing I read was a Punisher Max So I read I finally got to your thing Rusty Barracuda.
Yeah, you kept that last week to kept asking. Yeah. Yeah His character, right? Yeah, he was interesting He's stand.
I don't know to me. Everyone made me feel like he stands out pretty much like the most well Like the problem for me was that he's not horrible. I can see that Yeah, for sure the ark right before it I sort of read the ark before it and the barracuda one sitting and the one before it was like this this ark about like a slavery and It's a pretty heavy topic and of course it's frank going at it So he's like super violent with these slavery people. It was just just a really like strong ark And you can sort of you know, like it's a touchy.
It's a dark subject and I thought it was really well done Considering you know Punisher is usually pretty violent as it is. This was like a whole step further than that But yeah, but yeah, it was cool. He's a funny guy. I actually found myself chuckling quite a bit in that arc because of the things he'd say Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's missing teeth and it's missing teeth and stuff kills me.
Yeah, it's like I Mean I'm gonna be some Bronze Age justice League of America was so much fun. What do you think of the Justice League trailer man? It looks cool. It looks good.
I don't know I got a few issues with it, but that's not here nor there. Yeah It is what it is. I'll always have my always have my comic books. We have been reading I've been reading that's yeah people.
Yeah, whatever I've been reading a lot of a few Marvel books I guess and a few number ones this week that I think we've all tried to read oh Yep, yep, yep tried to trudge through Trudge the using my words now you horrible person you trudge through some Marvel issues So what Marvel issues did you trudge? Alright, let's start with me and doing human sperm first. I think we all read that one, right? Okay, I didn't read in humans right.
I'm not an human span man. I understand why I Like David Rusty. Okay, fine. Let's just talk X-Men prime then I was told to read in humans prime because Nova said let's discuss it Disgusting okay, okay.
I got the primes mixed up. I said both so I mean you missed all My bad, I picked up I read in in humans prime only because something a chat room made a mention about the end of the issue I was like, okay, I'm gonna read it just so I can see what that's about okay Well, you can ruin it for me cuz I'm never gonna read it. I'm not an in humans fan like I don't know what it is I just can't get into it I love the X-Men though at the same damn thing, but I just the character the depth of the characters that are the in humans Just don't appeal to me as much I don't know why anyone listening who likes the humans Can you please tell us what the hell the deal is why anyone cares about these characters? I know I just reading I'm like I don't care about anyone here even black bolt who I usually thought is cool It's just like I don't know he didn't do it for me in this book.
He's just sort of there Yeah, it was bogus that book. I don't know. It was not very good. I'm not a human span either all you Really even usually does really good stuff.
I'm just I'm just not an in humans fan. Maybe that has something to do with it I don't know yeah The best part of it though was that one liner in there, you know I got I'm trying to remember what it was something about to I'm here to see a battle and Oh, I'm blowing it, but does it like I want to see a battle and like oh no, that's a battle like okay That was like the best line of the only thing worth reading the whole story Yeah, my thing is to is the art changed artists halfway through the book and Really? Yeah, and they have very extremely different styles and so it is absolutely Perwise yeah, it's it was like that cyborg book that one week. No, but it was just so weird and what's great Is it doing backgrounds in it?
Yeah, it's some degree the first artist did the second one had these really bad panels I mean it's funny because I mean we just heard this week that you know Marvel doesn't really care about having consistent artists on books Rotating yeah, because the artist doesn't really matter all that much as long as the books out on time the ending was kind of cool Though I do understand that the character. I don't really care for I guess what you say It's been like a week and a half at this point Marvel boy basically shows up and the only encounter fed with him is The great Morrison mini series, which is kind of fun. So it'd be cool I'm not gonna say that's why I want to read a Marvel boy because I want to see how they how he was drawn and how would they portrayed him It was just that one panel like yeah Big lots of setup. It's just like oh, we're not gonna have a king or queen anymore.
It's just we're all royalty now. It's like all right That were you why not yeah, and not it was two minutes of my life historically that's worth Yeah, not only that but the cover to the royals books that are becoming out I don't know what the interior art is but those covers. Oh Those were not good covers like whoever the artist was that did the first half Ryan's so it was pretty good If they could just have an artist like that Keep doing the book. Yeah, I don't know.
I probably won't read them Sorry guys. Yeah Human's no I don't know how many times I can say I don't care about the in humans. I've never cared even old in humans I'm just like well according to more like knock off X-men according to Marlboro. You're wrong You're the one who's doing all wrong man.
They're good. They're fine. They're doing everything right. You're wrong for not liking humans We know between the in humans Prime and X-men prime and as much as I hated the in humans.
It was still better than the X-men prime. Oh, I thought so Worse oh no, I couldn't stand I'm also not an X-men fan either. That's No disgrace I enjoyed X-men prime. I thought the art was really good too Yeah, and I enjoyed X-men prime and there were some things in there that like if you're an X-men fan There's like little Easter eggs in the book, you know what I mean?
We're kind of cool and I enjoyed that but also it got me more interested in what's coming out later this year with weapon X Cable like I actually got more intrigued by the other books X-men gold I know Colin buns doing X-men blue, but I'm just not a fan of the arts. I guess we'll give it a shot and see what happens But I was gonna treat you a little bit I was gonna say didn't it treat you a little bit to have the whole like they're running the danger room as a recording and they're like Oh, we gotta go do something. Yeah, no, that was that was interesting like I said, I actually enjoyed X-men prime I did not dislike it at all it wasn't like mind-blowing but it wasn't it wasn't bad I actually didn't mind it. I kind of like I said it intrigued me to read more things.
So we'll see yeah I just thought it was boring. It's just a big setup issue and I just it makes the X-men look fairly stupid because they just got over This whole thing with the humans everyone hated them. There was like being you know mutants mutants carry disease and all this stuff So you're like all right, maybe you know, maybe it's time to chill out a bit be a little low-key for a while Now let's move the mansion. Let's move the school to Central Park Forget about it.
Let's just be right in the middle of New York. Who cares? We don't need to lay low We just haven't been through a lot of trauma and difficulty It makes no sense to me like after you go through something like in humans versus X-men typically a person wants to you know sit back relax Sort of get their stuff back together again instead of jumping right out there But that just what I thought that was really weird. It didn't make much sense to me For sure, you know I will say though one of the things like you were talking about tap with a weapon X thing the whole thing with lady death Death strike or whatever popping up on shore.
Yeah, I was like because I haven't heard anything about lady death strike in a long time So to see her just randomly pop up in this book and be a part of I guess weapon X It was a good lead into that and I think that's what really intrigued me because I wasn't super into the idea of like I mean like I wasn't excited for weapon X I mean I knew it was a book that I was gonna read because it's something that I was like all right I can't wait to read this but now after that. I'm kind of like all right. Let's see what happens in the first issue You know what I mean? Yep, yep And you know I will say this about X-men prime though like you said no but there was like a bunch of little Easter eggs and stuff So throughout it that kind of yeah like you know one of the things that kind of stuck out to me that really felt like kind of an older school moment was you see the when he goes into the mansion and she goes into her old room and Peter is living in her old room Yep And they go through the little flashback sequence and the flat the panels are like I remember a lot of those from like dark Phoenix And after that and stuff like those arcs and so I was just like oh that's cool You know they're kind of reminiscing to those older things, you know And it'd be kind of cool to see Kitty get back with Colossus again.
I mean she went through You know the whole starlord thing and she was like I'm not gonna get back with anymore Peters, but we'll see she can't help herself No, but I mean overall the issue was all right I mean it wasn't anything to just like you know swoon over anything But I mean it was a decent rated and I'm kind of excited to see what's gonna happen and it's cool to see that you know X-men may finally be in the the forefront again, you know Now you're mentioned before the X-men gold when is the X-men gold next on blue drop this month April this month Yeah When somebody in one of our chat rooms that made a mention about it and I was about an eBay auction these things are already pre-selling And they're going like hotcakes. For example, there's an eBay auction to get like all six variants $3,500 oh yeah, some of those variants are ridiculous to just the hip-hop variants 150 bucks. Wow really yes Yeah, the the recolored Jim Lee covers. That's what I wish I could get recolored I guess people want that kind of stuff.
I mean it is it is like a low print run, but I mean These things I think that's the one out of 1000 something that I'll never be able to get but if you see it pick it up They did some cool ones they have like an old school. Um, I think it's for X-men blue They are no it might be blue or gold one of the two they have a burn variant where they read it a burn cover basically and It looks really cool because they even did like the outside art like old school X-men issues Where it has like the little number in the month in the corner and like, you know the the price It looks like a little box and everything and school everything about the boxes and everything for it too But it's like a little old school cover so I think I think Marvel really burns some bridges with retailers and customers There's been a lot of stuff going on with them. Has it there? Yeah, a lot of flip-flopping Yeah, they basically stab themselves in the foot took that foot put it in their mouths and Then bit their tung heads up there.
Yeah, exactly and then wound up begging for you know saying they didn't mean it Yeah, but at the end of the day guys, it's all the customers fault because we're experiencing event fatigue So that's on us. We're the ones not buying diversity. So that's on us You know whatever else Blame down us the people giving them money It comes down to is you got a right a dang good story Yeah, I'm then provide us with some good art the art has been the problem that's been lacking lately stories Oh, aren't super bad, but the art I don't know what it is. I don't know why I don't know why or where they're finding these people But I did have a conversation with Matt Hawking over the weekend Or last week at Dallas fan Expo and he was telling me he was saying that Artists don't really submit portfolios like they used to he was saying that it's like the whole time he was there It's the second day.
He said he's gotten maybe one portfolio and that The other thing he got was like a little mini book thing that someone put together But he was given to him by a writer so it wasn't even the artist giving it to him and Yeah, he said that there's just not an abundance of artists that are I guess interested nowadays, so I don't know Maybe that's why we're seeing so many foreign people at a marvel now. You know a lot of you'll from overseas. Yeah Every month ago the creator own, you know You make all your money now. Yeah, it's true or whatever juicy exclusive deals DC's giving out.
It's making these big news claim exclusivity Yeah, now okay, so I mean my god I was watching a bunch of don't ask me why but a bunch of live field of videos this week And in one of them Rob was talking about one of the great thing about working with marbles that you can get all of the art supplies that you want For free. Yeah, so whenever you need a number one oh two pencil You just call them up and say you need more pencils and they ship them out to you It's like that's one of the great things about work with Marvel You can get all your supplies for free. I think it was at 18 years old during that interview But I'm watching all these things just for shits and giggles and I'm telling you in almost every video I watch you put his foot in his mouth in some way or another And he was like all the stuff is just begging for a compilation video like he's had its interview with Handy with somebody I can't remember all the time I had and the guy's like oh my gosh. I love reading comics Especially like a What did he say dare devil in the X-men's like are you from where the X-men?
He's like yeah, I know about the X-men. He's like oh so who did from the X-men? Do you know and Rob is like well? They know there's that kind of wheelchair um Yeah, you know the guy in the wheelchair Charles is something There's cable and there's a you know this is creation.
Yeah, so he's like so who the X-men typically fight? He's like oh um yeah the Hulk they normally fight the Hulk the whole audience was like Yeah, it was a wow Just like oh my god, really People just burning him you know even Stanley was like yeah You just really like to put a lot of muscles and extra stuff onto your guys He's like well my guys have a lot of muscles because they drink their milk. Oh Sure They all take steroids I think it was a Todd McFarland who's you know saying yeah, you know when we draw we use these bigger sheets of paper Really big compared to what you know big kind of like Rob life was ego. Oh That was when you had like there's a lot of videos of Todd when you had like a mullet Yeah, yeah Yeah, it's jinjakie.
Yeah, that too. I love that jinjakie man. I wonder if he still has it You know what the same time period. That's all I wore every single day.
I have my jinjakie on Jeff a bullet I did not have a bullet no no, but I had anyone to admit to Now I have a jinjakie and I'm like patches all over it and stuff. Yeah That's cool. That's cool. Yeah, so Sticking with Marvel.
There's two Marvel titles that I really want to talk about this this week, okay One of them I'm gonna try and sell you on but I'm gonna save it for a second But the first one is Thanos came out last week, okay, and I don't know I don't know I got y'all read it Thanos. Oh Thanos Thanos is real Thanos. Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, so came out last week and a lot of people are talking about it because the ending basically changed Everything that was going on in the story almost because for the past few issues as y'all know Thanos has been dying like he's on his death bed and he's trying to find a cure to save himself right now I don't want to do that. They want to be with Lady Death.
Well him and Lady Death aren't a thing anymore. Yeah, so there's nothing there He just wants to live now and in the second or third issue. He killed his dad mentor He straight up just like destroyed him like he's gone Wow, and he's out and he got captured and taken into space person by the shiar Guard, you know gladiator and all them and so he got taken out because he's dying and so he's super weak But coming to find out. I'm gonna interrupt you for one second.
What up. He killed his father. You said yeah He killed me. He already did that and Thanos rising.
No, he killed his mother. Oh, I think you I just want to get that straight for sure And so I guess captured by the shiar garden everything Thane is building a group to kill Thanos like make sure he's gonna die and it's consisting of nebula there's champion aros and I think that's it I think that's all of them and they're all they go basically To tear acts his ship because they need to get something from tear acts which Thane doesn't explain what it is But he's just like we got to do this because it's gonna help us kill Thanos or whatever right so that's going on Thanos gets captured don't find out Thanos is like playing the whole time. He's still like dying He's still like sick and everything but he basically let himself get captured and then he destroys the space for that He like rips the arm off the guy who's in charge of the space prison that he's in he goes in He's like the slaughtering the whole prison basically now and I we don't know why yet But the thing that really just flipped the issue is what Thane and his group was actually going to tear out tear acts to find They arrows distracts tear acts and they go into is the rest of them sneak the rest of them sneak through his ship and go to his vault And they open up the vault and they call it the explosion everything and behind the freakin door is the Phoenix force Okay Yeah, so Thane broke into the to a ship because tear acts for some reason had the Phoenix and now Thane is gonna Gonna become the Phoenix to try and kill his dad and so that ended the story Right there until the next issue and I'm sitting here I'm like Thanos is gonna take that Phoenix force from Thane so fast if he tries to confront him because it's Thanos, you know And I'm thinking that that's ultimately what's gonna be the cure to him is he's gonna become instead of an infinity gauntlet He's gonna have the Phoenix and I think that's gonna set up a big arc here coming up because one of the main stories for the gene gray solo Is she's preparing for the Phoenix to come to earth and that's all it is for the story like the summary? So I don't know if they know is gonna get it and just take it from him cure himself and come to earth to try and kill everybody Or what but that's kind of what I'm assuming.
I mean, we'll see interesting. Yeah, and so yeah There's just the fact that thingos is gonna have Phoenix maybe is kind of overbearing It's like that infinity gauntlet or you're like does he really need this much power, you know what I mean? Yeah, she was this it's the new I think it's six that's gonna be coming up I think this was revealed in five. I think I could be wrong.
It could be six and seven, but yeah I mean Thanos is really good right now. I'm surprised you're not reading it's half it's Jeff Lemire, so Yeah, I'm just I don't know what it is. I have a hard time getting into some of that Marvel space stuff I don't know It's on like I said, it's a diadato and it is a little mirror on the same book So the arts really good and the writing's pretty good So I'll check it out of mention my problems right now I just have way too much to get caught up on I'm actually having to put books that I really really enjoy on the back burner Because I can't keep up like I have to I was telling right I just got to buckle down and just knock these out I'm so far behind I can't keep allowing myself to get there Now I hear that I'm doing the same thing. You know I figure I should do a short box a week I should be done about 45 weeks Crazy now Okay, so the second book that I was gonna bring up is the one that we were talking about before infamous Iron Man now I know it's Bendis, okay, and I'm sorry.
No, it's here miss either. It's really good or it's just like really bad Yeah, yeah, I'd say you said her miss too Nobody doesn't even want to give him a chance He has done that's the thing it was all in the past It's there double was the last thing that he wrote that I actually enjoyed and since then it's been I can't get into any of it I just can't well, maybe this might change your mind. I'm hoping it'll change your mind knowing years and taps background I think it's gonna change your mind a lot after I got this button Okay, so the first like three issue or four issues There was nothing really too much I was kind of explaining how he got iron man's like Tony Stark's armor and stuff and became the new Iron Man Because he felt he owed Tony Stark the favor But is that tied to oh it is actually after Civil War which is Civil War? Sorry?
Does this have anything to do with a re-refuge lady no, no actually Every Civil War two first You don't necessarily need to read Civil War two because this actually the first issue came up for Civil War ended Okay, so they really they just touched on it, but they don't really talk about a lot and how's it gonna Do I was gonna tie into secret empire should I just start reading secret empire books as well? I don't know if this is gonna tie into secret empire at all This is the surprise that I'm talking about it really seems totally separate from everything that they need a really big deal Okay, because what we'll get to it, but I guess I issue five of the end of issue four Doom is in the armor and his mom pops up, okay, and you know We've all thought she was dead for forever or whatever but she pops up and that's how the end of issue four ended Well issue five just dealt with him like talking to his mom basically and Why do I know this she was like going off about how she's disappointed in him and yes? Yeah, how do I know this tap reads marveling his sleep? I remember this she was all to my house.
She's all I want to ruin Rusty's thing go ahead But yeah, I know your time yeah, so she's there and she's confronting doom and doom's like no This isn't real or whatever so it keeps trying to attack her and she just keeps shutting him down like straight up like doom can't do anything magically To stop her for some reason and she just sits there She's like why are you doing this? You're not real and she's like I am real and she keeps trying He's like this is a reason why I'm disappointed and you why you're a disgrace because you just look for you know Confrontration to solve everything basically and she just goes on about how like she came back and was hoping he was different But he wasn't different and that he was still just trying to solve problems with you know force basically and that she was just super disappointed in him and Like I said, this is the issue five there issue six came out I guess like a week and a half ago now not this past Wednesday, but the Wednesday before and And it left on issue five with her being like, okay I'll come back when maybe you change you know and she just disappears He's like wait a minute. Why did I do that? And he finally like realize he's like look I had this opportunity to connect with my mom again and figure out why this was happening And I just ruined it basically and so she disappears and he wanders off and being mopey emo vicar von doom But it shows like the last two pages that shows her Teleporting back to like another area or whatever and she's like kind of like in some weird room and all of a sudden a cloaked figure like comes up behind her Okay, and like wraps his arms around her and he's like holding Victor von doom's mom Like this and then all of a sudden she's just like I couldn't change him I couldn't figure out but soon he'll get his and then he's like yes I understand or whatever and he's like I know read I know you'll always be here and it's freaking read Richards You sold me on the book baroond it for me, so I'm definitely not gonna read it now But freaking read Richards is with doom's mom is it six one six read or ultimate read?
It's gotta be ultimate read it is ultimate read because the cover of six has the maker or the the mask on the creator Thing so yeah, so now we reach is golden doom is like Yeah, so I'm sitting here and I know the whole reason why I thought that y'all would be super into it Because I know that no guns have y'all really like you know Fantastic for and such and I thought that right there We're just probably you know that's the introduction basically of bringing back in the fantastic for into the Marvel universe I love the excitement, but I'm more into the regular fantastic for as opposed to the ultimate one See I like those in the fantastic for but I don't like ultimately what they did with the ultimate fantastic for if that makes any sense Well, I thought that ultimate read was dead Because of the whole like a secret worst thing when he built the raft or whatever I thought he died. I just know he was like a part of it. Yeah, first issue secret wars. Oh my god That was just like amazing everything else after that was crap, but the first issue was pretty good Yeah, but I mean if you get I haven't read issue six yet And I'm hoping they explain more into the reason why read is with doom's mom and how that even came about to where she came back The life but she was like I was never dead in the issue, but who knows with ultimate read, you know, yeah So I'm wondering what's gonna happen with that and if we're just basically gonna have an Iron Man Versus ultimate read showdown with his mom being the on the sideline But at the same time it sounds like his mom is a good guy But the way it ended it sounded like ultimate read wasn't up to anything good.
I don't know Really interesting twist and really something different compared to what else is going on Marvel Because everything else is basically focusing on secret empire right now and this seems like it's setting It besides this you know this and Thanos those are setting up two other things actually gonna be like really big in the future See the secret empire is I don't know. I'm kind of torn Do I want to get it or do I just want to wait and get the cliffhanger notes from all the chats right? No, it's like another Marvel. It's like just gonna disappoint me.
We're gonna do a nice cliffhanger that you don't get until for another what two years Yeah, this is an unworthy for stuff to get invested into that stuff and it's funny because I remember one of the first The first Marvel event This is when I reintroduced myself to comic books a few years ago I went into my comic book shop and it was that one week where God damn age of Ultron number one came out So right away I was exposed to the craft that is Marvel events now I got got lucky early in the game been winded spending a lot of money on Titans and stuff It's good save myself a lot of heartache wasn't age of Ultron Bendis too. It is of course it is There's a point there where Wolverine goes back to kill himself It's like this is absurd. Why are you always this happening? This is such a weird book and by the end of it You don't even know how it came to finish it was just this weird, you know, someone farted and they fixed the timeline I'll tell you if they bring back fantastic for I just pray they start with issue 646 They won't do that 646 doesn't sell they did it with X men though, and they went all the way to what?
700 or 600 or whatever If they bring back FF I want I want Hickman What happened? Green it'll be Bendis So you got to tell me then so did the end the idea of having Ultimate read pop up in the end of this infamous Iron Man issue any curious to read infamous Iron Man? I'd have to say no only because I don't know what the hell's going on and the overall The secret wars or whatever the hell arc where like ultimate read turned like evil and shit I don't know what the underlying stuff like how that all happened or anything so to me I'm like eh whatever I don't know I still have all the seven volumes of ultimate fantastic for hard covers though because like I said I did enjoy I read most of it I never finished it and so now that I have all those eventually I'll get around to reading them So maybe after I read all 50 60 63 whatever it is issues of ultimate fantastic for then maybe maybe that'll change Now if you told me it was like 616 read and like the fan and then like the ever-eleven blue-eyed thing came up and was like I don't mean or something that dude. I would have been over it.
Things do Marty. What thing? Yeah, he's already in it It's weird because okay. Well, so you could have sold me right there I've only read like the first one or two issues, but if you would you see could have sold me right there on thing things in it okay 616 thing yep, see I'd be alright with that.
I like 616. I like the 616 Yeah, yeah, well give it a reason it's 616 thing and then ultimate read so we'll see what happens There's been very few like superhero comics that have like hit me in the feels and Hickman's run on FF Just destroyed me in the inside. I'm not gonna lie. There's a few parts where I was tearing up a little bit It was just so so well done.
I love the honesty. Yeah, that's true I'll tell you ff is one of those series that I always regret that I've never Started or gotten issues out this one of those ones I wish I could just get the whole run of all 200 or whatever it is or like super pricey and I know it's still I just wish I did that I might still do it one day But it's like you know fantastic for is literally they've proven it the most expensive series to collect and marvel Even if you're an I was even if you're an omnibus collector It's still pretty pricey because a lot of the omni's are like going like the Hickman volume one for instance for a mediocre Condition book it was selling for 200 bucks really yeah Cheat but volume one volume one one of Hickman's run. No, it's a fantastic form. Oh like the Kirby's Lee one I think those are still fairly accessible.
Yeah, I don't think those are at a print. I think those are still fairly accessible Okay, but I mean the last time I looked me correct if I'm wrong, you know They printed you know silver age up to bronze and then there's a in hardcover and then after that there's a gap until hitman Yeah, they did there's like yeah, that sounds about accurate. There's a neat Kirby stuff and then they did um There's two John Burn omnibus as well. Yes.
Yes, but just you can't get the entire run. No, you can't know I got them. I got these three mark weight oversized hard covers which are pretty good There's a few mark miller hard covers as well kind of nice Do you think that maybe marvel would collect them like in the master work series like the Marvel master works hard covers? I'm sure they have but I don't think they go I don't know how far they go with those I looked into it maybe like a year ago and they there's just a huge gap of like 400 some issues where they just didn't print them in In any trade paperbacks or hardcover, you know, I brought that up to the line room Like one of the I think it was a few days ago We were talking about how like the first 100 issues of fantastic for our stupid expensive usually and their heart is hell to find and I was thought they were like bringing up there like oh I understand why the other ones are and I was just sitting there I was like name a recognizable like everyday storyline from the fantastic for from issue 100 to current besides Hickman and They're all they named a few but I was sitting there like how often does this actually get brought up even here where someone is just like Oh, yeah, my favorite one is you know fantastic for 320 something You know what I mean those issues don't get talked about that much They don't and what the thing is though This should because fantastic for set the ground for pretty much everybody everything I mean everybody crossed over into their world in the issues at one point or another and They set the groundwork really for a lot of the other series the spidey team ups were always fun Team and torch versus, you know spider-man all the time, you know, they're a little banter back and forth Yeah, yeah, yeah Maybe one of these days I'll get around to trying to collect some of the early stuff and omnibus warm But we'll see I got enough of my plate right now.
Yeah, I hear you. I do. I have the epic collection silver surfer and basically It's every how is the epic collections because okay? Here's my thing if I'm gonna drop money on something I want to drop it in hardcover unless I have like the the the thought like what nobody does a lot of times which is to custom bind the trade paperbacks and the Epics are the ones that are colored right if I remember correctly.
Yeah, how is like the paper quality and stuff on those? Everything's pretty solid on it I mean it's not like super thick paper or anything But it feels like you're like you picked up a book at the store and you're just reading it It's like the same thickness of like a like a book at Barnes and Noble Basically like a basic book so it doesn't have like the glassy or anything like that like the curse No, it's not really glossy. It's like halfway halfway to being that it's in between new sprinting like the new glossy So I have this like Wolverine one. It's pretty cool.
These are like thick books. Yeah. Yeah It's like now Nova you being a custom bind guy yourself. Are you going to custom bind the epic collections?
Yeah, hopefully just for Wolverine. I want to get like as much Wolverine as they possibly can That's cool. I'm kind of glad you brought up the custom bind. He's actually has a question.
I asked you guys, you know Oh, we're talking about it. I'm gonna bring it up. I'm actually we just I can't remember I think it was you tap that mentioned if I'm ever gonna get something custom bound I think was last podcast or two ago and I actually in the prom action the process. It's it's actually at the binder I'm having something about an action.
I think I know what I want to do and I don't know if this is gonna work or not So that's what I'm gonna throw it to you guys is I there is roughly about a hundred and twenty to hundred thirty I don't have the exact number Hostess fruitcakes advertisements that exist between marble and DC and I want to actually start getting all of them and the issues and taking them out of the issues You know to remove the staples take those pages out and get everything together custom bind So you want to get the hostess adds bind into a hardcover? Yes, that's passion. You hear that is So my question is is do can I do I need to remove the page or do I keep the full page and bend it over backwards? I'll tell you what I did I'm just gonna plug the guy.
He's he's a really nice guy's actually local here in Omaha But a lot of people use the this bindery and stuff worldwide How should bindery is actually located here about an hour or so from where I am and there's a guy named David Banks from a single bound studios And he is the nicest guy in the world I actually got to meet him and talk with him and stuff about what I was wanting to do and Super super cool guy and for like I think it's ten bucks a volume So if you're only getting one omni bus let's say right so if you're getting one hardcover whatever It's an extra ten bucks. He will do all of the prep work for you So you don't have to do anything all you have to do is physically mail him all the books and then he'll reach out to you You guys will talk set up. This is what I want to accomplish But and he'll go through and do all the prep work and stuff for you very cool. Yeah, that's been on my mind a lot these days I'm gonna go hostess stuff about and a cool cover made for it.
Yeah, he'll do he'll do it all for you and he's a really really nice guy single bound studios he works in conjunction with house and bindery and Yeah, I'm actually really excited. I'm hopefully we'll see if I have mine by April well by the time the con comes but we'll see either way I'm geeked. It's the specter bind that I've been willing very cool now with that on the cover of the book Can you have a custom arc? Yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing David is the graphic designer He'll do all of that and he works with you So you're like this is what I want he'll go through and design it He'll send it back to you email and it gets this good and then he'll work with you on it and they get you exactly what you want Very cool.
Hey, let's try to remember. Let's put his information on the bottom of this podcast. We can be interested They can click on the link. Yep, he's great And then there's a few other binders that I'm starting to Learn about and get in a contact with through like the Facebook group and stuff that I'm with so Yeah, we'll have a few options eventually.
I'm sure so I do know I want the binding itself of the book itself to be a host is Twinkie yellow Well, you're gonna do the hostess by I mean you got to you got to go yellow and then have something says where's the cream fell in Now I want the middle of it to probably have the logos like you get a big delight of every bite of a hostess Twinkie, you know put that whole scroll thing that they have all the advertising nice. Yeah, I can honestly say I think you're the first person I've ever heard of that one so buying the You know, I love those like I just do it I just like it would be cool. I'm all in place it actually would be pretty cool And it's definitely it would be a really cool conversation piece as well like yes people come over and they see they're like What is this? Oh my god like nobody thinks to bind ads?
I was gonna say you could probably end up selling that to hostess You know what I mean like this is all the work I did Think the extra stem find out who was the arter the writer and at the con start getting to sign the bike That's cool. So I know before we in this because we're gotten we're past the hour mark now I want to ask one more thing to you tap. I know you mentioned to me that you read some dance slot my gall red silver Surfer ah, yes, sir. I have I'm not super far into it, but yes, I have okay So how far did you get into it?
How do you like it? I really enjoy it? It's a nice palette cleanser for to get me away from the stuff that I have in place like the sixth guy in the Damned even Punisher max like all that stuff. It's really really good, but it's you know, it's it's kind of darker It's not just like sometimes I just want to pick up a fun book just like a fun go get them type book You know and silver Surfer it was a calling to me is that type of book and I was like well Let's give it a shot.
I really enjoyed Dan slot and obviously I really like my color it So let's give it a shot and let's let's see how it goes and so I picked up I read the first four issues I think it's all the farther am right now But no, I'm enjoying it was really good and the first issue hooked me because like the very very end of the first issue like When they bring dawn like they captured on yeah, and they're showing him like who means the most to I mean like who is it? Is it Nova is it blah blah blah? And then he sees that he goes and the issue just ends with I have no idea who that is That just cracked me up. I was like, oh well played Surfer well played But no, it's actually kind of interesting like why she is connected to him because like you know She made that wish is a little kid as he was surfing by and she thought was a shooting star and whatnot So you started all the way from the beginning again.
Yeah, I mean the re number thing No, no, I'm gonna start from the beginning if I'm gonna start something I'm gonna start from the beginning that's cool You do it do it right. It's good. No, I'm enjoying it It's a nice palate cleanser It's a fun title and sometimes you know you just got to read a fun book you got to get away from some of the seriousness and you just want to pick up something that's fun and Yeah, that books a lot of fun. So I enjoy it.
I'm definitely gonna continue it Like I said, it's a nice break from a lot of the other darker stuff that I've been kind of reading lately So I'll say the cool thing about Surfer is you know most Marvel titles now You start reading them and it kind of feels like they're trying to rush things along and stuff But with silver Surfer, it's just like a casual pace And it just seems to be just like hopping along and it doesn't seem like there's gonna be an end anytime soon to it Which is really nice, you know and nothing really big has happened in it yet. That's like oh my god But like you said, it's just something to relax sit back and read for fun Yeah, no, it's it's good and it doesn't seem like there's crossovers It kind of seems like it's sort of its own thing Which is what I like I like those types of books like I've been said before you know it's moon night and things like that I like that it's not crossovers. It's kind of its own thing But yeah, so I've been going back and forth between that one and then a Daredevil wades run on daredevil. I still got to read I have four of the five oversized hard covers And I've read the first three so I got to read the fourth over side I covered but that'll come after I'm done with the sixth gun and then scalped and then planetary and And then what you still got to read that bolt the whore I told you to read yeah, we'll get to it eventually I know I pick my next binge after I finish with the Star Wars gonna be revival.
What about you? What's your next binge? mine F no all of you I'll say well after I can tell you right now after probably after scalp It'll probably be the specter because I'll probably have those back So it'll probably be the specter what I'm gonna do and then planetary and if I don't have it back It'll be planetary and then specter For me, I think once I finally finish vault of horror and tales from the crypt shneige in a long time I don't know honestly. I've been I started issue one and two of the original Wolverine series like after the Chris Claremont Frank Miller run Starting from one there and I've read one and two and I think that I'm probably gonna end up being hooked on that and I mean I still got to finish locking key to so Yeah, I'm I'm writing out my second rubaker dared of a longie bus now after that hopefully by the time I'm done this the War of Kings Prelude Omnibus will be out and I'll have three massive omnibus's to read Yeah, it's weird.
They released the War of Kings and they released the aftermath and now they're finally releasing the Prelude So I've had two books just sitting on my shelf because I don't have the first part Now I'm gonna have three books suddenly to read so that'll be that'll be great That's kind of like a new revival I've had all these issues and I was missing a couple holes here and there I was gonna start until I feel the holes I'm finally this last about like last Monday. I think it was it's like you know what? I'm going on eBay and put on my comic shop.com whatever and I'm gonna just get these last few issues Which I finally got in the mail like I got the whole set now. I'm bingeing.
Yeah, so we go Yeah, very cool All right guys well I mean like I said, we're over the hour mark now and I think that we might be pushing it So let's go into our interview and let's give someone a call are you all ready? Yeah? All right guys, stay tuned Prime time welcome to the exciting portion of our podcast today. We bring you Alex Milm with an exciting interview bringing all that cool information stuff that's more than meets the eye Alex.
How you doing today? I'm good. I'm good. How are you guys doing?
Well, thank you. Well, I appreciate taking the time Not a problem. I finished all my my household duties of doting shoving and stuff before the uh Before this podcast I could be already neat and tidy. So I'm all good.
Hey, you're good. Oh, you're good. Honey How do you list done first and then everything else is no take a walk? Yep Oh, what does they say?
You know a happy wife is a happy life So Alex but those unfortunate souls out there that are not familiar with work Maybe you can also a little bit about yourself and let everybody know what it is that you do I'm a comic book artist For the past 13 years. I've been working on transformer comics and for the last five years I was the primary artist on transformers more meets the eye which I believe some people like I could be wrong. Yeah, you are you are very correct So I'm assuming you know yourself being a child of the 80s You grew up playing with it and watching the g1 cartoons and whatnot. Is that I would say it's probably pretty accurate there, right?
I mean you've been drawn. No, no, no, no, okay I'll be like I hate transformers growing up. No, I love this page. I like go-bots instead I had go-bots I was growing up too, but um, I love transformers.
Uh, the first transformer toy I ever had was Optimus Prime. Very cool. Awesome I want the ones that my brother had he had star scream in the sky work with Thundercracker I wanted those he wouldn't let me play with them. My brother was 11 years old in me So I see I have the opposite my brother was six years younger than me and he was a one for whatever reason my parents gave him the transformer toys He would take the stuff apart.
It was my job always to play everything back together for Some people need help. Yeah, that's why that's why they're instructions. Yeah. Yeah, I got my eight-year-old a transformer toy a couple years back and It was uh, I don't remember which one was on my head now, but he was like, can you transform this down?
Okay, I give it to me. I see a professional and I'm sorry transform it. This is like a newer model one So I'm like I can't I can't figure I had to actually pull up the instructions and look through it I have no idea what the heck I'm doing anymore like they've gotten to two in depth nowadays Yeah, they reached the point where it was becoming pretty hard for that anybody to do a basic transformation on it that nowadays they've Taking that back and like they're a little simplified now. So or more simple anyway, so nice.
I'll just start looking into that Yeah, I would there's things like I would like to collect and transformers is one of them However, having three young children and animals and things like that. I know that if I do they're not gonna last very long They're not gonna have a very long lifespan in my house So yeah, I shall very high shell. Yeah, I Not able to do that unfortunately, but anyway, so you've worked on tons of transformers, you know over the last decade or so Uh was drawing transformers something that you've always wanted to do was it something that just I mean because your artwork first off is absolutely hands down Insanely amazing It's gorgeous. But is that so obviously you've had a knack for art But is that something you want to do like hey?
I want to grow up and draw transformers or how did that kind of come about? It's kind of funny because That wasn't like my first goal When I was in college taking technical and scientific illustration one of the course requirements was a one month work placement and I wanted to go to ILM to do that and my professor was like, um, maybe you should find something closer to home Here and was basically talking me out of it and at that time dreamwave was around And there was a student uh in the grade below me that was a member of dreamwave that I got uh contact and vote to an editor there and I actually went down to dreamwave because they were located in Ontario like about 20 minutes away from where I live by car and I took my portfolio down and I got a one month work placement there and when I finally finished that they were I said I said my goodbyes and they're like are you leaving? It's like we have more work for you to do and I was like I go back to school But like I'll do some stuff on the side and like when I'm done I'm yours and they're like cool So I was doing little profile images on the side while I was still in school and as soon as I finished They threw me transformers and a John to work on there's a little bit of controversy I guess that was surrounding dreamwave back then and the work that you did Not your fault, but there was there were some things that were happening And so when dreamwave no longer was a company they were defunct or whatever Um, you went on to devil's do and then you moved on IDW So how did that kind of come about did they just see the work that you did on the inner john? And they were like hey, we want this guy come on over like how did that kind of come about?
Well, I didn't really go over to devil's do. Oh, um I Was that work for a while? I did some work for pat's other company dream engine for a bit and then udon was doing artwork for devil's do gijo transformers Or transformers jijo. I'm not sure which version of it But they were doing that and they asked me if I would be able to do some fill-in pages Which I was like I need to work.
I don't mind of course And that got me into doing work with udon which they then were contacted by readers digest to do uh children's Storybooks like a pop-up book and a mixing matchbook on the live-action transformer movie titles And they're like would you like to draw this and I was like, yes, I was like, of course, I'll draw this like new movie stuff I was like this is crazy. This is like jumping out the opportunity for this I did that and This is a 2006 at that time bot con was coming up. I decided to go down It was in lexington, kentucky and I brought some of the readers digest stuff with me Because idw was going to be there and I wanted to show off I worked to them to see if I could get any more transformers work And I had an interview with chris ryle and dan paylor at the time and basically I just went in there and I showed them They read with digest stuff and they're like, well, we have a movie adaptation Would you like to draw it and I was like, yes, no, okay, it's yours and that was how I got hired at idw And I've been working there ever since now I started doing work for them the end near the end of 2006 so Very cool. Um, so I got to say my first idw transformer Um was semi-recent I know they've been going on for a while But I was kind of late to the transformers game I had some some friends in a in a group chat that were all in that recommended it to me And so I picked it up.
I started reading and the first one I read was megatron origins Which you had drew, um, and I was blown away by the art. It was Phenomenal I have the details the backgrounds just everything about it is just Fucking incredible and it blew me away. Um, so with that, I was like, I'm gonna start reading more and more of these transformers So your art in that book kind of inspired me to continue to read I mean the writing was great as well Um, that also helps but uh, I went on and kept reading, you know, the transformers books and and things like that And so uh that kind of those same people that were in that chat there His name is Merck as his chat name and he actually had a couple questions for you as well And one of them was, uh, have you ever drawn a megatron with the Decepticon logo by accident now that he's changed side so to speak Yes It would have been it would have been on issue 28 of more than meets ci when And uh, megatron's in the cell and like I didn't have any work to do on dark cybertron except for like on the very end So I didn't and the issue hadn't come out and they didn't give me any PDF so I didn't know that he put on the Autobot symbol But like part of me thought okay put it on but he's gonna stay on his chest like he's in a prism cell now So I'm like, well what's going on? And I just drew it septicon symbol there and they were just like well he's got an all about someone scoomb Be permanently on his chest now.
I was like, okay, no problem and that was like a very quick fix So very cool. That's cool. And then his other question was an issue 54 On more than me ci there was three Autobot symbols that were all drawn slightly different to represent different emotions And he was curious as to who came up with that idea That was me. Oh, awesome.
Okay, so how did I call that? I just started to be like what if I made these symbols like a moat what the other character was feeling so you had like some characters with Like say I discussed it looking on their face, but then also the the emblem like the Autobot symbol would be like angry too So it's angry and disgusted at what they're hearing. So I thought it was a fun way of playing around with it That is actually really cool Do you prefer to draw on paper? Do you draw digitally?
Is it a mixture of both? That's one of the same. I I just wrote traditionally like this. Okay, awesome Pencil paper pens ink all that stuff.
God, sir I'm I've just I've been looking at a lot of your art especially this last week or so and kind of you know researching and it's just Fricking amazing stuff like yeah, it's incredible. I don't know how you can I don't know how you guys do it first of all I just want to say most of the you know almost all of the trans actually all of the transformers artists that have worked on the books Throughout the years are all of fantastic artists you guys are all amazing You though sir from everybody's I've spoken to in chat and my personal preference are probably our favorite though Transformers artists just your detail lines stuff is just absolutely incredible So how did that like come about like did you were you just drawing transformers as a child? Like I guess there's just so much work that goes into these like how did that come about you know because you have Drawing marvel to stand leeway, you know in those kind of books out there, but you don't have something like a Transformer diagram. Well, I know there might be one now.
I know alks mill art of Well, yes, but as a kid though, like you know coming up. How did that how did that come about? Well first thank you for the compliments. It's always nice when the people appreciate the work I've done Well Basically, it's just the amount like the type of media that I would like ingest as a child So like transforms, but then you have Japanese anime and Gundam and like robots with bubble gum crisis Evangelion Macross like just all of the stuff from over there is A lot of hyper detailed stuff that you didn't really see over in North America for a while and like I just Consumed all of that and applied that to my work I want my my favorite books is Akira and the type of background work that was in there is just phenomenal And I'm like I want to have that in what I draw and at the time might not have pulled it off as well But like I'm still gonna keep at it until I reach that point where I'm like yeah, I've achieved that level of look that I want Yeah, it's it's absolutely incredible.
Like I said, I honestly think Transformers artists in general are probably some of the best artists in the comic book industry Um, just the attention and detail in the backgrounds and things that you guys do and all the line works. It's just phenomenal It blows me away. Um so much so that actually recently started getting the uh Uh the hard covers IDW collection hard covers And that you know that big oversized format and the art is just 10 times better in those books as well because it's just on these nice huge Blowing up thick pages My artwork and like other artists are not are nothing without like the fabulous people that color it too because they They bring they bring a little bit more polish to it. So that's always fun So the the two Josh's Josh pres and Josh Bertram and join a little fun day That's color my work.
I think them a lot because my work would be nothing without them Oh, yeah, that's good to hear too. Now a lot of people, you know, I mean the artists usually I always give color as props But you never hear you never really hear colors getting the props that they deserve. So that's that's really cool of you Yeah, we kind of want to ask you we've been doing all of this transformer stuff with IDW Just kind of curious is there anything like how many outside of IDW just loaded your hands on something? Just love to be able to you know draw There are a few things that I would love to do.
Um, I love to Possibly work like if I could on an Iron Man comic or or guardians of the galaxy something that's like very sci-fi oriented like I love I love to work on Star Wars comic or Star Trek comic But I really also want to take the time to draw and write one of my own comics Very nice After a while you you don't want to you want to play with your own characters and your own ideas instead of playing around with somebody else's characters So sounds like you have an idea of a story in mind to write out. I do I've been working on an idea for the last Eight eight years not like it keeps eight eight to twelve years like I keep changing the idea and reinventing it And the last few years I've been refining the idea quite a bit Just getting the time to like really flush it out. I'm like, I'm gonna have to like really buckle down someday I'm like, okay, I'm setting this month aside to really get this idea hammered out But it's like I have a bunch of ideas for a transfer stories to that I've written out I'm just like, I want to do this. I'm like, I don't know if they ever give me a chance to write a book I've been with them for so long.
It might have a chance. Yeah. Oh, yeah, come on. I need to give out a chance Yeah, I'd be like Nick did it like I just want one story I'll be like if it tanks and we know not to do it again Less than more.
They'll be like or we'll be like next time like can you do something a little better and I'll be like, yeah I can learn from my mistakes or what will happen is it was so good that it's like, okay We need to start writing more on top of all the artwork you already have on I'll be like if I can write and draw I'll be like So I saw that on twitter you had said that like your warm-up sketch one time was uh recently was bumblebee And you said he's just a super fun character to draw is he your favorite transformer to draw or do you have someone else that you're just like This is my old time favorite transformer when it comes to drawing That that is a tough question because there are so many of them that I love to draw Um, I guess it really depends on my mood, but right now I love drawing characters that I haven't drawn in a long time Because they're new and fresh and I I get to take uh My style that I've developed over the years and put them put that to the characters. So they feel more energetic in my way Uh, I don't know uh, let's see if I had to choose somebody But it's probably RC Okay, okay Let me be a little snootie here and everything like I brought her in I helped bring her into IDW So I'm like I'll always have like this huge soft spot for her Actually, that kind of goes with a question I had was do you have like a whole list of characters that you thought of that you love to start incorporating into the book? Yeah, yeah, but then it's like you can't do that. This person's taking this character.
This person's taking this character Like I I had I had ideas for certain characters that Back in 2013 and I was pitching the idea to uh john barber and he's like, oh, it's cool Like what you want to do you want to write it? You want like to go right? I was like, I don't want anything to interfere with like what james is doing So like I like to like have him like I like to co-write it and do like stuff like I piece some stuff out and We almost had it, but then the character got sagged by another writer and I was just like So who's your personal favorite transformer just like person not one that you necessarily like to draw but just like your personal favorite either as a kid or even now? Uh, y'all the Tron voiced by Leonard Neemoy Very nice.
Yes. He's always been that version has always been my favorite. I thought I'll commit badass Yeah, and Leonard Neemoy was such a legend While you're thinking about that. Um, do you have any cons coming up that you might be at?
Well, it's been announced. Um, I'm going to be at Pete's robot con or convention in Cincinnati in june And then I'll be at tfcon in toronto in july And I don't know if there are any others that I can have been announced yet. I've kind of cut back on the amount of conventions I've done this year because uh Some financial issues have come up and I'm trying to focus on this one project that I'm working on right now. So Which is It's a secret When idw lets you know then I can let you know okay So it is with idw.
So we'll just keep our eyes peeled for idw announcements They did they did say it at your comic con that I was working on a secret project. So it must be with idw Now you said you will be at tfcon in toronto. Um one of our other four guys. It's not here right now He's uh, he's actually from toronto And so I was talking to him earlier and I said you've gotta you gotta go to this convention for me Because i'm nowhere near toronto, but he's he's in toronto and so you gotta go to this warming man So hopefully he can go and i'm gonna try to get him like a couple of my hard covers for you to if you'd be willing to sign Of course, uh, I'll sign anything Very cool.
Um cool. Do you have any other questions or anything? Um commissions I was kind of curious about Yes You do commissions. I do Oh cool Uh, well usually before a convention goes up.
I'll put up a commission list Um, you'll have all the details and the pricing and everything so you can pick and choose whatever you like Um, but I don't I'm not gonna put it up right now because I have a a bunch to finish from last year That is just family issues came up and then I had to have a couple projects that fell into my lab that I had to work on because i'm like, uh, I mean I need to pay some bills here or basically life life happened Yeah, so life happened so I had to put commissions on hold for a while and up and it took all the way up until now to create space to get back to working on them so If anybody's listening who's still waiting for their commission I get to start to work on them starting next week and i'm taking a whole week out of like my regular work schedule To work on commissions for people so I can try and knock a lot of them out But I never I will never rush a commission for somebody And like I have a standard that I set for commissions And I'm just like I'm not going to give you anything less than my best for a commission And hopefully people understand that the weight I make sure like the commission is worth the weight I'm sure everybody can appreciate that. Yeah, that yeah, that makes sense I mean, especially you know, I me personally I would rather have, you know, the artists put their all in it and take two years or whatever the case may be rather than Hurry up and rush something over the course of a weekend so No, and that's awesome too that you have such a you know a high standard set for commissions as well I think that's something that people can truly appreciate And some artists going from Awesome. Well, Alex, thank you very much for coming on to the podcast. We greatly appreciate it And it's been a pleasure speaking with you Oh, it's been a joy.
Thank you for having me. Oh, yeah. No, thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you really enjoyed having on. Thanks