Oh, my God. Where's my lanyard? I need my pass. Uh,
okay. The line's so long. Yay. I'm finally
in. And welcome to Dear Watchers, an omniversal
comic book podcast where we usually do a deep
dive into the multiverse.
Listen to that crowd. We are traveling
with you and 200,000 other people through the
stories, the worlds, and the conventions that make up an
omniverse of fictional realities we all love.
And your watchers on this journey are.
Me Guido and me. I'm
cosplaying as Rob today. Or should
I be cosplaying as our third guest, the
man responsible for literally the
artwork for every single comic book podcast on
the market?
Everyone ever.
Every single one. Everyone. It is
Elliot from Elliot comic art.
Oh. Hold your applause, please. Thank you. Thanks, guys.
Hi, everyone. Hi, dear. Watchers fans out
there. I'm really excited to be here and to be
recording live with you guys. Usually I'm trapped in my
bedroom or sometimes even my bathroom when I record.
One of your 15 children are knocking on the door
trying to get in.
And if you are joining us for the first time, we have
three parts of our journey through the
Con multiverse today origins of the
story, exploring multiversity, and pondering
possibilities. So thank you as we look back
on New York Comic Con 2023.
And remember, we want
you to leave us a five star review. Thanks to
Lisa from Comic Book Couples Counseling podcast for
telling us to say exactly that.
And so please leave us that five star review
wherever you're listening, and thanks for joining.
Before we get started, this is our special
episode on New York Comic Con.
Hold on. That deserves some applause.
Minor applause for that one. Oh, no, there's a little bit
more. It picked up at them. Yeah, exactly.
So New York Comic Con 2023
is under our belt and really exciting.
Last year, we did two bonus episodes
from New York Comic Con. We decided this year to make it, uh,
one regular episode. So we
are at episode 117
on New York Comic Con. So let's start with, as
we do in every episode, our backgrounds. So
what are our backgrounds with New York Comic Con?
I'll start even though I'm asking a question. I'll start? Because
I have the longest, uh, New York
Comic Con. 17 years old, and I've gone to everyone
except one. When a dear friend made
the decision.
To get married overnight, you were about to say mistake.
But that's rude.
I was thinking it, but, uh,
it's the only year I missed. I could not figure out
a time to get there for more than an hour, so I skipped it. So I've
been to 16, including the special editions that they've
done, and I'm always looking forward to
it. Every year, as I posted in one of our many social
media posts about this Comic Con, I get a little
teary when I walk in the door. The first time every single year.
It's a very special place for me. So,
Elliot, you're our guest. You go next.
I can't remember when I moved to New York City
in 2008. I think I went the
next year, and I went either two or three times. And that's back when New
York City comic Con was a little bit smaller. It didn't
have a lot smaller. My gosh, I remember going
and I just had my list of comics I
wanted to find. So on the main floor, I would just go long
box diving. And I collected Brian Michael
Bendis's entire daredevil run in single issues, which
I then sold when I moved out of New York City. But I used to go
with a former colleague, and then this is
my third time in a row post pandemic
with you guys. And it was my New York City Comic Con. Was
my first ever Comic Con.
And like you, Guido, there's only
two occasions when I get, like, a
stupid smile on my face. One is at a Bruce Springsteen concert
I've been many times, and I'm like, okay, I've been to a
concert. And I walk in, and immediately I smile. And I did the same
thing yesterday. I walked down into artist alley, and I get this big
grin on my face when I see the names of all my
childhood and current, um, heroes out and about.
This is why we're all such dear friends, because
Rob is the Bruce Springsteen concert. I'm the Comic Con.
And so you get both.
You're the amalgam of together.
The only reason why I'm.
And Rob, what is your New York Comic Con
history?
The first year I went to New York Comic Con, I
went through the organization geeks
out, which is a great
LGBTQ nerd
organization out of New York City. They're still at New York
Comic Con. They had the table this past week,
and I wasn't even a full member of the
organization, but I was doing a show at the time, and they just
gave me a ticket, which, to your point,
Elliot and Guido, how much smaller comic Con
was, uh, over a decade ago, that they were just like,
here's a path for a day. It was my first time there,
and I was promoting this
queer nerd variety show I was doing
at the time called queer not Cool.
And that was actually the variety
show that I met Guido at
mhm ten years ago.
Oh, my gosh. So we can credit New York Comic Con with
our life together.
That's awesome.
Exactly. In a strange,
roundabout way. What can't New York Comic Con do? Yes.
And then I think all the years I've known you,
Guido, I've gone at least one
day. And for the past several years, I've really
gone all four days.
I remember the days when you were like, I think you're
nuts for going four days. There's not enough
to do for four days. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And now
here you are.
Uh, well, we were also saying over this
week how much older we have gotten, because
I would then hang out with friends that night and maybe
watch movies, horror movies, because it's always
during Spooky season. Or go out to the gay geeks in New
York or geeks out or some events that they did. I
couldn't imagine being on my feet any
longer or staying up late and watching something
after going to Comic Con now.
Yeah, we were all taking, um, pain relievers and putting our feet
in Epsom.
Salt bath last night while we watched.
Loki and turned it off at 930.
Exactly as we all started to fall.
Asleep during the episode on the couch.
All right, well, with that, dear watchers, we
are through the metal
detectors and taking the escalator
down into this week's episode, episode
117. And let's check out what's happening at
New York Comic Con, which truly is like
traveling to an alternate universe.
Very show.
You're going to get the answer to all your
questions.
Our amazing story begins a few
years ago.
And we've got our musical cues because we're going to use our three
segments in this episode.
We're going to start with our origins of the story. So
looking at some things that are a little maybe
nostalgic for us, looking back at things from
the past that highlights this
con. Yes, at this con. So, Guido, why
don't you kick us off?
Well, I'll share my first and the biggest. And
again, for those following our social media, there's videos,
there's photos, because
unexpectedly, the Slayer's
presence brought Buffy back
into this con. Buffy, which debuted
26 years ago, now coming back
as an Audible series, being able to go to
the panel and have original cast members, we did a
photo op with the original cast members. It was
really incredible. And I'm more
excited than ever. We started listening to Slayers. It
actually might show up in a near future episode because it's
a really cool multiversal story with Buffy.
But it was just so cool to see
this resurgence of Buffy
with a lot of the original cast and be
around a ton of Buffy fans.
There were so many people as moved or excited as
I was in that panel. I went to it alone, and it
was kind of fun that I got to be there alone because it was a little bit of, uh,
a religious experience for me. I'd say
having tara. Spike
drusilla. Cordelia
Clem all up there, and
Anya, I mean, three of my favorite characters,
drusilla, anya and Cordelia were three of my favorite characters. So
having them on stage and then being able to do a photo op with some
of them was so cool. It was so cool.
So get ready. We're going to be rewatching Buffy very soon.
I've never seen it.
I can't understand it. I really
can't. I can't understand it.
It's in my retirement plan.
And I think these Audible series
or radio plays, basically, and
comics, these are a great way to bring back these
classic characters in a new form
that's not on TV and kind of remember them
like we did. Because I know this show is set
in 2013. Right.
Well, they're an okay way. Like, it's fun. We
started listening to it. It's fun. Do I want it to be a TV show?
Yeah, absolutely. I want it to be a TV
show. But it is fun because
perhaps they wouldn't be able to get these folks in a
TV show. Or maybe there'd be a worry about
de aging them, um, CG or
makeup wise or something. So, yeah, it does open the
door more, but I would have rather a
TV show. Maybe that's what they're waiting. Well, one day, Sarah
Michelle Geller will make her way back and be on the TV show.
But in the meantime, it's a really cool series that
we will have a lot more to say about in a future episode.
And it was really special to be able to have those moments at New York
Comic Con. Totally. Uh, it surprised
me that they had such a large presence. We did the
Immersive activation, which was great, the
Bronze, and you got drinks, and
they did a tarot card reading, and you worked
out with Slayers and took pictures with them, and they
had, like, the high school lockers. So
they just have done so much promotion.
And it was cool to have that experience.
Ball Sharpie is my first origin
of the story thing, because it's also
horror, uh, related, and also someone who had, I
felt like, a big presence at the Con, which was
I got to go to the John Carpenter
conversation in the main
stage. And I just love John
Carpenter. Uh, he is definitely one of my
favorite directors. And to
see the person who created or co
created Halloween this close to
the Halloween season, it just
felt great to see him walk out to some of the
iconic synthesizer music that he
himself composed. And
he's a character. He's very I'd
say ornery he's not
into being interviewed. And after about
three questions from the official
moderator, he just said, let's just take questions from the
audience. So, really, the next 45
minutes, I'd say, were just questions from the audience. And
there were some really good questions, one of which I want to
get to in one of our future segments on this
episode. And it was just fun to be in the
same presence. I think it's the same thing you were experiencing, Guido,
someone that you've just absorbed
the art that they've created. And just to be in the
same room as that person, even if you're not really
interacting with them, it just feels
so special.
Well, and he's cool because he does, in other ways that you'll talk
about, have a kind of tangential presence
at Comic Con for you through
his wife's comic book company, which I know you'll
talk about. But it was cool that this year he was the
focus, and it was nice. I'm sure that he wasn't
promoting something specific. So you
got to really just hear about him
and from him. And it wasn't like he was on the press tour
for Halloween.
No, he's so over it at
this point. He hasn't made a movie in a while, and he might not make a
movie again. So he's just saying, yeah,
Hollywood is not the great place to work. He wants to
just focus on making music, which he
seems to love to do. And I am going to touch on a
lot and which I love. And I bought some
signed vinyls of them from,
uh, the great record label Sacred Bone. So I'm
actually going to touch on John Carpenter in each of my segments.
Oh, m my. And
as you pointed out, one thing I want to say. You didn't use this as
your segue. You pointed out that while I was in the
Slayers panel with the legend
Charisma Carpenter, you were in the John Carpenter
panel. So we were both in Carpenter panels
featuring icons of the last
few decades in horror. Thank you.
Charisma Carpenter and John Carpenter. No relation.
But thank you both. No, that I know of. I don't think
so.
While you were there, I was at work.
I'm a teacher, and I was like a Carpenter building the
futures of young.
Yes, that's true.
Thank you. All right.
Furiously scanning Twitter and Instagram to see
everything that you are missing. But what didn't you miss? Elliot,
what was your first origin of the story item?
Well, for me, I started collecting comics in middle
school, which was the early 90s. So there
are many people that I just
like they're just in my bones as comic creators.
So, like, walking by Eric Larson and Will Sportaccio
and even Rob Liefield and.
Watching Eric Larson draw, because I didn't know until
you pointed out that he draws a really particular
and different unique way. Being able to see it
in action is like, whoa, cool.
Yeah, it's so cool. And even, like, seeing Rob Liefeld's
original buxom
Captain America drawing, that stuff is really fun for me
and really nostalgic. But I'm going to focus on I guess my
first one is, um, if you listen to
spectales podcast, too. My grail tale was about
the experience of meeting some of these artists and creators. And
that's really, for me, uh, what I love and being an
artist. Alley and so, uh, a couple years
ago, when The Dawn of X came about,
with the Hickman era and Krakowan era of
X Men, I was reading everything, and in
X Force, there was an issue. Do you remember what issue
it was? It was early on I don't like five or
six, where Joshua Kasara, the artist.
And Ben Percy, the writer, created
a tiki bar in Krakoa called the
Green.
Lagoon that everyone immediately wanted to go to.
It was awesome. And they did a full page spread. And I
just had this idea for, like, a Cheers style
emblem. And so I drew this
emblem of the Green Lagoon and put it on a t
shirt. And it got the attention. Uh, I tagged Josh
Cassara and Ben Percy, and Josh
Cassara reached out to me and
bought it and
bought the t shirt and shared a picture
of him wearing it. So I brought the T shirt this
year. My T shirt. I brought it and had Ben
Percy and Josh Cassara sign it. And
when I met Josh Cassara guido, you got it on video for
Exc. It was so funny because he was so excited to
meet me. I was like, wait a second, wait
a second. He was so excited, I couldn't even get a word in. He
was telling me how he's worn it enough that he
can't wear it anymore.
His wife wore it to
bed. Yeah, he wanted a picture of you with the shirt to send
to her.
Yeah. I was like, what is going on here? And then, so I got a picture
of him signing, uh, it. And Ben Percy told me it was the coolest
thing. He'd signed all con. And that was just
really those interactions for me were awesome. So it's something from
a couple years ago, uh,
that still means a lot to me. And just to have an
artist, a professional artist, say that they love
what I did, inspired by their work was really
fun for me.
You have to get it framed now, Elliot.
I know my wife will be really excited to have a framed T
shirt.
At least it's one you'll be in.
The basement with all my other stuff.
For a long time.
Yeah, that was a really cool
moment. And you have to bring back a limited
release of that tea because they both want them.
So you're going to have to find.
A way got to figure out to.
Skirt those copyright,
which Joshua Katara thought
were BS. You have his approval.
There you go. That's all I need.
Um, and speaking of X Men yeah, guido, I
think your next Origin of the Story
item is also X Men related.
No, it's not. I'm going to hold that one
back.
Okay.
Instead sorry for your failed segue
there.
Mistakes are okay.
Instead, I'll go with a comic that was really important
to me and getting to meet someone who's really rare at Cons.
So my next past item is going to be
seeing Jeff Johns, who is, I
think, slightly controversial. Maybe M
is not the nicest person to work with. I'm not sure.
I know he's sort of, like, on the edge, I feel
like, of someone who's going to be
canceled. But I
really like his work a lot. And Infinite Crisis,
I think, is just one of the best events I've talked about it
on here before. We've never covered any component of
Infinite Crisis, but I think it is a
masterfully orchestrated event at
DC that got my
adult love of DC firmly
in place. And all of the love I've had for DC over the
last few years is because it calls back to things in
Infinite Crisis that he created and did with those
characters. And so having him in New York, Comic
Con, and he's creating really great books with Ghost
Machine in an image imprint that
I've really enjoyed. And he was there mostly promoting
that. But he signed Infinite Crisis for me and it was just so cool
because I think he is a legend and
he's created really cool characters. Rob, he
works so much in the Justice Society, which you love. I mean,
he's for sure one of the architects of
DC over the last 20 plus years.
And it was neat to meet him and get him to sign
Infinite Crisis.
Yeah, I couldn't have cared less
about Green Lantern before he was on it.
Oh, yeah, a lot of people were having him sign that Green Lantern
rebirth.
Yeah. Uh, I got really into Green Lantern during that time.
And, um, yeah, he's just really good at
structuring comic stories
and taking stuff from old DC and making it
fresh and new again.
That's as cool that the Ghost Machine and people
should read Geiger and Junkyard Joe is. What he's
doing there is taking almost like pulpy tropes
of comics and turning them into really
interesting modern stories. So he's doing the same thing, like
taking what people know and love about
comics and superheroes and then
telling a slightly different story
with them. And that's like a whole shared universe he's
constructing. So it was really fun to meet
him.
What about you, Rob? What's your other blast from
the past?
Well, I was a couple years younger than you,
so when you were reading comics and I
was reading comics then too. But the thing I was really
reading were Goosebumps. I was
a huge fan of the Goosebumps
books. They were the
first books that I would follow
when they would come out. And I was a little kid, but I
would knew when the next one would come out and I would go to the
Barnes and Noble or did they even sell them at
Sears maybe, I don't know those kind of stores and
go and grab the Goosebumps books
and I would just devour them. And I think I read all of
them multiple times and just read
62 or something. Yeah, there's 62 in the
original series and I had the
good mind to actually save
all of them.
So up in our parents who did not
get rid of them.
Yes. So we have all of the original
62 as well as some of the other offshoots from around
that time. And we were saying how,
like, John Carpenter and Slayers had this big presence
at the Con this year, and Goosebumps did too. There was a
Goosebumps panel, I guess.
Because the Disney Plus series, but
there was the musical that you went to to
learn more about.
Yeah, we didn't get to go to the panel, but there was a musical,
a new musical, great Broadway talent based on The
Phantom of the Auditorium, which was my favorite of the books because I
love Phantom of the Opera musical theater. And
then the really cool thing was down in Artist Alley
was Tim Jacobus. I think that's how
he says his name. And he did the original
art for all 62 original books. And
everyone if you know Goosebumps, you know you know
those covers.
And the covers were just like painted, sort of
meant to look almost like those more adult
horror or even romance novels with the painted
covers, but in a kitty horror way
with lots of skeletons.
And there were some times where the covers were better than the books.
So you just like, oh, ah, that cover is so
great. But yeah, he was down
there selling some prints. So
I got a print of the camp jelly Jam,
which is just this terrifying image of this camp counselor. It always
spooked me as a kid. And then he had
original art, and I got a sketch of
the iconic Slappy, who we were
also on Friday when we got there, there was an
army of slappies giving out Goosebumps books. So
it all felt connected in that way. So I'm
super glad that I got to meet this person who is
truly imprinted on my childhood.
And we'll have to watch the Disney Plus series and see yeah,
definitely Green.
Queen Justin Long, so I
definitely want to watch it. And Elliot, what about
you? What's your other take from the.
The? Well, this was a surprise. So Guido and I were
down in Artist Alley for about 4 hours, and then
we needed a break. And so we went up to
wander the main floor. And as we're wandering the main
floor, I looked at a book. I picked it up,
and the woman behind the counter was like,
oh,
are you familiar with this book? I said, no, I just know the author. And she's
like, oh, Jean Lewin Young. He's right here. And I looked
over and he was there signing
books. And
as a teacher, I've taught American born Chinese
in middle school. Uh, and
I didn't have my copy. Uh, I left it,
uh, where I moved. And so I bought a new copy and had him sign. It was
just really cool to meet him. And I think that book
is phenomenal. I like all of his work. Superman, Smashes the
Clan is a phenomenal book by him. He's just a great
storyteller. And so I had him sign it and had a
really nice he drew the monkey prints in it for me.
And he was appreciative that you've brought it into the
classroom.
That was a cool just it's kind of like
my Jim Lee story that I told on spectales. Just when these
creators who, uh, I admire so
much when they find out I'm a teacher, which is a very
underappreciated profession in our culture. Well,
no, it's appreciated, but not, uh, with
money.
Not valued.
You're right. Not valued. Uh, it's just
always funny to me when they're like, oh, thank you so much for bringing
this to my classroom and talking about with your students and things like that.
Uh, so that was a really fun moment and it was a surprise. I didn't know
he was going to be there. He was only signing there for
like an hour or two brief, and the line was
it was only three people long. But I was like, uh, this guy's
amazing. And the Disney Plus series is really fun, too, if people haven't
watched it.
Well, Guido, you queued us up that you had one
more blast from the past.
I do, and it's a special one. So
just the fact that we got to finally meet in
person and talk to Lenorzan, the
voice of Rogue from the X Men animated series,
and I saw she wasn't there any other day. So we happened to
stumble past and see her and got
her to sign a picture, took a picture with her,
chatted with her for a bit. And she is
someone who anyone who watched X Men the Animated
Series. Her voice plays in your head
when you read Rogue and Will forever and
ever and ever. But beyond that, she was
just nice to talk to. And we talked a lot about
the power of stories to bring
multiple perspectives in and
we were talking about the state of the world and things
moving away from love and inclusion.
And she was saying that how could anyone watch X Men
and not feel like that's what we need to fight
for? And so it was a nice conversation to
talk about, really, the power of stories.
And she was great fun and kind.
Yes. So amazing. Love her.
And yes. Let us take the
escalator up past the pro lounge, past
all the cosplayers, and explore some of our
current finds and obsessions.
You so I will kick
us off. And I went
to the Our Flag Means
Death panel. Well, uh, kind
of asterisk because they weren't actually able
to talk about the HBO queer
pirate show Our Flag Means Death. But they had
six actors from the show, including Rees
Darby, the star. And it was fun.
Is that in some ways makes it
better?
Totally.
That the strike is influencing how
people show up in the press. I hope there's
permanent changes with that.
Mhm. Yeah. So what was really fun was because
they really couldn't talk about the show or
really any of their experiences on it, and they had a lot
of wink wink jokes about that. What they did
was they played basically an hour long game where they all
had paddles with whiteboards
on them, and the moderator would ask them questions like
who would order the most expensive meal at a
restaurant, who is the most adventurous, who
would be friends with aliens. And they
all played which of them on the panel, or
maybe some other people on the show would fit in. And it was
just a really fun way because I like when
they talk about the shows. But of course, a lot of it's very PR,
and in some cases they.
Have scripted and, um, they have talking
points that they're hitting on all the.
Know they've known each other for decades, but in many of these
shows, they only know each other for three months. So what are they really
going to say about each other? So this was super
fun. Did also a photo op with Reese Darby, who
I love, who has a great podcast on cryptids as
well, the Cryptid Factor. And I'm just mildly
obsessed with him. And that whole cast, you could see
everyone is playing a version of themselves.
They're just so well cast that they are bringing their
personalities to the characters that they're playing on
that show. So lots of fun.
And the second season is on now, and we're loving it.
I mean, that show is one that everyone
will enjoy, whether you're watching it for the
humor or you're watching it for the
pirates or you're watching it for
the comedy, kindness and
love and identity
watching whatever most recent episode we watched the other
day. I was thinking, my gosh, how did they take a
show that is so enjoyable and so
fun and yet put so much heart
in it? And it's dark and weird and absurd and there's
violence, but it's like, I don't know, there's so
much heart in it.
And that was the last thing Reese Darby
said. The last question the moderator posed
was who would get lost in their
imagination? And he just said,
well, he loves that he gets lost in his imagination
because the world is not a great place
right now. To have this place in his head that
he can escape to, and then for have that come
out on the show and he just kind of touched on what
you just said, Guido, that the show is very
much about kindness and that it's trying to
put that out into the world. And that was such a
great message to end this panel
on.
Well, and without being very heavy handed, I actually don't think
I thought about this until you shared that comment. It almost
feels like we're living in an age of piracy, right? Like people
just do whatever they want, whenever they want.
People have no boundaries. There's
violence, there's just offending people
and selfishness. The
show actually. Feels quite current, even though it's
taking place during a kind of historical moment. They
even have some real historical figures in it, but they're
playing with that. It definitely
feels very relevant to find
community in a, uh, moment when
people are sort of just fighting for themselves
and fighting against each other.
They need to put that on a promotional thing because you just sold me on the
show.
I've been trying to tell you.
You didn't tell me that.
That panel sounds really awesome.
Yeah, it's great.
The panels that you've went to sound I mean,
I don't go to panels when I go to Comic Con because I'm only there usually for one
day. Hopefully next year. Uh, that won't be
so. But just hearing from
the actors and creators sounds
like a good time.
Yeah, it is.
Nice.
All right, so who's next? We both have queer
icons on our list. Next.
Well, you go.
That's a good segment. I don't have a queer icon.
Yeah, you do. You have the architect.
Uh oh. Well, yes.
Some of the biggest queer storytelling coming out.
I'll go. I'll go.
You go.
So I'm going to combine a couple. And again, no, uh,
surprise here. This is my interactions in Artist Alley. But
for things I'm just currently excited about and have been for a
while, I got to meet and talk to Tom Taylor, philip
Kennedy Johnson, and Joshua Williamson,
all three of these guys. I'm a huge Superman fan, but
to be honest, I've never really been a
fan of Superman comics. Death of
Superman in the 90s. But I was really into
image and some marvel. But Superman's
always been more in the entertainment, like live action
cartoon entertainment realm. But Philip Kennedy
Johnson and Tom Taylor and more recently, Joshua
Williamson, I think, have done so much for Superman comics.
They're fun, they're exciting. They get the
character, and they're moving them forward. And I think Tom
Taylor's done such an amazing job. He didn't invent
John Kent, but he's making John Kent's
queer story.
He invented his queerness.
He invented his queerness. And just
seeing for me, the connection with Superman as a
parent, and no matter what the story
is about the trust that parent and child
have and seeing your child as an individual, all
these things, I just got to talk to Tom Taylor and say,
I will read anything he writes.
M philip Kennedy Johnson, I think, has done an amazing job. I'm going to read The
Hulk, which I have no interest in reading.
Johnson. And I think Joshua Williamson's run on
Superman is really fun. It's bringing back a lot of the feel of
the Superman animated series. It's just having fun with the
character and the relationship with Lois
Lane and, um, making Lois Lane continuing
her story as it's
Superman and Lois's story, which a lot of great
Superman stories are doing. So just
to see all three of them, they all signed. I
brought as many Superman comics as I could fit in my
backpack. And they all signed and were so generous with their
time. Um, it was great to just shake their hands
and say thank you.
And Tom Taylor and Philip Kennedy Johnson. I think
as someone who's not nearly as big a Superman fan
as you, but has read it for so many
years, it never
felt to me even those iconic especially I'd say
those iconic stories of the 90s don't have, um,
emotional cores. They're very action oriented. These
writers have put so much emotion in Superman
whether it's through the John Kent storytelling of Tom
Taylor or the parenting or Philip Kennedy Johnson and
even in the war world saga and then coming
back to Earth and having the adopted children and how
he connects with Supergirl and the other Superman
and sort of the family, the chosen family of
the Supers, if you will. They both put
so much heart into these stories. And that
has made me love Superman more than I ever
yeah.
Yeah.
And, uh, DC really
batting a thousand because my present
that I just love and
was so excited to meet was getting
to meet G. Willow Wilson, who is writing Poison
Ivy. We have discussed poison ivy on
here. We covered Poison
Ivy a few times and have mentioned
that in her extraordinary series,
it is one of the really rare
things in comics, where it's announced as a limited
series. It's then announced as a longer
extended limited series, then turned
into an ongoing series. And I
don't know how often that has happened in comics in
the last 25 years. So it just
speaks to how successful this series
is, how behind it DC clearly is.
It is so good. I told her that
I never cared about Poison Ivy, and she made me
love this character. I actually even
considered buying Poison Ivy's first appearance from our local
comic store. And then someone bought it before me
because I just love her. And it's
all G. Willow Wilson's writing the creator of Miss Marvel,
who I think many people were there and excited about
that aspect of her career. And she has some
cool creator own stuff going right now. But Poison Ivy
is the ongoing it could be the
ongoing that I most look forward to every month, honestly, because
it's so fun and easy to read. Great
story. Again, great heart with her and
Harley's relationship and what that means. But good
action, little bit of horror. So my current
favorite comic is probably Poison Ivy. And getting
to meet you, Willow Wilson, was so cool.
I feel like Captain America coming out of the ice and Sam
Wilson telling him all the stuff and adding it to the list.
So you're going to be watching our Flag Means Death and reading
Poison Ivy this week. All right.
Yeah. A very gay week for Elliot.
Happy to be here.
Well, my next thing was my second John Carpenter
related thing. So for me, one thing that I
look forward to every year at New York Comic Con is
picking up my copy of John
Carpenter's Tales from a
Halloween Night. And this is
a horror anthology put out by
Storm King, the comic book company run
by Sandy King carpenter with John
Carpenter. And it's just a great
anthology of horror stories. It's
lettered by Janice Chang, our friend from the
pod, who I got to see at the Storm King
table. And I picked up the exclusive New
York Comic Con 2023 cover by the
great Cat Skags. Great cover signed
by John and Sandy and many of the
creators inside the book. And
for me, it's just I don't know. I love that
Comic Con always comes around Halloween. It feels
like a preview part of the Spooky season.
It does, uh, sort of feel
like.
Yeah, cosplayers is like trick or treating when you're going to
Artist Alley. Right. Crafting, all that. So, yeah,
it just is part of the Halloween season. For me, it's almost
like I don't know, I was thinking it's like the Hess
truck at Christmas when you were a kid.
It's like, oh, what's this weird thing that I have to get
that's part of that? And it's like, oh, for this. And I've already
read one of the couple of the stories. And the second story,
especially was it
actually was quite creepy. So I'm looking forward
to diving into the rest of it.
That's fun. So I'll share my next
present because you two have something in the present
that's tied together. So I'll share that.
Uh, every year I like to get at least one commission.
And this year, it is from an artist
who I think I hope is
getting a ton of work. I think she's one
of the most extraordinary artists, uh, in comics
right now. And I've thought this for a few years. That's
Carmen Carnaro. And
Carmen has done X Men
red. She's done Captain America. She's
done Captain Marvel is probably her longest
interior, ongoing work. But she does
covers. She just
is stunning. She's done some X Men
work, of course. Stunning, stunning stuff.
And we asked her to do a commission of
Promethea. And it's beautiful.
And she's just an artist that I hope
everyone pays attention to and follows and I hope
keeps doing amazing work because I
think she draws characters
and action and faces and
everything I think is just perfect. It's art, but
it has so much movement. And
she's a future legend, I suspect, or
at least I hope.
And the commission she did for you, uh, um, Tom
King, I know you're listening. So,
uh, she needs to be in the rotation for Wonder Woman.
Oh, my gosh. I couldn't imagine
there's a looseness in.
Grace because she uses watercolor, too,
in her pencils that just fits. She's so good
at action, but so good at emotion and
faces. Yeah.
There's a softness, but with heavy lines.
She'd be fantastic on Wonder Woman also.
That is okay. All right.
We'll have to email Tom.
Yeah, we'll let Tom, um, know
Carmen should be in line on that book.
All right, so one more thing that is
worth paying attention to in the present at New York Comic
Con. Which of you is starting?
I'll start. Which is that
we concluded our
Saturday night with a great
panel on comic book
podcasting. And that was
yeah,
it was organized by friend of
this podcast and all around amazing
podcaster. Past guest botter
Milligan from the short box Podcast.
And it had the guys from the Oblivion
bar, our friends Brad and Lisa
from comic book couples counseling.
Yeah. Past guests, Troy Jeffrey Allen,
who is a YouTuber as well as a comic book
creator himself. And I thought
it was just really it was just
wonderful to be in this room of people who I've listened to,
who I can consider friends.
And I just love some of the things they said. Like, Troy
talked about he had a friend that was a
YouTuber and was, like, just getting sick of doing
YouTube. And then Troy said, well, do you know that everything
you're saying is super negative and maybe
that's why you're getting sick of doing it? And it was like,
oh, it's nice to hear from
people who are in this medium or trying to put stuff out
in the world and trying to put
positivity. Not that they're always going to be positive about
everything, but they're not going into it just to tear
things down. And I thought that was such
great piece of advice. And the other thing I thought
was hearing from Lisa from Comic Book Couples
Counseling and just saying the one thing that we can all bring
to our podcast or to whatever we're doing is just
bring yourself, bring me. Because
we're all reading the same books, right? So the one thing that
we can all do is just bring our own
perspectives and what we want to get.
Out of this great point and moment that really
resonated with me a lot when she said that, because I think
it's true. We all have our own unique
individual lens. And that's what's interesting.
As she said, there's not a way to
objectively review or analyze or talk about
books. It's just who we are
refracted through these books. And that's cool.
That stuck with me, too. And it's what I love about your podcast
and what I love about comic book Couples counseling and all
the podcasts I listen to. I try a lot, but a lot
of them are just, like, reviewing comics. And it's the ones
that, uh, inspect tales.
They're so unique and they're so your personalities
and what you love. And it struck
me at, uh, that point, too,
when they were talking about
you guys are always positive on here. Even if there's a what if
story or some else worlds that you didn't really like, there's some
way that you're talking about them that's not like slamming like the
art wasn't my favorite is a nicer way of saying the
art sucked and the artist
and writer. No one's making crappy comics, uh,
on purpose. But just to continue to talk about that. And I
agree, Rob. It was fun for me, that
panel I went into it being like, I'm going to go support the
people that support me. I do a lot of art
for all the podcasts that were there, which.
Was kind of that exist.
Yes. Oh, yeah. All of them
and listened to them. But I
still learned. Uh, and I have to shout out
to this panel, too, was we were just
talking, um, about this this morning. There's
so many identities and
different types of people that are attracted to comics that are there at Comic
Con. Yet most of the creators and panelists are
straight white men. To
have a panel especially. I said this to Lisa
Gullickson afterwards. Every time Lisa
speaks about her experience
podcasting, she comes at
it with Humility. And she has an authority that she
doesn't know. She realizes that I sit up and listen to it.
Gives me chills when she speaks because
I don't get to hear from women in the comic book
world that much, like even seeing Carmen and G. Willow
Wilson. And so I really
appreciated hearing her and her speaking
up and adding to the conversation. And
actually, I think elevating it like she talks about mental health and she's
making the podcast that she wants to. And, uh,
it was an awesome experience. I got to meet Botter for the first
time, which was great. I think he's another person
that is really talented and also
comes at this podcast through Humility, as do
many people.
In the podcasting world and is a vanguard. I mean, he's
had a show for more than ten years, over 400
episodes, and most podcasts
are less than half that age. So he really
started before this was a thing. And that's really cool.
And he's still so kind and generous and
supportive of everyone who's doing it.
And just to hear too from Aaron and Chris who
do the Oblivion Bar and the rise that they've
had because of what they do and everyone's kind of doing it for their own
reasons, I got to do some artwork for them. So it was really
fun to meet them in person. And yeah, it was just a nice
way to end the Saturday evening.
Well, mhm, before we end this podcast,
let's travel down to the lower
levels of Comic Con, past the
food court, spend $18 on a burrito,
and we will explore what's coming in the
future.
Will the future you describe
be averted, diverted? Diverted.
And pro tip, if you ever go to New York Comic Con, go to
the Indian food in the food court because there is
literally zero people waiting in line, and
it's pretty great for food court food.
I have to say.
I will say, I didn't tell you this, Rob, because you weren't with
Elliot and me the second day when we went there. The guy
recognized me. That is how few people go
through that counter. And it's shocking because Indian food is
my favorite food in the world. But the guy was like, you were here
yesterday. I was like, yeah, you'd think
he's seeing thousands of people, but he's not. There's
a big pizza. Uh, french fries and burger. Burger,
yes.
Straight women.
That's just our little tip there.
Well, in the future oh, you're starting. You
start.
Oh, yeah, yeah. I'll kick us off with my final John
Carpenter related item, which
was that people were asking him a few
cases in the Q A about
whether he would do sequels to his work. And of
course, there's been sequels to Halloween and Escape from New
York. People were saying, like, they live right now,
given the world that we live in, that should have some
kind of sequel. And he said, the rights are all kind of
tied up in different things. And, of course, Roddy Piper is
no longer with us, but someone was saying, and he
was agreeing that it would actually make a great
comic. So I would love to see a
they live comic.
It's weird, too, because there's been the big Trouble in Little China
comic. Uh huh. I think there's
been the thing comic. They did a Thing comic comics.
And mhm. Maybe that one's rights holders aren't
willing to work with a publisher because that one definitely
is well suited to comics.
Totally and totally. With the current
capitalist world and things.
I love and see that the
algorithm totally.
You make it more the AI version.
Mhm yeah, I'd love to see that. And then the other thing someone asked
him is if he would ever consider doing
a shared universe, which we've talked so
much about on this show, and he said, well, all these rights
are also held by every different person, so if he did it,
he would just be sued. But I would love to
see people just kind of coming together, because
who wouldn't want to see the various Kurt
Russell characters? Like Snake Plissken
meets the character from The Thing
and Kurt's character from The Thing, and all
these worlds kind of coming together
in one would just
be, well, yes. Um, not in the John Carpenter world, but.
Yes, I guess I got into the Kurt Russell, not
into the Kurt.
Russell world, where he's from overboard.
Miracle. Right? The guy from
Overboard.
Yes, exactly. Yeah. Captain Ron. Captain
Ron has an eye patch, and so does Snake Plissken.
The council of Kurtz. That's exactly
the council of Kurtz. My next T
shirt.
Exactly. But, yeah, I'd love to see a bunch
of the so, you know, and he said
the one thing that he's learned in the industry is
never say never. So maybe one day the
money falls in and the right people are
in control and that would be pretty awesome
to see.
There's an optimistic part of me that hopes
this confluence of the strikes at
the same time that the whole industry is
just changing and being sort of broken
and AI all these things could make it
that maybe that kind of thing won't be so hard in a few
years. Maybe companies will find a
way to be almost looser with
their IP. They'll see ways that they can make money with it, but
not necessarily retain
such tight control in a way
that I think a lot of people often say this is not what the
intent of these copyright laws ever was.
And so we need to go back to
more almost like music and sampling. There needs to be
more fluidity with some of these things totally.
That will come. And what about either
of you?
I'll share one future thing, which
is I got to talk to
Keon Tormi and
Tim Sheridan briefly and unexpectedly.
I was having Keon sign
a adventures, uh, of Superman John
Kent issue that he drew, and then
Tim Sheridan happened to be there and they had just been on the
panel talking alan Scott and the
upcoming series about alan Scott queer
Green Lantern and some of what Tim
was saying, my gosh, was
so perfectly resonant with me and
I'm sure Rob, who wasn't there at the time, and many
people about trying to find more
messy, darker, grittier, queer characters
at the big two publishers in Superheroes. And
that's his goal with Alan Scott. And I have a feeling
that our, uh, listeners will be hearing from them soon
also. So I'm excited for the series, I'm
excited for Tim and Keon, and I'm excited for
this conversation to just be getting
started.
That was a fun moment for me to watch,
um, because when
Guido said that he loved Alan Scott, tim
Seeley got so excited. Tim sheridan. Oh, sorry. Different
Tim Sealy. Sorry Tim's.
Tim.
Uh, Sheridan got so excited, he wanted to jump across
the table, give Guido a hug. And then they started talking about Alan
Scott. But, uh, he posted a picture of us on
his Instagram, um, saying what a great time he had at
Comic Con. And we were the first picture.
And I happened to just get the issue that has the preview of
Alan Scott in it signed by Jeff Johns. And so then I got
Tim and Keon to sign right around the drawing of Alan
Scott on the so because the new issue is not
out for a few weeks, but I can't wait
for it.
It really is the fun part about this con because these
guys can walk out on the street and no one knows who they are
mhm, and when they're there, they're major celebrities. But they're just as excited
to meet their fans. Can you imagine going up to like, Chris Evans and him
being so excited to see you? Or like, hey, I
love America. Like, yeah, so does everyone else.
But it's just these really cool moments of
connection that are really yeah.
Yeah, I agree.
I think we share a future one. So I'll start with one
of my recent favorite things to do when I go to
Comic Con is to discover I'll walk
by a table. I've heard of the artist or writer, and
they're selling some of their work. And I'll pick up something new that I've kind of
heard about but I haven't ordered or bought in a
comic shop. And I like to save it there. And I'll get it signed. And I've never read it
before. So Charles Soul is someone I've read all of
his Marvel work but, um, hadn't read 8 Billion Genies. And
they were selling the hardcover there. And so I just
stopped by, talked to him. He started giving me
the hard sell. And I was like, I'm already going to buy it. I just wanted
to talk to you. So he signed it. He and the artist
named Ryan Brown. Oh yeah, Ryan Brown. Thank you. Uh, Ryan Brown
signed it. And it might be my train
ride, uh, back to home.
Uh, yeah. It was optioned and would
make such a good
TV series because it's just a, uh,
great setup. So if
anyone hasn't read it, like Elliot, it's another thing
to add to the list because it's
really digestible starts and ends, but
has a great, great setup where you can just
wonder about all the other stories that could be told in it.
And what's cool is they love it so much that they told me that they
decided to he and Ryan Brown decided to make a New
York Comic Con exclusive comic. So they wrote a single
issue also and just produced it. And Charles Soul told me
it's his favorite work he's ever written. It's the best thing he's ever
written.
Oh, cool.
I was like, okay.
And I haven't read it yet. I have it but haven't read it yet.
Here we go. Well, my
last future thing was I went to
the image horror panel and
got to hear about a few upcoming books
that definitely sparked my
interest. So one book is
called Parasocial. And it's written by
Alex DeCampi, who was on the panel and
illustrated by Erica Henderson.
And as Alex described as kind
of a new modern take on
the misery story, the fan and
the celebrity. Only here the celebrity isn't
a great person because often in these
stories, the celebrity is very vaunted and
the fan is just a bad guy. And here it's not
as black and white. And I think being at
Comic Con, you see so much of this
fan culture and you were kind of just talking about it. Elliot when
you're going up to someone and
saying how much I like your work, and social media
has even broken that down even more. So I'm
really curious to see how this takes
on that, because I think it's such an
interesting topic in general. And then,
um, the other book was the one hand
by Ram V and Lawrence Campbell,
who are both on the panel. And they
describe this as being very influenced by
the movie Seven and by the movie
Manhunter, which are both huge movies for me that I love.
And Seven was such a huge influence on me growing
up. And it's a dark, serial killer,
noir thriller story. And it
looks really interesting. The
art looks very noir. So I'm just
definitely interested to pick up both of
these stories and explore.
Something new that's
cool, exciting.
Should I go first?
Yeah, we have the same thing. We're excited about the future. Our
last share.
So I was in line for David,
uh, Nakayama, who is an amazing
cover artist. And I bought the first issue
of Wonder Woman, written by Tom King with interior art
by Daniel Sempere. So I had him
sign it. And I'm excited because I haven't read
it yet, and I've been waiting this is one of
my well, I haven't ordered it. No, it just hasn't been delivered
yet.
Oh, you haven't gotten it yet.
Okay. Uh, I preordered it.
Uh, so then I thought, oh, I know Tom King and
Daniel Semperia here. I can get all three of them to sign it, which I
don't normally do. And for some reason, 2023 has
been the Comic Con of signatures for
me. So then we were over in line for Tom King and Mitch
Jared's and Daniel Sempari. So
they signed that, but I was also last in
line, and so I had to hold a
little cardboard last in line sign. And
the guy told me I had to tell people that Tom King is no
longer signing. So I had to turn people away.
You broke lots of hearts.
I was working really hard. And so I told Tom King that, and
he signed it. But just standing in front of him and
were like they were like middle school boys. They
were hilarious and inappropriate and their, uh, publicist,
or whoever was there was just, like, rolling her eyes. And
it was just kind of a funny moment to see
these two creators who write such great things. But then I got
Daniel Sempare to,
um, sign Wonder Woman. And
so I'm excited to read the book because I've heard really good
things, and it was just a fun moment to talk to all
these creators who are really excited about this
book, which I don't know why, but Guido does because he has read it.
Yeah, I've read it. And this is my last thing because
I am so excited for this run. It's only
one issue in and the
setup is phenomenal. The art.
No spoiler is wild. I
bought a page of it. I told
Daniel Sempere, and he said it was one of his two
favorite pages in the issue. So I feel extremely lucky
that I got that one. And
it just fires on all
cylinders. And Wonder Woman is we've
talked about this before. She's struggled to
have iconic runs for whatever
reason. There have been really extraordinary stories that
many people have told over the years, but there
hasn't been, uh, a, uh, seminal run.
And I think this has the potential to be it. I hope
it lasts for a long time, because
it's a great twist in the universe and
a great writing of her character.
And, my gosh, that art. Until Carmen takes
over, daniel should stay on because it is
really incredible. So that's what I'm excited
about, the future
of mhm.
And any last thoughts?
I'm already excited for next year
again.
Me too.
Just having this conversation.
If anyone from Readpop is listening, I really need this
Comic Con weekend to be put over. The
long fall weekend, columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples
Day, because I need to come.
For two days for people traveling, for
people working.
No, you'll get so many more people. You'll get me for more
than one day. I have to go home today and get
ready for school tomorrow.
I am not clear why that is, but next
year, it's again late in October,
and that is not exciting.
Well, I will say the really exciting thing
for me is getting to go with you guys.
You're so generous. You get to go. Number of days. And I always
feel like a little bit of royalty when I come, because, Keto and
Robbie, you're always like, what do you want to do next? It's your
day. It's your time. And I just feel like I get it's like
the equivalent of going to a spa for the day, except
you leave in pain.
Yeah, exactly. It depletes all of your energy.
Right.
But my emotional bucket is filled and exactly. I
never get to spend that much time with you guys, so it's double. I
get to be with two people I love in
a place that I love, surrounded by
a huge number of nerds. Like, I don't feel nerdy
there because there are so
many huge geeks. It's so much fun to it's like a
200,000 person affinity group.
Well, and we've said this before,
but I think what's so extraordinary
is there's no one unkind there.
It actually makes me want to cry
because I don't know why it is, but
there's so many just people being themselves.
There's so many queer people, people of all
ages, people with disabilities. There's
so many people, and everyone is just
kind. I've never encountered someone who's like, get out of my
way. I've, uh, never at a Comic Con have I ever
encountered someone and as soon as you leave Comic Con,
you do, and. I do. I get on the subway and I'm like, get
the hell out of my way. I'm in a rush. But at,
uh, Comic Con, no one is
like that.
They have asshole dampeners
there.
Someone has telepathy and makes everyone just
feel good.
Uh, your cell phone doesn't work, and
your assholeness is maybe that's the
secret.
When people can't exist in their
lives online, they're feeling kinder towards one another in
person. I don't know, but it's such a
pleasant place to be.
I never feel stressed by we sit on the
floor. Someone asks you if they can use the charger that
you're using.
It's not my charger.
No. And you just grab food wherever you
can sit wherever you can. People are helping each
other. It's really incredible. Uh, and that makes
it very special.
We need special music for it. It is the most wonderful time of
the year.
Someone needs to write a parody song of Most Wonderful Time of
the Year about Comic Con.
All right, Rob, you're the music, uh, guy.
Well, and I always love when you come to
Elliot, because I don't have the
patience or to stand on some of those Artist Alley lines.
So I'm very glad that you see Guido come company
while I can run off someplace
else.
I'm his handler.
Exactly. Well, I want to say one more thing that Artist Alley
makes me think of. And Elliot, you mentioned something like
this, but the other thing that I think makes Comic Con
special, and it was a good reminder to me,
even though, like, you said and like Lisa said on the panel and all
the panelists, like, focus on what you
love. And we do. But going through Artist Alley
just reminds me that not everything has to be
for me. And M I liked
having that reminder this weekend. There are artists
who are doing work that I don't like,
and that's okay. People love it. There's people
lining up to get it, and that's special
to me, even though it's not my thing. And it just is a
good reminder. Like, not every story needs to be for
me. Not every piece of art needs to be for me. And
I appreciate being reminded of that or
that.
You don't have to be the biggest fan. We'll just keep
quoting Lisa this whole episode, because Lisa also said on
the like, sometimes it's like, how many
Spawn villains can you name? And it's like, you don't have
to be the biggest fan. Uh, when I went to the R, flag
Means Death, there were so many people dressed like
characters from the show. There were people that had puppets that
were characters from the show. But you don't feel
like, oh, wait, I'm a lesser
fan because I'm not dressed like
a character. I could be a fan of this without
being that. But if they want to do that, that's great, too. But it's
not like, okay, you're not a fan of this show because
you're not doing cosplay or. You don't know
every character. There were people behind me that were like, oh, my God,
that's such a vigo thing to say. And it's like they
clearly are invested in this in a way I'm not. But
I don't feel like a lesser
person because I'm not into it into the same
level that they are.
Yeah. Thank you guys for having me. Yeah, I can't wait
till 2024.
Well, it's right around the corner. And, uh, thank you.
Dear Watchers for listening. You can see our
updates, our photos, our videos on all
of our social media at
dear watchers.
And leave us a five star review on
Apple podcasts. And we'll be back soon with
another trip through the multiverse.
And in the meantime, in the words of Uwatu,
keep pondering the.
Possibilities in the Indian.