Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
๐๏ธ Fragging Around in the Multiverse
This week we're revving up the space hog and hauling across the omniverse to ask a very thorny question โ what happens when the universe's most dangerous bounty hunter lands in Gotham Cityโฆ and the Joker is his target?
Ep. 177 What if the Joker Hired Lobo to Kill Batman (His Own Brother)?
from Batman/Lobo #1 (DC Comics Elseworlds, April 2000)
We're diving into the one and only appearance of an Earth where the Main Man himself rides into Gotham on a contract โ hired by Scarface to take out the Joker, only for the Clown Prince of Crime to flip the script and redirect Lobo's chaos at the Batman. We begin by tracing Lobo's surprisingly obscure origins, from a blink-and-you'll-miss-it debut in Omega Men #3 to the 1990 miniseries where Simon Bisley gave him the iconic look the world came to know. Along the way we compare him to Deadpool and Wolverine, explore his strange staying power, and unpack why his strict personal code of honor makes him more interesting than he first appears.
Then we get into the Elseworlds itself โ all fragging chaos, grotesque Bisley art, and a soap-opera twist that reframes the entire Batman mythology. We close out by looking at the brand-new 2026 Lobo ongoing from Skottie Young and Jorge Corona, and ponder what Jason Momoa's upcoming portrayal in Supergirl might bring to the character.
Reading / Watch List:
- Omega Men #3 (DC Comics, June 1983) โ Lobo's first appearance
- Lobo #1 (DC Comics, 1990) โ The miniseries that defined the character; written by Keith Giffen & Alan Grant, art by Simon Bisley
- Batman/Lobo #1 (DC Comics Elseworlds, April 2000) โ Written by Alan Grant, art by Simon Bisley
- Lobo #1, Vol. 4 (DC Comics, 2026) โ Written by Skottie Young, art by Jorge Corona
Mentioned / Related Episodes:
- Ep. 49 โ Our first Elseworlds episode
- Ep. 173 โ Batman/Deadpool (another Dark Knight meets an antihero!)
Email: Podcast@DearWatchers.com Find us & support us at https://linktr.ee/dearwatchers
Theme music is Space Heroes by MaxKoMusic (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0) โ
Support this podcast โ
โ
Support this podcast โ
Creators and Guests
Host
What is Dear Watchers: an omniversal comic book podcast?
Dear Watchers is a comic book podcast taking you through the omniverse where your Watchers Guido and Rob explore a different multiverse each episode, from Marvelโs What If to DCโs Elseworlds and far beyond. Join as we discuss the stories that were inspired by and take inspiration from each episode's alternate universe. Includes special episodes with guest creators, scholars and fellow podcasters to share their favorite trips to the multiverse and help ponder the possibilities of what lies ahead for comics and storytelling. For bonus episodes: www.ko-fi.com/DearWatchers
>> Rob: It's Dear Watchers and Omniversal comic book podcast where we do a deep dive into the multiverse.
>> Guido: We are traveling with all of you besiches through the stories and the worlds that make up an, omniverse of fictional realities we all love. And your watchers on this journey are me, the lone Tsarinian survivor, Guido, and me, Robo.
>> Rob: Guido Robo Lobo.
>> Guido: That works. That works. Everything has to end in an O.
>> Rob: Today, my fifth grade teacher called me Robo. And to this day, like my personal folder on my computer, on my laptop is Robo because of that.
>> Guido: So it all tough. I wonder if that was RoboCop or what? That was RoboCop.
>> Rob: Yeah, that was. It was probably that. It wasn't a.
>> Guido: Or Lobo the character. It could have been Lobo. Same era. he was a big fan.
>> Rob: Shout out to Mr. DeCarlo if you're listening. He's probably no longer with us. I don't know. Who knows?
>> Guido: You're not that old.
>> Rob: Well, he was older. I don't know. Well, that's true. You have no idea how old your teachers are at.
>> Guido: You thought he was ancient.
>> Rob: He was probably like 50, but yes. Anyway, before we begin our little trip through the multiverse of antiheroes, you know what's new in our little section of the comic book Dumb.
>> Guido: This is not related to this episode, but it is related to a lot of our listeners and comic book fans who are really into wrestling. All, guess what? It only took 45 years. But I'm a wrestling fan. And you, you flirted with it more as a child than I did.
>> Rob: But I had a good friend who I played with all the time who was a huge wrestling person, so everything I got wrestling was osmosis through him. But I like, never watched on my own, like, without him really.
>> Guido: But now our huge AEW fans, Luckily AEW has a comic book, so I think it's only a very brief matter of time until we do AEW DC comic book episode because they have a crossover that's coming out now or just finished, actually, I think like last week.
>> Rob: Well, and it makes sense too, because we're both big Drag Race fans and
>> Guido: I see so Drag race and so much drag race. It's wild to me. how, how. I'm sure people have said this before, but it's just wild the way it's like a real life Persona built from some who someone is, but then this whole fictionalized person on top of it put into these Situations. And it's. It's wild to me how much, like, Drag Race it is. I kind of wish Drag Race could construct a spin off that did. Wrestling, like, had these sort of fake bouts. I don't know.
>> Rob: Like, we were watching a great documentary out in the ring. Right. You think? And it's so fascinating because there's gay wrestlers who are playing a straight character, and then there's straight, wrestlers who are playing a gay character.
>> Guido: Yeah.
>> Rob: Then, you know, a gay, wrestler's playing a gay character. It's like a little bit of everything
>> Guido: and lots of coding and lots of coding and.
>> Rob: Yeah. and for you, like, going. Tying it back to comics. And we've talked about this with soap operas having that extended serialized storytelling.
>> Guido: Yeah. It just goes on forever. That's why it's so much fun. I had no idea there was so much to consume. There's, there's like four hours a week of wrestling. It's like we can just keep watching it forever.
>> Rob: Like Drag Race 2, where there's, like, so much of it because there's all the international versions you could just.
>> Guido: And we're only catching up on the 2026 Wrestling so Far. So, if we went back. My gosh.
>> Rob: Oh, my gosh.
>> Guido: yeah, so. And as always, in the meantime, you can catch us on the Sleepover Retro Countdown show, our other show, which is audio and video.
>> Rob: Ooh. But if you're joining us here for the first time, we have three parts of our journey through the multiverse today. Origins of the story, exploring multiversity and pondering possibility. So thanks for coming along.
>> Guido: And remember, leave us a five star review wherever you're listening, and follow us on social media at Dear Watchers.
>> Rob: And with that, welcome to episode 177. And let's check out what's happening in the Omniverse with our travels today's alternate universe. Today we are answering the fragging question, what if the Joker hired Lobo to kill Batman? His own brother.
>> Guido: I know. Sorry, everyone. We just spoiled the 30, year old comic. But it is, it is, it is a big twist. And we'll get to it. This is a DC Elseworlds. This Earth only has a single appearance. It's never been repeated again. We have covered a lot of Elseworlds dating back from episode 49, though I feel like my research is faulty and we started Elseworlds earlier, so I don't know, just go find DC episodes. And we've talked all about the imprint for DC's multiversal storytelling. We have Covered Batman so much. Also, just go to dearwatchers.com, click episodes, and you can search for all of our Batman coverage. There is a lot, lot of it. But we have never, ever probably even talked about, let alone, cover cameo appearance.
>> Rob: Yeah. Well, let's talk about our backgrounds with Lobo. I'll. I'll kick us off. And I remember this character so much in the 90s because I think I was of the perfect comic reading age when this character had really hit and was becoming a big deal. But I never read him even then. I don't know why. I gravitated more towards Deadpool, who he has a lot in common with. And that will, I'm sure, certainly come up later talking about some of these issues. But I always saw him around, I collected his cards and there was that whole kind of. He felt like of the same, of the same ilk of both in D.C. and in Marvel, of those characters where like, you had Johnny Blaze, but he was in like the trench coat. Right. And you had like Death's Head, I think was a Marvel character. Like there was all those, like, extreme
>> Guido: like characters of the 90s.
>> Rob: Mm,
>> Guido: Yeah.
>> Rob: How about you?
>> Guido: I always hated him. He was, he was not for me.
>> Rob: He.
>> Guido: But he does have such a distinct look that I think that's part of probably why people know him so well, because even though he was like, hot for a minute, it was only a minute. He didn't really have the staying power of a Deadpool. And so even though DC was trying really hard to make him like Wolverine and like this tough, interesting anti hero that people want to see, he didn't sustain that much. But there were a few solid years there. Probably like 90 to 94 was like his real era. and I never read his solo stuff. I never read the parody issues that would come out of stuff. Obviously, if he was in stuff I was reading great. But yeah, I read a few years ago there was this, miniseries about his daughter because she's queer. And so I read it and I actually quite liked it, but I still didn't care about him. And so this is possibly the most Lobo I've read is this, this episode. So, yeah, not an expert at all, but we will try to get into it.
>> Rob: Well, we're gonna jump on our bikes and ride back to the beginning, its origins of the story. So we're going to talk about a couple of comics here where he makes his first appearance, but his very first appearance, Guido, is in A mega man number three from DC Comics. This came out in June 1983.
>> Guido: It is his very first appearance, though, he's not even named.
>> Rob: No.
>> Guido: And he's really barely in it.
>> Rob: I was scrolling through it and then I was waiting. I was like, wait, I haven't seen him here yet.
>> Guido: That's why I said to you, there
>> Rob: he is, just him.
>> Guido: Just him. Because he's not quite in it.
>> Rob: But he looks so totally different here too, which I'm sure we'll get into.
>> Guido: A few elements are there. But yes, he's written here by Roger Slipper, penciled by Keith Giffen. So they are forever credited as his co creators. The inks are Mike DeCarlo colors, Anthony Tolan, letters John Costanza, and it's edited by Marv Wolfman. So, we're not going to be able to talk about these separately because ultimately what happens is he is. He debuts here and then Keith given pulls him into Justice League International for a little bit and that gives you a little bit more flavor, which you can talk about. And then it's really his miniseries in 1990. So this is Lobo number one, which we also read that cements who he is as we know him now. And that's by Keith Giffen and Alan Grant, who join and really give him the voice I think we know. And it's drawn by Simon Bisley, of course, famous for Judge Dredd. And Simon Bisley gives him the defining look for sure. So he has quite an evolution. And we, looked at his first appearance, but then really looked at where he first becomes the Lobo that we know and some people love.
>> Rob: There are so many similarities. We've both mentioned Deadpool already, but so many similarities in that the character starts off pretty serious, like nothing super special unique about him, and then gets this much more pronounced personality and really jumped off in a miniseries. Right. Like both of those characters really popped in miniseries in the 90s.
>> Guido: Though Deadpool's miniseries are also still serious, so he doesn't get the humor just yet until he's ongoing. So. But they are very similar. Lobo is actually earlier. So I'm curious if Lobo in some ways even from the business side, inspired some of the Deadpool evolution. The other thing that I'd say is similar to both of them is they're both now not in the 80s incarnation of Lobo, but the 90s incarnation, as I mentioned earlier, is trying to ape Wolverine a bit. It's trying to create the same success Marvel's having at this point with Wolverine being this like, edgy, gruff, you know, Cursing hard living. Wolverine's obviously not quite an antihero, whereas Lobo is squarely an antihero or more of a villain. But they both just have an edge. And so Deadpool is also in that boat. Which is what I'm just thinking maybe some of the similarity is too, I don't know. But the fourth wall breaking too. Now Lobo doesn't break the fourth wall, but he always has a little bit of a self referential humor.
>> Rob: M. There's a little bit of a meta ness certainly like to the character. It was interesting seeing that he was developed almost as a parody or a commentary. I saw on Wolverine and the Punisher. Also I saw mentioned because I, yes, I get Wolverine and that he has a cigar. He's got kind of almost similar hair. He's got regenerative ability. So there are a bunch of things in that way. But yeah, I couldn't help but keep thinking of Deadpool and the character I really thought of a lot is Venom, as being a character who is
>> Guido: well and this is a little more
>> Rob: villain, like he's killing people. But then like yes, he's also kind of an anti hero in other ways.
>> Guido: And this is more contemporary to Venom. Again, this is not contemporary to Deadpool. So that's an interesting comparison. So in Omega Men and then I, I actually went and skimmed the Justice League International appearances and again given there gives him a little bit more of the humor and his look gets a little more refined. He's still not though the Lobo until the 90s series, but the Omega Men. It's so weird that this character stuck around. It's yeah, definitely very random and I saw that it has to do with the physical design. In some ways it was just like, hey, let's keep using this interesting looking character because they even change like what planet he comes from.
>> Rob: Yes.
>> Guido: What never changes is he's a bounty hunter. So that's there from the very beginning he is introduced as a bounty hunter
>> Rob: and he's super powerful. Like in this first one he literally flicks a character's nose and like their head explodes. So like there's this super powerful ability to him from like the very beginning. And I saw that the creators were saying they wanted to him be a commentary on kind of the ultra violence of characters like Wolverine and Punisher. But I guess I just didn't get, I didn't get that from Omega Men
>> Guido: because well, he continues to appear so in Omega Men as a small character. But we might, we might have missed some of those more Overt references or it was just subtle? I have no idea. And then the more modern introduction of Lobo. I do, funny about Simon Bisley. I, I like his art and it's not art I would normally like, but there's something, I think he's just such a good artist that even though it's the exaggerated sort of grotesque art that I'm not always a fan of that like a lot of comics use, it's very like or of that era like Tank Girl and then Eon Flux eventually, which I guess I do like those things, but I just think it's so well executed that I really like it a lot.
>> Rob: Yeah.
>> Guido: So I think it works.
>> Rob: We've talked about before on the show where some characters, they evolve over time like Wolverine and that the people who are credited as their creators are not always really the creators of those characters. And I would say like Simon Beasley, like you really should add him as a creator or a developer or something. Credits when he's credited because truly like his look of this character is so intrinsic into the success of it. And like if you picture Lobo, you picture that Beasley creation.
>> Guido: Yeah. No offense to Roger Slipper, but I don't think he is very much a creator here. I don't think you can say that.
>> Rob: And everything is like dripping in like gooeyness and everything is creepy looking and bizarre and There was a Bakshiness also to it
>> Guido: in that it is, it is that
>> Rob: violence to how the images are portrayed. Yeah, I, I, I agree with you. I don't necessarily always love this kind of art, but I think it's done so well here that I did.
>> Guido: Yeah. So it's an interesting character to talk about their origin and their introduction because it's spread out over time. I don't even know if there's an essential issue. Someone could. But in terms of his origin, of course he's the last surviving Tsarinian. And then it of course turns out that he's killed them all. Which that story has changed over the years. And we'll get into that in our last segment a little. But I think, what do you think in terms of this, his staying power as a character? Like why, what's, what's here that people return to and don't quite let go of?
>> Rob: well, I think it's that he has, he's willing to kill anybody in that way. He has no morals. But the other thing about him that seems so key to him, which I didn't know until reading these, is that his kind of Character flaw or character. Good character trait is that he always has to keep his word no matter what.
>> Guido: Right, Right. So he has a code. He has no morals, but he has a code which is very common I think with this kind of anti hero.
>> Rob: So I think that kind of dichotomy between those two things is what kind of keeps people coming back. Because he's not just like the Joker who we'll talk about who will do anything. He has to kind of stay within these rigid M bounds even though he'll. He'll kill anyone who gets in his path to do them.
>> Guido: Yeah. And I think his design, going back to that design, it's just so distinct. It really is so distinct. Both the original incarnation, but then Simon Bisley like. But the keeping the black and white skin, but the. The whole look he does.
>> Rob: And the hook, which is kind of a little. Reminds me of Hellraiser, but also Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. Like he's got like the chain and the hook which like brings to mind those characters as well.
>> Guido: And he's very much a wrestler actually. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these are actually pulling from some. Maybe there's a wrestler who. I think there are. We just watched a documentary about wrestling action figures. There was someone had a chain attached to him. So maybe that's.
>> Rob: And a little Undertaker from wwe. Like he's definitely got that Undertaker look. Oh, he was from when we were growing up. Yeah, very much that kind of look. Look him up. He'll. You'll definitely see it. And the motorcycle or space motorcycle, which is like always has music coming out of it too. It's like. Yeah.
>> Guido: Made up songs kind of thing. And it's. I like, it is fun that he has this thing and it carries on to. To the. All the issues we read where people write lyrics that sound like songs. You know, they do, but they're not. And. And they're about hammer, about the best dishes, which is clearly just another word for bitch. and all of the curse words that. The Sirenian.
>> Rob: Yeah. Well, it's fun that they have like, you know, these made up like fragging is like the F word. And all these things that are definitely skirting the line of like you. Even a kid would know what they're talking about.
>> Guido: Totally. It's like frack on Flattlestar Galactic.
>> Rob: Yeah. They definitely reminded me of that. And it's fun in this. In his miniseries because we've talked about this with Wolverine and Deadpool as well before. we keep coming back to those characters, but it's fun to pair them with something that puts them out of their comfort zone. So the plot here in this miniseries is he has to rescue someone and bring them back alive, which, of course, he doesn't want to do because he wants to just kill everybody. And the person he needs to rescue is another cesarean who actually is still alive, unbeknownst to him. And it's his fourth grade teacher who. Who he hated. And he's also written an unauthorized biography about him as well. So it's fun because she is, like, very much a typical, like, nagging older teacher type. And. And she's correcting his grammar and other. Other characters. So to have that character be paired with him makes it such a strong partnership.
>> Guido: Well, that's what's fun about him. when you look at. He was. Even though, again, he doesn't break the fourth wall. The. The creative freedom they clearly gave everyone who worked on him in the 90s. I mean, there's, there's Lobocop. There's a parody special, like, printed by DC. And then he goes to kill Santa Claus. Someone hires him to kill Santa Claus, and, like, he just has these completely absurd situations that he's put in. So that's part of probably what people like about him and make him really interesting. yeah. And we can talk more about if our opinions of him changed when we get to the end of this. Why don't we see what happens when you put him in another universe?
>> Rob: Yes. Okay. It's time for exploring multiversity Foreign. This is Batman slash Lobo number one from DC Comics on M, the Else World's imprint. And this came out in April 2000. And we're, of course, asking the question, what if Joker hired Lobo to kill Batman, his own brother?
>> Guido: So this is written by Alan Grant, penciled and inked by Simon Bisley, colored by Nathan Earring, lettered by Bill Oakley, and edited by Tony Bedard and Dan Raspler. So this is an official Elseworlds, as you mentioned. And, yeah, I didn't even know this existed, so until we were doing research, I was not aware this existed. It's an odd Elseworlds.
>> Rob: Yeah. Because you start off reading it thinking, well, the only Elseworlds thing about this is that, I guess Lobos come to Gotham.
>> Guido: and the slight character design. Right. Like, Joker looks slightly different. Yeah. Yeah. You know, but it could just be a Simon Bisley interpretation.
>> Rob: I kind of thought it was a different universe, just kind of creeps along where at some point I was like, that Alfred looks a lot like Commissioner Gordon. And then you realize, oh, no, the. The Wayne's butler is Jim Gordon, and then the commissioner is Commissioner Pennyworth, and he looks just like, you know, the Alfred of that era. So. But, like, they never make a big deal out of it. They're suddenly reading and going, wait a second, this is. That something is a little off.
>> Guido: Here's my guess. And we can get more into the plot in a moment, because I'm sure this is not going to be top of people's mind. But my guess is I would imagine this was conceived as just like, hey, we want to do a miniseries, we do all these other miniseries where he's like, killing Santa Claus, et cetera. Here's an idea we have. Since these are his main continuity creators, and for some reason, D.C. was like, no, make it an Elseworlds. And in order to make it feel like an Elseworlds, because it otherwise is pretty. He was pretty close to prime canon, except for the major twist in our question, which we'll get to. He just throws in all these little things, I think, to change it, because there are a few other things like that with. Well, Robin and Nightwing are pretty standard, but they're a little different. They're. They're beefy Simon Bisley design, for sure. But then you also have a quick passing reference to Jimmy Olsen, Superman.
>> Rob: Yeah, Jimmy Olsen is Superman in this world.
>> Guido: Jimmy Olsen, Superman. Which has no relevance whatsoever to anything that's happening. So that's where I'm like, huh? It's really kind of odd that there's these teeny tiny references. I suspect they're just to, like, make it clear this is a different universe.
>> Rob: I thought the main reason they probably wanted to be in Elseworld is because Lobo kills people. So in this, he kills the Penguin, he kills Killer Croc, and obviously you can't have that in main continuity. So they peppered in this other stuff to, like, just round it out a bit.
>> Guido: And so part of why he kills them goes back to what the conceit of this is. So Lobo's hired to kill Joker by Scarface, the current gangster ruling king of Gotham. And Joker is able to give Lobo enough money to convince him to let him live for a few extra days and to humiliate Batman. So that's ultimately Joker's goal here, is discredit, humiliate Batman. And so in order to do that, Lobo dresses as Batman and starts killing people, thinking, well, Batman would never kill people. So by doing this, I'LL discredit him. M. And he, of course, does start with the Penguin in a rather funny sequence where he gives him a cigar and then, like, the back of his head just completely blows off after he lights the cigar, which is kind of fun. So it's like a ridiculous, setup, of course, which is completely fine, I think. Really, Just to get you Lobo dressed in Batman's costume. I think that's the goal there, wouldn't you say?
>> Rob: Yeah, totally. Yeah. And they stick it to. With also, like, the Lobo always needing to keep his word because he tells the Joker, like, okay, I'm still gonna kill you no matter what. Like, but right in between and get your $10 million and then kill you. And it's. It's fun seeing, like, these Beasley depictions because of these classic characters, because the Penguin, for example, like, looks so much more grotesque and. Oh, yeah, crazy Scarface isn't just, like, the nice kind of polished puppet we think of, like, say, on, like, the Animated Series, but he's literally like a little wooden, you know, very much handmade kind of puppet.
>> Guido: Yeah. So all this is playing out and there's so much more going on here. And it's pretty quick, efficient storytelling. But again, you have Robin and Nightwing who ultimately get killed, and then they think it's Batman.
>> Rob: Yeah. I think the idea of someone humiliating Batman and framing him like that feels like I could have put my finger on it, but it feels like a story we've seen. Like, that's a go to in, like, the Batman universe.
>> Guido: Yeah, it's a trope, definitely. I feel like in a movie. Right? Isn't there?
>> Rob: Yeah, I think it's even in one. Yeah. Yeah. It just definitely seems like they can always go back. Well, yeah, Even in Batman Returns, like, when the Penguin kisses the, pushes the Ice Princess off the building, and then everyone. Just a classic kind of Batman thing.
>> Guido: But then the biggest twist here comes when Batman decides to do DNA tests on the blood that he's collected and it's not clear why. And I guess an opening fight sequence
>> Rob: between the Joker and Batman where, like, the Joker obviously got beaten up, he's put back in Arkham, and then, yeah, the Batman has collected his. His blood from there. Yeah. I guess we don't know why he decided to do this, but.
>> Guido: And. And we don't know what the spoiler is. Although now all of our listeners do yet. But we know that Batman thinks, well, okay, if I show this to Joker, he'll have to call Lobo off. And so, of Course the twist is, and this is while Joker has Batman strung up, Batman retells his origin story which Joker can't remember anything from before the accident. And in telling his origin story, which is the same murder in an alley of his parents grieving at the grave site with a bat. But then he says when he will avenge his parents death, he also swears one day he'll find his brother because it turns out that he has a twin long lost brother named Joey. Joey Wayne?
>> Rob: Yes, Joey Wade Wayne. Yeah.
>> Guido: And the Joker is Joey.
>> Rob: Yeah. So at that moment when Martha and Thomas are killed and Bruce is, is frozen in fear, Joe Chill or whoever it is, like then takes Joey off to basically be his, his, like his ward, I guess, and they never see each other again. And yeah, it makes sense that because of the Joker's accident and the chemicals that he, he doesn't remember any of this. So. Yeah, and so it does come out of. No, it does feel very soap opera esque because like, it's one of those things people always make fun of soap operas where it's like you had a twin brother the whole time. And it's like finally this reveal which has never been hinted at the rest of the pages and also has like nothing to do with Lobo, which has been such a big concentration of the, of the book.
>> Guido: Yeah, yeah, it's all, it's. Yeah, it makes no sense, but it's fun. It works.
>> Rob: Yeah.
>> Guido: And then Joker blows off Lobo's head, but he of course starts to heal ultimately and he is going to kill the Joker. But it turns out that the gas Batman had sprayed him with gives him the ability to control his mind. And so he controls Lobo and says, you'll never kill another sentient being as long as you live. And so of course Lobo has to go off and he's going to go volunteer for some intergalactic nonprofit organization and Batman puts Joker in prison or Arkham.
>> Rob: Yeah, I like that it plays off of Lobo's like never can never break his word. But the whole gas controlling his mind does feel very de. Sis Marina. Like the whole thing, is full
>> Guido: of like conveniences in a fun way. I, I think it does not take away from the narrative here. I think it's just. Yeah, it's, it's ridiculous. The whole thing is ridiculous. And so I thought it was fun. I enjoyed reading it.
>> Rob: Yeah, I enjoyed reading and enjoyed looking at it because again, the Beasley art is so great. It's great to see these characters that we all know and who have obviously been been depicted in many different ways, but have been shown and drawn in these kind of hideous. Everyone looks kind of like, you know, Alfred as the Commissioner looks very greasy and, you know, disheveled. And everyone has that look here.
>> Guido: So do you want more from this Earth?
>> Rob: Well, not where it's ended, because Lobo, I guess, is now a nice guy.
>> Guido: Maybe something breaks, Batman's mind control.
>> Rob: But there is, there is something. And I guess this is also why Batman was paired with Deadpool is like it's some something about Batman having like that strict moral code. I'm never going to kill anybody and pair him with someone who doesn't have that, who's willing to kill anyone. So having those two characters together I think just makes a lot of sense, whether it's Lobo, whether it's the Punisher, whether it's Deadpool, whoever.
>> Guido: Yeah. And they do have, crossover in
>> Rob: the
>> Guido: regular canon prime universe. Obviously they even have a, miniseries. But this is the only appearance of this Earth, but it's certainly not the last appearance of Lobo.
>> Rob: Yes. So let's wrap up by pondering some possibilities. So, Guido, what are we talking about for pondering possibilities?
>> Guido: Well, we have two different things we can discuss. One is, hot off the presses. In fact, we are advance copy. Hot off the presses. While we're recording this, there is a brand new Lobo ongoing that's starting this week in mid March, when we are recording. So we got the chance to read it early and are going to talk about it and where the character is here in 2026. And of course, part of why he has this new ongoing is because he's also going to debut in Supergirl this summer and appears in the trailer briefly. And so we can talk a little bit about his on screen appearance and what we can expect or would want from it. So let's start with the brand new book.
>> Rob: Yeah, I don't know how much we can say, or Lobo is going to come down and hunt is down with his chain. I can feel the chain coming. But yeah, I feel like this is so much a continuation of the character that we had established going back to like the 1990s. Like, there's something about. You want to see Lobo. There's a scene here where he ends up at, like, cosmic, cantina kind of thing. Very Star Wars. And I think there's something about that where, I don't know, we want to see. We want to see a Lobo interacting with a bunch of other like weird aliens and, and beating them up.
>> Guido: And he does always have lots of aliens. He has those dolphins that are always appearing in his titles that understand. But. So this is volume four of Lobo. Now we read volume one. This is volume four and the creators are Scotty Young, Jorge Corona and it's colored by Jean Francois Bellow, lettered by Nate Picos and edited by Kathleen Wisneski.
>> Rob: Now I mostly associate Scotty Young as an artist. Right.
>> Guido: He is. He's written some stuff. He wrote Strange Academy, for Marvel. I've never been drawn to his writing. frankly I'm not drawn to his art either though I appreciate it. It's just not for me. This is. Yeah, this is strictly writing and story credit for hem And Jorge Corona does a great job of being like, clearly inspired by Simon Bisley but also doing his own thing. It has the same sort of ragged edge, but lives a little bit more,
>> Rob: not as bizarre and creepy and
>> Guido: like lives a little more in the comic book universe. Yeah. And I think this is fun. This one has a lot of meta humor. Also the self referential stuff, especially to DC and Warner Brothers and Disney, which is really fun, is in Disney, I think the Galactic Rodent Company. I like that. I thought that was very cute.
>> Rob: There's a reference to like the Motor Mouth movie and Angry Claws or something like that. Like.
>> Guido: Yeah,
>> Rob: the Deadpool and Wolverine movie.
>> Guido: It is the Deadpool and Wolverine movie that they're making so much of it up here.
>> Rob: Which is actually like, I think it's Scotty Young commenting on what is, what is the fascination with these anti heroes. So there's so much talk in this book where it's like, why do we like these people? Why do we even call anti heroes? Like Lobo's never even heard the term antihero.
>> Guido: That is a very funny sequence and I think that that's very clever writing in there because yeah, he's also not an anti hero. And they make that clear in that like, like you're not an antihero. You've killed millions of people.
>> Rob: Yeah.
>> Guido: You can't be an anti hero if you've killed millions of people. So I thought that was very fun.
>> Rob: Yeah. Yeah. And it, yeah, overall it's like they have do a great job too of kind of resetting people like us. Us or me at least, like who are not as familiar with this character and giving us also a look back at his whole history. So there's a great two page spread here where we get his origin story. We also get some of the stuff that you refer to. Like he says, like, yeah, I was a woman for a while.
>> Guido: which is true. There was a lady lobo, hot, like
>> Rob: slender lobo, which, like, was from the new 52.
>> Guido: Oh, yes.
>> Rob: Yeah, I'm not even gonna talk about that.
>> Guido: Better not even talk about that. Yeah, yeah, well. And I love too, it's a really clever thing for a character like this. Not because I think there's so many people so committed to the details of his origin, but just because it's a fun, again, meta commentary on these sort of retcons and what a character like this would probably say where now how he killed all of the Tsarinians is newly framed as he was young and he had poisonous urine and he pissed in the water supply to kill his whole planet. And I love that like one of the characters is like, that's not how I heard it happen. And he's like, I'm gonna make this more fun for you now. So it's like he's saying he's lying. Like, that is never a part of his origin. But it's a fun thing to add in there. I think that's really cute.
>> Rob: Yeah, I had no idea because then I was like, well, how did he kill everybody? Like, I don't even know, like what was real and what wasn't. Which think is, a fun thing with a character like this because he's so much into building his own mythos.
>> Guido: Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's fun. are you going to read more of the title?
>> Rob: He doesn't grab me in a way that Deadpool does as well. I think there's something about the. You know, I love that Deadpool has like those one liners and like, I find him to often be legitimately funny when I read him here for the show. And here Dead Lobo himself as a character isn't like a one lining, one liner character. Like the humor is more in the meta ness of some of it. So I don't gravitate to him in the same way that I would some of the other characters that are similar to him.
>> Guido: I agree. And part of it for me is the intergalactic part. I never care that much about other like cosmic stories or aliens or those kinds of things of that kind of storytelling. So maybe if he was mixing it up with some earthbound heroes and villains, I'd be more amused. But I don't really care that much about all these other places, so. But in the movie he is on another planet, because he encounters supergirl in her galactic adventures.
>> Rob: Are you played by Jason Momoa? M. his second superhero role.
>> Guido: DC superhero, even second DC here.
>> Rob: That's true. Because we often see folks sometimes hop From Marvel to D.C. in some cases, but yeah, not.
>> Guido: Not usually with old DC to new dc.
>> Rob: Yeah.
>> Guido: Are you. Are you excited he's in Supergirl? Now that we think.
>> Rob: Like we said before, I think he's a character that probably plays off of someone who is going to be a ying to his yang very well. And I think certainly Supergirl will be that. I'll be curious to see, like, how villainous he's played, Slash, how anti hero he is. Like, is he gonna be the main villain or is it gonna be more of a. He's, a. He's really like a secret co. Hero of the movie.
>> Guido: Yeah, I think he'll probably be quite. Quite a bit like we see in the comics. He'll probably be, not a good guy, but he'll be a funny companion. I'm sure their goals will align for some part of the movie, but I think that'll be the extent of it and I think it'll be fun. And he looks cool. we don't watch trailers, as our regular listeners know, so we haven't seen it, but I've seen still images and it's a great look. Looks very faithful in a good way. So.
>> Rob: And I believe this is one of those cases where you hear about sometimes where I think Jason Momoa really fought for this part. Like, this was a character he wanted to play himself. This was not just like, okay, let's cast him.
>> Guido: Right.
>> Rob: But this was something he was like, I want to play Lobo. So I always like that too, because sometimes. Yeah. Do these actors who are being paid $10 million, like, do they really care? Like, do. Are they doing the research? Do they. Are they passionate about it? And I like that. Oh, no. He's probably coming at this as a fan.
>> Guido: Yeah, it sounds like it. And even though this is not a James Gunn written movie or directed movie, I think it's part of his early architecture being the second movie outing. So I suspect it's gonna have his tone. And Lobo's gonna fit really well into that tone, I think. So I'm excited about that. So I do look forward to it. Has this exploration changed your opinion about Lobo?
>> Rob: Well, I don't feel like I had an opinion. I feel like he was again, someone always on the periphery, but someone I never really. I never really explored. And I still, after while enjoying the Elseworlds while enjoying the 90s. He didn't like fully grab me in the way that some other characters did. And I, I was always the same way about Venom as well. Like he was never like, top, of my list of characters. So I appreciate it and I really appreciate the Simon Beasley art. I think I'd like flip through other issues just to see that. But even some of the art actually going back to the Omega man number three, like had a Lovecraftian by Robert, Roger Silfer had like this weird gooeyness to it that you don't often see. But would I really invest in the character? Probably m not outside of Supergirl the movie.
>> Guido: Yeah, I agree this did not make me care any more about him, but I did enjoy what we read anyway regardless. So that's nice because I do think, yeah, he's one of those characters who I just think is not for me. But like, I have, I have no problem with and I don't think is, you know, poorly written or anything like that. So it was fun to explore a little. Though he continues to not be for me. So that is a wrap. Dear Watchers, thank you for listening. I've been the last surviving Tsaranian Guido
>> Rob: and I have been Robo.
>> Guido: The reading list is in the show notes. You can follow us online at Dear Watchers, dearwatchers.
>> Rob: Com and leave us a five star review. Wherever you listen to podcasts. We'll be back soon with another trip through the multiverse.
>> Guido: In the words of atu, keep pondering the possibilities.