Welcome to Dear Watchers in Omniversal comic book podcast, where we do a deep dive into the multiverse.
We are traveling with you through the stories and the worlds that make up an omniverse of, uh, fictional realities we all love. And your watchers on this journey, as always, are me, Keto.
Thank you, Father Time.
It's me, baby.
New Year.
Rob.
I see what you did there, because this is our last episode of 2022, and it's going to be fun.
Yes, we are going to do a little recap on our year, talk about some of the episodes that we covered. And Hanukkah is nine days this year because we have an extra gift for you this Boxing Day. OOH, presents.
Gosh. How many different holidays can you fit in? Let's find out. Kwanza, you don't just say them.
Oh, yes, that's right.
All right, well, let's get to our first segment on this special 2022 year end episode.
So we are going to be breaking down our top ten episodes of the year.
Yes. What if we took a look back at, uh, the year 2022? We had, I guess close to 52 episodes. I mean, we've come out every Monday.
Wow.
I didn't count how many Mondays there were in 2022. I guess not every year necessarily has 52 of each day, but we probably had some number of close to 52 episodes because we have not missed a Monday since we started this show.
Gosh, it only feels like we've recorded 47 this year, not 52.
I don't know what you're doing.
Okay, so our number ten episode of the year was what if the X Men animated series universe was in a comic book universe? Kind of. Sort of. When we read Secret Wars x Men 92. This is episode 56 from August 1. What do you remember about that?
Well, I remember this being super fun because both you and I really grew up on X Men The Animated Series, so getting to revisit it in any form was fun. And I never knew there was a comic book spin off.
Yeah, it was neat. We got to watch a TV show. We've been changing it up more and more this year using TV shows, episodes.
Even movies, as, ah, some of the.
Stories that we're exploring alternate universes with. So this was one example we did.
That with and looking forward to 2023. One of the things I'm looking forward to is the new X Men animated TV show.
Yes. X Men 97 should be out sometime in 2023, and we'll surely be covering it in some fashion when we get there. All right, on to episode nine of our ten most listened to episodes of 2022. Episode nine was back on June 20. Episode 50 was our pride month special, where we asked, what if our favorite queer characters traveled through the multiverse and we had so many guests.
Yes. I loved this. We had people talking about famous queer characters and I know one of the characters that we talked about was Frankenfreder, that we had a guest, Liam, from their Queer podcast. And it just makes me think, oh, then we just had an amalgam mini of Frank and Furter come out. So it all goes back to maybe the kernel of that idea coming in June.
I know. Well, I remember we did Frank and further in Sinister because we asked our guests for our Pride episode to imagine a fun mashup. And there were so many creative answers. But I remember Frank and Ferder and Mr. Sinister. So we might have to ask Elliot to give us another alternate version. Not just Franken, Furter, Dr. Manhattan. Although that is such an incredible pairing. And we just ordered new stickers with a really fun quote that we did a combination of Watchmen and Rocky har. But regardless, we could always have another version of Frank and Furter with Mr. Sinister.
He could never have too many Frank.
Well, it's like the Mr. Sinisters. He clones himself. There's all these different versions. So Frank would do the same thing. We know that to be true. All right, uh, onto episode eight. Episode eight was what if Kevin conroy the best Batman there is was amalgamated with Wolverine in an animated series where we looked at Dark Claw adventures and we featured Make Mine Amalgam Ethan as a guest. This was episode 73 from November 28 of this year.
This was definitely a mixed emotions episode because it was very sad because Kevin had just recently passed away. And the Batman the Animated Series show meant a lot to us. Kevin's story in the recent DC Pride comic compilation meant also a lot to us. But on the other hand, we also all really love the Amalgam Dark Claw character and want to see more of that. So it's joy from seeing that character and sadness that Kevin is no longer with us.
Yeah, it was very, uh, fun episode and moving episode to do to explore both Dark Claw adventures, which is a ton of fun. And as you mentioned Kevin's story, I.
Got emotional on air.
But it was a really important episode. I'm glad that we did it, and I think there's so much more to.
Gain from Kevin's story being out there.
Yeah. And I think we would both agree that if you wanted to look back and read one comic from 2022, kevin's story in that DC Pride compilation would definitely be very close to the top of that list.
Absolutely.
All right. Onward. Episode number seven most listened to of 2022 was episode number 67 from October 17. There are lots of sevens in this one. It was, what if Superman ended up in Eternia, uh, with Heman and the Masters of the Universe? When we looked at DC Comics Presents and the introduction of Heman into comics, that was another fun one because Heman, as a favorite of mine, was fun to explore. We used a TV show again.
Like X Men the Animated Series.
And it was your first exploration of Heman's comics.
Yes. And as always, is the case with these kind of crossovers, like with Superman and Spiderman, there has to be a battle, even though the battle is always very brief and they become friends in the end, which is exactly what happened in this comic.
Yeah. So that was a fun one. Go check that out. All right. And upward. There's so only so many transition directions as we can go. We are to number six. Number six is a real recent, perhaps.
My favorite of the year.
And this was episode 72, November 21. Our extra special interview with Catherine Schuler gruwenwald, Mark Gruenwald's, legacy advocate and widow, and an incredible person we've gotten to know this year. So that episode, as our 6th most listened to of the year was so fun. I hope people who are listening to this who didn't check it out, go check it out, because that was a real special one.
Yes. Really great insight into who Mark was as a person, also into his creative process. And after that, it really inspired me to go back and revisit Mark's amazing twelve issue run of Squadron Supreme, which is definitely, I think, one of the best comic runs of all time. And I was inspired to go back to that because of our amazing conversation with Kat.
But even if you're not a fan of his or don't know about him and don't care that much, although that would be wrong and a mistake, I think there's so much to gain because Cat's insight into just what it means to be a human and work with other humans and a creative one at that and an intense one at that, which I think a lot of us can identify with what it means to be really meticulous and have a very specific way of doing things. And so to hear about that creative process and way of working was really inspiring for everyone.
And the creative process at Marvel at the time, which was a wild and wacky place. So if you're into those stories as well, lots of those stories on that episode.
Yes. All right, we've reached the top five.
What are they? Casey Kasem. How did he do this for 50 years? He must have run out of transitions.
I don't know. He probably had a book or something. All right, number five was episode 63 from September 19, and it was What If? Starring Hulk the man, the monster, aka What If, Bruce Banner was the monster, and Hulk was a peaceful being made of star energy, which, again, had Ethan From make mine. Amalgam, join us. That was our fifth most listened to episode. Do you remember that?
Yes, I remember how mean Bruce Banner was in the story.
Not just mean.
He's abusive.
It's difficult. It actually has resources at the end. Mhm. I don't remember if they're for domestic violence or for suicide, but there's some resources linked because it's a real downer of an issue. But it's an interesting one that we got to explore thanks to Ethan's suggestion and joining us.
Yes.
Okay, number four. Number four was an interview, another interview episode timed with Halloween from October 24, but worth listening to any time in the year. It was our interview with Chris La Martina, the writer, director and producer of many films, including a favorite Wn UF Halloween special and the out there Halloween Mega Tape. So that was the only interview you've scheduled for. What do you remember about that one?
I just remember it being so fun and I love these movies. WNUF Halloween Special has become quite the seasonal favorite for myself. I really love revisiting it. And the new movie, the out there Halloween Mega Tape, is equally just as good. And if anyone if you grew up in the, which probably a lot of people listening to this did, then it is so well done. And I think you said to Gito during our interview with Chris that they might be one of the best or most authentic down footage movies ever made.
Yeah, and I think that's what was fun about that episode and a lot.
Of our episodes this year is that.
We'Ve got in to explore the things that I love about world building in comics and why we explore alternate universes in our podcast. We've gotten to explore it in different mediums and with different creators from different working in different ways. And Chris was one of those because he is working with a film medium, but in a really unique way. So that was a real fun conversation that people should listen to. Anyone who's a fan of films, horror or world building should check that up.
A thread with that conversation and with our conversation with Kat and many of the other interviews we did is all about to the creative process as well. So I think anyone who wants to create or is creating these were also really inspirational to me to try to create more and what these other artist processes are.
All right to the top three. Woo. The third most listened to Dear watchers episode of 2022 was what if the Fantastic Four had made it to the Moon and other retold origins, including our coverage of Full Circle by Alex Ross? This was episode 61 from September 5, 2022. This was real fun because it was one of the rare times where we were covering a brand new release timed with the release, which maybe is why a lot of people listened to it and it got higher listens than usual. But it was fun too, just because Alex Ross is a genius and to read the first comic that he wrote and did the art for both and have it be such an interesting Fantastic Four visit. And then we also got to bring in that humor issue that we covered then. So we had fun with the Fantastic Four origin and got to read a really awesome comic.
Yeah, the fun thing about this podcast is going back to revisit older comics, but I love that we had a few times this year where we got to revisit comment or visit comics that had just come out as well. So that was a lot of fun.
And number two, another interview episode back in October with episode 65, we interviewed Marcela Rockwell. Marcy is the author of Marvel Untold Story Sisters of Sorcery, a Clay novel, as well as a whole bunch of other tie in Sci-Fi fantasy and original pros that Marcy has done. And what do you remember about our time talking to Marcy?
I love getting these behind the scenes nuggets about licensing and characters and uh, process for this because it's so fascinating when you're working with these big known characters, what can you use? What is the process? And I think that it's just a really cool look into, again, the creative process, but also kind of the business aspect as well because sometimes I think we forget that comics are a business too and how do they extend into beyond comics but also into the prose literature too?
Well, in Marcy's work, and it's the same line from Akinite books that Carrie Harris, who we interviewed last year, works, uh, in. And Carrie introduced us to Marcy. They use these more obscure characters and they tell these really rich stories that almost could be canonical. And it's fun to get to explore.
How you do that and how you work with that and how you bring.
In characters that only a few people know of but are really fun then to get to know and hopefully are sending more people to comics afterwards.
At the same time almost anticipating what you're getting in the MCU. Because this book focused on ClayA, who is now going to be in the films and was obviously written before that. And Carrie's book focused on dr. Strange before multiverse of madness came out. So you kind of get, oh, they're kind of almost exploring these ideas in the media.
You got to watch the Econite books publishing schedule to get some SCU spoilers.
Totally.
I know Marcy just had a new book announced with them. So there is surely more to come from the Akaite publishing and we'll hopefully explore it on our show. And the number one most listen to episode of 2022.
OOH, what's it going to be?
It is what if Prince Namor the submariner aka Kukan of Atlantis, aka Tolokon grew up on land. And it featured our special guest, Bonner Milligan of the Short Box comic book talk show. This is episode 71, and it was from November 14, perhaps the most listened to in part because again, we timed it with the release of Black Panther to Wakanda Forever. And it was so fun getting to have Botter on who brought us that question and that issue to explore. But then to dig into Namor's origins, because it was perfect timing with Namor having a bit of a retold origin in the MCU and one that resonated with a lot of people, including me. So it was so fun to do that.
Plus, it has underwater Nazis.
Yes, it does.
That's right.
Robots on the bottom of the ocean floor.
The original Human Torch android, who of course name or the Submariner debuted with way back in the pre Marvel days. So it was a really fun alternate universe. And this one was, I feel like.
Compared to some of the other.
What ifs. This was a real prime alternate universe, alternative history kind of story, which I just love.
Yeah. So thank you to our listeners who made those are ten most listened to episodes in 2022. But there are so many more episodes I hope people listen to. Probably there hasn't been enough time for them to reach the top ten. We just covered bombshells with Tim Hanley. I loved our conversation with Megan Fitzmartin.
Yeah, that's great.
I loved our New York Comic Con coverage, even though it feels timely, it's fun to go back and listen to and feel like you were there. And my honorable mention episode that I'm going to say is also our interview back in the spring with Randall. A lot of it about the DC Book of Lists. It's a book that I love revisiting, and we refer to it on other episodes. And Randall's doing such cool work as an editor with different Marvel DC and completely unrelated books that are fun. And I loved that conversation and it's led to a lot more that we'll be talking about next year, too. Yeah.
And I'm going to give a special shout out to that conversation we had with Megan Fitzmartin, because we talked a lot, even in this brief conversation, about the creative process. And one thing that's really cool with Megan is she has worked in all these different mediums. She has worked on television, in film and animation, of course, in comics, in podcast, audio podcasts. So it's really cool hearing how the process is different but also the same throughout all these things, the restrictions that.
Some of these mediums have, and how.
Those restrictions can also be encouraging to the storytelling at the same time. So so many of these interview conversations that we had this year were just super inspiring with some really amazing creative people.
Yeah, it was a great year. And I hope people go back and listen to what they haven't heard and stay tuned, because our plan is to still come out every Monday in 2023 and continue more of these conversations and interviews. But that's not all, because we're about to segue into our next segment.
So the ball is about to drop in Times Square, but we didn't want to drop the ball on not getting you an episode this holiday season as we wrap up the year. So we are going to be playing something that just some of our listeners have gotten to listen to. But it has been a really great part, I think, of both of our years, and we want to share it with our wider audience. So, Gito, what is that super secret thing that people already know about if they looked at the title of this episode?
Huh? Well, we have our spin off podcast, which is exclusive to our coffee patrons. And so for as little as $3 a month, people can join as a patron on our coffee page, support the work we do, get some cool, free merch and some other stuff, but also get access to this spinoff podcast, Omniversity. Um, and Omniversity, as you'll hear in a moment in the introduction, is meant to take a deep, deep dive into fictional reality. And these stories we love. And what we decided to do for our first series and we're about a third of the way through, is a Promethea book club.
Prometheus? What is that? I've never heard of it before.
So promethea is, I think, Alan Moore's seminal work. I think it represents his thesis, his ideas. It fuses superheroes and magic. JH williams III's art is outstanding. And you will hear a lot more if you keep listening to this first episode. So we are sharing the first episode with all of our listeners, not just subscribers. Patrons can continue to listen to Omniversity.
On their private feed that they get.
Access to while we are covering Promethea. And even if you've not read it, I think that you have a lot to learn from this first episode about the series. I hope that it inspires you to read it and then read along with us and listen to Omniversity by becoming a coffee patron.
Yes. For me, this was a year of Alan Moore in many ways because I went back and revisited his comic Providence, which is one of my favorite comics of all time. And then for the first time ever, I read From Hell, which is unbelievable that I had never read it because I love all things Jack the Ripper and Creepy UK NISS. But I devoured that in three days, which I mentioned in this first episode. And then I got introduced to what is your favorite comic of all time with Promethea. And there's still so much more of, uh, this has only made me want to read more of Alan's work, which I've really still only kind of touched the tip of the iceberg with.
Yeah. So we hope that you'll enjoy this. Our gift to you, this first episode of Omniversity. The rest of the series is being covered on that coffee patron feed. We are about a third of the way through. We release other things on that feed, including our unedited interview with Kat Gruenwald, an extended episode we have more surprises coming to Omniversity, but if you are like what you hear, please join us over at our coffee and enjoy our gift to you. The first episode of Omniversity um.
Welcome to Omniversity um, a Dear Watchers podcast where we wander through the magic of fictional realities, exploring what they mean.
And why they're meaningful.
In this, our first of many planned omniversity um series, we are exploring the world of Promethea by Alan Moore and J. H. Williams III.
Omniversity um is a podcast exclusively for patrons of Dear Watchers. And if you are hearing this, thank.
You for your support.
On this show, we take even deeper dives into the broad seas of fictional reality. A companion for our trips through the multiverse on Deer Watchers will be getting.
Mystic and mythic as we join Promethea in her journey through Millennium City and the Immateria. One issue at a time, sharing our thoughts, our questions and facts, plus other fun surprises.
Join us as we ponder the possibilities while we wander the Omniversity.
So why are we doing this?
We are doing this show because we've been thinking about doing some exclusive content for a smaller segment of the community that wanted to be patrons and support our show. And I think at, uh, one point, I had joked that we would do it with Promethea. And listeners will find out a lot more about why Promethea in this episode and throughout this series. But when you were going to embark upon reading it, it felt like it made sense for us to do this.
Yes, it was between this or starting our only fans, those are our two options. Maybe that'll come in the future, or that's an extra bonus patron we chose.
The better but maybe less lucrative thing to do. So the way it'll work is that we are going to use a structure similar to our longtime listeners will know from our bonus episodes the structure we use with movies. And so we will have a three sentence summary each episode. We will have three things that matter to us about that issue, three things we're wondering about, and three things we are bringing forth, or three things we're sharing. So we're going to COVID an issue, an episode, and it's just going to be a conversation, but using that format a little bit. And we'll give some backstory later in this conversation to Promethea and then woven throughout the episodes because I think it's better shared that way since it is so incredibly dense. But some people might not know what Promethea is.
So let's share the issue we read.
Yeah, those people are incredibly dense if they don't know what it is. Okay, uh, so we read issue number one. Prometheus the radiant heavenly city and this.
Is from August 1, 999. It's written by Alan Moore penciled by JH. Williams III inked by Mick Gray colored by digital Chameleon lettered by Todd Klein.
Assistant edited by Eric DeSantis and edited by Scott Dunebeer And Promethea was created.
By Alan Moore and JH.
Williams III. It's published by America's Best Comics, which is at the time an imprint of Wildstorm, which is owned by DC. And we'll get a little bit into where this came from when we get to the things that we are bringing forth segment. But first, our summary. So we are in New York City in an alternate 1999. We meet Stausha. I'm going to say stasha estasia. I like Stasha and more importantly, her friend and protagonist of the story, Sophie Banks, who is researching Prometheus, a character who popped up in a 19th century poem, 20th century newspaper, comic strip pulps and a comic book, all of which are rare and unknown, but have similar or connected stories in the past.
We flash back to ancient Egypt and a young girl meaning toff Toff and Hermes to imbue the power of becoming a story.
And then back in 90, 99, Sophie meets Barbara Shelley, who becomes or is inhabited by Promethea. They fight a shadow demon known as a SME. And then Sophie writes a poem invoking Promethea becoming a new version of the heroine. And that is our three sentence summary of a story that deserves a lot more time than that. But we're going to use this magic number three, since there is a lot of magic in this series and it is structured around three and 32 and nine and lots of magic numbers. All right, three things that matter to us. Do you want to start?
Sure. So I really love stories that are set in the future, but not that aren't super futuristic, which sounds weird to say, but I think of something like A Clockwork Orange, which I'm sure Alan Moore was a fan of. Which is set in kind of this not too distant future and looks a little bit like our world, but is also not quite our world. And that is really the New York that we see here in 1999. So the cars float, there are spaceships or other hovercraft, but at the same time, it doesn't look entirely different from our city. It still has kind of that New York landscape to it and big neon billboards and stuff like that. And I'm curious to see where the story, how it evolves and how this fictional 1999 New York plays as a character in this.
Yeah.
So we prepare our lists independent of each other. And I also chose the design of New York City as one of the things that mattered to me in this issue. It is very cool to see this.
Alternate version of New York now.
They dated as 1999 in the opening caption box. And of course, the issue came out in 1999. So it's not even really like near future. It is present, but clearly an alternate New York because we do not have floating taxi cabs. We both lived in New York and don't have floating taxi cabs. But I also like the design a lot. It lends itself to something which is present in a lot of Alan Moore's work, though clearly, it's in collaboration with the artist, or sometimes it's just the artist working independently in this way. But to Easter eggs. So the billboards here, uh, there are so many Easter eggs. The closing panel, moore's House of Magic becomes actually important. Uh, a lot of the billboards tell part of the story. So the whole design of New York is something that mattered to me in reading this. What's next for you?
So next for me is this idea about searching for folklore, kind of being an anthropologist, I guess, in a way, and searching for this. It definitely is a key to so much of Moore's other work. And I want to talk a little bit more about that and our others.
More about that.
Gosh.
You didn't get that?
No. Talk more about that in our other segment. But I love that idea. And lately I've been getting very much into investigating folklore and also investigating history and reading about things like the witch trials and Jack the Ripper and all these things that have become part of our folklore. And I think this story, I'm guessing, is going to explore a lot of that.
Yeah.
So, again, we came up with a list not too dissimilar and something that mattered to me. This is probably the thing. One of the two things I love most about this series is the meta storytelling narrative. So it's a story about story, which is a narrative that always gets to me. They're the movies and the works of art that I really love. I don't know why, but I do. And this does it really well, because you are seeing already, she's doing this investigation of the Prometheus story, but then we are also getting the Prometheus story. And then even in Allen back matter here, you're getting a whole layer to a story which is actually a story in and of itself. It reads is real. It's not. And so I love the meta, uh, storytelling narrative. And I think this is a really incredible exploration of storytelling and the use of comics as a medium of storytelling uniquely. And that happens again both in what he does with Promethea as well as in the story of Promethea. So it's very cool.
I didn't expect that comics were going to play an actual role in the plot of this. I went in so blind, I wasn't really sure, other than I knew magic was involved in some way. So I was surprised that comics and pulps are playing a part in the plot.
Yes. All right, so what's the last thing that mattered to you, reading this issue?
So the last thing that mattered to me is this weeping gorilla idea, uh, that we have, and it's mentioned at first, before we really well, I like this device of. Putting something into the world or mentioning it, but not really fully even exploring it. It's about world building, I feel like.
Because you're just yeah. What is that? Like a texture?
Paul yes, exactly like that. Because we see her reading it, we see a billboards for it. The other, uh, friend, Sassia, is writing her dissertation on it. So we know that it's in this world, but we still don't really know what it is. And the little that we do see it, it did make me chuckle out loud. And I think Allen doesn't often get cited as being a funny writer, but he's so funny. I think we think of him in his yurt and with magic and all this super serious stuff, but he can be a really funny writer. And just how that's woven in through this story is very funny. And I'm curious to see if it does become something bigger. I think it will, but I'm not quite sure.
Well, in another very meta thing, gorillas are very famous because putting a gorilla on a comic increases the sale.
I have never heard that.
And that's why so many of the 60s DC, um, weird Silver Age things, you have gorillas on the COVID And that's like a very well known I never heard that possibly even apocryphal. But I think it's probably supported by data that and at least DC editors have said over the years that if you put a gorilla on a book, it'll sell.
Yeah, I think in Randolatowitz's DC Book of Lists, which we've discussed on the show in our interview with him, there's a whole chapter just about the DC gorilla characters.
So, clearly, the weeping gorilla is also playing with that in all of this meta textual stuff that's happening. And the last thing, uh, for me, that mattered to me, that I had to choose for this issue, is just the art. And we're going to return to the art over and over and over and over again, because it is a masterpiece. I think it is the most beautiful comic that there is. And again, it uses panels. This barely scratches the surface of where it will go from here. It uses panels and breakdowns and borders and space in a way that no other book has ever done before. So I think it's extraordinary. And I'm excited to keep talking about the art. All right, so on to our next segment, which is three things we are wondering. So I'll start this one.
Sure.
I'm wondering why New York City is already futuristic. It's just something I'm thinking about and spoiler it layer. You don't really get the answer. Um, but it's just interesting to think, like, what got us to this different 99? We have the five swell guys that we have these superheroes. Perhaps just the presence of superheroes is what made the world a little more technologically advanced. But why is it a little more technologically advanced?
Yeah, I'm curious if there is something I'm sure this has been studied, but why in something like A Clockwork Orange or something like in RoboCop making something somewhat futuristic, but not super futuristic. If that is a way of keeping it grounded for the audience, you can recognize yourself in it, but it also removes it enough that you're going, oh, this couldn't take place in the real world because it's not exactly the real world.
Well, it's also present in all of those examples and Alan Moore and, um, the example I was going to just provide, which is all of Alex Garland's work, it's also all work. That's a social commentary. Yes, totally. There's a reason I think near Futurism works. It's someone who's trying to comment on today. But, yes, create a little distance or sort of satirize or bring something to some hyperbolic conclusion to reflect on where we are currently. So, yeah, I like Near Futurism and I want more backstory to this New York world, a little bit of which we'll get in the narrative. But that was one thing I was wondering on, um, this reading of this.
Well, the thing I'm wondering about is something you just mentioned, which is these five swell guys. I'm just wondering, in general, where are they going to be characters, or are they just there to kind of color around the edges? But specifically, we have at least one of the characters is psychic. So does this mean that powers do exist in this world? And how then does that equate to prometheus the character and magic? Is this a world where the normal humans know that magic and powers exist? Or is this going to be more of a surprise to Sophie? So that's what I'm kind of curious to see.
I'll answer that in our next segment.
And my next question is more just a thought experiment, which is like, what if what Alan wrote is true? So everything Alan Moore writes, except for the short stories or anthology stuff, always has this back matter where he's trying to create this whole world. And it can be very convincing. But you know, it's back matter in this. You had to ask me yes, if it was true or not because he wrote this. It's on the Letters to the Editor page. It's at the end of the first issue, though the collected editions put it forward. And it's a history of Promethea storytelling. And, uh, he uses names that are similar enough, or some are real. Details that are similar enough, or some are real, like titles of publications and stuff that make the whole thing feel so true. I remember when I read this in 1999 and the Internet existed, of course, but it wasn't as easy to know you were getting access to all the information. I remember I was, like, on the hunt for all of these things. Yeah, I was looking for the Promethea poem. I was looking for the pulp stories, and of course then realized and discovered it was not true.
Well, we have a pretty big collection of old pulps from this era. And I was reading this, going, I wonder if we have these ones. Maybe we do. And then as I was reading and I was thinking, well, is this true? And to your point, peak Craig Russell is mentioned. Okay, I know that's a real person, obviously, who, of course would have drawn.
Totally at comic in the 1980s. So, uh, it all is so great. That the way he does it. So my my wondering here is, again, just what if what Alan wrote is true? Like, what if pieces of it were true? It's just fun thought experiment. What's your next wondering?
I'm a big villains fan, and I'm curious who the villains will be. We get the Smee there, but the SME has been sent by somebody, so I'm curious who our big bad will be. We get a mention of, uh, Jack, as in Jack and the Beanstalk, who's mentioned in Alan's backmatter FlashForward, and then is also a jack is mentioned in the plot as well. And not all of Allen's work really always has a villain, or even Watchmen doesn't. I feel like, have such an out and out villain because it's more of a mystery, but I think this one will. So that's what I'm kind of curious. Who will that be?
Exciting.
And my last wondering for this issue is why isn't this heralded as an iconic origin? And that question will become much more relevant over, uh, the course of reading these 32 issues, and why this comic might not be as canonized as how you obviously think it should be. But this is such a good origin, and it's a good way of telling the origin, and it's a good character. Right here in the first issue, it's all there already that this is a really cool superhero. So why isn't this held up as an iconic origin? Just a question we won't have an answer to, but we'll have a lot more information about over the course of exploring this.
Well, speaking of superheroes, uh, I'm curious what Prometheus super powers really are, because we see only a little bit of her in this first issue. She punches the SME, and she's got these other staffs and magical weapons, but I'm curious what exactly her powers will be. And some of it almost feels like that she is a take, in a way, on Wonder Woman. Just, uh, her look, of course, her back story, Wonder Woman's have a million different origin stories, but there's a little bit of that kind of feel to it. So I'm curious if she'll have kind of classic Wonder Woman powers, which even her powers have also kind of changed over time, right? So there's not even one set of abilities.
Yeah, though, no, the answer to that, you'll find out more about Prometheus powers, but definitely the wonder Woman is again, perhaps just an, uh, embedded inspiration in Alan constructing the superhero. And he talks a bit in interviews about the different sources of inspiration he called upon.
When we see Hermes too, who is dressed just like Jay Garrett.
Flash, well, he's the Greek Hermes, and then that's the equivalent of the Egyptian thoth. They're the same god.
Okay.
Knowing that this was a DC publication and that he's clearly done that before with some of the Watchman characters, I was curious if we'll see more DC character illusions as we go along.
So that was your last wondering. I'll slightly answer that question about the role of DC in our three things we're bringing forth. So, sort of following the way this narrative unfolds, we're going to just embed back story on Promethea throughout our conversations and not have led with it. But the first thing I want to bring forth for this issue is actually the origin of this comic a little bit, and this title and where it's situated in Allen's work and America's Best Comics. So for those who are not familiar, which includes you.
Yes.
America's Best Comics is an imprint that Jim Lee asked Alan Moore to do for Wild Storm.
So it's an imprint of an imprint.
When Wild Storm was at Image, uh.
So it was an imprint of an imprint, uh, at Image, though they made the deal and then Jim sold Wildstorm to DC right before everything launched. Now, of course, Alan famously said he'd never work for DC again, but he decided to stay with it and went ahead with it. There's some great quotes out there about Jim thinking that, uh, since Alan came in with like a staff or something that day, he was afraid he was going to beat him with it when he told him about DC. But Alan just went with it. So, 1999, the America's Best Comics line launches as an imprint of Wild Storm, published by DC. And this is one of the four main launch titles. It's what launches League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as an America's best comic. It has tom Strong top ten promethea. And then later you get, uh, some America's Best Comics anthologies and Tomorrow Stories and a few other smaller titles. Alan writes almost all of them. There's a few other creators who will contribute things. But Alan really creates this universe. The ABC universe.
And he's running this imprint as much as Alan Moore, I think, is running anything.
Yeah, well, because he's writing it all.
I don't think he's sitting behind a desk.
And it's not like he's the editor of this imprint. And there are, you know, twelve different writers contributing things. It's that he's writing it all. So he creates this universe under Jim at Wild Storm, which is now at DC. And so Promethea starts part way in the first year. It runs 32 issues, but it takes six years to conclude. And the end of Promethea destroys the ABC imprint and is the end. And of course, he never returned to it, though DC has mined Promethea, uh, to very negative conclusions that we can explore later.
Well, that was going to be kind of my question for you. Who owns it?
DC.
DC does it, sadly.
DC. Um, they've put Promethea in some Justice League comics, and there was quite a revolt, uh, from fans and JH. Williams III, and it was never done again. And I don't think we'll ever be done again, but that's a shame for Promethea. And so this is, again, it's 99. So this is later in Allen's career, toward the end. I mean, he's still making comics until a few years ago, but of course, his major output has already happened. V for Vendetta and Miracle Man and watchmen and from hell his work on Superman and Swamp Thing. All of that is the so this is after that. But of course, ABC brings League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is certainly more famous than Promethea. Now, Tom Strong and top ten and tomorrow stories. Those are not, obviously as well known, but that's sort of where we are with Promethea. And then the title itself, I think we'll get more into as we go through what he was trying to do and what his inspirations were and what he's bringing into it, because yeah, well, that's it. That's the first thing I'm going to bring forth. So what are you bringing forth?
I'm getting more familiar with Alan Moore. I have not read as much of his work as you have, but one of his works that I have read a couple of times and Love is his is Providence. And it's companion comics, the Courtyard and Neonomicon.
Yeah.
And that's his kind of take on the HP. Lovecraft smiths and stories. And I was really struck by how many similarities there were between even just in this first issue of Prometheus and the whole concept of Providence, where Providence has, uh, a person who's a writer, and he's setting off on this journey to investigate American folklore. And it turns out that he's uncovering the stories that also inspired Lovecraft. And we get such a similar start here where Sophie is out trying to investigate this folklore, uh, and then figuring out that it's real on some level. So it's very interesting to me that he explored that basic concept twice, at least twice, but in two very different.
Ways, but in the same era somewhat. I mean, Providence is like, ten years after this, but it's the final era of his comic book writing. So clearly he was interested I mean, he was always interested in deconstructing stories, but this was more explicit. Yeah. Um, the second thing I'll bring forth is my own personal connection to the series. What we didn't share so far in this episode is that this is my favorite comic ever. And, I mean, it might be tied with House of X and x Men, but as a standalone series, as a digestible series, as a work of art series. This is my favorite comic. I think it's beautiful and magical, and I connected to it, uh, in so many ways. And as it was coming out, I actually and maybe there will be more stories about this as we go, but I owned a New Age store, which was a lot about the magic that then gets explored in this title. I remember I used to sit in the store and just read this issue. I wanted everything sort of fused together for me at that moment around magic and Tarot and kabbalah and these magical archetypes intersecting with Alan Moore and his voice and what I love about it. And then this comic, which is just a work of art. So I love this story and I've wanted you to read it for a very long time. And I specifically didn't tell you a lot about it. And I think it's hard to describe. Definitely. You'll see, it gets very hard to describe, which is part of why I think we're doing this podcast, too, because it is very hard to summarize and it's good to explore in greater detail. But I also didn't want to take, uh, away from any of the experience of reading it.
And, uh, going back to what you were saying earlier about why this isn't maybe more widely recognized, even for me, as a comic book fan, although not as hardcore comic book fan as you, I think his work in general can just seem very daunting. And I think that's one of the reasons why I put off reading this for so long is I just figured, oh, there's probably a lot going on. Is it impenetrable? And as of recording this, I just finished From Hell yesterday, but I read it in like three days, which when I got it yesterday, and seeing the size of it, uh, I was thinking, oh, this is going to take me a while. You're starting reading it and it's in that old time he dialect, a lot of it. So I was thinking, is this going to be hard to do? And then you can just get it. And I think that's his genius as a writer is he takes these big concepts and, uh, sometimes antiquated ways of speaking, but makes it very digestible. But when you're looking at it from the outside, it doesn't always necessarily seem m that way. Yeah.
Uh, so what's the next thing you're bringing forth?
So I was talking a little bit about how I see this connecting to some of Alan's other work and reading this. It also really seemed connected to a lot of works by other creators to me, who are probably exploring similar things. But we're watching the Sandman series right now, so I definitely see some Sandman in here. In the exploration of dreams and folklore. Also, speaking of Neil Gaiman American Gods, that concept as well of oh, when the gods vanish, when someone stops believing in gods, do they vanish? Which is also something mentioned in the recent Thor Love and Thunder movie as well, the idea that gods need people to worship them in order for them.
To exist in the same way stories need people to tell them.
And I was also thinking the same thing with Peter Tan, which I think is also something that Alan Moore has explored in other works. But the idea of, well, the thing that saved Tinkerbell's life is you believing in fairies. And that's what keeps the fairies alive, is you believing in them. So that idea that it really is up to us, yes, they are gods, they have all this power, but their power is only as good as us. The person who imbues them with that power, it could almost be an allegory for the government in a way where people in the government have all this great power, but if they're not elected by the people, that's where we kind of hold their power, or at least that's how it should work. So, yeah, I saw all those connections with those other works and I'm interested to see where it goes from here. What about you?
The last thing I'm bringing forth is just what I mentioned earlier, actually. So I already shared it. The Hunt for Promethea, if she's real, like just this idea that he creates such a compelling story about this story. And there are some pieces of Promethea that exist. There's of course, a moth named after Promethea. There is one early text named Promethea, so it existed, but he creates this fictional way it's existed. And it's just interesting to still hunt for information. I will still pay attention to anything I see, or sometimes I'll do a little bit of research just to see what is out there about Promethea. I guess one day I'm hoping that, uh, little Margie and Magic Mystic Land will actually be a real comic strip that was published in the 1910s in Hearst Publications. But I don't think it will be. So just that Hunt for Promethea, the story is something interesting I wanted to bring forth.
Well, that's really my last piece too. Uh, I'm uh, just fascinated by this creating a false narrative and what that means. And if he'll explore that in greater depth and I think is he pulling even in away from going I mentioned lovecraft that's he's someone who also created this mythology and the mad Arab who wrote The Necronomicon and things like this, where it all becomes something that almost is realistic into the in. As far as people have gone to write their own Necronomicons and stores sell them. But it's all something that was made up, uh, from this one person. So, to your point, will people go out and create the Misty comic strip maybe one day because they got inspiration from this, or will they create. Maybe there is fan art of the pulp covers and things like that.
Sadly, I just think the title wasn't popular. But I would love that.
Yeah.
That was super fun getting to revisit that episode in that first issue of Prometheus.
Yeah. Hope you enjoyed that. If you want to hear the rest of Omniversity, which we try to release weekly, sometimes it's a little slower and sometimes it's going to be faster, you can join us on Coffee, where you can become a patron for as little as $3 a month, even if you don't become a patron. Follow us on coffee. We do post things. Rob has done some blog posts on there in 2022. We'll have more there. It's also the exclusive home of Amalgamini's Merch Soon, so you'll get to see everything that Elliot has drawn up on our Coffee page. So please follow us there. Thank you for the support this year.
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