The Weekly Planet - 70 Daredevil, DC Reboot & Mark Millar

Episode Date: February 9, 2015

This time round we get into the new DC reboot, Green Lantern on Arrow, the new Daredevil trailer and more!Plus we talk the complete (not really) work of Mark Millar! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will you rise with the sun to help change mental health care forever? Join the Sunrise Challenge to raise funds for CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, to support life-saving progress in mental health care. From May 27th to 31st, people across Canada will rise together and show those living with mental illness and addiction that they're not alone. Help CAMH build a future where no one is left behind. So, who will you rise for? Register today at sunrisechallenge.ca. That's sunrisechallenge.ca. We'll see you next time. Paris and London. One woman has a secret. The other, a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost.

FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. Welcome back everybody to anotherthole The Weekly Planet, The Weekly Planet Welcome back everybody to another episode of The Weekly Planet, official podcast of ComicBookMovie.com My name is James, editor at that website, with me as always my co-host, Nick Mason Hey, so, your voice is surprisingly calm and measured, considering what fun personal anecdote just happened to you What happened just before we started this? About a minute before Mason turned up, I took one step into my backyard

and just rolled the shit out of my ankle. Great. Stacked it, had toast in my hand, lost it. Dog ate the toast. Ha ha! So you're going into this podcast having eaten no toast. Yeah, zero toast. It's going to be a low energy.

But my ankle looks fine, right? it looks it looks like somebody's like cut the skin open and then stuck like a like a ping-pong ball under it and then sort of stitched it back down again like there's there's a there's a spectacular lump under there that's you're not coming back from that it's pretty good though in what sense in that i'm not coming back from it. It's pretty good though. In what sense? In that I'm not coming back from it. Oh yeah, definitely. It's one for the ages. Yeah, it looks real cool. But I'm with the show

because you know, we're professionals. Have you not taken anything? No. Are you in a lot of pain right now? I'm fine, honestly. Are you? No, I don't really,

I don't take a lot of pain meds. So you're in a lot of pain. Honestly, I'm fine. I can definitely do this. If I fade, if I pass out, just continue. Just push me off the couch. You know I'm not going to continue. I'm just. I can definitely do this. If I fade, if I pass out, just continue. Just push me off the couch.

You know I'm not going to continue. I'm just going to leave. I'm going to quietly leave. I'm going to let this thing roll until it runs out. And then, I don't know, I guess when you regain consciousness in a couple of days, you can just put it off. Yeah, that's it. All right.

So did you see the new Netflix Daredevil trailer? I did. What did you think? We don't see a lot, do we, in that? No, it's very... We don't see... The suit? We don't really see the suit, you're right.

We just see the mask. We just see the... Is that... So did we determine, is that the pre-costume costume? That's the... Yeah, that's... It's in... What is it?

One of the runs. I can't remember. But yeah, that's his pre-Daredevil costume costume. Okay, right. His ninja costume. Right. His ninja-stume. I mean, it still looks pretty good. Yeah. But yeah, that's his pre-Daredevil costume costume. Okay, right. His ninja costume. Right. His ninja costume. I mean, it still looks pretty good.

Yeah. But yeah. Oh, really? You're the first person I've heard who's like, eh, it's all right. Bleh. I guess if this is going to sort of segue back into the main cinematic Marvel Universe,

it maybe is a bit plain. Okay, sure. But I think if this show were to stand on its own and not connect to anything else in the marvel universe i'd say no the costume is probably fine okay kind of kind of realistic kind of gritty look kind of thing just a teaser though you know i think it's uh it's about three million an episode give or take it's a full of five seasons that they're making yep the this one on the iron fist and jessica jones and we started filming actually and a luke cage and

the defenders it's I think it's something like 60 million in total so yeah and obviously there'll be some the new recorder can pick up how impressed I am by that yes and then um I was gonna say yeah not not every episode is going to be a three million dollar episode right okay so you know maybe they'll have a good special effect in one of them they'll have a good special effect in one of them. They'll have a good special effect. And then they'll do, the budget will run out midway through the season. And they'll do classic, like, trapped in the duct work episode. You know one of those? Yep, yep.

Do you remember there's an episode of Red Dwarf, British comedy sci-fi series Red Dwarf, where it's just set, so they're all just trapped in the ducts. Yeah. Because it doesn't cost anything. It's literally one duct. It's one duct. All you have to do is you have to get a really big bit of sheet metal,

like scrap sheet, and then just bend it into like a square and then just push all your actors through it. And that would be perfect for Daredevil. Absolutely.

He's always going through ducts. Always. Too much, some say. So anyway, we see the proto costume. We don't really see his radar sense. No, there's kind of

like a weird out of focus kind of shot you kind of get. I don't think see his radar sense. No, this is like a weird out of focus kind of shot. You kind of get it. I don't think they're going to do the Dead Evil movie echo kind of thing that they did. Which I didn't hate. There does seem to be a bit, unless I imagined it. And it's possible I did because I wasn't really paying attention. But there seems to be a bit where he touches the wall.

Yeah. And he can hear through the vibrations. And he can hear people talk through his hand. Which I guess is maybe part of it. Like a regular man. Yeah. Like I think, cause the thing about Daredevil's radar sense is it's always, it's sort of whatever they want it to be at the time.

You can still, in, you know, the, the original version he's blind, but all his other senses have been enhanced and he has a radar sense. Like it's an additional sense. Like it's a sort of a, a radiation that he generates from his you know his head or whatever and that's a big pocket of radiation in his brain exactly that he got from the head wound but then later versions have been like well all the all his other senses combine to produce it kind of thing and he visualizes in his head so i think that's they're probably going more i would definitely say so yeah but also that like and there's some versions where he can hear a particular person's heartbeat on like

the other side of the city yeah and other times it doesn't work and whatever sure yeah but to be honest i love this character i don't think there's anyone else quite like him like such a unique set of powers and the whole like the things that about him that make him unique like the you know the religious side of things and the law side of things like there's so many factors i just find that really really interesting that's three factors yeah okay you're right there's no other no other superhero has that combination of three factors though you're right did you hear that dc is scrapping the new 52 or something it's so again, something. It's so vague. I did hear about that. So, um... DC Entertainment announces new books, new creators, broader focus from the DC universe.

Made to change its new directions. There was a whole thing and who's writing who and whatever. And, you know, there's a lot of great artists and writers who are on board or still on board. Bold new direction. I think they're just basically broadening it. Inclusive. Yeah. Contemporary. Yeah. Accessible yeah accessible so yeah because i they there's a whole lot of issue ones again there's more issue ones

doesn't make it more accessible i think for new people yeah yeah i think like say for example ant-man started again yep i think if you're gonna read ant-man it's a perfect jumping off point because it's it's well written and whatever. So I think it's... Do you think that whenever they do this, they lose some sort of diehard fans? I think so, yeah. I know because you never jumped on that. Yeah, I mean, I just sort of... I just went, oh, I have to learn another set of origin stories for everybody.

Do I want to do that? Do I want to figure out how Superman got his costume again? Do you? No. What is it? Some kind of mesh nanotech? Some sort of bio nanotech mesh now. But I guess they're not really rebooting anything,

but they're just sort of concentrating less on continuity. Yeah, it seems that way. That's going to lead to trouble. It's more kind of one-shotty, kind of one-soft kind of things, which I actually don't mind because a lot of the best stories are kind of one-softs. Yeah, it seems that way. That's going to lead to trouble. It's more kind of one-shotty, kind of once-off kind of things, which I actually don't mind because a lot of the best stories are kind of once-offs. Yeah, true.

Like a lot of the classic graphic novels are self-contained kind of stories. But even if they're just like, if they make very distinct story arcs, I think they should, if they're going to do it this way, less crossover between different characters, where you have to read not only the main story, but all the sub-stories that run parallel to that and whatever i think if they channeled that a bit more i think that's a good idea yeah but i don't know i mean it doesn't really matter they'll do it again in five years absolutely we talked about this exactly last week with marvel yeah and eventually what

will happen is and this happened i guess this happened with 52 and this happened with infinite crisis or whatever. Yeah. That eventually the people who grew up on the previous generations of comics will start writing comics. Yeah. And then they'll just reboot it to back the way it was when they were kids. Yeah,

exactly. Yeah. You're right. But just to be clear, the old DC is not coming back. Great. Great stuff. There does seem to be like, there's some, does seem to be some interesting new titles in this.

Yeah, for sure. What is it? It's called Batman Son of Robin now, the new Robin series. Yeah. I mean, Robin Son of Batman. Another one makes no sense. But yeah, it looks like Damien Wayne, and he seems to have some sort of demon buddy. Does he still have any powers?

Like a pet demon kind of thing. Does he know he's got the powers now or whatever? Yeah, I think so. He must do. Yeah. He's definitely got a sword. There's two Robin books now. One's called like Robin Family or something like that.

And the other one's called, this one's also called Robin. Yeah. Robin's a go-go. So many Robins. Yeah. We Are Robin, it's called. Okay. And it's like, it seems to be like stories about all the various Robins that have ever

existed. Maybe them teaming up or what have you. Like the Spider-Verse kind of thing. Like the Spider-Verse kind of thing. Yeah. Well, yeah. I don't really know any details yet, but it could be pretty good. I don't think we should look it up.

No, let's never look it up. Why would we? Let's just complain about it without reading it. But look, there'll be stories that are good and bad and whatever. It's always the way it is. Yeah. I'd like to see some really good Superman stuff. Yeah. I don't think the New 52 did Superman super well. Not that the way it is. Yeah. I'd like to see some really good Superman stuff. Yeah.

I don't think the New 52 did Superman super well. Not that I've read everything. Right. But even like what people consider the best run, the guy who's doing Batman at the moment, Scott Snyder. It's okay. Right.

But it's not great. Like I think people are like, this is amazing, whatever. And it's good, but it's not up there with your Superman birthright or whatever. Do you think they've got the characterization wrong? Yeah, but... I mean, I haven't read a lot of Superman in the last couple of years,

but initially when he was introduced, this new version, he seemed quite arrogant. Yeah, there is a bit of that. Okay, right, yeah. But less so than... I read it a while ago, but yeah. I was a little bit disappointed, to be honest, just because of how good the new Batman run is. Uh-huh.

But hey. Remains to be seen. But speaking of Superman, do you see his new power? Can we get to that? Just about this reboot. It's either now or never. All right, it's going to be never then. I don't care what his new power is.

I don't care about nothing. One of the new books is by... And I'm a fan of the Hitman series, DC's Hitman from back in the day. Garth Ennis, who was the writer on that, and John McRae, who was the artist on that, they're coming back for Section 8. And in the Hitman books, Section 8 were sort of a team of sort of all mentally disturbed superheroes who may or may not have actual powers, but some are just crazy. Like the Mystery Men?

Less powerful than that. Like Six Pack, who's just a guy who's drunk all the time. Oh, does he have a six pack? Dog Welder, who's a guy who like welds dogs to people. Stuff like that. Others. Others. Others. I'll think of some

throughout the episode. Why Weld? Why not Stitch? His name's Dog Welder. I know, but did he choose that after he started doing that? We're going to find that out

in Section 8, the ongoing series, aren't we? Yeah. Yeah. But I guess we will come back to Superman's new power. Did you say it?

No, what is it? It's like a, basically kind of like a flare where he can just release all his stored up solar energy at once into some, like into one massive explosion. Huh.

And then it renders him like mortal for 24 hours. Interesting. So, you know. Okay, that's fun. Yeah. It's a thing that's happening. It certainly is.

It's like Human Torch's Nova Flame. Yes. They've ripped it off. Does that mean he can't Human Torch after he's done that? He's like Human Torch's Nova Flame. Yes. They've ripped it off. Does that mean he can't Human Torch after he's done that? He can't Human Torch for a while. Oh. Yeah. Many minutes.

Not forever, because then... Yeah, he's just a guy. He's just a guy fixing cars. Yeah, but you know what? People are like, oh, Superman, does he need another power and whatever? No, he doesn't. But at least it's interesting that it's also a weakness.

Yes, that's true. I think from that aspect, it's not a bad idea. I've actually got an email here from Alex, though. I like the idea that Superman just has heaps of weird powers. Yeah. I'm 100% okay with that. The future version of Superman, Superman 1 million, can pretty much do anything.

Telekinesis, weather control, mind control, whatever he wants. Whatever. It's whatever. It's fun. Can he time travel? No. They relied on our man. The future version of ourlman is time travel.

He could convert himself into information and go on a computer. It's pretty fun. Just like in the 90s. Just like in the 90s. Exactly. Precisely. Got an email here from Alex from Dallas. He said he was sitting in a South American village eating some fish when he was listening

to it. Wait a second. Like bloody Ezra Miller. Like Ezra Miller. Like Ezra Miller. This pretentious... Anyway. Listen, you guys, I realised something.

There are too many official titles in the Weekly Planet Universe. Yeah, we know. We're trapped. We're basically married to the concept at this point. Actually, sorry, his name's Clay Bear.

I apologise. No, sorry. This is unrelated. Clay Bear's also Costa Rican. I've just shoehorned in these together oh I see he says that they do have cell phone reception

in Costa Rica as well so Ezra so suck it Ezra Miller yeah telling porcupines this bloke but anyway Alex goes on to say

therefore I'm launching a massive reboot because everyone loves rebooting shit all the time oh interesting and I'm here by removing all past

official titles I'm here now I'm now the official Weekly Planet rebooter. If anyone has a problem with that, then tell... This is really hard with my legs so sore. See, there we go. That's what I've been saying. You've taken no drugs.

Then tell me to meet them at the AT&T Stadium here in Dallas and we will have a battle to the death. Or not. Whatever. I'm in favor of this. So reboot. We've rebooted it. No, I'm going to get so many emails.

You're going to get so many emails. Also, he called it. That's the rules. He called it official rebooter. It's fine. Do you want to call something? You can be the first in. No, I'm good.

All right. Let the chips fall where they may. That's what I say. Did you hear that the actor who plays John Diggle in Arrow? Yes. Who's name I can't remember. He's come out and said that they're legitimately thinking of making his character John Diggle Stewart, which means he is John Stewart.

New Green Lantern. New Green Lantern. Interesting. Even though in the comics at the moment, there is a John Diggle and there is a John Stewart. They're separate. Right, okay. But perhaps in this universe, he'll become Green Lantern. Interesting.

What do you think? I can, I'm on board with that. I like that guy. Yeah. So how do you think that would go with the special effects and whatnot? I think it'd be the best special effects we've ever seen on television. No, I don't know. That's...

Well, I think it wouldn't be too bad. Just 3D kind of green constructs that don't have to be super accurate yeah and I think yeah they wouldn't have to be that elaborate either I think no

um somebody actually sent an email and I apologise because I can't remember that they said the powers are too he can do too much with them and they should strip that down

so it's more kind of basic stuff well that's true I mean sort of at the most basic level greenland's power is that he can make like energy constructs from the ring yeah but they can sort of do anything like he can he can build a machine in his mind that will turn light into sound or whatever yeah kind of thing you know that's pretty good yeah it's pretty good like pointless yeah

exactly but it's pointless but it's also sort of beyond the scope of just, like, building, like, a big green box. And he doesn't, like, have to know how that works. He can just do it? Or does he have to be an engineer and whatever and have that knowledge? I think it goes back and forth. Like, say, if, like, Greenland could make, like, if a villain was coming at him, he could make like some sort of like oil slick on the ground with... With a bucket of oil. Yeah, with a bucket of oil.

But like he could have him trip over on it. But if he knew the chemical formula for whatever oil to do that, it would work better. Oh, okay. Okay, fair enough. But anyway, you're right. There are too many... I didn't say that. No, you're kind of saying that.

Yeah. Come on, mate. But I think it's also good to have different green arrows good at different things lanterns sorry but also different green yeah different green arrows yeah one's good at firing arrows in the into a tree one's gonna shoot in an arrow and then shooting another arrow and it goes through the the first right through the first arrow in the bullseye correct and then he wins the archery competition that's right. Did you see the new Adam suit while we're at it?

I did. It looks very Ant-Man-y. Okay, fair enough. I think they're just like, we're going to get in this. Yeah. We're going to beat Marvel to the punch for one thing, for once. Yeah. In our miserable lives.

But I've got an email here from Braden Batman. Oh, yes. I think it was him that said that him that said this also but i've left this out i don't think it actually shrinks or they haven't mentioned that it shrinks yeah that's like you can shoot stuff and whatever yeah he also said that i like the adam symbol but the head's a bit much though love the show official person named batman of the show braden batman yeah first exactly so we haven't had any evidence in the show that it shrinks yet. No. That's not to say that it won't. But it won't.

Or it will. Okay, we'll see. I think it'll disappoint people if it won't. Yeah. But I mean, the Atom over the years, like the first Atom didn't shrink. He was just a little guy, a bunch of people. He was never, what? The before.

He was always small. He was like five feet tall. Oh, okay. Yeah, so there's this Adam. Right. Ray Palmer. Yes. Before that was another guy whose name I can't remember.

And he was just a small guy. Just a little guy. Okay. But then I think... Sorry? Like Puck. Like Puck from Alpha Flight. Yes.

Yes, precisely. But like over the years he got... Like there's also... He had a son who was originally called Nuclon, who had, like, nuclear powers. Like, he had nuclear-powered punches. He became Atom Smasher. He could also become really big.

But not small. I think he could also become small. Look, anyway, the point is, they've all had all sorts of... What is the point? Well, I don't know what the... But I think the point, like, the Atom's... The Ray Palmer Atom, he can... He harnesses some sort of white dwarf star material to shrink.

Okay. So maybe he also uses that for like real dense punches or something. Sure. Maybe that's the ability. Al Pratt was his name. Al Pratt. The original atom. Al Pratt.

Yeah. But he had like... I think he received some sort of radiation treatment in World War II and then he got like atomic powers. Good for him. Yeah, I know. Great. So what's he up to now

he's probably dead he might still be around they're all bloody still around they're all banging around aren't they yeah maybe there'd be

some kind of atom convergence like the spider verse or that other thing we said earlier in the show that I can't remember the DC one

no no no Robin we're Robin that's right we're all Robins all the time all the Robins hanging out being mates.

Kenneth Branagh, it seems, may direct another Marvel movie. I thought you were going to say he emailed in, but all right. I wish. I like Kenneth Branagh. Do you remember his Frankenstein movie from the 90s? Nope. Robert De Niro as Frankenstein? Nope.

Whatever you say next isn't going to help me remember it. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, it was called. No. It was dark. Oh. That's it. But anyway, he might direct another Marvel movie. He, of course, did the first Thor.

He says that he's continued to have good relationships with the Marvel family. I fondly remember good times working on Thor. So you always look to repeat that kind of thing. And if it happened again, I'd be delighted. So maybe Thor Ragnarok, people are thinking. Thor Ragnarok. Frog Thor. Yep.ok. Frog Thor. Yep.

The Horseman Thor. Yep. Thunder Strike. Thunder Strike. 90s Thor. Girl Thor. Yep. But they still haven't revealed the identity of it.

Interesting. But yeah, I'd be all for that. Do you think, because I think Thor 1 is probably better than Thor 2, but it clearly lacks the budget of Thor 2. I think. Because they're're just like we'll just set this in a desert yeah exactly I yeah look I I enjoy in Thor 2 I enjoyed a lot more of exploring sort of the the weird masters of the universe technology that they had yeah but I think yeah you're right Thor 1 and in Thor 2 the entire universe is at stake blah blah but nobody really

cares yeah it's kind of like yeah well we're just having fun and doing this. But I think, yeah, Thor 1 has a lot more weight behind it. And when it was revealed that Kenneth Branagh was going to direct it, I assumed it was going to be very pretentious and not very action-y. Like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Precisely. Like one of my favourite films of all time that I remember. And, you know, it was going to be very light on the

fantasy action yeah more kind of just like historical warrior kind of drama thing sure but boy we got some we got some sweet action and got some fun didn't we destroyer we had all kinds of stuff it was super cool flips all those cars i think it was was it no it wasn't the first introduction of colson but it was probably you saw a lot of him and it was also of course the introduction of loki so you know it's got a lot of things going for it. People sell that movie short or people forget, but that did a lot of good things. Yeah.

Abs. Yep. Did great for winged helmets. Briefly. Yeah. He'd bring that back if anyone was going to bring it back. Yeah. Kenneth Branagh.

Beau Branagh. As women, our life stages come with unique risk factors, like high blood pressure developed during pregnancy, which can put us two times more at risk of heart disease or stroke. Know your risks. Visit heartandstroke.ca. Will you rise with the sun to help change mental health care forever? Join the Sunrise Challenge to raise funds for CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, to support life-saving progress in mental health care. From May 27th to 31st, people across

Canada will rise together and show those living with mental illness and addiction that they're not alone. Help CAMH build a future where no one is left behind. So, who will you rise for? Register today at sunrisechallenge.ca today at sunrisechallenge.ca. That's sunrisechallenge.ca. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret. The other, a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost.

FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. You know Nemesis, the cartoon, I mean comic? The Mark Millar one. Now that looks like, there's a few of his stories in the works, including Starlight, which is one of his latest ones which is kind of a flash gordon-esque kind of right but the nemesis movie will according to millar himself yes it could get off the ground depending on sooner depending on how well kingsman does interesting they're kind of more in the same vein yes that's true yeah i mean they're different

obviously but just that kind of more kind of in your face, like right in your face. Oh, I don't know if I like that. No, but I think in that they are kind of, they're both sort of larger than life. Yeah. Kind of one spy and one superhero, but they're kind of big hero and villain,

worlds at stake kind of thing. Absolutely. And very bloody and whatevs. Extreme to the max. Enough here, though. Hey, guys, I just read Nemesis and Superior by Mark Millar, and I was wondering what your thoughts were on that. See, it's just Mark Millar.

We should really establish. I'm going to say Mark Millar. Different people say different things. What does he say? Who? Mark Millar. I don't know. I'll have to find out.

Plus. Because you know David Bowie. Yeah. He says Bowie? Yeah, he says Bowie. It's pronounced David Bowie. Well, his son's name is Zowie. Zowie Bowie Yeah He says Bowie Yeah he says Bowie It's pronounced David Bowie Well his son's name is Zowie Zowie Bowie

Exactly right Well Duncan Jones He changed that ASAP Do you think he was Because he's now Duncan Jones

Director of you know Moon and stuff like that Do you think he was just Hanging out for his 18th birthday Absolutely he was People are like What do you want for your birthday What present do you want

A car for your birthday and he's like I don't I don't care I have 15 cars yeah I've got 15 I'm going to the depot office

and I'm changing my name the instant I'm able to anyway but yeah David Bowie it's amazing that he's not a lunatic though

I mean he might be but by all accounts he's just like a regular guy but yeah so like he's Bowie but when people say hey David Bowie

you know blah blah your new record he's like he never corrects anything no he's not a dick about it yeah he's not a thing when people say hey David Bowie you know blah blah your new record he's like he never corrects anything no he's not a dick about it yeah he's not a dick

but anyway we're going to find out what Mila says yeah absolutely anyway he was wondering what our thoughts were on Nemesis and Superior plus would you like to see

either of them turn into a movie thanks guys grab dat gem now we've seen Kingsman Kingsman oh yes

it's not out in the States until next week so we thought we'll hold off until next week because we panned it to our main audience which is America

the Americas the Americans I think it came out the week before us in the UK then us then the US I'm probably going to

see it again before it comes out in the US you don't even want to no just for the power but yeah look we'll get into

suffering your jocks America that's right that's what we say I enjoyed it a lot. Just FYI. That's right. We'll get into that next week.

But we thought, why not this week? Yes. And in conjunction with that email, why don't we go through some of Mark Millar's... Oh, this is going to get painful. ...most kind of famous stories. Oh, yes. And kind of... Because there are a lot of comic book writers, obviously.

Yeah. But he's definitely one of comic book writers, obviously. Uh-huh, yeah. But he's definitely one of the most well-known. Right. And also very divided. He always kind of seems to bring something new to the table, but it doesn't always land. Right, right, right. Do you agree with that?

Yeah, absolutely. So why don't we just... Maybe it does, though. Like in certain... I'm going to say Miller from this point. You say Miller. Okay, we're going to do this? That's harder. Yeah, I know, right? I'm going to say Mark from this point. You say Miller. Okay, we're going to do this? That's harder.

Yeah, I know, right? I'm going to say Mark Miller for this whole thing. I would say there's probably fans of his, just who are fans of his. Sure. And everything hits, right? I'd say so. Yeah, absolutely. No, definitely.

And look, I've never read anything of his where I'm like, I really hate this. Right, right, right. So the stuff that I'm like, yeah, I'm indifferent to or whatever, but you know like less than others or whatever but it's not the point right sure let's just get into it okay why don't we start with probably one of his most well-known uh kick-ass oh yes have you read all three volumes and the hit girl thing no one and two only one or two yeah i don't i don't think i don't think they're all required reading i think the first one is probably possibly none of them are required reading. No.

You won't die. Comics are for nerds. You're not required by the government to read them or you'll be executed. Certainly not. Yet. Yeah, we don't know where you're from. So maybe if you're from Costa Rica, that's the rule there. But, yeah.

If only somebody could call and tell us, but they don't have cell phone reception there. But, yeah, what are your thoughts on Kick-Ass? Mixed. Okay. I think it's an interesting take. Yeah. I think, though, that it's the idea of, hey, what would happen if superheroes existed in the real world?

That's been done a lot. Sure. That's been done an extraordinary amount of times. Yeah yeah like both powered heroes and non-powered heroes and in real life because people actually do it now yeah we should do an episode on real life superheroes we always say i think you even planned one out like that's like that doesn't sound like i'm i'm pretty sure and we ended up seeing a movie instead oh yeah that's right, yeah. News flash, I didn't do any research. Anyway, yeah, it's been done a lot. I think there were some really interesting touches to it. It's not incredibly real-worldy, though, is it?

No, see, that's the problem with Kick-Ass generally. Yeah. Is that, and this is probably endemic to a lot of his work generally, but with Kick-Ass especially, he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted to be set in a real world where it's this kind of post-ironic world, wherever he's too cool for superheroes. Everybody knows who Spider-Man is. Yeah, everybody's like, did you play the Spider-Man bro?

Exactly, yeah. And whenever he does something, he's like, I'm just like spider-man in the comics right exactly yeah so so it's he wants to be this self-aware world where people are aware of superheroes and that superheroes are dumb and silly and whatever and so you know he's become a superhero knowing that you know you know knowing the tricks of the trade kind of thing going in but at the same same time, especially in the movie version, so much of it is so sincere and kind of earnest. Saccharine?

It is a bit saccharine. It's ultimately incredibly brutal, but also very saccharine. All saccharine. Oh, there we go. That's the Mark Millar we know and love. But like... You say Millar. I do say Millar.

If you say Millar, we're swapping. Oh, we've got to switch. Okay, all right. I'll remember that. love but like um you say miller i just say miller if you say miller we're swapping oh we gotta switch okay all right i'll remember that yeah so in the in that especially kick-ass 2 i can't you're talking the movie the movie yeah in kick-ass 2 they it is a lot of post-ironic like hey what about you know spy you know spider-man blah blah blah but at the same time about every 20 minutes there's like somebody does a really earnest speech and it's all like oh i've got to be who i am and then it's like but your father said before he died he said you couldn't you couldn't do that it's like well maybe that's

not who i am anymore kind of thing with the stirring music over the top and i'm like nobody talks like that in the real world yeah if you want this to be the real world you know take it one or the other but i i guess this don't put a jet pack in it yeah exactly i think i i get the sense that they want miller wanted it to be you know more post-ironic and kind of cool too cool for school kind of thing but the the studios were like well we've got to put in some we have to put in some standard superhero movie kind of tropes yeah, it's not going to sell. People aren't going to be happy with it. Otherwise, it's going to be James Gunn's super.

Yeah, so we've got to put in the stirring speeches and we've got to put in the jet pack with the machine guns on it. Yeah, so in a lot of the kind of the meta takes of it have been removed from the original. There's the first movie. In the first comic book series of Kick-Ass Hit-Girl is the son of Big Daddy that is the daughter of Big Daddy

I'm very sorry that was weird but she's the daughter and they have become superheroes we are told because her mother was murdered when she was very young and they've gone on the run

to you know to fight crime blah blah big daddy's paying for you know all the equipment to fight the bad guys because of this mysterious case that he's carrying around and we're supposed to wonder is it drugs or is it you know some sort of mysterious super value is it artwork or is it some sort of super valuable whatever uh but then it's revealed that it's comic books and then it's spoiler alert by the way that's fine we're spoiling all of these oh yeah suck it miller yeah um we're swapping no i said miller anyway uh and that he was never you know it was like that he was a cop and his wife was murdered for revenge but it's revealed that he's he was never a cop he was just an accountant yeah and his wife left him because he was boring and he just had

a comic book collection and he's decided to go and spend all his money you know sell all these comic books just to give his daughter

an exciting world to live in kind of thing because he's crazy because he's crazy because he's properly crazy but in the movies they're like

well we can't have him be properly crazy despite the fact that he's been played by Nicolas Cage who is properly crazy. He's really good in that, too. Yeah, he's good.

Yeah, he's one of his best performances, I think. So we will have to actually make him a cop. His wife was murdered. I was really surprised by that, because I thought the twist was going to be, again, that he wasn't a cop. Yeah. Which I was kind of disappointed by,

because I think that makes him way more interesting. Me too, yeah. But like you said, I guess you can't really do that. Yeah, I mean, I've never looked into that. I would like to hear an interview with Miller. Yeah. You know, where... In fact, let's write that down.

When we do our interview with Miller, which will be never, because we're going to bag out a lot of his work right now, and if he ever hears this, he'll be upset. He'll never hear it. But, you know, I'd like to hear whether, you know, they put their foot down and said, we need a more standard superhero kind of movie.

Okay. Sure. Let's make a note of it. Let's make a note. Somebody email him. Somebody tweet at him. Does he have Twitter? I want to shoot him safe.

Look, I think that the comics are in general, they're okay. Yep. I think that the first one's, you know, probably worth a read. But I think you kind of, you get the gist after the first one. If it's something you're interested in, you could continue with all the whatever. I find Kick-Ass, just unpleasant generally. What happens in 3? And there's a Hit Girl special.

There's a Hit Girl special. 3 is, that's much of the same. Great. I can't remember, to be honest. But it's also implied in Volume 3 that Dave, the main guy, has been in a coma the whole time. Oh, I see, right. And where he's hit by the car.

Uh-huh. That, he never woke up from that. Okay, right. Which would explain a lot. Mm. So, yeah. But anyway. But again, that's, what a post-ironic twist.

All right. It was all a dream. But was it all a dream? Let's pick something you'll love then. Okay, I'm ready. Wanted. Actually, I don't know what you think of this. I quite like Wanted.

Yeah. Yeah. Some of it's a bit. Some of it's a bit off. Yeah. Like, there's, I think I know. What do you think of this? I quite like Wanted. Yeah. Yeah. Some of it's a bit. Some of it's a bit off. Yeah. Like there's, I think I've talked about this before. There's a scene in particular where he talks about how he raped an A-list celebrity.

Right. And it's just so casual. Yeah. And it's really kind of, and I guess the point is that it's supposed to be kind of shocking and in your face and whatever. But it was, to me, I'm like, you didn't. Unnecessary, yeah. There's a lot of... And that's the main guy in it as well.

Yeah, exactly, yeah. Protagonist, for lack of a better word. Yeah. But yeah, this is, in a lot of cases, I think Mark Miller's main problem is that he's very much a proponent of, well, it's art and I can say whatever I want. And if you can't handle it, you've just got to deal with it shut your face yeah shut your face because i'll do whatever i want

kind of thing and that was that you know and this was uh he was on top cow which is a image imprint so it's kind of creator owned so dc or marvel couldn't tell him what to do kind of thing blah blah blah so he was like i'll say whatever i want i'll just draw eminem and hally berry i'll just yeah well that was yeah well not that he drew them. But yeah, the main guy is clearly Eminem. Yes, exactly. The lead is clearly Halle Berry. Halle Berry, yeah. I also think that movie completely missed everything that's good about that comic as well.

Because I think there is a lot of good stuff in that comic. So for those who haven't read Wanted, the comic, and maybe you've seen the movie, or vice versa, Wanted is about a guy who looks exactly like Eminem. He's like a cubicle drone in an office and nothing works out for him. Yeah. But then it is revealed that he is the son of a supervillain who has sort of unerring accuracy. Like he's a sort of assassin. He's the world's best assassin.

He's the world's best assassin with the world's greatest shot kind of thing yeah and this guy discovers that a he has that power as well and b that this used to be a world like a kind of a superhero super villain world like a comic book fleeting glimpses of like spider-man's boots and superman yeah and all that kind of stuff and the idea being that it used to be it used to be kind of a fun comic book-y kind of world where amazing things happened, but eventually one day the supervillains killed all the heroes in a massive battle and then combined their powers and sort of altered reality so nobody remembers.

And so the world is kind of dreary and boring. So it's like, you know, it's quite our world. like it's our world and you know everybody everybody is works in an office and it's boring and dull and kind of thing it's very much like the matrix in the way that then he's kind of told he's the best guy in the world right exactly yeah and he lives in this amazing world and he's got all the powers right right exactly yeah and he can do anything he wants he's got he's got a card or whatever and whatever and the police can't stop him or anything like that. And the idea being that the central narrative of the book is there's two factions of villains. Yeah.

One of which who wants to sort of remain undetected in the world. And one who wants to sort of, one group who wants to, you know, make it known that they exist and kind of rule the world openly. Yeah. But the fear being that there are superheroes from alternate realities who would come in and try and stop them and blah, blah, blah. Yeah. And I think a lot of that is really interesting. It's probably quite derivative of The Matrix in that way. But the Matrix is quite derivative of a lot of other stuff.

So it's not really. One thing in particular. What was that? The Invisibles. The Invisibles, yeah. That's a story for another day isn't it uh but yeah like i think that was good and i think there's you know there's this funny kind of parallels to a lot of marvel and dc heroes like a lot of parodies and homages and stuff like that and you know it's a lot of fun yeah like it is except for the rape stuff which is no, exactly. But the hero doesn't really learn anything.

And not everybody has to learn anything. Yeah. But it just turns out in the end that I like doing whatever I want. Yeah, exactly. At the end. And then the movie essentially stripped away all the superhero stuff. Yes. And said, look, instead of this guy being the son of this, you know, incredibly accurate

assassin, and they're the only two who can do that. Yeah. That's the one power in that universe is you can have oh okay incredible i barely remember also it came out like a month before the dark knights oh so nobody yeah so basically it turned out that instead of it all being individual villains the basically the power in this universe is some people have such incredible focus that they can sort of curve bullets and do stuff like that but ever there there are no you know time travelers or super strength guys or anything like that. It's just a group of assassins.

It's a group of assassins. Who get their orders from a magic loom. A magic loom. Precisely. Yeah. Yeah. So that's pretty good, right? Not really.

No, it's no good. It's just not that interesting. And it's a shame because it's really well cast. Yeah, yeah. Like James McAvoy. like everyone's good in it and Chris Pratt's in it as well weirdly is he really

because he's off as co-worker oh yeah he is too okay was he fatter yeah he was okay that makes sense but um oh wait I was thinking

of Chris Pine he's in it too no he's not he's behind Chris Pratt oh sure can't say it but yeah it's not

it's not a very good movie I think it could have worked if they said this isn't wanted and maybe that's marred that because I'd read Wanted before this. But yeah, like it's just not great. Apparently the video game though is not bad. Or it wasn't for the time.

It wasn't bad for the time. But yeah, who knows? That's what it says on the box. This isn't bad for the time. Which is now. Game of Forma. Yeah. You read Super Crooks?

Yes. I haven't read it at all. It's fun. Do tell. It's a fun little heist thing. Yeah. You read Super Crooks? Yes. I haven't read it at all. It's fun. Do tell. It's a fun little heist thing. Okay. Is it the one where all the criminals are going to disappear or something? No, you're thinking of The Last Days of American Crime.

Oh, boy. Oh, that's right. You're thinking of The Last Days of American Crime, which is a book by Rick Ramander, who's doing some stuff with DC now, I think. Maybe he's part of that new line of books that we've been talking about he's in the reboot

yeah he's oh boy is he in the reboot yeah the super crooks is I think it's Marvel maybe but anyway Last Days of American Crime is a book by Rick Ramada

and it's basically about how we've probably talked about this ten times on the podcast doesn't matter go back to it anyway there's a point the US is building a device that will prevent people from committing crimes and so a bunch of guys back to it anyway there's a point the US is building a device that will prevent people from

committing crimes and so a bunch of guys have to get together and it's a gun yeah it's a real big gun don't walk in front

of it if you're a crook because they will they will shoot you yeah and they have to pull off the last big kind of

the last big heist and to set themselves up for life kind of thing great but super crooks is basically it's you know

it's essentially the same thing it's we've got to do is basically it's you know it's essentially the same thing it's we've got to do one last heist uh you know we'll do the one big score and then we'll get out of it and it's basically you know a guy who has to round up the old teammates who don't want to borrow him because he he screwed them all the last time yeah um and he does do that yeah he does do that yeah it's you know i imagine there's a few twists and turns along the way and whatever yeah and he you know some people have you know people owe money to the mob kind of thing and like an angry mob of people no the mob oh i mean they're pretty angry ultimately but like you know there's a young guy and there's a there's a guy called the heat and he's kind of sort of an

older villain and he has a lot of money to the mob. Is there no superpowers in this world? No, there are. Okay. There's tons. It's great. Supercrooks make sense. Supercrooks, precisely. It's not called crooks.

Anyway, and so Johnny Bolt is this young villain who's like, well, I'm going to help out this old guy. He's, you know, I'm his biggest fan

kind of thing. And so they get together, they go to Spain and they're going to rob another supervillain villain like the the big the big bad guy yeah you know robin blind kind of thing and they do or don't oh i don't want to spoil it yeah yeah don't i want to read that yeah it's look it's yeah it looks really good here's the thing mark miller i think works best with a really good artist sure really kind of dynamic

artist uh and with super crooks he's working with lenal francis you who is i think fantastic he's one of my favorite artists of all of all the time of all artists well of comic book artists what about rolf harris what a piece of shit um but yeah it's it's you know i think it's fantastic art there's some twists and turns along the way. Great. How many issues, roughly? I want to say six.

You do, don't you? Yeah. But you're not going to. No, because maybe it's five or four or eight. I think it's six. Absolutely. You read Jupiter's Legacy? No, what is it?

It's basically in the 30s or 40s. I can't remember. I actually read this recently. This is the latest thing? It's latest-ish, yeah. Basically, a group of just regular humans come across this mysterious island. Oh, yeah, we're regular humans. Yeah, and they're all imbued with...

So this could happen to us. Definitely. And they're all imbued with these powers. Oh, yes. And basically, it doesn't really follow them so much. It's more their children. And so, flash forward to the present day, and the kids are like, you know, Generation Y, we hate everything.

We don't want to be heroes and whatever. There's been one volume, so it's still going. It's a decent read. It's a lot of looking at society today and who's on Twitter and who's a socialite. Who's glued to their phones. Yeah, exactly. But it's fine.

I like stories with these kind of old school kind of legacy heroes not necessarily who are famous but I like those kind of superheroes

which I think is why why am I going to talk about them in a starlet which I enjoy kind of starlight for that same reason it's not complete so I can't really judge it

don't judge it yeah it's fine thumbs up or. Yeah, it's fine. Thumbs up or down right now. It's fine. You could read it. I will. Done.

Great. Great. Have you read his run on arts one thing? No. Me neither. Let's skip that. Skip that. Superman Red Son.

Oh, yes. I like that a lot. One of my faves. Yeah, it's really good. And see, that's, I think, you know, sometimes you're like, well, this is what an artist, this is what a writer can do when he's, you know, he's not tied down to the man and corporations and blah, blah, blah. This is what he does when people put their foot down and say, hey, stop making all your characters the worst all the time. He gave it a bit of a shot in this though.

Yeah, he did. Yeah, that's true. Red Sun is amazing. It's set in a world where Superman lands in the Soviet Union. Yeah, instead of Kansas. Instead of Kansas. The fictional town. Yeah.

From The Wizard of Oz. Yeah. As if. As if it's real. And then as a result of that, he grows up being communist and, you know, he's not married to Lois Lane and he forms a working relationship with Wonder Woman, who's also Russian. He goes up against Russian Batman, who's not Bruce Wayne.

And it's never said who it is specifically. He's just kind of this orphan boy. But he's always rushing around, isn't he? Isn't he? Well, he has to. Yeah, because otherwise he'd be killed by Superman. But it's got a great Batman. We see Brainiac.

We see Brainiac, yeah. We see a Green Lantern core of sorts yes absolutely yeah I think it's really exciting yeah

it's good do you ever read the Captain the Superman Britain one wasn't there John Cleese did one oh John Cleese wrote one it was called

I haven't read it yeah I have it's not very good it's not good yeah like it's I really like John Cleese like he's produced some phenomenal

stuff yeah over the years yeah monty python especially but i have labs yep your boy oh yeah i agree he's i don't think he translates the comic books no i agree i kind of remember what it's called but yeah it's yeah british superman like that's a that's a one note joke yeah it is he changes in a phone booth but it looks like doctor who's phone booth or whatever you know that's that's the joke that's it that's the whole thing that's the whole thing yeah yeah but it's it's probably regarded as one of the best superman stories yeah with that it's an elseworld story obviously oh yeah but i i'm enjoying quite a lot and it's and it's also yeah and it's good because it's it's got the superman versus lex luthor dynamic yeah but it's you know superman is in the soviet union and lex luthor is the american sort of

think he's like a one-man think tank who's whose mission is to stop the soviet union and stop superman at the same time and initially and does he who knows but initially he's like he's all about fixing the economy and creating renewable energy and building up the US and kind of keeping it a step ahead. But then he just gets this fixation with Superman. Right. And it kind of, because he starts off as the hero almost, you'd say. And it just kind of sort of drives him mad.

Not as mad as he has been in other things. Yep. But his obsession, like it does with every other version of Lex Luthor, kind of takes over everything else. And he could save the world, but he just doesn't because he's so obsessed with stopping Superman. Yeah. It's pretty good.

You know, my favorite part about researching the work of Mark Millar? Wikipedia? Yeah, Wikipedia. Look, he's always wearing the same shirt. He's wearing a checkered shirt. He's wearing a checkered shirt. Pop up the jib of his lip. Checkered shirt. Different angle. Wanted. There he is he's wearing a checkered shirt pop up the jupers lip

checkered shirt different angle wanted there he is his checkered shirt he's having a bit of a bit of a shared a bit of a joke

with somebody there I think yeah it's just an ad for Amazon it's not he's not in that you were looking for

that checkered shirt on Amazon yeah did you read American Jesus maybe hang on let me think I've got a digital copy of it

but I haven't read it yet so oh is it new I haven't read it yet so oh is it new i don't think it's not new new um it's not as new as say a newborn baby who's just born damn no i don't think i've read uh is it i've read a lot of those ones where it's you know it's is it one of the ones where it's the new is it is it the second coming of jesus something like that i've read a lot of that sort of stuff. The Bible. Yeah, the Bible.

I read that. Maybe I did read a... Is it the one where it turns out he was Satan all along? I don't know. He was the Antichrist in the end? I don't know. I can't remember. It doesn't matter. Thanks for spoiling it, maybe.

Yeah. Look, I haven't read it. When you sort of get into a particular creator, you do find that there's, especially if they've been established a while there's this huge backlog of like weird obscure bits and pieces yeah i've kind of picked out the main ones yeah like warren ellis has a just a huge backlog of stuff like that yeah and even weird like black and white indie stuff and things like that so you just yeah it

goes forever it doesn't go forever not forever no no it's just all right probably read it all let's quickly read the American Jesus Wikipedia synopsis and then we'll judge it. Yep. No. Look, I've got the Secret Service here, but we'll probably talk about that more next week when we talk about the...

We can talk about it a little now. Okay. We're hurting for content. We have talked about it quite a bit recently. It's okay. The idea is better than the execution. Yes. The movie's better.

The movie is so much better. The movie looks better. It's so much better uh yeah the movie looks better it's got more detail yeah again i think i've said this i like the characters are more likable so yeah and it's it's miller and it's dave gibbons author uh illustrative watchman yeah the artist and i really like dave gibbons when he's drawing say the watchman characters sure because they're very distinctive and he's got... makes a great look. But I don't know what it is in particular, but with the Secret Service,

all these characters look exactly the same. Yeah, they do. And maybe that's a conscious decision. I don't think it is. Well, maybe like in... And this isn't spoiling anything,

but in Kingsman, the movie, Colin Firth's character and sort of his protege. Yeah. Like if you watch the trailer, you can see at certain points they're's character and sort of his protege. Yeah. Like if you watch the trailer, you can see at certain points, they, they both, they kind of look. Similar.

Quite similar. They're wearing the same sort of dark pinstripe suit and the, you know, the square frame glasses and the slipped hair and stuff like that. You know, in, in, without spoiling it, in that movie, it's sort of, you know, the younger guy, he's done it sort of as an homage. Yeah. To the, to Colin Firth, cause he's the, you know, he's the protege and Colin Firth's the, the guy.

The big man. Yeah, he's the big man and it's kind of a deliberate thing. But in this, in the comic book version, they just sort of look like the same character. Yeah, they do. But they're related in the comic though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So maybe that's something to do with it. Yeah. Also, he's more of a dick in the comic.

Yes, that's true. But everybody is. Yeah. Because what I really like about the movie movie there's a set of rules that the kingsman live by and they don't express expressly state it but one of them's like whenever you're talking to anybody you make them like you make them you act like they're the most important person in the world right most interesting you know you you ignore rudeness and whatever like there's this list of things and that makes them way more interesting but in

the comic he's just kind of a dick. Yep. And because he's, but he's not really, he's not a classist kind of guy, but he's just kind of an asshole. Right. Sure. Yeah. But anyway, we'll get it, we'll get into it next time. Man, I can't wait to talk about Kingsman. Yeah.

The movie. The movie. The movie. All right. Starlight. That Flash Gordon-esque thing. Oh, yes. Which they make a movie of, apparently.

I wonder who they're going to get to play, like, the main guy. Are you fishing for that role? I am. Great. Yeah. You need, like, a big kind of hulking old man. I'm trying to think who you could get. I don't know.

I was going to say Mickey Rock, but no, that's not a good idea. Maybe it is, though. Maybe it is, Mason. What about Dave Bautista? Yeah, I guess. I don't know. I haven't seen any of this okay so i don't know what you're talking about john hammond like 20 years oh yeah sure yeah no look up a picture while i okay while i faff about oh yeah but yeah it's basically this guy

on on earth regular earth and whatever and when he was younger he was kind of mid to late well around 30 let's say he's whisked away to this far away planet and he becomes the saviour of this world and he's like the hero in his renown and he's got all these amazing Boy this does look very Flash Gordon It is very Flash Gordon

This is astoundingly Flash Gordon Yeah, yeah, it is Like why hasn't he been sued for this? It's basically if Flash Gordon got old Okay, right So basically There's even a Ming the Merciless kind of villain here Yeah, yeah, it is. Like, why hasn't he been sued for this? It's basically if Flash Gordon got old. Okay, right. So basically... There's even a Ming the Merciless kind of villain here. Yeah, there is.

So he comes... But he's just a man. He's got no powers. He's got a cutlass and he's got a blaster occasionally. Right, right. And he comes back to Earth and nobody believes that he's done these amazing things. Right.

So he's just heralded as this lunatic. He came back because of his wife. He had, like, proposals from various princesses. Oh, sure, absolutely. And he could have ruled and whatever, but he decides not to. So he lives on Earth for 30, 40 years or whatever. His family don't believe him except for his wife. And after his wife dies and he's kind of lost and his sons aren't returning his calls and whatever, a rocket ship lands and it's this kid who idolized him growing up.

Sure. Not having met him. Right. And says, listen, we've been invaded again you need to come back and he's like this isn't really no what no like right sure but anyway anyway he eventually ends up going back and it's just this kind of i thought it would take more of a kind of a dark twist and it doesn't it's just like a flash gordon-esque romp and okay it's about inspiring hope and getting the people to uprise against the merciless I mean

whoever he's called sure it's it's you know it's very straightforward okay cool but it's

it's cool looks kind of fun alright I'm on board alright I think it would make a good movie I'm still trying to think

who they could cast though maybe the original Flash Gordon yeah what's his face the guy from Ted your favourite movie oh yeah that guy yeah I don't know his name he's in Ted yeah I remember yeah Maybe the original Flash Gordon. Yeah, what's his face? The guy from Ted, your favourite movie.

Oh yeah, that guy, yeah. I don't know his name. He's in Ted. Yeah, I remember. Yeah. I can't think of anybody who he'd cast. I'd say Clint Eastwood if he was 20 years younger. Wow, okay.

If he was 20 years younger. No, Ham would definitely work. Yeah. Fantastic. But I mean, he doesn't even... He wouldn't necessarily have to be 60. No. You could make him 45. Old Man Logan. We've talked about this quite a bit. Boy, have to be 60. No. You could make him 45. Old Man Logan.

We've talked about this quite a bit. Boy, have we, yeah. It's one of your favourites. It's one of my favourite stories about Wolverine. Sure. No, it's good. Yeah, definitely. I really, really enjoy it.

It's a once-off. Yep. Isn't there a sequel? There will be, apparently. Right, okay, yeah. What's good about it, I think, if you've even only seen the marvel cinematic universe you can hand that to somebody and they can understand it and this is

set in a future yep where give me give me some give me some information set in the future and it's sort of a post-apocalyptic future yeah it is the america's been divided into various all the superheroes are dead like everything else yeah great and it's been divided the america's been divided in a lot of different like red skull has washington so all the villains and like there's some there's some children of the hulk who control one section yeah where wolverine lives and because of a certain action that he took when the villains were taking over he no longer fights he's a pacifist right but he's kind of dragged into this one last mission with hawkeye who's now blind right and the reason that Hawkeye wasn't killed along with every other villain is that they don't think anything of him. Right.

He's not a threat. They just underestimate him, basically. And so he tasks Wolverine and himself, because Wolverine's in debt, to take this particular package across the country for money whatever and it's it's something to do with restarting the avengers and whatever wolverine doesn't want to borrow it and whatever it's and it's got a whole lot of classic villains and not a lot of heroes obviously because they're mostly dead oh yeah or crazy but there's like not a lot of nods to kind of things as you go along like they travel in the spider car oh yeah which is cool uh what else is there you see like a giant loki skeleton at one point they come across emma frost and she's still

young but it's because she's you know using her mind to make herself look that way and he has this amazing showdown with a red skull at the end which is great have you read it no really i've read the first two issues i think oh okay yeah, okay. Yeah, I would recommend. It's on my list. I actually got a copy. You want to borrow it? Yes. Too bad. Wait a minute. Well. Most of my stuff's digital, but I got like a shelf and that's...

Oh, I've seen your shelf. Yeah. It's not a massive... It's not a long box, is it? It's definitely not. So you're not a true comic book fan? No. Yeah.

Nemesis, though, which they might make into a movie. It's basically if Batman was the Joker, that was kind of the tagline. Yeah, that's very much so. The premise being that there's only one super-powered being. He's not super-powered, but the world has one sort of larger-than-life Batman-esque character, but he's a bad guy. And what he's doing is he's going around the world to various different countries and he's challenging the premier law man of every country

to a battle to the death yeah and he presents them with a card that says the exact date and time of their death yeah and then he follows through yeah and now at the beginning of the series he's come to america and he's going to challenge, like it's his first time in America and he's going to challenge this, this, this super cop. Yeah. America's super cop to battle to the death. Absolutely. And again, it's a Lanel Yu as the, as the.

A lot of blood. So much blood, but it looks great. Yeah. And the great thing is like. The design's great, I think. The design is great. He's all white. Yeah.

He's basically Batman without the ears and he's completely white because he just has no fear and everything is just so well planned out that he has... that he's completely confident in his own abilities. Yeah, and he's a martial arts expert and he's a genius and all sorts of stuff. And it's got a neat little twist at the end as well.

Yeah, which we won't spoil. Which will lead into another... Nemesis 2, maybe, yeah. But the movie they're talking about, they've mentioned maybe Liam Neeson as the detective, which I guess could work. Oh, yeah, no, that definitely works, yeah. They've also mentioned Brad Pitt.

I reckon Dennis Clay. Yeah, okay, cool, yeah. Yeah. Tom Berringer. Tom Berringer, sure, from Sniper. Not American Sniper. Just regular Sniper. Non-denominational Sniperational sniper yeah i'd love to see

that movie and i've wanted i think yeah the strength of that comic is definitely the art like the story is interesting but it's an incredible it looks incredible yeah i read that tonight actually do you have a copy no i'll check my shelf check it's probably on the shelf anything else to say about that I've got one more and then we can what we're reading no I really enjoy I really enjoy Nemesis

again there's some weird bits there's some bits where he's like I'm just I'm going to make this bizarre thing happen this horrible thing

just because I can't yeah you're right but still yeah it could be worse oh boy I think this is actually my favourite story of his.

I'm ready. Yeah, okay. You know Superior? I have read Superior. Yeah, so basically for those- Lionel, you again? Great art. Yeah, it is.

It's in a world where superheroes do not exist and all of that. There's a boy who's got cerebral palsy, I think he is. I think so, yeah. Yeah, and he was this kind of, you know, he was this pretty promising athlete. He's probably 13, 14 years old. And then he's restricted to a wheelchair. And then this monkey shows up, this magic space monkey. Space monkey in a little astronaut space suit.

And he wishes that you want. And he wishes to be his idol, which is Superior, who is this fictional Superman-esque character. He's kind of Superman, Captain Marvel kind of combination. Because he's got both magic and kind of powers and and whatever and it's what he kind of chooses to do with that and there's like a lois lane-esque kind of woman also and he's got the the you know he's kind of got this kid best friend and initially they're really they're really excited about all the stuff that he can do and

they can buy beer and whatever but of course with, with the deal, it's not what you think it is or what it initially appears to be. And it culminates in this showdown at the end, which is incredible. And it's really, it's quite heartfelt, the whole thing, which is odd for... Yeah. For Miller. Yeah, for Miller. For Miller.

Yeah, for Miller. And it is dedicated to Christopher Reeve. It says that at the end. Yeah, I Miller. Yeah, for Miller. And it is dedicated to Christopher Reeve. It says that at the end. Yeah, I would definitely. Of all, I think, it's not for everybody because it is, like I said, it is very kind of heartfelt and whatever, but it's probably my favourite story of his for that reason. Yeah.

And like you said, art. Art is good art art is good art is good any others on that list? and again we want Jon Hamm for that role why would you not just cast Jon Hamm and what's great about it as well

he looks exactly like the movie version of Superior so the actor who plays him also is in this comic and is being harassed if he is this guy who keeps turning up and whatever and then that actor also plays the kind of pivotal role towards the end he kind of steps up yeah and it's it's quite good so i would think you could get i think you could get maybe you get john ham or whoever. And you get Sam Rockwell. Yeah. Well, you can get John Hamm as the actor who portrays Superior and then when you get him also playing Superior,

you can CGI him up a bit so he looks kind of... I think we've talked about that. We have. Sorry, probably many times on the show. Just a little bit of sparkle to him. Yeah, a little bit of sparkle. Yeah, definitely. Or just a tan.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But no, that's a great book. And if anything, that's what you make. That's what I'm assuming. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Because, I. But no, that's a great book. And if anything, that's what you make. That's what I'm assuming. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Because, I don't know, I think it'd be amazing if that became like the first truly great

modern Superman movie. Like if they made it without Superman. Yeah. Because I think you could with that. And like I like Man of Steel, it's fine. But he's not very Superman for a lot of it, is he? No, true. Yeah.

All right. Any other on the list while we're listing things? It's another episode where we list things. I love it. People love it when we list things. We should have done an episode on things you missed while reading Mark Miller. Because people love those when you do your little videos. They do love them.

If you could pick one out of this list or any comic ever that people should read, what would it be? I like Nemesis. Sure. Yeah, I do. Okay. Nemesis is my number one, I think. All right then.

Yeah. Nemesis, Superior. Choose your side. Pick your poison if you will. Oh, yes. All right. We know what it's time for then. What is it time for?

What we read and... Oh, what we're going to read. I'm doing the thing. time for what we read and what we're gonna read i'm doing the thing what are we reading today yeah all right great what are you reading you go first i haven't thought of one all right we can read old man logan okay i'll read this literally give it to you nice problem solved yeah superman earth one you know that kind of stand alone Superman series yeah yeah

there's been two volumes the third one's just come out so there's been three volumes really in a way oh yeah I can count things yeah

and it's not amazing but I like different takes on Superman and he's kind of a bit more angsty and whatever and it's stand alone there's also a Batman Earth 1

which people kind of like sort of also sure and it's the it's a conclusion of this Superman story. If you read the first one of this, the first one, I think it's in the first volume, and you watch Man of Steel, they're very similar. Yes, they are.

So, would you be interested in reading volume three, or are you just like, meh? Or are you like, meh? No, I'll give it a crack. Superman's got a new power. Yeah. Oh, yeah. A power to heal broken hearts. Oh. Not going to crack. Superman's got a new power. Yeah. Oh, yeah. A power to heal broken hearts. Oh.

With a solar flare. Oh, my God. Brutal. Yeah. So that's what I'm going to read. Okay. Well, I am going to read Old Man Logan then. Yes, you are.

Just to get you to shut up for five minutes. We've got a letter here. Oh, yes. The official poor man's anything of the podcast oh yeah should anyone be unable to fulfill their duties as an official whatever of the podcast yep i will fill in as the poor man's version oh that's fantastic that's great isn't that that's he's the um he's the understudy yes great what i've been reading lately enjoying and enjoying is the new run of ant-man and please find attached probably the best panel in the whole comic book

where ant-man discovers Mason's Nazi gold. I don't have it in front of me, but there's just a picture of Ant-Man. He's just going, Nazi gold. Nice. That's pretty good. I would also like to recommend, that's good by the way, the new Ant-Man run or the two that they've been. It's pretty funny.

I would also like to recommend a superhero anime called Tiger and Bunny. It's a combination of Mystery Men, complete with corporate sponsorship x-men justice league avengers reality tv and just about every buddy cop film you've ever seen it's a fun take on two superheroes with some diverse and colorful characters strongly recommend you watch it if you can find it come to my house bring beer oh sorry if you can't find it come to my house bring beer pS. First one to give me a shout out is not a dickhead. Shout out. Yes. You're a dickhead.

I blame my uncle. I know, right? My uncle. Yeah, I know. I wouldn't expect you to blame your uncle. How's that holding up, by the way? That's fine. Is it?

Not really. It cracked pretty loud when I went down. I can imagine. It's happened to me. I do not envy you at all, ever. I was going to say, listeners, long-time listeners may know that I enjoy people sending in incongruous DVD packs. You do. Because, you know, you'll be going to the Blockbuster or the DVDs.

They don't have Blockbusters anymore. They all went out of business. What are we talking about? But you go to like the Walmart or whatever and you're looking through the DVD packs and and there's like, DVD three pack, and it'll be like, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, Gattaca. Like, how did that happen?

Kind of thing. I like those. So people send them in from time to time. Got a couple of good ones this week. Eric Milne sent in this one. It's a three pack. It's, again, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, so that's a good start.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Spaceballs. It's a good combination. What's the tagline atrels. Space Balls. It's a good combination. What's the tagline at the top? Is there anything? Does it just say movies? DVD three pack. That's it.

I guess it is. Yeah. I mean, they're not lying, certainly. But that's a good combination. So people should hit you up on Twitter if they've got those, eh? Oh, yeah. Take a photo. Send it to me.

At Wikipedia Brown. At Wikipedia Brown. Don't email them. Send it to him because they're more likely to get them. Yeah. He's actually the winner of the week he was sent to me on Snapchat actually

in any other week they would have both one would have won individually but now Patrick Meats probably not his real name on Snapchat

what's your Snapchat are you going to tell people again no I don't like look it was a good experiment go back and listen at some point in the episode like 20 episodes ago

I'd tell it on Snapchat. But I can't respond to them all. And there's so many. I can't even read. I can't even watch them all because there's so many of them. But yeah, send me a Snapchat. I probably won't Snapchat. You have my sympathy.

Thank you. But anyway, he sent me this one today. It's, okay, so it's the 2005 Michael Keaton supernatural thriller movie, white noise. Oh yeah. The straight to video sequence. That's kind of a horror supernatural horror film. Yeah. The straight to video sequel,

white noise, the light, right. Which is not presumably not as good. Third movie snakes on a plane. Great. Right. What's it say?

Does it just say three movies? It says movies. It says deluxe movies Yeah I guess In many ways they are deluxe movies aren't they? Alright letters It's time for letters Oh yes

Hey guys love the podcast Oh It brightens my Good letter Yeah It brightens my otherwise dismal drive to work every Monday Keep up the great work And thanks for everything you do

Mason Hello Have you started Game of Thrones yet? Nope Season 5 Oh yes Starts April 12th Thanks for everything you do. Mason. Hello. Have you started Game of Thrones yet? Nope. Season five. Oh, yes. Starts April 12th. I don't know how many episodes that is a day.

You do the math. Maths. That's what we say. I've got a week off in like three weeks time. I'm going to watch it. You have to watch it. Do I? Because I want to do an episode.

I want to talk about it. All right, fine. You know what? There's been a lot of people writing it. They throw that in. Aidan Boardman wrote in. He mentioned that. But I've got one here from Caleb that says,

Mason is right not to bother with Game of Thrones. Ooh, controversial. I tried watching the first season and it's garbage. Wow. So I'll let you decide. Just for the record, I haven't watched Game of Thrones. I'm not saying it is garbage. I was entertained by the three episodes I watched.

I just don't have a lot of time. It's of those things it's like supernatural yeah i watched a few episodes of that it's entertaining but there's 10 years worth now you know i like watching supernatural because i don't have to talk about it or remember anything about it oh sure so like yeah so i watch it every week if i've got a bank of things to watch like what arrow so if we did a supernatural special that would be upsetting for you no i could i could definitely talk about it, but I don't feel the pressure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, oh, the gorilla turned up this week. I should remember that.

Right, right, right. The gorilla turned up and I showed you, didn't I? Yeah. The Flash gorilla turned up. This is also courtesy of Caleb. So I put this in the middle of another letter. Oh, yep. I don't know why I did that.

Had a daughter this week. Oh, congratulations. Lydia Zorrel, partially to be geeky. Hang on, sorry, what was it? Lydia Zorrel. Zorrel, partially to be geeky. Hang on, sorry, what was it? Lydia Zorrel. Zorrel, there we go. Zorrel, that's right. Partially to be geeky because Zorrel is part of Supergirl's Kryptonian name and partly

because it sounds cool. Yeah, nice. That is cool. Congratulations. That's great. Congratulations. That's what we say around here. Congratulations.

Anyway, continuing with the first letter that I was reading. James, I know you're a big fan of the show and I was wondering if you've read the books or have any interest in doing so. I started reading them. However, I know you're a big fan of the show and I was wondering if you read the books or have any interest in doing so. I started reading them. However, I urge you not to. The show is indefinitely, sorry, the show is infinitely better as Weiss and Benioff have done an excellent job

of condensing both the story and the massive cast of characters. At this point, I honestly feel, I honestly feel held hostage by the damn things. And we all know books are for nerds correct i read the first one yep and i started to read the second one this is between season one and two and i went you know what i like the show better fair enough yeah but you know what it's one of those things where i think you can they're such separate entities now yeah well you can

definitely enjoy them both like i'm trying to think of another example of that Breaking Bad and the books wait a second I don't know Lord of the Rings yeah okay cool like you can enjoy both but they're clearly very different enjoy in air quotes yes

Better Call Saul's coming out very soon oh I'm looking forward to that I think it's this month oh sweet I hope so yeah maybe it's maybe it's next month

maybe it's last month oh maybe 10 episodes are out already but they're all coming out in one go right because Netflix are they? I think so I didn't know that

I think it's on AMC anyway okay I'm thinking of almost anything else I'm thinking of something else that's coming out

on Netflix James mentioned his Christmas tree last episode where the hell in Australia do Christmas trees grow do you guys import them

or what I could look it up but I thought I'd just put you on the spot instead. Thanks again. And please go back to Britain, you stupid Brits. Pete Z. He says, brackets, don't even try my name, James. P.S. Mason is a dickhead. Look, all that's valid.

We'd say Pete Z. Yeah, we would, of course. We have pine trees in Australia. They're fucking everywhere. They're not native, of course. We have pine trees in Australia. They're fucking everywhere. They're not native, but yeah. Never stopped us before. No. That Christmas tree is still sitting out there as well.

Great. I missed, there's a school up the road and they put a skip out every week. So I'm going to carry it up there and dump it in. Great. But I missed it last week. And now that I've robbed my ankle, it's just going to sit out there forever. Never going to happen, yeah. I'll just bring it back in at Christmas.

Yeah. Yeah. happen, yeah. I'll just bring it back into Christmas. Yeah. Yeah. Hey guys, I was wondering, I'm getting together with some friends. What do I watch? Inception, Dark Knight.

Thank you again for all the work that you do. From Sam. P.S. You're a dickhead. He doesn't specify who but I read it so I guess it's me.

That's right. You fell for it. Inception, Dark Knight. They're my only choices. Yes. It's a big call yeah there's a lot of factors that go into this

yeah I guess there is how many times have they never seen either of them before yeah I guess so I'm assuming have they seen Batman Begins

what would you want to say it's probably too late now I mean yeah what would you want to say if you hadn't seen either of them well I wouldn't know

because I haven't seen them but if you had if you hadn't seen them oh sure uh dark night me too yeah yeah even though they're both great you can't really go wrong no exactly yeah but inception i think inception for me has had more re-watches yeah but maybe maybe i'm due for another watch in the dark night i'll see where we go yeah all right i'll lend you a copy i've got it i don't have a copy wow that's weird You've let me down I have? For the first time

Yeah It's from Wes Oh yes Hey James and Dick Love the show And keep up the good work I work at an underground gold mine And regularly download your podcast

And listen to it while driving About 2000 feet From the surface I was drinking this water And when you said 2,000 feet, I was going to spit take. And I'm like, where do I do it? Not on the new microphone.

So that silence was me going, look, it'd be funny, but just to the one guy in the room, me. I certainly wouldn't be impressed. And then you'd have to mop it up and you've got a bung ankle. So I'd like to be known as the official gold miner of the podcast.

Done. Lucky because we had a gold miner, but's been it's been rebooted so yeah it's got yeah i recently went to comic-con in salt lake city and got to meet karen gillian aka nebula from guardians of the galaxy and dr who fame oh yes that day i had my photo taken with her and real quietly told her to grab that gem that's creepy i love it love it to which she said what but i understood what i said you know uh you know get the gauntlet because she said she mentioned her i cut this bit out but she mentioned that in the panel that she'd love to be able to wield the infinity gauntlet so i'd like to pass credit to you guys if at some point in the movie she gets her hands on one of them one of those gems oh yeah that's pretty good that's great yeah yeah thank you

wes that's really cool. And of all the ways you could have interacted with Karen Gillan to cause trouble... I said Gillian, didn't I? Doesn't matter. Of all the ways you've done that,

that's probably the safest one. I wanted to ask for a shout-out. Oh, yes. I love Nick's shout-out. You don't really do that anymore as much. Save them up. Yeah. What for? The reboot yeah what for the reboot

yeah the reboot exactly for myself but also for my girlfriend's sister this one's really for me more than you oh I see but I've got one for you at the end

okay good who was flying out to Tanzania on Monday the 9th of Feb with the charity Rayleigh International I remember a few times James you mentioned that you'd done some volunteer

charity work in Tanzania and thought you could both give her a shout out but also if you had any advice for her while she's out there, e.g. dealing with food, weather, food, culture, anything at all. Her name is Katie May and she is 18. Any advice, Mason, for Tanzania? It's pretty good. Don't drink the water. Don't. Any of it.

Definitely not. Don't drink any water the entire time you're there. Drink bottled water. No, don't drink any water. James, it's gotten worse since you've been there. Don't drink any water the entire time you're there. Drink bottled water. No, don't drink any water. James, it's gotten worse since you've been there. Don't drink any water. Yeah, probably. Tanzania is relatively safe. It's like anywhere though. Keep your hands in your pockets

if you're in a main busy place. It's actually not that bad for pickpockets compared to Rome which is fucking rife with pickpockets. The last timeome sure which is fucking rife with people yeah i had the last time i was in rome they had they did the classic um give me a wallet idiot yeah that one oh that is the classic they did the one on me which is like they show you a newspaper oh yeah

yeah and yeah and the idea and i've been worded up on it beforehand so i was like get away but i think the the idea is they show you newspaper you're like what are they showing me i don't understand and then while you're looking like other people come around and pick your yeah it's kind of yeah exactly i was like get away get away swatting at the end i'm from australia yeah i guess take malaria tablets um though i stopped taking them because i got sick don't take them with water though no definitely not take them dry yep uh learn you know make the effort with the language i guess i don't i used to know a little bit of it actually oh yeah um i don't know a lot anymore labda means maybe gali sana means too

expensive oh yes uh i used to i used to know how to say get out of my face oh i'm from australia australia yeah it's a nice place so yeah you know, just like anywhere that's not where you normally live. Just keep your wits about you. Oh, yeah. And one Australian dollar is worth a thousand Tanzanian shillings roughly. Oh, yeah. That helps because it's the UK. Yeah.

But it's a nice place. That's it. Great. Yes. Yeah. Thirdly, still in the letter. No, I'm asking a lot. Can I be the official Valkyrie as I have a crow tattoo on my ribs on the left side and

I was planning on getting my second one on the right side. I got it because of Odin's two Valkyries, his eyes and ears. Oh, yes. That's super cool. That is cool. Yeah. Hey, guys. My name is Finn and I'm from Canada.

I'm a big fan of the show. You do a bloody good job. Recently, my dad was talking about work, saying how he was getting pissed off by a guy named Nick. I visited his office briefly last week. Oh, here we go. And to my surprise, I saw a name tag on the cubicle that said Nick Mason. After learning this wonderful man's last name, I told my dad he should just call him by his

last name. He agreed. So every time he gets an email, I hear an aggressive, damn it, Mason. Anyways, I thought it was pretty great. That man is me. Yes. We do this via Skype. And he's also the official Nick great. That man is me. Yes. We do this via Skype. And he's also the official Nick Mason mini-man.

Oh. Yeah. I don't care about... I think we have one of those already. But again, a reboot. So, good. Okay. Well, I guess that's the show.

Fantastic. Where can people find us? They can find us at Weekly Planet Pod on Twitter and at Gmail and on Facebook. Correct. I'm at Wikipedia Brown on Twitter. Yes. There we go. Mr. Sunday Movies in Twitter also.

Yeah. Right in there. If people want to support the show, they can go to patreon.com slash Mr. Sunday Movies. Yes. MR Sunday Movies. Yes, correct. And you can donate like two bucks or whatever you want. Or no bucks.

Or no bucks. Just listen to the show. That's what we like. We like. Because just tell, if you like the show tell a friend and subscribe and all those big things tell itunes just shout at your itunes that you like the show that helps us i think i don't know um or you can buy t-shirts yeah you just go to redbubble.com and you type in weekly planet and we're there there's some sweet merch there. Yeah. Our mate Golden Legend. Yeah. He's put them up.

He likes one of us. He didn't specify who. Huh. Yeah. It's weird. Doesn't matter. Doesn't, does it? Nah.

As long as we get that sweet merch. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Thank you to the Bruton, the Baskalos for the themes as well. Yeah. We love it, don't we? Yes, we do. Next week, I guess we'll do the...

Talk about Kingsman. Kingsman, yeah. Oh, by the way, I found out that the Daredevil series lands the same day I have a wedding that I don't want to go to. Oh, sure. I can't not go, though. I can, well, I'm not invited

so I'm going to watch Daredevil. So, enjoy your wedding, idiot. Enjoy an expression of eternal love, you dumbass. I'm going to be watching a guy hit a man

with a billy club. You can't get out of that, though, can you? No. There's no excuse for not going to a wedding except another wedding or a funeral. You could leave early. Yeah, maybe I will.

I hope that I knew this. I'm just imagining a bridal party. Like, they're all in the outfits and they're just huddled around an MP3 player. And they're like, he what? What? Like, this is afterwards. afterwards like you've left and then somebody's delivered like an ipod and they're like oh just oh it's an old episode of this weekly what's the weekly part and then they listen they're like we what

betrayed betrayed grab the gem everybody grab that gem have a great week a pretty good week no just kidding have a great week. Have a pretty good week. No, just kidding. Have a great week. Okay, bye. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret. The other, a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+.