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Heavy Metal Book Club #42 - Metal Hurlant (2025) #4 · 22 Panels - A Comic Book Podcast

0:02
Tad Eggleston: Good evening, everybody! Welcome back to the Heavy Metal Book Club on 22 Panels.
0:11
Tad Eggleston: And just in time for Metal Erlant number 5 to show up in my mailbox, we're gonna discuss the revamped, rebooted Metal Erlant number 4.
0:23
Dillon Gilbertson: I gotta say, right off the bat, I was… I was so excited to read this that I didn't even read the line at the top of this that says, don't serve in heaven, God is a terrible tipper.
0:37
Dillon Gilbertson: And that's terrific.
0:38
Tad Eggleston: It is a pretty good line.
0:43
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, let me… I've been actually keeping track of numbers as we're chasing our 1,000th episode now, we're over 900.
0:52
Tad Eggleston: I weren't.
0:53
Tad Eggleston: And this is going to be… the… 42nd.
0:59
Tad Eggleston: Heavy Metal Book Club.
1:01
Dillon Gilbertson: I thought you were gonna say we were… did a thousand heavy metal podcasts, and I was like, I don't think so.
1:08
Tad Eggleston: No, no, no, no.
1:09
Dillon Gilbertson: an overnight.
1:09
Tad Eggleston: No, no, no, no. No, no, no. We're chasing a thousand total episodes of 22 Panels.
1:15
Tad Eggleston: Not a thousand Heavy Metal episodes. This is the 42nd Heavy Metal Book Club.
1:21
Tad Eggleston: Which is still pretty impressive.
1:25
Tad Eggleston: So, before we start going short…
1:29
Peter Eggleston Connor: We all made it past the 36th, which suggests that we've been, doing this for more than 3 years.
1:37
Dillon Gilbertson: Dang.
1:39
Tad Eggleston: Yeah?
1:40
Dillon Gilbertson: Hmm.
1:44
Tad Eggleston: So, before we jump in story by story, does anybody have overall thoughts on…
1:54
Matt: the issue, anything… At the moment, my favorite thing so far about the reboot of Model Herlan is the themed issues.
2:02
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, themed issues are cool.
2:04
Matt: Wow. That's amazing.
2:05
Tad Eggleston: The dishes are definitely cool.
2:07
Peter Eggleston Connor: I like… I think I like this issue a lot, and it's definitely because it's themed.
2:13
Peter Eggleston Connor: Part of it is a big part of that, but, like…
2:17
Peter Eggleston Connor: I can tell you that reading it, and even going back, you know, through and looking at it, it's like, oh, okay, I remember this issue, and this is, like, the Paradise Lost issue, or whatever, and I kind of…
2:30
Peter Eggleston Connor: And also, like, because it's themed, I also think it's, like, a little bit easier to even recognize when it's like, oh, I'm actually kind of into this, like, whole.
2:38
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah.
2:39
Peter Eggleston Connor: It's up to paradise, and like…
2:40
Dillon Gilbertson: Right, yeah, yeah.
2:41
Peter Eggleston Connor: I'm not fucking with that.
2:42
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, instead of, like, you're… you're like, what's that… what's the Ruandrie story that's in that… in that one issue of Metal or Long? Like, I can't remember which one it is, but, like, if you remember that it was a Paradise Lost themed story that you're looking for, you're like, oh yeah, like, I know exactly… I know exactly what issue that's in. It's in the Paradise Lost issue.
3:02
Tad Eggleston: Right.
3:03
Tad Eggleston: And you were, you were commenting on… you said Batman issue. You know what this actually reminds me of? Is Ex Machina.
3:11
Tad Eggleston: the… the Brian K. Vaughan.
3:13
Matt: Oh yeah, sure, the helmet. Okay, sure, yeah.
3:18
Tad Eggleston: But this… the interior cover, which I think is the back cover on the… on the…
3:31
Tad Eggleston: Hardcover edition is actually… One of the final illustrations.
3:40
Tad Eggleston: from… John Cassaday.
3:44
Dillon Gilbertson: Really?
3:45
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, it says… it's the PS to the publisher's note. Illustration on the inside front cover and on the back cover.
3:53
Tad Eggleston: of the hardcover edition is an excerpt from the last project our late friend John Cassaday was working on for humanoids.
4:01
Matt: I'm gonna embarrass myself, but why does the name John Cassidy not… Ring a bell for me.
4:08
Tad Eggleston: Terry?
4:10
Matt: Say again?
4:11
Tad Eggleston: Planetary?
4:22
Tad Eggleston: Please tell me you've read Planetary. Particularly because I don't particularly, like, feel like saying the name of the writer of Planetary.
4:37
Tad Eggleston: Cassaday's done lots of…
4:39
Dillon Gilbertson: I mean, yeah, he's done a ton of other stuff, but like.
4:41
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
4:42
Dillon Gilbertson: You can say he's done… he's done Star Wars, and Astonishing X-Men, and… Captain America, but like…
4:49
Dillon Gilbertson: Who hasn't at this point?
4:51
Tad Eggleston: Right. Uncanny Avengers…
4:59
Tad Eggleston: Pulling up his obituary from Comics Journal,
5:05
Matt: I'm looking.
5:06
Tad Eggleston: Get some Tom Strong.
5:09
Matt: Okay.
5:16
Tad Eggleston: And as soon as you start looking at his art, you're gonna recognize him.
5:19
Matt: Yep, yup, absolutely. I just did not know the name. So, shame on me.
5:24
Tad Eggleston: I'm just surprised, because normally you're the one that knows all the artists.
5:29
Matt: And that's why I'm like, okay, so…
5:34
Tad Eggleston: I mean, that was an odd experience for me. I'm used to you knowing the obscure artists that we're trying to figure out from inside the issue, and here you are not knowing.
5:46
Matt: Yeah.
5:47
Matt: Sorry about that.
5:48
Tad Eggleston: The… the not-obscure artist… That, that only has a page, and…
5:54
Matt: Right.
5:54
Tad Eggleston: And somewhat in memoriam.
5:57
Tad Eggleston: So, so yeah, you know.
6:00
Matt: My sincerest apologies to the late John Cassaday.
6:04
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
6:06
Dillon Gilbertson: Right off the bat, on this issue, this one might be my favorite one.
6:13
Tad Eggleston: this story?
6:14
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, the story.
6:14
Tad Eggleston: That was really good.
6:17
Tad Eggleston: With Star Wars, really.
6:18
Matt: The fault? Yeah.
6:19
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah.
6:20
Peter Eggleston Connor: This one was really good.
6:22
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
6:24
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, yeah.
6:26
Tad Eggleston: I'm looking for my, my, my dog.
6:29
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't know which one's my favorite one, because, like…
6:32
Peter Eggleston Connor: So I think I mentioned this off-air, I read the first half of this, and then I read the second half of it, like, later, because I think we were originally going to read it sooner, and then…
6:42
Peter Eggleston Connor: Something came up.
6:43
Matt: Yeah, we switched, we switched to read, the boar, Starhenge.
6:50
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, Star Edge.
6:52
Tad Eggleston: Oh, that's right.
6:54
Peter Eggleston Connor: So I've read half of it, and then… last night…
7:01
Peter Eggleston Connor: I read the second half of it.
7:05
Peter Eggleston Connor: But I still remembered a comic from the first half that I, like, liked so much that I had wanted to talk about it.
7:13
Peter Eggleston Connor: So…
7:14
Dillon Gilbertson: There's your chance.
7:15
Peter Eggleston Connor: to that.
7:16
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, alright.
7:16
Peter Eggleston Connor: But I'm pretty much like, oh yeah, that's definitely the comic, that's my.
7:19
Dillon Gilbertson: I… I love the captions in this story, and how they're all, like, bits of ripped-out notebook paper.
7:26
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
7:27
Dillon Gilbertson: However, It is strange that it is double-sided notebook paper.
7:32
Peter Eggleston Connor: Isn't that, like, printer paper?
7:35
Dillon Gilbertson: Oh, I get, like, ticker tape?
7:37
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, like, the.
7:38
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah.
7:38
Peter Eggleston Connor: Old printer paper that.
7:40
Dillon Gilbertson: That's… that's what it is. That actually makes a lot more sense, now that you say it.
7:44
Peter Eggleston Connor: Wow.
7:44
Dillon Gilbertson: first reading it, I was like, oh, this is, like, spiral-bound, ripped-out notebook paper, but no. It's, it's old printer paper with ticker tape on the side.
7:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: Okay.
7:55
Dillon Gilbertson: That makes way more sense.
7:58
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, that's definitely at least one way to look at it.
8:02
Dillon Gilbertson: No, I think that's the objectively correct way to look at it.
8:05
Dillon Gilbertson: And it's even better now, for it.
8:09
Matt: I always find it's difficult.
8:11
Matt: to judge the art in the first few stories, because I'm… I want to absorb the art throughout the whole thing.
8:17
Matt: So…
8:19
Tad Eggleston: I do… I… I adore this robot.
8:23
Dillon Gilbertson: Yes, he's great. He's phenomenal.
8:26
Tad Eggleston: And I… and I feel like it's possi… was this one of the news stories, or one of the… no, this is one of the news stories. Yeah.
8:36
Tad Eggleston: Though this is… this came out long enough ago that it still could be, because… have any of you been reading, the new Rosenberg book?
8:47
Dillon Gilbertson: Oh,
8:49
Tad Eggleston: Destruction be our lot?
8:50
Dillon Gilbertson: Yes, and it is also great. I could see where you could…
8:54
Dillon Gilbertson: pick up the similarities, I can see the results.
8:56
Tad Eggleston: Yeah. Well, at least, like, just the robot in regular clothes made me think of the Lincoln robot.
9:03
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, yep, yep.
9:05
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, this has got… it's really, Wild Robot coded, as well.
9:10
Tad Eggleston: Right.
9:11
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, for sure.
9:11
Dillon Gilbertson: this robot who… his job is like a scavenger of some kind, like, he's just roaming around looking for stuff.
9:19
Matt: Wally.
9:20
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't know what his job is, but, like, and again, it's been a little bit since I've read this, but… but what I kind of gathered from it is, like, you ever have, like, I know that, like, this is a…
9:32
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't want to say a trope, but a regular theme that, like, we have for humans, where it's, like, the return to nature.
9:39
Dillon Gilbertson: Sure, yeah.
9:40
Peter Eggleston Connor: Like, oh, I've been, like…
9:42
Peter Eggleston Connor: You know, bound up in societal whatever, which has all this, like, you know, business attire, and,
9:54
Peter Eggleston Connor: What have you. And, like, you know, like, they'll go out, and they'll just, like, shed their… their, like.
10:04
Peter Eggleston Connor: clothes and stuff like that. I was trying to think of a different name. Shed… just sort of shed society, even?
10:11
Tad Eggleston: No.
10:12
Peter Eggleston Connor: embrace, like, this whole natural… natural thing. And that's… that's what this, like…
10:18
Peter Eggleston Connor: reminded me of, was like, here's this robot that's doing this very human thing, like…
10:25
Peter Eggleston Connor: Sometime way in the future, after, like, humans have developed robots, and still, like, what seems like the most closest thing to paradise is just…
10:36
Peter Eggleston Connor: white.
10:37
Peter Eggleston Connor: Being in nature, and, like, disregarding, like, all the…
10:42
Peter Eggleston Connor: You know, man shit that we built.
10:45
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, it makes me think… I'm gonna… I'm gonna wax pseudo-intellectual for a minute, but, like, you would… you could easily imagine, like, a businessman in a post-apocalyptic future doing this, like, that just makes normal sense, but then seeing a robot do the same thing, it sort of…
11:07
Dillon Gilbertson: begs the question, I guess, like, does that mean that, like, there's just something inherent in nature that makes this a universal good? Like, whether or not you come from it or not, like, the presence of this wild, beautiful nature is something that is appealing to everything, not just humans or living organisms, even.
11:27
Dillon Gilbertson: And that, I thought, was very cool.
11:29
Tad Eggleston: Well…
11:30
Peter Eggleston Connor: are well,
11:31
Tad Eggleston: I think also… that… And he's talking about, like, the.
11:42
Tad Eggleston: And… and… how… They built the robots to replace them.
11:51
Tad Eggleston: Not entirely realizing that that's what they were doing.
11:57
Tad Eggleston: I mean, I love this segment here, you know. His vision narrowed, and so did his humanity. Little by little, he lost his soul. By creating us, our masters made a definitive choice to no longer listen to the world.
12:13
Tad Eggleston: what was forced, or feared, eventually came to pass. It was irreversible.
12:18
Tad Eggleston: We replaced them.
12:20
Tad Eggleston: Our creators definitively lost their humanity.
12:26
Tad Eggleston: And then it says, I am 27.
12:29
Tad Eggleston: Or 2.7.
12:33
Tad Eggleston: The neo-hunter-gatherer.
12:35
Dillon Gilbertson: I'm curious if there's some… There's some reference to 27, or 2.7, or 2.7, or… Or what have you.
12:46
Tad Eggleston: But, like, I feel like it's, it's, like…
12:52
Tad Eggleston: It's kind of a, we keep creating…
12:58
Tad Eggleston: Technology to do things for us.
13:02
Tad Eggleston: And eventually it will do everything for us, and then what are we for?
13:08
Tad Eggleston: But then, when it reaches that point, does it… does it also have to…
13:13
Tad Eggleston: To enjoy nature for us, to…
13:19
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
13:20
Matt: Yep.
13:21
Tad Eggleston: And I do love this panel. I love the coloring, period.
13:25
Tad Eggleston: In this, the browns and the greens are fantastic.
13:28
Matt: And the watercolor style, yes.
13:30
Tad Eggleston: Right. But I love this last panel.
13:33
Tad Eggleston: The, the, the, the robot with, with the leaves.
13:36
Tad Eggleston: Around him.
13:39
Peter Eggleston Connor: Wow.
13:40
Tad Eggleston: As the hunter-gatherer.
13:47
Tad Eggleston: It can't be Heavy Metal without some kick-ass Mobius.
13:51
Matt: Yep.
13:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: I… I definitely remember this one.
13:56
Peter Eggleston Connor: It's not our first time, yeah.
13:59
Peter Eggleston Connor: reading it.
14:01
Tad Eggleston: This is one of my favorite panels that's just barely above the floor.
14:06
Tad Eggleston: Falling.
14:09
Peter Eggleston Connor: Then through it.
14:10
Tad Eggleston: Yep.
14:15
Peter Eggleston Connor: There's this moment on that last page where he's just, like, flipped over and he pulled something out of his jacket to look at it.
14:25
Tad Eggleston: Also, like, the… the dude in the… the room.
14:29
Tad Eggleston: That he just passes.
14:32
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, sounds like… I asked quite a few dudes, it seems like.
14:35
Tad Eggleston: bet.
14:42
Tad Eggleston: But also the twist at the end, where he eventually falls, and…
14:46
Tad Eggleston: There's a mushroom cloud on the.
14:48
Matt: Northwest.
14:51
Tad Eggleston: Slash page is cool.
14:54
Tad Eggleston: And so Mobius.
14:56
Peter Eggleston Connor: Feel bad for that, native-looking person.
15:01
Tad Eggleston: Like a shaman.
15:05
Tad Eggleston: He actually drew the circle where he would land.
15:08
Peter Eggleston Connor: Pretty much.
15:12
Dillon Gilbertson: And chose to stay there anyway.
15:15
Dillon Gilbertson: For what reasons? Who knows?
15:30
Peter Eggleston Connor: I actually think this one was one of the ones that I was so curious about when I was re-looking at the first half of the book, this next one, the Lucas Lauricio.
15:39
Peter Eggleston Connor: I reread most of it.
15:42
Peter Eggleston Connor: To figure out what was going on.
15:46
Matt: Yeah, I actually really dug this story.
15:49
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, this is…
15:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: You get about, like, 3 quarters through the story.
15:57
Matt: I liked it because I feel the same way about the 1%, but the problem is they didn't stop at the 1%, because then they realized that the next 10% was bad too, and the next 10% was bad too, and they just killed everybody.
16:11
Tad Eggleston: It reminds me, there was actually a politician this week who thought it was a good idea to say that government didn't do enough
16:20
Tad Eggleston: For the top 1%.
16:22
Matt: Oh, yeah.
16:23
Dillon Gilbertson: What a claim.
16:24
Dillon Gilbertson: What a bold claim.
16:30
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh… God.
16:32
Matt: And who said that?
16:34
Tad Eggleston: some representative.
16:37
Tad Eggleston: You don't even need to guess which party.
16:41
Matt: Oh, yeah, I know what party.
16:43
Dillon Gilbertson: I mean, we don't need to give a platform, too.
16:45
Matt: Yeah, fair enough.
16:48
Tad Eggleston: I don't remember his name. I'm some representative.
17:04
Tad Eggleston: I mean, the best political news of the week is the Cards Against Humanity and the…
17:08
Tad Eggleston: Elon Musk is a sad little bitch with no friends monument.
17:12
Dillon Gilbertson: Good one.
17:13
Matt: Yup.
17:15
Matt: I did see that.
17:21
Peter Eggleston Connor: But,
17:22
Tad Eggleston: This is such a cool page.
17:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: It is.
17:29
Peter Eggleston Connor: There are a lot of images in this comic which…
17:33
Peter Eggleston Connor: Especially right before the next page, are just sort of, like.
17:40
Peter Eggleston Connor: They're interesting.
17:44
Peter Eggleston Connor: I think this would be a very hard comic to determine what was going on without the words, though.
17:49
Dillon Gilbertson: E.
17:50
Tad Eggleston: countless.
17:52
Dillon Gilbertson: I love this dude's face, though, at the bottom here.
17:55
Peter Eggleston Connor: It would be very entertaining. It would be very hard to… Oh, yeah.
18:00
Dillon Gilbertson: The bottom… the bottom middle right panel. Whoa! I can hear him, like, doing a Hank Hill… Whoa!
18:11
Peter Eggleston Connor: What's happening to me? Why is blood coming out of my eyes?
18:25
Dillon Gilbertson: That was a cool write-up, too, in the next page.
18:30
Peter Eggleston Connor: Well, the forging of the metal, but… but you missed the dog-faced man at the.
18:34
Tad Eggleston: I do like the dog face, man.
18:36
Dillon Gilbertson: The dog-faced boy.
18:40
Peter Eggleston Connor: I do kind of wish his hand was also dog-like, but I'm not really sure.
18:45
Matt: Raw-ish.
18:45
Dillon Gilbertson: He can't, he can't hold his staff.
18:49
Dillon Gilbertson: If he's got dog paws.
18:51
Tad Eggleston: I mean… This is a… a reasonable point.
19:01
Peter Eggleston Connor: Well, he can't hold the strap with his hand if he's got dog bog.
19:04
Tad Eggleston: Which doesn't mean that it wouldn't still be cool if they had managed to to make opposable thumb…
19:11
Dillon Gilbertson: No.
19:12
Dillon Gilbertson: It would actually be way cooler if he was with, like, 4 or 5 other dogs, and they were all playing poker.
19:18
Tad Eggleston: Well, yeah.
19:20
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, that is a great answer.
19:22
Matt: smoking cigars.
19:23
Dillon Gilbertson: here.
19:25
Tad Eggleston: Richie!
19:26
Dillon Gilbertson: This was a great comic, too, I loved it.
19:28
Tad Eggleston: Richard Guerinos, the future tomorrow.
19:31
Dillon Gilbertson: I love everything.
19:32
Tad Eggleston: Very fun.
19:33
Dillon Gilbertson: They're all, like, like, no, they're not propaganda, they're, like, what, what's it, like,
19:38
Peter Eggleston Connor: Over time.
19:38
Dillon Gilbertson: Like, tourist brochures of…
19:41
Matt: different.
19:41
Tad Eggleston: Or novels.
19:42
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, or novels, yeah, people… different people's versions of their imagined fictional utopias that people have written about through the ages.
19:50
Tad Eggleston: Right.
19:51
Dillon Gilbertson: And then you get this robot dude who's, like, telling it to his little lizard… lizard pal.
19:55
Tad Eggleston: Right.
19:57
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, it didn't work out.
20:00
Peter Eggleston Connor: Mmm…
20:02
Matt: I'm not so much.
20:04
Tad Eggleston: But it didn't work out.
20:07
Peter Eggleston Connor: Now they're all dead, and nature has come back once again.
20:13
Tad Eggleston: I do like how one of the recurring themes is that nature comes back.
20:18
Matt: Yup.
20:20
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh, for sure.
20:24
Tad Eggleston: that, like… Once the idiot humans are out of the way, the plant…
20:31
Tad Eggleston: The plants managed to work their way through again.
20:37
Tad Eggleston: Then we just have plants and robots.
20:40
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, Senator.
20:41
Matt: dogs.
20:42
Tad Eggleston: My dogs.
20:44
Dillon Gilbertson: That's a different imagined future, Matt.
20:49
Dillon Gilbertson: The misbegotten.
20:51
Tad Eggleston: Paul Gillen? Misbegotten?
20:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: This was hilarious.
20:55
Matt: Yeah, I didn't… I… this one didn't make sense to me until the end, and I was like, oh, okay, that's really funny.
21:04
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, it's a utopia. All these different, like, thousands of races, right?
21:10
Peter Eggleston Connor: Hey, we're gonna come together and band together, and any… any of us can, like, try to, like.
21:17
Matt: procreate…
21:17
Peter Eggleston Connor: Reproduce with each other, and we don't have to be, like, the same.
21:23
Peter Eggleston Connor: you know, species, and…
21:26
Tad Eggleston: And what we somehow made was these ugly humans.
21:30
Peter Eggleston Connor: The one they were made was these terrible, disgusting creatures that just so happened to be human.
21:37
Dillon Gilbertson: Makes me sick, honestly.
21:42
Dillon Gilbertson: Disgusting.
21:44
Peter Eggleston Connor: so to speak.
21:44
Matt: They should… they should put them in a spaceship and just send them to a faraway planet.
21:48
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah.
21:49
Dillon Gilbertson: This one, feels like it demanded more reflection. Red sky.
21:54
Tad Eggleston: Tora… Tora Touretta…
21:57
Tad Eggleston: Red sky…
21:58
Dillon Gilbertson: I…
22:00
Dillon Gilbertson: I dug this. I think if I sat with this for a longer period of time and thought about it, it would be one of my favorites, but I haven't yet done that.
22:08
Matt: I predicted that it was gonna be an alien flipping through the human thing.
22:15
Matt: I was like, this, this, I can see where this is going.
22:20
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, but it's still… I mean…
22:23
Tad Eggleston: even… even knowing where it was going, I… I like…
22:28
Tad Eggleston: I mean, and it's not really hidden.
22:31
Matt: Oh, I liked it! I didn't say anything.
22:32
Tad Eggleston: got a green hand. But I like the way the clockwork is juxtaposed, I like…
22:43
Tad Eggleston: I like the art style, I love the panel layouts.
22:46
Matt: Yup.
22:47
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, man.
22:47
Matt: This is really well done.
22:49
Peter Eggleston Connor: It almost feels like some sort of papier-mache sort of thing. I'm not sure that's quite what I'm looking for, but kind of.
22:57
Peter Eggleston Connor: Like…
22:58
Matt: It's like a kid's art project for school. Right. The shoebox diorama thing. Right. That's what it made me think of.
23:08
Dillon Gilbertson: When he goes out, after he's done with his little mechanical clockwork situation.
23:14
Dillon Gilbertson: Because in the Clockwork situation, it makes it seem like the aliens came and eradicated humans, is sort of what it seems like, but when he comes out, like, there's still, like, there's a person, there are still humans around.
23:24
Tad Eggleston: No, I mean…
23:25
Dillon Gilbertson: Living among them?
23:26
Tad Eggleston: Gotta have some worker bees.
23:28
Dillon Gilbertson: That's right. I mean, I guess…
23:30
Tad Eggleston: Taking over the planet doesn't mean you have to kill ALL the humans.
23:35
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, good. Seems like they're just me.
23:36
Tad Eggleston: Just enough to make it clear who's in charge.
23:40
Dillon Gilbertson: Great.
23:44
Tad Eggleston: I mean…
23:47
Peter Eggleston Connor: No, I… actually, as I was, like, looking through that, I didn't even think that they were taking over the planet. I think I thought it was, like.
23:54
Peter Eggleston Connor: fear, right? Like, this was made out of, like, this… this wasn't necessarily made recently, it was made, like, when the aliens first came, and it was made because, like.
24:05
Peter Eggleston Connor: Humans have a natural tendency towards fear.
24:09
Tad Eggleston: Oh, man.
24:10
Dillon Gilbertson: They don't… You don't think the alien made this?
24:13
Peter Eggleston Connor: What?
24:14
Dillon Gilbertson: You think the humans made this diorama?
24:16
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah.
24:17
Dillon Gilbertson: I thought that… I thought… I thought it was that.
24:19
Tad Eggleston: I thought the alien made it.
24:21
Matt: You're.
24:22
Peter Eggleston Connor: But I don't know.
24:23
Tad Eggleston: But it could be the alien representation of War of the Worlds.
24:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: I just am telling you what, like, I saw from, like, what I see here. Like, I don't know if humans made it or aliens made it. It seems like the type of thing that either could have made.
24:38
Peter Eggleston Connor: But…
24:41
Peter Eggleston Connor: the definite feel that, like, kind of even, like, going through it again that I got was, oh, hey, like, you know, aliens came, and there was this huge fear, and now it's, like, everyday thing for aliens and humans sort of.
24:57
Tad Eggleston: Right.
25:01
Dillon Gilbertson: You don't know that.
25:04
Tad Eggleston: Futurette from Olivier Vateen.
25:10
Matt: I really like the art in this.
25:12
Tad Eggleston: The art was cool, I liked it.
25:14
Peter Eggleston Connor: It's the…
25:14
Tad Eggleston: the off-white page?
25:18
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yep.
25:21
Peter Eggleston Connor: Like, the…
25:22
Tad Eggleston: The twist when it turns out that, like, these people that you're seeing and thinking might be…
25:31
Tad Eggleston: Good guys, or whatever are going out to… Squash the revolution?
25:40
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yup.
25:43
Matt: Yeah, I dug this one. This one was pretty good.
25:47
Tad Eggleston: Then the double twist, when it turns out that, like, They're, they're…
25:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: We'll try it.
25:54
Tad Eggleston: That, that, that, that, that they're also, like…
26:00
Dillon Gilbertson: Little Men in Blacks. Little Men in Blacks.
26:02
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
26:02
Dillon Gilbertson: their heads.
26:03
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:05
Tad Eggleston: That, that the whole… They're actually being subjugated by the universe, not… not welcomed into it.
26:22
Tad Eggleston: That was definitely…
26:24
Dillon Gilbertson: Hmm.
26:25
Tad Eggleston: Definitely some coolness. Yep. And I do like the end, where you've got the…
26:32
Tad Eggleston: The… the resistance kind of crawling back out.
26:38
Tad Eggleston: You know, it's not quite over yet.
26:45
Peter Eggleston Connor: I think there's also something to be said about, like.
26:50
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, kind of human nature with it, where it's like…
26:54
Peter Eggleston Connor: The aliens that are subjugating the human race are… are kind of doing it through sexuality.
27:03
Peter Eggleston Connor: Not that we have to go deep into that, but… I will just… It's an interesting statement of…
27:14
Peter Eggleston Connor: Bangs.
27:18
Tad Eggleston: Yep.
27:20
Tad Eggleston: A Different Future from Sylvain Rundberg and Ingo Romling.
27:28
Tad Eggleston: This was… Both awesome and… I'm sitting there going, is it really a different future?
27:38
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah.
27:40
Dillon Gilbertson: It was a… it was a cool twist.
27:42
Tad Eggleston: Armed resistance are the anti-vaxxers?
27:47
Dillon Gilbertson: Yes.
27:50
Dillon Gilbertson: I thought it was a cool twist, because, like, in every other Hackneyed story about resistance fighters in a dystopian future, like, the resistance fighters are objectively
28:02
Dillon Gilbertson: Right?
28:03
Tad Eggleston: Right.
28:05
Peter Eggleston Connor: No.
28:06
Dillon Gilbertson: And in this case, it turns out that they are… Anti-vaxxers?
28:13
Dillon Gilbertson: And that this woman was, you know, betraying…
28:18
Dillon Gilbertson: Those people to save her baby and her unborn child from preventative.
28:22
Tad Eggleston: Right.
28:24
Peter Eggleston Connor: No, I think, like, what… and what's kind of interesting about this is what…
28:31
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't know how to take this one way or another, but, like, what they're very good about doing is, like.
28:36
Peter Eggleston Connor: the resistance in this is actually, like, anti-vaxxers, and I completely agree, like, that's the wrong side to be on, but…
28:46
Peter Eggleston Connor: Also, the people chasing down the resistance is this big, scary force of, like, you know… Yeah.
28:52
Tad Eggleston: Right?
28:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: quiet.
28:53
Matt: What?
28:55
Dillon Gilbertson: It does a good job of making it as gray of an area as it could be.
28:59
Tad Eggleston: Right?
28:59
Peter Eggleston Connor: Fighting.
29:01
Dillon Gilbertson: Where I'm… I'm sure the people… I'm sure that actual anti-vaxxers feel this way. Yeah.
29:09
Peter Eggleston Connor: Probably.
29:10
Dillon Gilbertson: which… which… For that?
29:13
Tad Eggleston: I mean, black choppers.
29:14
Dillon Gilbertson: Like, the art does a great… does a great job of…
29:18
Dillon Gilbertson: Of presenting that point of view.
29:21
Matt: And now I want to know if the artist or writer Is an anti-vaxxer.
29:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, like, that's a good question, because you don't really know by…
29:37
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, it's… it's well… it's well made in that regard, I think.
29:40
Matt: Yes.
29:45
Tad Eggleston: I still find a little irony in the title. A different future.
29:49
Tad Eggleston: Doesn't actually feel that different.
29:51
Dillon Gilbertson: Let's go.
29:53
Dillon Gilbertson: less so different future. Smoother world was.
29:55
Peter Eggleston Connor: That's why they named it, huh?
29:59
Tad Eggleston: From… from… Corby run… And Rurik Saleh with art from Nicholas Begay.
30:07
Matt: Oh yeah, I really enjoyed this one, too. This was great.
30:09
Dillon Gilbertson: This one was…
30:11
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, yeah.
30:14
Tad Eggleston: I'm so proud that he had his penis removed.
30:17
Matt: Yep.
30:18
Matt: Because it's for a better community.
30:21
Dillon Gilbertson: It's such an intriguing point of view, that, like, you live… you live in what's perceived as a utopia because nobody can…
30:30
Dillon Gilbertson: express anything.
30:33
Dillon Gilbertson: Or say anything, do anything.
30:35
Tad Eggleston: password is go fuck yourself to get into the orgy. He's like, wait a minute! What's my surgeon doing up there?
30:42
Dillon Gilbertson: I wanna know if it was his intent all along to go in here and narc on the party, or if he only had that in mind once he saw his doctor there.
30:53
Matt: I kind of got the impression that he only did that when he saw his doctor, and he realized it was all a scam.
30:58
Dillon Gilbertson: Because it seems like all the way up until that point, like, he was like, yes, this is good, this is the way. It also seemed almost weird to me that he wanted his penis back to begin with, because you…
31:08
Tad Eggleston: Right.
31:09
Dillon Gilbertson: badge of pride that he didn't have one in his…
31:12
Tad Eggleston: And now he's got a big, huge silver one to put on his mantle above his TV.
31:17
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, where it belongs.
31:21
Matt: I want one.
31:22
Dillon Gilbertson: when I was, when I was…
31:25
Dillon Gilbertson: 6 years old, Toy Story came out, And,
31:29
Tad Eggleston: Okay, that's a really weird place.
31:31
Dillon Gilbertson: That was my… yeah, I was, I was worried.
31:34
Tad Eggleston: From a big silver pen.
31:35
Dillon Gilbertson: I was hoping it would catch people off guard, but then when it came out on VHS,
31:40
Dillon Gilbertson: I begged my parents to buy it, and I immediately mounted it on top of our TV, so that when my friend came over, he would see it and be impressed.
31:50
Tad Eggleston: So, as a problem.
31:50
Dillon Gilbertson: Kind of the same thing.
31:52
Dillon Gilbertson: You just want to impress.
31:53
Tad Eggleston: Well, also, all their TV shows is a blank white screen, so, I mean, it's…
31:58
Dillon Gilbertson: What else you got?
31:58
Tad Eggleston: The most interesting thing in the room.
32:00
Dillon Gilbertson: Right.
32:01
Dillon Gilbertson: Right.
32:03
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
32:05
Tad Eggleston: And then Chantal Montier!
32:09
Tad Eggleston: I love that we're finally getting to see more Chantel Montier, rather than the badly translated 1996 that we started with, because every… everything else that I've seen, and now I need to go read a good translation in 1996 still.
32:26
Tad Eggleston: Because everything else I've seen is just brilliant.
32:31
Tad Eggleston: Brilliant.
32:32
Tad Eggleston: Like, this slavery is freedom.
32:36
Tad Eggleston: Starting with, like, Article 1, Sovereignty Belongs to Thor Gibber.
32:49
Tad Eggleston: All human beings are born and remain slaves and inequal in rights. All forms of segregation and discrimination must be strongly encouraged and rewarded.
33:07
Tad Eggleston: This was just… this was so good.
33:11
Matt: Yeah, it hits a little close to home.
33:12
Tad Eggleston: It hits REALLY close to home.
33:18
Peter Eggleston Connor: of.
33:18
Tad Eggleston: It's… really.
33:24
Tad Eggleston: Close to home, particularly the, the… the…
33:32
Tad Eggleston: He was gonna pee on my car.
33:37
Matt: Yup.
33:41
Tad Eggleston: Had to shoot him. He was gonna pee on my car. Who's gonna… my car could rust!
34:03
Tad Eggleston: I also think it's interesting that the only color used is yellow.
34:07
Matt: Yellow, yup.
34:14
Tad Eggleston: In implying the absolute cowardice of… this sort of…
34:26
Matt: Fascist control?
34:27
Tad Eggleston: Right.
34:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: you know.
34:29
Matt: Yeah.
34:30
Dillon Gilbertson: Definitely.
34:46
Tad Eggleston: H-O-P.
34:48
Tad Eggleston: by UGU, the end window.
34:52
Peter Eggleston Connor: Know what HMP stands for?
34:55
Tad Eggleston: I am not certain.
34:59
Peter Eggleston Connor: So, full disclosure, this is the mechanic I was talking about.
35:04
Peter Eggleston Connor: This is the one that, even after 2 months.
35:09
Peter Eggleston Connor: I remembered and thought was hilarious.
35:12
Peter Eggleston Connor: Because essentially, this guy, who is apparently a rich billionaire, is having a shitty, shitty end of life.
35:20
Peter Eggleston Connor: Even though he has this, like, hot wife, and is being doted on by a robot, and all that shit.
35:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: And it seems like they're gonna have a pretty good life together. I mean, the robot and his hot wife, not him, he… he's…
35:34
Tad Eggleston: Hoo, hoo.
35:40
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, I wish… I wish I knew what the HOP… I'm trying to figure out what it might be.
35:48
Dillon Gilbertson: home owners… patrol… I have no idea.
35:56
Peter Eggleston Connor: I have no idea.
36:00
Tad Eggleston: Trying to make certain that I didn't miss it somewhere.
36:03
Dillon Gilbertson: The look of that man's face disturbs me.
36:06
Matt: Yes, me too.
36:08
Dillon Gilbertson: I hate looking at it.
36:12
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, I hate looking at it, but it's kind of fun to hate it.
36:15
Dillon Gilbertson: Also, he's wearing… he's wearing… Clear plastic gloves?
36:21
Tad Eggleston: Come on, man.
36:22
Matt: God.
36:23
Matt: a rubber suit on, I don't know, it might just be the gloves.
36:26
Dillon Gilbertson: I don't understand anything.
36:27
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, to me, this guy has, like, pretty much, like, done everything to, like.
36:33
Peter Eggleston Connor: You know, define nature, and, like, it's, you know…
36:43
Peter Eggleston Connor: Living a terrible life with it.
36:47
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't know. I think it's… it's kind of amusing that he's… Disgusting-looking piece of shit.
37:00
Peter Eggleston Connor: Bye.
37:02
Dillon Gilbertson: gone wrong.
37:05
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, he kind of reminds me… even the way it looks kind of reminds me of, so…
37:12
Matt: Jesus?
37:13
Peter Eggleston Connor: I wasn't gonna name it, but…
37:17
Matt: I'll say it, I don't care.
37:21
Matt: What's he gonna do, not deliver my shit in 2 days?
37:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: Shit in two days.
37:29
Tad Eggleston: God was already there. Piercolo? Oh, Lacoli.
37:35
Tad Eggleston: Art by Paul LeCali.
37:41
Tad Eggleston: This was, like, the… the creation of a religion.
37:44
Matt: Yeah.
37:45
Peter Eggleston Connor: Nope.
37:47
Matt: But, like, on a new planet, and this guy gets to zap out.
37:51
Tad Eggleston: Right.
37:52
Matt: Cause his time is done.
37:54
Matt: It was… it was pretty interesting. I did dig this.
37:57
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, my question… he zaps out, because he's done here, right? But when he zaps into the new spot.
38:06
Peter Eggleston Connor: Is it just me, or he's… is he right in front of a car?
38:09
Dillon Gilbertson: No, he's… Yeah, that's true.
38:13
Dillon Gilbertson: GFOs is.
38:14
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, like, there's even.
38:16
Matt: Yeah, but I don't think it's terrible.
38:17
Peter Eggleston Connor: Rosh…
38:19
Dillon Gilbertson: Splash.
38:19
Peter Eggleston Connor: right here.
38:22
Peter Eggleston Connor: I'm guessing that's supposed to be the person jumping in the water that he's talking to.
38:25
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
38:26
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
38:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: At the same time.
38:31
Dillon Gilbertson: He did.
38:36
Tad Eggleston: Man…
38:41
Peter Eggleston Connor: I am kind of curious whether he lived teleporting to some other place.
38:55
Tad Eggleston: And then we got some Showbo and Schaff. I like Showbo and Schaff.
38:59
Dillon Gilbertson: Hot ground!
39:00
Tad Eggleston: Thanks.
39:01
Dillon Gilbertson: I didn't understand this comic, but I liked it.
39:04
Tad Eggleston: Alright.
39:04
Peter Eggleston Connor: Definitely enjoyed all of its imagery.
39:07
Dillon Gilbertson: Yes.
39:09
Peter Eggleston Connor: but… So, I don't know. Don't knock on the…
39:17
Dillon Gilbertson: This, it gave me, I don't know if anyone else is gonna relate to this, but it gave me Return to Oz vibes when they go to the Emerald King's mountain.
39:30
Tad Eggleston: There's definitely elements of that, I think.
39:35
Matt: Any more of the whiz vibes.
39:38
Matt: Okay.
39:38
Dillon Gilbertson: as well.
39:40
Matt: I'm joking.
39:41
Tad Eggleston: There's also some…
39:42
Dillon Gilbertson: Oh, I can totally see the whiz.
39:52
Tad Eggleston: I mean, just from knowing the creators, they do… they do some pretty serious Afrofuturism, so I wonder if it's, like…
40:00
Tad Eggleston: commentary on…
40:06
Tad Eggleston: Like, the gold being a plundering of the land.
40:11
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, and he, like, he's iron, and she's gold.
40:15
Matt: rubber and your glue.
40:17
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, you get it.
40:19
Tad Eggleston: The art's just gorgeous, though.
40:21
Matt: It is.
40:23
Dillon Gilbertson: Terrific art.
40:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: It is quite beautiful, I…
40:30
Dillon Gilbertson: So, angular. Too many angles.
40:34
Dillon Gilbertson: Flat edges.
40:38
Peter Eggleston Connor: Also, just wearing a shirt.
40:42
Dillon Gilbertson: Yep.
40:43
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah. No pants, just a shirt.
40:46
Tad Eggleston: Well, I mean, to be fair, she's wearing a dress and no shirt, so, I mean, between the two of them…
40:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: You made a skirt.
40:54
Tad Eggleston: have…
40:54
Peter Eggleston Connor: or…
40:55
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, they have… they have one…
40:57
Dillon Gilbertson: One hole out, or they could complete each chapter.
41:01
Dillon Gilbertson: That's the moral of the story, is that they're… they belong together.
41:04
Peter Eggleston Connor: They belong together.
41:08
Tad Eggleston: Alright, and then we have the classic Polonius.
41:13
Tad Eggleston: that this is… this is crisper than the one that we read in Heavy Metal.
41:17
Dillon Gilbertson: But we did… we did Reddit.
41:20
Tad Eggleston: We have read it before.
41:21
Peter Eggleston Connor: It is a lot crisper.
41:24
Tad Eggleston: And I think we read it… was it all in one issue of Heavy Metal, or was it over a few months?
41:31
Matt: I think it was split up, I do not recall it being all together.
41:33
Dillon Gilbertson: True.
41:34
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
41:35
Matt: Well, I couldn't…
41:36
Tad Eggleston: I remember that there was one story at some point where they split it up into, like, 3 places in the magazine.
41:42
Matt: Yup, they did that.
41:43
Tad Eggleston: And I couldn't remember if that was this one.
41:45
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't think that was Polonius, I think that was.
41:47
Tad Eggleston: I don't think it was either.
41:48
Matt: Did this elicit the same strong emotions for you guys as it did for me, again, reading it again?
41:54
Peter Eggleston Connor: same strong emotions. I think I might have had stronger emotions reading it all together than I did
42:00
Peter Eggleston Connor: reading it.
42:01
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, I mean, that's the other thing I like about them doing reprints, is…
42:06
Tad Eggleston: On one side, I'm a little bit sad that we don't have… As many continuing stories.
42:14
Tad Eggleston: As, as we have in, in heavy metal.
42:18
Tad Eggleston: Because I kind of… I kind of like this cereal from… from month to month. Yeah. But on the other side, I… I do appreciate getting to have some of these stories all together.
42:29
Tad Eggleston: Even in anthology books, so… Yeah.
42:39
Tad Eggleston: But yeah, no, this is such a…
42:42
Tad Eggleston: And I feel like he, he did… he did his… his woman wrong.
42:46
Matt: Oh, he totally did.
42:48
Tad Eggleston: Because… because, like, they totally did his woman wrong, but then when he comes back, he acts like it was her fault.
42:56
Matt: Her fault, exactly.
42:57
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah.
43:00
Matt: I don't know, just… Page 137 bothers me.
43:05
Tad Eggleston: Bench?
43:09
Matt: Yes.
43:10
Peter Eggleston Connor: 37.
43:11
Tad Eggleston: 137?
43:13
Matt: Yeah.
43:14
Matt: Where they go to the Emperor for money?
43:18
Tad Eggleston: Oh, yeah.
43:24
Peter Eggleston Connor: Not… not before 1.37, but 1.37.
43:28
Matt: I believe it's 137.
43:30
Peter Eggleston Connor: This one right here.
43:32
Matt: The one where the Emperor's on his thorn, he's got the twink on his… on his knee.
43:35
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh.
43:36
Tad Eggleston: 135.
43:37
Matt: Oh, it's 135? Okay, it says 130…
43:40
Matt: 6 on my screen, so I assume the next.
43:42
Tad Eggleston: Well, no, that counts the covers.
43:46
Matt: Oh, no.
43:47
Tad Eggleston: It's 137th page of the digital edition, but if you look down in the corner, it says 135.
43:54
Matt: Gotcha. Yeah, yeah, I didn't do that. Okay.
43:57
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, I remember you having that issue the first time, too, and it is a legit issue, it's pretty fucked up.
44:02
Matt: Yeah, I feel like that's, like, illegal.
44:05
Tad Eggleston: Well, I mean, not necessarily in ancient Rome.
44:09
Matt: No, I'm just talking about the visual depiction of it.
44:13
Tad Eggleston: Right.
44:14
Peter Eggleston Connor: So…
44:18
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh yeah, there was that question of, like, how old is that?
44:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: Is it a boy or is it a man? Really, it's the question.
44:30
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, I mean…
44:31
Matt: I'm not gonna call the feds or anything, but I'm like.
44:34
Tad Eggleston: Well, and, like, there's a lot more gray area when it's art than when it's photography.
44:40
Matt: Oh, no, I understand.
44:44
Dillon Gilbertson: I'm calling the police.
44:46
Matt: Oh my god.
44:49
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, we can no longer have this podcast because, I'm gonna shut up now.
44:56
Tad Eggleston: But yeah, no, I, I…
44:58
Tad Eggleston: I loved that, that, like, there's the implication that, like, we go back to ancient Roman times as… as…
45:06
Tad Eggleston: Oath.
45:09
Tad Eggleston: decays.
45:11
Tad Eggleston: I mean, I kind of like the circularness of it, but it's also a shame… That even our hero…
45:19
Tad Eggleston: Has lost his way so much.
45:22
Matt: Nope.
45:23
Peter Eggleston Connor: That… it goes and becomes a processor,
45:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: Play thing, at the very least. Sure.
45:30
Tad Eggleston: Right.
45:31
Peter Eggleston Connor: To, get his vengeance.
45:35
Dillon Gilbertson: So much vengeance.
45:38
Tad Eggleston: I do have to say that this,
45:40
Dillon Gilbertson: Little goblin pen.
45:42
Tad Eggleston: The little goblin… Showing off his… his… or holding up Polonius's…
45:50
Tad Eggleston: penis, as he's so dejected going to the orgy, is a pretty hilarious picture. It's like a darkly hilarious picture.
46:00
Matt: Well, if you notice.
46:01
Peter Eggleston Connor: trust me.
46:02
Matt: His is so much larger than Poloni's.
46:04
Tad Eggleston: Right, that too.
46:07
Matt: Kind of like, kind of like how I made gooses in that picture I drew.
46:16
Tad Eggleston: And I do love how they make the… the… the… his, his,
46:25
Peter Eggleston Connor: Fab.
46:27
Peter Eggleston Connor: benefactor.
46:27
Tad Eggleston: Madam, just, yeah, benefactor, just absolutely hideous.
46:32
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh, for sure.
46:37
Matt: At least she has the courtesy to turn around for him.
46:40
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
46:41
Peter Eggleston Connor: And…
46:42
Peter Eggleston Connor: I think he was drugged too, which…
46:44
Matt: Yes, he was.
46:45
Peter Eggleston Connor: Fucks, but probably made that easier.
46:51
Matt: For his own good.
46:52
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah…
46:56
Tad Eggleston: I mean, I don't want to think about the venereal diseases in that room.
47:00
Matt: Yeah.
47:01
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, to be pretty honest, I think we recognized it was a pretty graphic comic the first time we read it, and now you need all the graphicness, all together.
47:10
Dillon Gilbertson: leather…
47:11
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
47:13
Tad Eggleston: Alright, did any of you read…
47:16
Tad Eggleston: the From Outer Space to Inner Peace.
47:19
Tad Eggleston: Documented.
47:20
Peter Eggleston Connor: odd.
47:21
Tad Eggleston: I read about half of it.
47:23
Tad Eggleston: And I… and I probably will finish it at some point.
47:27
Tad Eggleston: I think the part that I'm gonna pull out specifically that I thought was interesting, because essentially it's… it's a documentarian and author that studies
47:39
Tad Eggleston: Cults or… or deliberate… what's the other word they used for it? Intentional communities.
47:52
Tad Eggleston: But… but one of the things that she said was… that…
48:07
Tad Eggleston: like…
48:08
Tad Eggleston: Okay, only 1 in 10 intentional communities is successful without something going wrong, or without them just falling apart because they don't have
48:18
Tad Eggleston: The resources, or whatever that they need.
48:24
Tad Eggleston: But, like… If it's a new business, that's about right.
48:32
Tad Eggleston: you know, I found that an interesting comparison.
48:36
Tad Eggleston: That… that, like, there's a lot of similar…
48:42
Tad Eggleston: Type things that we don't wind up Villainizing the same way.
48:48
Tad Eggleston: For their failures.
48:51
Tad Eggleston: You know? And also, like, one of the problems with a new business or a startup or whatnot is that, like.
48:58
Tad Eggleston: As you're going, it's, it's, it's, you know…
49:02
Tad Eggleston: You wind up often with… with… Bye.
49:10
Tad Eggleston: Overly tyrannical founder bosses types?
49:15
Peter Eggleston Connor: Sounds about right.
49:16
Matt: Yep, I can see it. You know, I didn't think about it that way, Tad. That's a very interesting take.
49:21
Tad Eggleston: Right, well, and that's… that's where… where I, you know, I'll have to read more, and I actually kind of want to go watch your documentaries now, too.
49:30
Tad Eggleston: Because, like, she brought up that there have been a couple that have, like, outlived their founders.
49:37
Matt: Like, the Scientologists?
49:39
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, I don't… I don't… I don't think she actually brought them up.
49:44
Tad Eggleston: Among other things, I don't think there is much of a…
49:47
Tad Eggleston: deliberate community, that's… that's a bigger… religion. Okay.
49:54
Matt: They're just straight cult.
49:58
Tad Eggleston: But… but… but, yeah, no, it's just a fasc… fascinating to think about. I mean, cause, like…
50:06
Tad Eggleston: Take away the spiritual aspect, and like, we often think of…
50:11
Tad Eggleston: kind of deliberate community-type things. I mean, even when you're thinking of how to better government, that's on one level.
50:20
Tad Eggleston: a planned community. Yeah.
50:26
Tad Eggleston: So yeah, it's inch… made me think differently about the idea of… of groups of people that… are…
50:42
Tad Eggleston: Getting together and thinking about, this is how we want to live, and we're gonna…
50:49
Tad Eggleston: we're going to do that together. I mean, obviously, the ones we hear about a lot, they're fun on Netflix, or whatever true crime book or whatnot are the ones that go horribly, horribly wrong.
51:03
Tad Eggleston: But that can be said about a lot of things.
51:08
Dillon Gilbertson: They also have documentaries like that about governments.
51:11
Tad Eggleston: Exactly, exactly. Governments, businesses, Tom.
51:16
Peter Eggleston Connor: I think I'll have to reset.
51:18
Tad Eggleston: So yeah, I do actually kind of recommend the read, I guess is what I'm saying.
51:23
Dillon Gilbertson: pique my interest on it. I will have to give it a shot.
51:27
Peter Eggleston Connor: Trying to do that.
51:28
Tad Eggleston: Well, particularly because she… she very much…
51:34
Tad Eggleston: I want to say that she keeps an even keel to it. She's not going, oh, we need more cults.
51:40
Dillon Gilbertson: Sure.
51:42
Tad Eggleston: She's just like, you know… Let's actually look at what's going on at some of these.
51:49
Tad Eggleston: I mean…
51:50
Peter Eggleston Connor: Sounds like she's given, like, a more scientific…
51:55
Tad Eggleston: Well, and she's spent time with them without…
51:59
Tad Eggleston: Coming at it from a judgmental perspective, you know, to actually try to figure out which apparently, like.
52:08
Tad Eggleston: She says there are, like, a half-dozen people in academia that do this, and then her.
52:13
Tad Eggleston: And everybody else comes at it from, like, the true crime angle.
52:20
Peter Eggleston Connor: That makes sense.
52:22
Tad Eggleston: You know… I mean, like…
52:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: True.
52:27
Tad Eggleston: Oneida was a cult… was a… was a… Oh, Oneida.
52:33
Tad Eggleston: Which is now… we know it for, like, their silverware, right?
52:37
Tad Eggleston: It was a community for, like, 40 years.
52:41
Tad Eggleston: Until, like, the, the leader went a little…
52:47
Tad Eggleston: too far off, and then, like, even as they broke up the community, they turned it into… A, a…
52:56
Tad Eggleston: What is it now?
53:00
Matt: I have an aunt and uncle that live in Oneida.
53:05
Tad Eggleston: Even as they broke up the community, they turned it into, like, a shared stock
53:11
Tad Eggleston: Type thing. So, so they literally turned what was left of their community into a business to make the descendants of the community filthy rich.
53:27
Peter Eggleston Connor: That's cool.
53:29
Matt: No, it's not… I mean.
53:30
Tad Eggleston: Kind of?
53:32
Matt: No, no. I don't understand your definition of cool, Peter.
53:38
Peter Eggleston Connor: Man, filthy rich problem.
53:41
Peter Eggleston Connor: Bless you.
53:42
Matt: Filthy Rich is cool, yes, I'll give you that.
53:43
Tad Eggleston: I mean, I'm in this shape.
53:45
Peter Eggleston Connor: How filthy rich are we talking here?
53:49
Tad Eggleston: The Shakers existed for way longer than any cult whose… well, and how about any community whose main tenet is abstinence should have.
54:04
Tad Eggleston: You know, they're not making their own new members.
54:08
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah.
54:09
Tad Eggleston: They can only get new members by getting people to come in. And not only did they… but, like, they were… they were a major influence on, like, American furniture.
54:22
Tad Eggleston: You know… Yeah.
54:28
Tad Eggleston: I need to finish reading it. It was fascinating.
54:33
Tad Eggleston: You know, because essentially, that's… that's what… I mean.
54:36
Tad Eggleston: The reason it wound up in this, this issue…
54:39
Tad Eggleston: Is because on… on a level, intentional communities are… are attempts to create.
54:47
Peter Eggleston Connor: Paradox.
54:48
Tad Eggleston: Pockets of Utopia.
54:50
Tad Eggleston: You know.
54:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: they think they can live a better way, so they try to do that. Right. I get it. I see it. I know why it's in this issue. I…
55:00
Tad Eggleston: Right.
55:01
Peter Eggleston Connor: I didn't skip it because I had any issue with it.
55:04
Tad Eggleston: No.
55:04
Peter Eggleston Connor: pros, and…
55:06
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, no, no, and I…
55:07
Peter Eggleston Connor: Didn't finish.
55:08
Tad Eggleston: it, because it's pros, and I was running up on time.
55:12
Dillon Gilbertson: There's almost… there's almost… there's almost 300 pages in this book.
55:15
Tad Eggleston: Right, exactly.
55:17
Tad Eggleston: Every day is like Wendy from Valentin Ramon.
55:21
Dillon Gilbertson: I can't remember what happened.
55:23
Matt: I love the cynical,
55:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: The story…
55:26
Matt: on social media.
55:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, the story is hilarious.
55:29
Matt: Yeah, it really is.
55:32
Peter Eggleston Connor: Also really fucked up.
55:33
Matt: Yeah, and like.
55:34
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean…
55:35
Matt: become an influencer.
55:36
Peter Eggleston Connor: The first… the first fucked up thing that this story introduces you to is essentially your TV turns on and tells you that you're unpopular on social media.
55:45
Matt: We need that.
55:45
Peter Eggleston Connor: popular today.
55:46
Tad Eggleston: Right.
55:48
Peter Eggleston Connor: And then, essentially, you do jack shit and diddly… Gotta poke those numbers up.
55:52
Matt: Yeah.
55:56
Tad Eggleston: I, I just love the, the… the…
56:01
Tad Eggleston: The… the… he… he'd plug the restaurant, and… and…
56:06
Tad Eggleston: Immediately, there'd be, never been there, already on my to-do list.
56:09
Matt: Yup.
56:10
Tad Eggleston: And then somebody, oh, I'm here too, what table are you at?
56:13
Matt: Just laugh.
56:14
Tad Eggleston: Oh, I just left!
56:16
Tad Eggleston: And then the shot of the actual coffee shop, and no one is there.
56:21
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah.
56:23
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yep.
56:27
Tad Eggleston: You know, the guy that he bans and re-friends, I think, twice.
56:32
Matt: Yup.
56:33
Tad Eggleston: The fact that he's having this…
56:36
Matt: Cynical…
56:37
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh god, I just realized, at the very beginning, he was on the pod.
56:43
Peter Eggleston Connor: And then… he's waving into the pot on… on the third panel, but… He's.
56:50
Tad Eggleston: He's waving at his poop.
56:51
Matt: Yep, saying goodbye.
56:52
Peter Eggleston Connor: No, no, no, go to the next page.
56:57
Peter Eggleston Connor: Look, the bottom.
56:58
Tad Eggleston: Oh!
56:59
Peter Eggleston Connor: Last panel. He's not waving at his poop.
57:02
Tad Eggleston: No, that's right.
57:03
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, this is there.
57:04
Tad Eggleston: Andy! He's waving at me.
57:06
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, Wendy, who he put in his fucking pot.
57:10
Tad Eggleston: Ugh.
57:10
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh my god.
57:12
Dillon Gilbertson: Hmph.
57:14
Peter Eggleston Connor: Ugh.
57:15
Matt: Funny.
57:17
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't know.
57:19
Peter Eggleston Connor: This whole thing is, like…
57:22
Tad Eggleston: Beyond disturbing?
57:23
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah.
57:24
Tad Eggleston: Also, way too real?
57:26
Matt: Yeah.
57:27
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean…
57:27
Matt: real.
57:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh, but… Amazing.
57:32
Tad Eggleston: I mean, Matt, it's got some spectators going, too.
57:35
Matt: I noticed that, yes. But it's not aroma, which I actually like.
57:40
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
57:41
Peter Eggleston Connor: Not a what?
57:44
Matt: Read Spectators!
57:46
Tad Eggleston: Oh.
57:48
Matt: The sex robot that this guy's hooked up to.
57:55
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
57:59
Tad Eggleston: Solar plant!
58:01
Peter Eggleston Connor: I do think it's kind of funny that the name of it every day is, like, Wendy.
58:05
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
58:06
Peter Eggleston Connor: Cause it's almost like every day is, like, Wednesday, but…
58:10
Tad Eggleston: Right?
58:12
Peter Eggleston Connor: Thanks.
58:13
Peter Eggleston Connor: every day, essentially. I'm also trying to figure out what's going on at the end here, where everything just sort of stops.
58:22
Tad Eggleston: Everybody blows their load at the same time? I don't know.
58:25
Matt: I kind of want to lose.
58:30
Peter Eggleston Connor: Baby, baby.
58:33
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, it's almost like they had a power outage, and then, like…
58:37
Tad Eggleston: All the boobs popped.
58:40
Matt: I just… my favorite is, now you can get back to your wonderful.
58:43
Peter Eggleston Connor: You don't even notice that those were boobs. I was like, oh shit, there's some weird purple bubbles, and now that you mention that, yeah.
58:50
Matt: I'm honored too.
58:51
Peter Eggleston Connor: They are.
58:52
Tad Eggleston: All the boobs popped.
59:04
Tad Eggleston: Anyway, solar plant from Luke Jones and Anna Mill.
59:08
Dillon Gilbertson: The art in this was really cool. I started… I started this story hating the lettering, because it's difficult to read.
59:17
Matt: Yup.
59:18
Dillon Gilbertson: And then I ended up thinking it was the best part about the story. And that's not… it's not to say the story is bad, it just means the lettering got that good.
59:26
Matt: See, the whole thing just didn't do it for me. I feel like it missed something in execution, and I'm like,
59:32
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah.
59:34
Dillon Gilbertson: I wasn't really sure the point of it, or where it went, but, like, how the lettering blended into the background, into the art was really cool, and I really liked it.
59:45
Peter Eggleston Connor: What's kind of interesting about it is it's like…
59:49
Peter Eggleston Connor: Does he come out of that after, like, that heat thing? Does he come out of it, and, like, are you, like… is everything after that real, or, like, did something happen, and that's the real thing, and this is just sort of an illusion, or…
1:00:05
Dillon Gilbertson: Man, I was so excited.
1:00:05
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh, I forget.
1:00:07
Dillon Gilbertson: ran through the tunnel, I got so confused, but…
1:00:10
Peter Eggleston Connor: Well, 100%.
1:00:15
Peter Eggleston Connor: It's amusing, but fuck if I know what happened, yeah.
1:00:19
Matt: I like, I like, to Dillon's point, I like the way the lettering tied into the story at the end, but it is obnoxious at the beginning.
1:00:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: Bertardine.
1:00:32
Tad Eggleston: These hands that feed.
1:00:35
Tad Eggleston: by Samia Marshy with art from Lee Lai.
1:00:39
Tad Eggleston: This, to me, I think, was the saddest Of all of the stories.
1:00:49
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah.
1:00:51
Tad Eggleston: Tips.
1:00:51
Matt: Yeah, but I love.
1:00:52
Tad Eggleston: Both… both because it was real, and because it didn't…
1:00:57
Tad Eggleston: Didn't hide from or emphasize how incredibly sad of a future it is.
1:01:05
Matt: Yup.
1:01:06
Matt: But I like, I like how the protagonist, or protagonist, has some integrity at the end.
1:01:13
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
1:01:16
Matt: That gave me hope.
1:01:18
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
1:01:19
Tad Eggleston: Well, I mean, the mere fact that the protagonist was, like.
1:01:26
Tad Eggleston: working on getting food for… for the homeless people, like, it caught me off guard when… when she, oh, we have to go look at the apartment. I'm like, what? What!
1:01:37
Matt: Yep.
1:01:40
Tad Eggleston: But then, yeah, having… having the… the integrity… to go, N-no, no.
1:01:48
Matt: I can't do this.
1:01:50
Tad Eggleston: Right.
1:01:51
Matt: I dug that.
1:01:53
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
1:01:56
Tad Eggleston: But it's just, like, that last line from the realtor.
1:01:59
Tad Eggleston: Oh, don't worry, our attorneys are working on that. The occupants can't afford legal help, so we plan on starting very soon.
1:02:06
Matt: Yeah, that's awful, and that's so real!
1:02:08
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah.
1:02:10
Dillon Gilbertson: Love it.
1:02:11
Tad Eggleston: Jesus. Ugh.
1:02:13
Tad Eggleston: This, this…
1:02:14
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, the comic is so good, but it's.
1:02:16
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
1:02:17
Peter Eggleston Connor: Probably so good, because it's so fucking… real.
1:02:22
Matt: Yup.
1:02:22
Tad Eggleston: It's so… and again, like, the understated… but without… Without sugarcoating, and without… obfuscating.
1:02:37
Tad Eggleston: At all.
1:02:39
Tad Eggleston: You know, it doesn't fall to hyperbole, it doesn't blow anything up, but it also doesn't sugarcoat or obfuscate. It just…
1:02:48
Tad Eggleston: States, this world, where only the people who are rich enough to afford the apartments that have their own hydroponic systems have food.
1:03:00
Matt: Yep.
1:03:01
Matt: And can eat good food.
1:03:04
Tad Eggleston: And where it's actually illegal for the people who don't have those to grow food anywhere.
1:03:13
Peter Eggleston Connor: No.
1:03:16
Matt: That's tough.
1:03:17
Peter Eggleston Connor: Feel too real and… I mean, like…
1:03:23
Peter Eggleston Connor: I went…
1:03:24
Tad Eggleston: What about keep the poor poor?
1:03:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: I would… I would definitely say this is a comic, where it's something where I feel like you can share with people, and it's pretty…
1:03:34
Peter Eggleston Connor: Forward, and, you know, it's…
1:03:38
Peter Eggleston Connor: it's not something where it's like, I'm like, oh, this is, like, too hard for me to read, and that's… that, I think, is also good, but it is very much like, I can read this, and I can understand it, and I feel like this is the type of thing where you can give it to a lot of people, and they can read it and understand what's going on pretty.
1:03:57
Dillon Gilbertson: Hmm…
1:03:58
Matt: Because this is, like, a universal, this is, like…
1:04:01
Peter Eggleston Connor: Not trying to, like.
1:04:03
Tad Eggleston: Well, and there's also, like, some cool things, you know, the talk of, here, have a real tomato.
1:04:10
Matt: Well, yeah.
1:04:12
Tad Eggleston: You know, how great is it when they're, you know, or, or look, we can grow enough food for the entire neighborhood in this space. Isn't it amazing?
1:04:22
Matt: Yep.
1:04:23
Tad Eggleston: Like, like, it's not… ALL hopeless.
1:04:31
Peter Eggleston Connor: That's also true, yeah.
1:04:37
Tad Eggleston: But… Yeah.
1:04:59
Matt: That's why I dig these issues that have the theme, because you get it. Like, it takes away the subtext, and you're just, okay, this is… there's something going on here that I need to, like, grasp.
1:05:10
Tad Eggleston: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's been a really good decision from…
1:05:15
Tad Eggleston: for the, for the, for the new metal erlant, is that they're all themed.
1:05:20
Matt: Yep.
1:05:21
Tad Eggleston: Isle of the Dead, Lilus Cognac and Jan Damazin.
1:05:28
Dillon Gilbertson: The first thing I'll say about this story is…
1:05:34
Dillon Gilbertson: both the planet and the person are named Mars?
1:05:40
Matt: Because she was the first person born on Mars.
1:05:43
Tad Eggleston: Right.
1:05:44
Dillon Gilbertson: That was a silly choice to make.
1:05:47
Tad Eggleston: Oh, God.
1:05:48
Matt: I don't disagree.
1:05:52
Dillon Gilbertson: However, did like it, was good… was a good story.
1:05:57
Tad Eggleston: And also, like, this might have the… the… Funniest.
1:06:06
Tad Eggleston: Twist.
1:06:09
Matt: Yeah, but is it really…
1:06:10
Tad Eggleston: It's still really dark.
1:06:11
Matt: It's dark, exactly.
1:06:14
Tad Eggleston: Oh, oh, we figured out how we can capitalize on Mars! You can send your loved ones there because they won't deteriorate!
1:06:25
Matt: Everyone can afford it.
1:06:32
Tad Eggleston: The art's really cool, though.
1:06:37
Tad Eggleston: I didn't read any of the Kim Stanley Robinson.
1:06:40
Dillon Gilbertson: I didn't.
1:06:40
Tad Eggleston: Because at that point, I really didn't have time.
1:06:43
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:06:46
Tad Eggleston: Paradise Lost.
1:06:48
Dillon Gilbertson: Someone's really.
1:06:49
Tad Eggleston: Adam and Alexis Evitra… It was.
1:06:54
Peter Eggleston Connor: This one was really good, and is also another one that sort of is… I mean, like, it touches on, like.
1:07:02
Peter Eggleston Connor: I think it touches on two themes, and one is, like.
1:07:05
Peter Eggleston Connor: you know, when somebody comes into a new, what is the immigration, essentially, like, all the hoops that you have to go through, but then it also touches on this other thing, which is… and, like, you only really see it once you get to the end and, like, have to deal with it, which is, like, you know, we…
1:07:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: We're making so many digital cultures, and it's kind of…
1:07:34
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, it's kind of interesting that, like, their whole society is essentially, hey, once you have this implant, you can see all the digital stuff, and, like…
1:07:45
Peter Eggleston Connor: Everything goes from super planned to, like, you know, popping and interesting and…
1:07:50
Tad Eggleston: Batman! Coca-Cola!
1:07:52
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, so…
1:07:53
Tad Eggleston: Success!
1:07:55
Matt: Is this…
1:07:55
Peter Eggleston Connor: Really?
1:07:56
Peter Eggleston Connor: and… Yeah.
1:07:58
Matt: Did any of you guys read Non-Player by Nate Simpson?
1:08:02
Dillon Gilbertson: No, but the title makes me think that it probably feels the same as the story.
1:08:06
Matt: Very similar, like, the world sucks, everyone goes into the.
1:08:10
Tad Eggleston: That was, I think, never finished, though.
1:08:13
Matt: It was not.
1:08:14
Tad Eggleston: Isn't it.
1:08:14
Matt: the tuition.
1:08:15
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, there were two issues, yeah.
1:08:17
Tad Eggleston: It also reminds me of, frendo.
1:08:22
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah.
1:08:23
Tad Eggleston: Alex Pack Natal.
1:08:24
Dillon Gilbertson: There you go.
1:08:27
Matt: And seeing this from the perspective of someone who doesn't
1:08:30
Matt: Understand it makes it that much harder to.
1:08:35
Tad Eggleston: Right.
1:08:36
Matt: oh, this is cool, because, like, now this person can see everything, and she can buy an outfit, and she's like, I still feel alone. This sucks.
1:08:44
Dillon Gilbertson: It… it feels like a… lesser… Lesser publicized angle to assimilation.
1:08:55
Matt: Yup.
1:08:56
Dillon Gilbertson: Like, instead, like, your… like, typically, I feel like when people talk about assimilation, it's like the person who needs to assimilate, like, their culture is getting erased, and, like, the things that make them unique are now being diluted and going away.
1:09:13
Dillon Gilbertson: But a different angle to that. But happening at the same time.
1:09:20
Dillon Gilbertson: Is that in order for you to communicate with people, like, you now are being forced into, like, you can't… you can't be part of their society and communicate with them unless you also…
1:09:34
Tad Eggleston: Right.
1:09:35
Matt: Opt of the…
1:09:36
Dillon Gilbertson: Adopt their bullshit, yeah, or like, they're all… if you need… if you're gonna communicate, you have to have all their other bullshit forced on you as well.
1:09:43
Matt: Yep.
1:09:44
Tad Eggleston: Right.
1:09:45
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah.
1:09:46
Tad Eggleston: like, ads on Facebook.
1:09:48
Matt: Yep. Yeah, like, this was a really sad story.
1:09:52
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, I mean, like, even though…
1:09:53
Matt: Being the last refugee should be good for something.
1:10:00
Dillon Gilbertson: about it the whole time, which… I don't know if that's…
1:10:10
Dillon Gilbertson: I was surprised at how willingly she went along with all the bureaucratic bullshit. She didn't… she was like, alright, next step, alright, I mean.
1:10:18
Dillon Gilbertson: is its own commentary, I suppose. Right.
1:10:21
Tad Eggleston: What else are you gonna do?
1:10:22
Matt: Mexico's one of the.
1:10:23
Tad Eggleston: to go back to.
1:10:25
Tad Eggleston: She lost her family.
1:10:32
Tad Eggleston: I do also love…
1:10:33
Tad Eggleston: and this is one of the places where it becomes easy to make government out to be the villain when, like, we have all of these amazing things, but it's always, oh, no, no, no, it's somebody else's job to do that. No, no, no, no, somebody else pays for that. No, no, no, no, no, they pay for that. No, those people over there pay for that.
1:10:55
Peter Eggleston Connor: The red table bureaucracy Tensity.
1:10:59
Peter Eggleston Connor: Perfect.
1:11:00
Tad Eggleston: I mean…
1:11:02
Peter Eggleston Connor: But…
1:11:02
Tad Eggleston: The unfortunate thing is, is to a certain extent, it's been deliberately created by the people who
1:11:08
Tad Eggleston: Want us to believe that government… doesn't work.
1:11:12
Dillon Gilbertson: Hmm.
1:11:14
Tad Eggleston: But…
1:11:14
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, that's also true.
1:11:17
Tad Eggleston: But also, sometimes because there's just enough to make government work well that there's an easy way to exploit that. Because, like, a lot of the red tape was created to make government work well, and then the reason it doesn't work well is because it then gets
1:11:35
Tad Eggleston: The people who are supposed to, like.
1:11:39
Tad Eggleston: Do the stuff, get underfunded, understaffed, etc.
1:11:44
Dillon Gilbertson: Cool.
1:11:45
Tad Eggleston: So it's less about the process being bad, and more about…
1:11:54
Tad Eggleston: Like, okay, we built the most amazing car ever, but we've decided that we're only gonna put 2 of the 6 spark plugs in, and 3 tires will be enough.
1:12:10
Matt: Right.
1:12:13
Peter Eggleston Connor: Right.
1:12:15
Dillon Gilbertson: Excuse me.
1:12:18
Dillon Gilbertson: Alright, troph… trophoblastic…
1:12:20
Tad Eggleston: Sextuplets from Thomas Ferrule.
1:12:25
Tad Eggleston: This one was weird.
1:12:27
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah.
1:12:29
Matt: weird.
1:12:30
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, I don't have a lot more to say about it, I mean…
1:12:37
Peter Eggleston Connor: I kinda get it, but also, it is so fucking weird how it's done.
1:12:43
Peter Eggleston Connor: I just… I don't…
1:12:46
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't know, because, like, essentially, what they're kind of trying to say, like, at the end, or, like, when you're having the conversation with the,
1:12:54
Matt: The reporter?
1:12:55
Peter Eggleston Connor: reporter, it's like, hey, everybody's, like, modded, essentially. Like, everybody has, like, technology in them. You're using an eye that is…
1:13:05
Matt: Yep.
1:13:05
Matt: Recording everything.
1:13:07
Peter Eggleston Connor: They're learning everything, so these babies will just be, like, You know…
1:13:11
Matt: Normal.
1:13:12
Peter Eggleston Connor: old biological… people, yeah.
1:13:16
Peter Eggleston Connor: Normal, as we would call it,
1:13:20
Peter Eggleston Connor: But also, like, there's nothing, like… It's weird, because…
1:13:25
Peter Eggleston Connor: what he's saying is so integrated into this society that, like, as you're reading this, there's, like, nothing that would indicate to you, other than the fact that he… the words he's saying, that this society is like this. So…
1:13:44
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yup. But then, yeah, a lot of the, like.
1:13:47
Peter Eggleston Connor: It's all well drawn, but it is very weird and very uncomfortable imagery.
1:13:53
Matt: Yeah, I think it's supposed to be.
1:13:55
Peter Eggleston Connor: I think… I think so. Like, I agree. I don't think it's supposed to be comfortable, I just…
1:14:00
Peter Eggleston Connor: That's… that's where it's at.
1:14:03
Matt: Yeah.
1:14:03
Tad Eggleston: I mean, 7 translucent wombs on a guy's back is just a little uncomfortable.
1:14:10
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yep.
1:14:10
Matt: Oh, the wounds bothered you?
1:14:14
Matt: It's a.
1:14:15
Tad Eggleston: It's just…
1:14:15
Matt: too.
1:14:21
Tad Eggleston: The Ocean That Sings, Fabrizio Dory.
1:14:25
Matt: I like the art.
1:14:26
Tad Eggleston: I love the art on this.
1:14:27
Matt: the story,
1:14:29
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, the story was… the story was… was good.
1:14:34
Peter Eggleston Connor: It was pretty forward. I mean, like, not forward-forward, but it's just… Like, the…
1:14:41
Tad Eggleston: Character design.
1:14:42
Matt: Yes.
1:14:43
Peter Eggleston Connor: essentially tell you the story right from the beginning. What I did kind of like, though, was you get to the end and see everything that's going on, and then I went back and looked through, like.
1:14:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: the comic, because at the end, like, his… the ship that this… this traveler that we're…
1:14:59
Peter Eggleston Connor: seeing, came in on… essentially turns into a rock, and then you see the traveler and his dog, so… I went back and really looked at those images some more, because.
1:15:11
Peter Eggleston Connor: Hold up.
1:15:13
Peter Eggleston Connor: I'm not saying I found anything, but it's just sort of, like, interesting to try and think of, like, what type of stories is, like, the artist even trying to portray with that?
1:15:36
Tad Eggleston: crevice.
1:15:39
Tad Eggleston: Luke Shuten?
1:15:41
Tad Eggleston: So this one might, like…
1:15:42
Dillon Gilbertson: These, these two, this, this… Sorry, go ahead.
1:15:46
Tad Eggleston: I was just introducing it. You got it.
1:15:49
Dillon Gilbertson: This newly married couple that doesn't have a bed falls into the world, the world gives them a bed, and then they become the world's brain?
1:15:56
Matt: The world's connection to humans.
1:16:01
Dillon Gilbertson: they're… Brain.
1:16:07
Dillon Gilbertson: I don't know.
1:16:08
Matt: It's weird.
1:16:09
Dillon Gilbertson: I didn't understand it.
1:16:11
Peter Eggleston Connor: Actually, one thing that I gathered was this was some sort of weird constructed world. It's not a real world.
1:16:19
Peter Eggleston Connor: Which…
1:16:19
Matt: It felt like these guys were Amish, too, for some reason.
1:16:22
Peter Eggleston Connor: Maybe, I don't know, but…
1:16:25
Matt: some sort of…
1:16:26
Dillon Gilbertson: Hmm.
1:16:27
Matt: technologically reduced community.
1:16:31
Dillon Gilbertson: I loved… my favorite part was how chill this dude was, when they're like, stop the crevasse from closing, and he's like.
1:16:39
Dillon Gilbertson: Can't do nothing.
1:16:41
Matt: Yup, yup. It's all good.
1:16:49
Peter Eggleston Connor: No.
1:16:58
Peter Eggleston Connor: I thought…
1:16:58
Dillon Gilbertson: I'm a…
1:17:00
Peter Eggleston Connor: Kinda cute.
1:17:02
Dillon Gilbertson: Gave them a bed as a wedding gift, or something.
1:17:06
Tad Eggleston: Remember this wedding.
1:17:08
Peter Eggleston Connor: There's definitely some, like, for me, it was, like, the planet, whatever planet this is, is… it definitely seems to have, like, some…
1:17:18
Peter Eggleston Connor: entity of its own, because, like, at some point he says, I'd rather… it didn't give us anything and left us alone.
1:17:24
Peter Eggleston Connor: If it can't control itself now, like, there's sort of this, like.
1:17:30
Peter Eggleston Connor: Suggestion that they know it had, like, an intelligence, and that, you know.
1:17:36
Peter Eggleston Connor: it's doing something, and I think, like, they kind of make other references to it, but…
1:17:44
Peter Eggleston Connor: I really like the last page, just for the imagery, I guess.
1:17:48
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
1:17:48
Matt: Is that the one with the boobs?
1:17:51
Peter Eggleston Connor: Well, you know me.
1:17:55
Matt: It's okay, that's my favorite panel. No, I'm kidding.
1:17:59
Tad Eggleston: Hmm?
1:18:00
Tad Eggleston: Snow.
1:18:01
Matt: Snow?
1:18:02
Dillon Gilbertson: I am… I'm a sucker for, snow in comedy.
1:18:07
Tad Eggleston: him too.
1:18:07
Dillon Gilbertson: As well as Wordless Comics.
1:18:10
Matt: Yeah, and this had a real Christmas feel to it, I loved it.
1:18:16
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, this was…
1:18:17
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't know if I brought that up on the show, I'm a sucker for dancing.
1:18:21
Dillon Gilbertson: for dancing.
1:18:24
Tad Eggleston: Put all those together, made this a really cool comic.
1:18:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yep. That'd be cool.
1:18:30
Dillon Gilbertson: I had kind of Flower Power vibes.
1:18:32
Tad Eggleston: Meow.
1:18:34
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't know, I just sort of like the beauty of, like, especially all the shapes at the… towards…
1:18:39
Dillon Gilbertson: Right.
1:18:40
Peter Eggleston Connor: Last page.
1:18:43
Dillon Gilbertson: I agree.
1:18:45
Matt: Yup, it was interesting.
1:18:54
Tad Eggleston: Firstborn by Matt Emmons. Starts with a cough.
1:19:00
Matt: Yeah, like, I don't understand, did this guy download his… digital partners…
1:19:06
Dillon Gilbertson: I…
1:19:06
Matt: Entity into the robot?
1:19:09
Dillon Gilbertson: I thought this was gonna be a prequel to the first story.
1:19:13
Dillon Gilbertson: For the longest time. Like, this was the AI robot that started its life, and then slowly became, you know…
1:19:20
Dillon Gilbertson: But, not the case. Yeah, I don't know… I'm not really sure…
1:19:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't know.
1:19:27
Dillon Gilbertson: Is to this guy.
1:19:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: What I gathered was that…
1:19:32
Tad Eggleston: I think the… the robot might be the guy.
1:19:35
Peter Eggleston Connor: That's what I was thinking, actually.
1:19:38
Dillon Gilbertson: Well, then who's talking on the tape? Because the guy talking… whoever's talking on the tape is like, I'm sorry we had to meet this way. Right, right.
1:19:44
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, but so, like, okay, one thing that I've sort of picked up in this comic, and again, you know.
1:19:51
Peter Eggleston Connor: take it out however you want, but what I took out of it was that they'd been working on some sort of AI to put together a robot for a long time, and they were hoping that, you know, they'd be able to set it up and work with it.
1:20:06
Peter Eggleston Connor: And, you know… Build a better planet or something.
1:20:10
Peter Eggleston Connor: But… it didn't work out that way. They all sort of started, like.
1:20:19
Peter Eggleston Connor: I think he's the last living person who's not in some weird pod.
1:20:23
Matt: Yep.
1:20:25
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, you need to go save the rest of them.
1:20:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: Like, I need, like, I didn't… I didn't want this to be… I wanted you to be built where we, like, there were some of us around so that we could…
1:20:37
Peter Eggleston Connor: Be there with you and help you, but… That didn't happen, so… We need, like…
1:20:44
Peter Eggleston Connor: Even though we… we kind of also want more time, there's just…
1:20:49
Peter Eggleston Connor: We're out. We have to start you up and have you do the best you can.
1:20:54
Tad Eggleston: Oh, wait, I just… it's a tape deck.
1:20:57
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, it's also a tape deck.
1:20:59
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
1:21:01
Tad Eggleston: So that's what he recorded for the robot before he turned it on, so maybe he didn't download himself into it. He just downloaded information to do it.
1:21:11
Peter Eggleston Connor: It could be.
1:21:12
Peter Eggleston Connor: I don't know.
1:21:14
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mean, it kind of seems like maybe he… it's…
1:21:19
Tad Eggleston: But he is also wired into something.
1:21:22
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, he has, like, when you see him after the robot gets up.
1:21:28
Peter Eggleston Connor: He has this thing on his head, too, that makes it look like he was…
1:21:33
Dillon Gilbertson: VR headset.
1:21:34
Peter Eggleston Connor: in the digital space, and transferring himself over to this robot, but I don't know.
1:21:39
Tad Eggleston: Maybe, maybe it's they don't know whether or not, like.
1:21:43
Tad Eggleston: Maybe you have to have the tape deck, because I don't know what level the…
1:21:49
Tad Eggleston: The, like, transference is gonna work?
1:21:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: Sure.
1:21:54
Tad Eggleston: So they need to give instructions? I don't know.
1:21:57
Peter Eggleston Connor: It's very fascinating, and I really like it, but… would I say I know anything for certain in it? No.
1:22:05
Dillon Gilbertson: Yep.
1:22:05
Tad Eggleston: No, no, no.
1:22:08
Dillon Gilbertson: Alright.
1:22:10
Dillon Gilbertson: We did it.
1:22:11
Peter Eggleston Connor: We did a…
1:22:12
Tad Eggleston: I like the warning.
1:22:14
Tad Eggleston: Breeding metal or launt is dangerous. Side effects may include rapid mind expansion, disconcerting but thrilling thoughts and visions, a sudden onset of dissatisfaction with daily life. If you have been experiencing any symptoms, DO NOT contact your doctor for a prescription. Get a subscription.
1:22:32
Matt: Yeah, I read that too, I thought that was great.
1:22:34
Dillon Gilbertson: The devious part about this warning is that it comes at the end, after you've already read it.
1:22:39
Tad Eggleston: Right.
1:22:45
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, I… I dug this issue.
1:22:48
Peter Eggleston Connor: That was a good one.
1:22:49
Tad Eggleston: I've dug all of the metal Erlant so far.
1:22:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: For sure.
1:22:53
Dillon Gilbertson: We do favorites for her lawns?
1:22:57
Tad Eggleston: Yep. Yep. Yep.
1:22:59
Tad Eggleston: No ongoing, because there… there aren't really ongoing.
1:23:02
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah.
1:23:02
Tad Eggleston: We do do story and panel.
1:23:06
Peter Eggleston Connor: And Panel can be 2 pages even, right?
1:23:09
Tad Eggleston: The channel can be whatever you want it to be.
1:23:11
Dillon Gilbertson: Where do we want, man.
1:23:16
Dillon Gilbertson: My favorite panelists…
1:23:17
Peter Eggleston Connor: We don't really have rules for favorite anything.
1:23:21
Tad Eggleston: That's true.
1:23:22
Dillon Gilbertson: Just say stuff.
1:23:23
Peter Eggleston Connor: I mention this regularly.
1:23:27
Dillon Gilbertson: I think, I think…
1:23:28
Tad Eggleston: Gotta.
1:23:29
Tad Eggleston: I gotta say that my… I'm torn on… my top… Story between slavery is freedom, from Chantel.
1:23:44
Tad Eggleston: Montelier, and… and, these hands that feed.
1:23:50
Tad Eggleston: From… from Samia Marci and Lee Lai.
1:23:53
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, I…
1:23:56
Peter Eggleston Connor: I'm definitely, like, these hands that feed, like, I was gonna just say I have two favorite stories, and one is These Hands That Feed, and the other is HOP.
1:24:07
Peter Eggleston Connor: That was how I was gonna do it.
1:24:11
Tad Eggleston: That works.
1:24:15
Tad Eggleston: I think for me, like, these hands that feed is too real.
1:24:20
Tad Eggleston: And therefore, I need to balance it with the slavery, these freedom that's… that's also too real, but with… with more… more…
1:24:27
Matt: Bye.
1:24:28
Tad Eggleston: Deeply dark humor attached.
1:24:31
Dillon Gilbertson: Hmm.
1:24:43
Peter Eggleston Connor: Matt, Dillon? Favorite comics?
1:24:45
Dillon Gilbertson: What was… what was… I can't even remember that, what was the translator one?
1:24:50
Matt: this… Apparently he's lost, or something?
1:24:54
Tad Eggleston: The translator one is…
1:24:57
Peter Eggleston Connor: The one where…
1:24:58
Dillon Gilbertson: wirelessly.
1:24:58
Peter Eggleston Connor: They need.
1:24:59
Dillon Gilbertson: It was…
1:25:00
Peter Eggleston Connor: later, that was Paradise Loft, yeah.
1:25:02
Dillon Gilbertson: I think that's my favorite story.
1:25:05
Dillon Gilbertson: And… and my favorite panel is the last panel of the faults.
1:25:15
Peter Eggleston Connor: When was the last panel of the fall again?
1:25:18
Dillon Gilbertson: The one with the robot and he's covered in leaves and such.
1:25:21
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh, right, right, right.
1:25:23
Peter Eggleston Connor: That's okay.
1:25:24
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah, Paralyzed Lost was the translator one.
1:25:31
Peter Eggleston Connor: Matt, favorite comic?
1:25:33
Matt: Favorite kayak is… hold on, I'm looking for it.
1:25:39
Matt: Oh, this dog, I'm gonna kill it.
1:25:44
Matt: Oh, see, now I'm torn. I'm torn between the one where the guy got his penis chopped off and then reattached.
1:25:50
Matt: And every day is windy.
1:25:52
Peter Eggleston Connor: Mmm…
1:25:54
Dillon Gilbertson: The Smoother World one? Smoother World one was good.
1:25:59
Matt: Yeah, I'll go with that one.
1:26:01
Tad Eggleston: Peter and I both picked two.
1:26:04
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, you're allowed to make it funny as well.
1:26:06
Matt: Alright, then I'm picking both. A smoother world, and Every Day is Windy.
1:26:10
Dillon Gilbertson: Well, then I'm picking, too. My other favorite story is The Fault.
1:26:15
Peter Eggleston Connor: Nice.
1:26:16
Matt: So…
1:26:20
Matt: Since we don't get to do it ongoing, we should get to pick two favorites.
1:26:24
Tad Eggleston: Makes sense.
1:26:25
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah.
1:26:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: Right.
1:26:28
Tad Eggleston: I mean, I could have made it so you had to pick a new one and an old one.
1:26:32
Tad Eggleston: time of the.
1:26:33
Peter Eggleston Connor: There's only 3 old ones.
1:26:35
Matt: Yeah, that's… that's… that would be tough.
1:26:37
Dillon Gilbertson: Yeah.
1:26:38
Peter Eggleston Connor: tough. I mean, like, don't get me wrong, they're all good old ones.
1:26:42
Tad Eggleston: I know. I was… I was… So Dylan's favorite panel is… The end of the fault.
1:26:51
Peter Eggleston Connor: Yeah, I am 2.7.
1:26:54
Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
1:27:02
Matt: Panels a tough one for me, this issue.
1:27:08
Peter Eggleston Connor: I have just decided that my favorite
1:27:11
Peter Eggleston Connor: Panel is pages 258 and 259.
1:27:24
Peter Eggleston Connor: For me, it's, like, right across from each other. I mean, like, when you're looking at the comic.
1:27:30
Tad Eggleston: Okay.
1:27:31
Peter Eggleston Connor: It's pretty… pretty nuts.
1:27:34
Tad Eggleston: I'm gonna wind up taking from the same story.
1:27:37
Peter Eggleston Connor: There you go.
1:27:39
Tad Eggleston: What was the name of this story again? This was…
1:27:43
Peter Eggleston Connor: Snow.
1:27:44
Tad Eggleston: Snow. Yeah, that's easy.
1:27:51
Matt: Oh, okay, I got mine.
1:27:53
Tad Eggleston: But… but I, I can… I can do just one. I love…
1:28:00
Tad Eggleston: This panel where she's just starting to dance, and has her head turned up towards the snow.
1:28:09
Peter Eggleston Connor: Good on you.
1:28:17
Tad Eggleston: Which means that between us, we pick essentially 3 pages in a row.
1:28:23
Peter Eggleston Connor: Keep on it.
1:28:26
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh, and there's actually two pages between, but…
1:28:31
Matt: I'm breaking up your rummy here.
1:28:36
Peter Eggleston Connor: Alright, so, what's your favorite panel, Matt?
1:28:39
Matt: Top of page 29.
1:28:44
Dillon Gilbertson: 29… Real page 29, or actual page 28?
1:28:55
Peter Eggleston Connor: All the rich people.
1:28:56
Matt: Yep, cause I know they're all gonna bite it.
1:29:03
Tad Eggleston: So, the top of page 29?
1:29:05
Matt: Yeah.
1:29:07
Tad Eggleston: What's the name of this story again?
1:29:09
Matt: Oh, this is,
1:29:13
Tad Eggleston: lupus?
1:29:14
Peter Eggleston Connor: You know?
1:29:14
Tad Eggleston: Rudio.
1:29:15
Matt: Yes, Lupus Rudio.
1:29:21
Dillon Gilbertson: Alright, yo.
1:29:22
Dillon Gilbertson: We did it.
1:29:23
Peter Eggleston Connor: We did it.
1:29:25
Tad Eggleston: We managed to get done with a 230-some-odd page thing in, like, an hour and a half.
1:29:31
Peter Eggleston Connor: Dude!
1:29:32
Dillon Gilbertson: 170-some-odd.
1:29:35
Peter Eggleston Connor: I think it's literally the last page, not counting covers, is 270.
1:29:40
Tad Eggleston: Right.
1:29:45
Tad Eggleston: But… So, you know, not bad.
1:29:48
Peter Eggleston Connor: Oh, pretty good.
1:29:51
Peter Eggleston Connor: High five's all around.
1:29:53
Tad Eggleston: Alright, I gotta get to bed.
1:29:55
Tad Eggleston: I'm gonna toss out, we can do the next Metaller launch. It's out, I can get it to people, I got my copy. ZV Metal's supposed to be giving PDFs eventually.
1:30:08
Tad Eggleston: That's what they promised when I re-upped my, subscription, but haven't seen them yet, so…
1:30:14
Peter Eggleston Connor: I, I haven't gotten my physical copy of Metal Herline yet, so…
1:30:18
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, mine literally came yesterday.
1:30:22
Peter Eggleston Connor: Wow, I mean, we have some time.
1:30:24
Tad Eggleston: Yeah, we've got a month, at least.
1:30:26
Tad Eggleston: So… I guess we recorded late, so maybe not a month, but you know what I mean.
1:30:31
Peter Eggleston Connor: Honorable.
1:30:32
Tad Eggleston: But… anyway… Always fun, guys. Oh, yeah. And, Matt, you want to take us out?
1:30:39
Matt: We'll continue after the next page.