Latest / 22 Panels - A Comic Book Podcast / 22 Panels Episode #204 - Know Your Station

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22 Panels Episode #204 - Know Your Station · 22 Panels - A Comic Book Podcast

• 0:03
  Tad Eggleston: Good morning, everybody. Welcome back to 22 Panels, the podcast where we explore, examine, and elevate the medium of comics.
• 0:12
  Tad Eggleston: Across the interwebs. God, it's weird to be the one that has to do this from me, is Phil…
• 0:20
  Phil: Whoop! Oop! I caught those, I caught those strands. I'm… I am sailing on a web line between buildings, and it feels great. You know, good morning, Tad. How, you know, how are you doing?
• 0:30
  Tad Eggleston: Well, I… I thought I was… I thought I was, like, plastering you to a building, not…
• 0:35
  Phil: Oh!
• 0:36
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 0:36
  Phil: I can't also be Spider-Man in this instance?
• 0:39
  Tad Eggleston: Well, you'd have to shoot your own webs to swing on them.
• 0:44
  Phil: I want to be a Spider-Man who is, like, a webmoocher, you know?
• 0:50
  Tad Eggleston: He doesn't shoot his own webs. Oh, I see, I see.
• 0:52
  Phil: He's on a budget, you know, one of those sorts of things. He's more of a… he's more of a building-crawling friendly neighborhood Spider-Man than your web-slinging friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
• 1:02
  Tad Eggleston: Right, yeah, whatever.
• 1:04
  Phil: Somehow this underwhelming premise is, not going to be one of the many treasures you can find in the now-open Short Box Comics Fair. It's October. There are hundreds of.
• 1:17
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, I may have a cart with way too much in it set up that I'm trying to convince myself to either pare down or pull the trigger on.
• 1:27
  Phil: There's too much, there's too much… look, here's, here's, here's what we should do.
• 1:31
  Phil: I should convene with my wife and say, hey, you know, 2, 3, and then, like, at the very least, you know, we'll figure out.
• 1:41
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, no, I mean, yeah, definitely, if you wind up getting any, let me know so I can.
• 1:46
  Phil: typing.
• 1:46
  Tad Eggleston: Off my list, and we'll share.
• 1:48
  Phil: Yeah, it's… it's…
• 1:49
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, I feel like we should start fundraising now to, there we go. Like, if anybody wants us to buy all of the Short Box Comic Fair books next year, become a Patreon.
• 2:06
  Tad Eggleston: Patreon.com slash 22panels podcast.
• 2:10
  Tad Eggleston: And, like, send me a note saying, save this for shortbox. This year, we could have bought all of the comics for, I think, $900-something?
• 2:21
  Phil: I was just getting an exact number on that. I saw that, too, and was like, wow, damn, that is… that is…
• 2:27
  Phil: an impressive number. Let's see here, yeah, it says every single Shortbox comic fair for 995 euros.
• 2:39
  Phil: Or pounds, no, pounds, not euros. I forget they still have pounds.
• 2:44
  Tad Eggleston: Let's see how…
• 2:46
  Phil: So, well, okay, so, so it's pound.
• 2:48
  Tad Eggleston: Come on to…
• 2:50
  Phil: So, there's a decent chance this… this could go our way.
• 2:55
  Phil: Not quite.
• 2:59
  Phil: Ninth.
• 2:59
  Tad Eggleston: 900.
• 3:00
  Phil: 5.
• 3:02
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, so $1,340.96.
• 3:07
  Phil: And of course, we would then be obligated to talk about all of those comments.
• 3:10
  Tad Eggleston: We would. It's insane.
• 3:12
  Phil: Some kind of marathon 6-hour session.
• 3:15
  Tad Eggleston: Right, so, so, so, essentially, we need people to, to put together, roughly… like, a hundred and…
• 3:28
  Tad Eggleston: A little bit more than $110 a month, but we'll say if $110 a month come to Patreon, plugged for Shortbox, I'll make up the difference.
• 3:37
  Tad Eggleston: But, I mean, that's gotta start now, because that's… that's the $110 a month to Patreon for a year, to hopefully have enough for next year to buy them all, at which point, I… I like… I like Phil's idea. If… if the Patreons pay for us to buy all the short box comics, we are then
• 3:56
  Tad Eggleston: required to… Do some sort of marathon covering them all.
• 4:06
  Phil: I mean, it's…
• 4:07
  Phil: That would be… it was the kind of thing, just looking at covers, I… yeah, it was the kind of thing.
• 4:13
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, no.
• 4:14
  Phil: oh my goodness, they're… you know, sometimes I can be like.
• 4:17
  Tad Eggleston: I know I have it on my phone, but will it, will it come up on my,
• 4:21
  Tad Eggleston: I can probably bring it up on my computer, too. Google's nice like that now.
• 4:25
  Phil: Oh yeah, and it's, it's… you know, there was one other… one of the years where I looked at this because of, oh, no, it was, last year… I don't… Tad, you, you probably know. Is the, is this Shortbox Comic Fair the same as the Shortbox publisher?
• 4:43
  Phil: Yes. That, okay, that they recently, unfortunately, had to close down physical publishing, but when.
• 4:48
  Tad Eggleston: They kept their comic fair going, and…
• 4:50
  Phil: Right.
• 4:51
  Tad Eggleston: took it online… online only, I think, starting 3 years ago.
• 4:55
  Phil: Gotcha. So, well, for that one, when someone suggested, hey, it's closing, this is the last chance you'll be able to get these physical comics, you know, I kept it to 3.
• 5:04
  Phil: This, this fair this month, it… there… there was no easy limit.
• 5:08
  Tad Eggleston: Okay, when I pull it up on my computer, I don't… I don't have the…
• 5:13
  Tad Eggleston: the long list in my cart, and I don't feel like grabbing my phone to go through the list in my cart.
• 5:20
  Phil: That's understandable. I mean, it's… it really…
• 5:22
  Tad Eggleston: For that matter, it might even be good if I lost the list in my cart and had to go through a…
• 5:28
  Phil: over.
• 5:28
  Tad Eggleston: Right.
• 5:29
  Phil: Oh, yeah.
• 5:30
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, there's lots of really… as… as there is every year, there's, lots of… lots of really good-looking comics. For that matter, the… the… the…
• 5:47
  Tad Eggleston: Gotta remember the title of it. Valent Kitchens… Ignat… Winning… comic was… Originally a short Fox comic.
• 6:02
  Phil: Oh, okay.
• 6:03
  Tad Eggleston: Aladinia.
• 6:05
  Phil: Oh!
• 6:06
  Tad Eggleston: was originally… Originally a shortbox, I bought it from Shortbox Comic Bair last year.
• 6:12
  Phil: Nice.
• 6:13
  Phil: I do gotta say also that, for my current level of caffeination, I, I heard Violet Kitchen, and I was like, oh, don't you think they're stepping on the toes of Kitchen Sink Press?
• 6:24
  Phil: Without realizing that was one person, not some kind of company.
• 6:28
  Tad Eggleston: Also, the daughter of Dennis?
• 6:31
  Phil: Indeed, yes.
• 6:32
  Tad Eggleston: You know?
• 6:34
  Phil: Sometimes, sometimes I need more coffee, too.
• 6:41
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, so, like… No, she's not stepping on her father's toes.
• 6:50
  Tad Eggleston: So.
• 6:53
  Phil: You can tell your dad, like, go fuck himself. He had 84. Wow!
• 6:58
  Tad Eggleston: Wow!
• 7:00
  Phil: It's funny because…
• 7:01
  Tad Eggleston: Cubs win!
• 7:02
  Phil: He was saying that they… that they were wearing, the… the throwback uniforms from when they beat the Cubs of the World Series, just like…
• 7:09
  Tad Eggleston: Yay!
• 7:10
  Phil: Or there were some fans that did that.
• 7:11
  Tad Eggleston: In the playoffs, yeah, yeah, no, no. But… He ruined my childhood.
• 7:18
  Phil: Okay, alright, you know, I'm glad that he personally made that ball go between someone's legs.
• 7:25
  Tad Eggleston: Leon Durham, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 7:28
  Phil: He personally did that.
• 7:29
  Tad Eggleston: He did, he did, I'm surging. He's a…
• 7:32
  Phil: He's a.
• 7:32
  Tad Eggleston: Turnabout's a bitch. Turnabout's a bitch, Phil's dad.
• 7:36
  Phil: I will say, the Padres are, in my mind, the new Cubs of baseball, because they've never won a World Series.
• 7:46
  Tad Eggleston: They've been twice, twice in my dad's lifetime, but never one.
• 7:50
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, I mean… like…
• 7:55
  Tad Eggleston: But they haven't been around long enough to even have the longest streak without winning World Series.
• 8:01
  Phil: That's fair.
• 8:03
  Tad Eggleston: That goes to the Guardians.
• 8:06
  Phil: Okay? I didn't even know there was a team called the Guardians. This is how closely I follow baseball.
• 8:10
  Tad Eggleston: Well, see, see, Cleveland finally got rid of their racist mascot.
• 8:15
  Phil: Oh, that's good! You know, we need more teams to do that.
• 8:17
  Tad Eggleston: And they're the guardians now.
• 8:19
  Phil: Okay.
• 8:19
  Tad Eggleston: And they haven't won a World Series since the 50s.
• 8:23
  Phil: Okay, I mean, you know, they, they…
• 8:26
  Phil: That's a… that's a pretty big streak, you know, 70 years.
• 8:29
  Tad Eggleston: So, like, in 2016, it was the two longest streaks in baseball.
• 8:34
  Phil: Mmm, I see.
• 8:36
  Tad Eggleston: So it was the longest national streak… longest National League streak up against the longest American League streak. And thankfully, the longest streak won.
• 8:47
  Phil: So, what you're telling me is that hell was gonna freeze over either way.
• 8:50
  Tad Eggleston: No, that, that would have been if, in, in 2003,
• 8:55
  Tad Eggleston: the year that both the Cubs and the Red Sox came 5 outs from the World Series.
• 9:00
  Phil: Mmm.
• 9:01
  Tad Eggleston: If things had been different, and if it hadn't been for the meltdown after the not-even-really-fan interference.
• 9:14
  Tad Eggleston: at Wrigley and… and fucking Aaron Boone at… at Fenway, like, 2003 could have the Cubs and the Red Sox both on…
• 9:29
  Tad Eggleston: 85 plus years without a World Series victory.
• 9:34
  Tad Eggleston: Up against each other.
• 9:38
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, that would have been a heck of a streak breaker. The world would have ended with two outs in the bottom of some extra inning, still tied.
• 9:51
  Tad Eggleston: Like, with 2 outs in the bottom of the 42nd of Game 7, tied at 1, the world would have ended.
• 10:02
  Phil: Oh, especially because I, you know, I gotta say, Cubs fans and Red Sox fans are, you know, pretty passionate in their own ways. Yeah, I mean, I'm both. I understand.
• 10:14
  Tad Eggleston: Like, like, that, that used to be a joke, you know? What will happen if the Cubs and Red Sox ever meet in the World Series?
• 10:24
  Phil: You'll tear yourself apart.
• 10:26
  Tad Eggleston: In the bottom of the…
• 10:28
  Tad Eggleston: pick an inning, you know, late, late extra innings, you know. I always like 42, because the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. So the bottom of the 42nd inning tied it
• 10:41
  Tad Eggleston: Pick a number. We're gonna say 1, because I like it to be a close game. Bottom of the 42nd inning, tied at 1.
• 10:49
  Tad Eggleston: The… the… the world will just end.
• 10:52
  Phil: What?
• 10:54
  Phil: the longest game, like, the most innings? What is the highest inning count game?
• 10:59
  Tad Eggleston: I think for a major league game, it's 28, and for a minor league game, it's 30-something.
• 11:08
  Phil: Wow. So, I mean, to me, that always had to be part of it, was that…
• 11:14
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, 33 in 1981 for the Pawtucket
• 11:20
  Tad Eggleston: Red Sox versus the Rochester Red Wings in the minor leagues.
• 11:25
  Tad Eggleston: And major leagues, I'm pretty certain it was…
• 11:29
  Phil: Oh, wow.
• 11:31
  Tad Eggleston: Socks.
• 11:33
  Phil: I'm seeing that that 33-inning game lasted 8 and a half hours.
• 11:37
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:38
  Phil: Wow.
• 11:39
  Tad Eggleston: Pretty certain the longest… Major League game… was…
• 11:56
  Tad Eggleston: 26 or 28?
• 12:00
  Tad Eggleston: And I want to say it was the White Sox and the…
• 12:07
  Tad Eggleston: Well, yeah, White Sox and Brewers.
• 12:10
  Tad Eggleston: 26, and it looks like it's… it's happened twice.
• 12:15
  Tad Eggleston: Because it also happened with the Brooklyn Robins before they became the Dodgers.
• 12:23
  Tad Eggleston: and the Boston Braves, in 1920.
• 12:28
  Phil: Wow.
• 12:30
  Tad Eggleston: Oh, I guess… I guess the White Sox and Brewers only went 25 innings, so they're second. What's crazy about that one is that Carlton Fisk, the catcher.
• 12:44
  Tad Eggleston: for the White Sox. Caught.
• 12:47
  Tad Eggleston: ALL.
• 12:49
  Tad Eggleston: 25 innings.
• 12:51
  Phil: Hmm.
• 12:52
  Phil: You know, I'm sure he gets that stamina from, you know, the Fisk family line. I hear they've got some real, real, thick guys going on there.
• 12:59
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, no idea, but .
• 13:02
  Phil: You don't know Wilson?
• 13:07
  Phil: Chad hasn't had his coffee, but I have. Can you tell?
• 13:12
  Tad Eggleston: But, But yeah, no, tw…
• 13:16
  Tad Eggleston: Think about that, 25 innings… Yeah. …of going out and crouching.
• 13:21
  Phil: Yeah, oh my gosh, his knees must have been on fire.
• 13:24
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:25
  Tad Eggleston: So, like, because this is how the world works.
• 13:33
  Tad Eggleston: And any week where there's happy Cubs news is otherwise a terrible week. You know, they win the World Series, and 4 days later, we have Donald Trump as the president-elect.
• 13:47
  Tad Eggleston: You know, they,
• 13:51
  Tad Eggleston: Let's just, like, I pulled up Heather Cox Richard… do you know Heather Cox Richardson?
• 13:58
  Phil: Not off the top of my head, no.
• 13:59
  Tad Eggleston: You should reach Heather Cox Richard. She's a fantastic historian.
• 14:03
  Tad Eggleston: And, like, since, like, 2016, she's been putting together an almost daily newsletter just to have
• 14:14
  Tad Eggleston: And account for future historians to go back And look through.
• 14:20
  Tad Eggleston: And…
• 14:21
  Phil: Sounds invaluable.
• 14:23
  Tad Eggleston: It is. And, like, this morning's…
• 14:26
  Tad Eggleston: or I guess, technically, yesterday's, but it generally comes
• 14:31
  Tad Eggleston: It's been more and more coming out after midnight, because that's how long it takes for her to, like, be on top of everything.
• 14:37
  Phil: Oh, God.
• 14:38
  Tad Eggleston: It is. And she has to take days off from time to time, and I kind of wish she took more sometimes.
• 14:46
  Tad Eggleston: God bless her for all that she does. But, like, you notice that he hadn't appeared in public, because that was at the top of the… since Tuesday.
• 14:58
  Tad Eggleston: But, like, okay, so what we have going on, the Republican Party is putting up, like, AI videos, Russell Vogt being the Reaper, to Blue Shield's Don't Fear the Reaper.
• 15:10
  Tad Eggleston: Meanwhile, veterans of U.S. national security are… are… are…
• 15:21
  Tad Eggleston: Noticing that this is the opposite of what we expect in a healthy democracy.
• 15:27
  Tad Eggleston: Which should be reminded that, that Russell Vogt is not an elected official. Neither was Elon Doge, the, the first, the first,
• 15:39
  Tad Eggleston: like, investigation into Doge.
• 15:43
  Tad Eggleston: Produce some findings this week, and essentially.
• 15:47
  Tad Eggleston: What they said is, didn't save any money, didn't…
• 15:52
  Tad Eggleston: You know, did, did, like, possibly cost money, but also,
• 16:00
  Tad Eggleston: Created unprecedented privacy and cybersecurity risks.
• 16:07
  Tad Eggleston: They did manage to create an accessible database of pretty much all of the private information, like, the government has.
• 16:20
  Phil: hate that.
• 16:21
  Tad Eggleston: Meanwhile, like, so, Tuesday, everybody noticed, like, the unhinged…
• 16:28
  Tad Eggleston: just talk to the… to the generals, which, like, thank God they… they followed…
• 16:35
  Tad Eggleston: military rules, and we're just silent for even… even as Trump, like, threatened them.
• 16:43
  Phil: Oh…
• 16:44
  Tad Eggleston: And Hegzith was just deranged.
• 16:48
  Tad Eggleston: But… but, like… and then we shut down the government, of course, at midnight.
• 16:53
  Phil: And…
• 16:54
  Tad Eggleston: And just before shutting down the government, however,
• 17:02
  Tad Eggleston: I wanna say it was, ice?
• 17:07
  Tad Eggleston: the FBI and… the ATF…
• 17:12
  Tad Eggleston: More than 300 agents.
• 17:15
  Tad Eggleston: Staged a full-on raid.
• 17:17
  Tad Eggleston: On an apartment building.
• 17:20
  Tad Eggleston: In downtown Chicago.
• 17:22
  Tad Eggleston: at 8… at 10… 10 PM.
• 17:25
  Tad Eggleston: like, Apache helicopters, people rappelling down to the roof, you know, like… full-on Michael Bay shit.
• 17:35
  Phil: Right.
• 17:37
  Tad Eggleston: And cleared out the entire building. Kicked doors down, kicked whatever.
• 17:43
  Tad Eggleston: For 37 whole arrests, though.
• 17:47
  Tad Eggleston: No… no evidence has been provided about…
• 17:51
  Tad Eggleston: They're saying, oh, gangs, drugs, but no evidence has been provided, no warrants have been provided, children…
• 18:01
  Tad Eggleston: We're… were marched out of the building in… Zip ties?
• 18:06
  Phil: If…
• 18:08
  Tad Eggleston: Reportedly, the black people were put in one rental van, while the Hispanic people were put in another rental van.
• 18:17
  Phil: Jeez.
• 18:21
  Tad Eggleston: And, like…
• 18:23
  Tad Eggleston: whatever Kavanaugh says about, like, oh, if they're residents, then they'll just have to answer a couple of questions, and then they'll be able to go on their way. Reportedly, like, U.S. citizens were in zip ties outside.
• 18:41
  Tad Eggleston: In their pajamas, if anything at all.
• 18:45
  Tad Eggleston: Some were marched out naked.
• 18:47
  Tad Eggleston: For as many as 5 hours before being released.
• 18:54
  Phil: That's, that is…
• 18:57
  Tad Eggleston: Then again, at least 37 haven't been released at all.
• 19:00
  Phil: Though it hasn't…
• 19:02
  Tad Eggleston: It hasn't actually been…
• 19:04
  Tad Eggleston: been said. So this is the kind of week that it's been. Meanwhile,
• 19:11
  Tad Eggleston: the judge in Nashville, Waverly Crenshaw, rebuked the Justice Department and its top officials for prosecuting Kilmar Abergo Garcia, and there seems to be,
• 19:26
  Tad Eggleston: Some indication that a vindictive lawsuit
• 19:34
  Tad Eggleston: Charge could be brought against the, you know, the, the… that's the sort of thing that's, like, incredibly hard to…
• 19:40
  Tad Eggleston: wins, so, so, like…
• 19:44
  Tad Eggleston: a vindictive prosecution motion. Incredibly hard to win, but the fact that the court is even considering it, according to the New York Times, is highly embarrassing blow. They say the true Trump administration… Trump…
• 19:59
  Phil: You so?
• 20:00
  Tad Eggleston: doesn't get embarrassed, but to whatever lawyers are actually involved. I mean, I like…
• 20:10
  Tad Eggleston: Sometimes, you know, people are like, how can anybody still be backing him? When it comes to the people who are actually involved, who are actually doing things, they can't not back him.
• 20:22
  Phil: Right.
• 20:23
  Tad Eggleston: At this point, they are so all-in that their careers are over.
• 20:26
  Phil: Yeah, if they turn on them, they're… you're dead.
• 20:30
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, they might be dead-dead, but…
• 20:32
  Phil: Yeah, metaphorically or less.
• 20:34
  Tad Eggleston: But, like, if fascism doesn't win and hold for their lifetime, they will be held accountable, or at the very least will be unemployable.
• 20:44
  Phil: Yeah.
• 20:45
  Phil: out.
• 20:45
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 20:47
  Phil: That's where I just want to take a second and say, like, that… that hearing three government… three federal government agencies raiding an apartment building in Chicago, I…
• 20:58
  Tad Eggleston: At 10pm, without any warrants.
• 21:01
  Phil: Yeah. All of this, it's horrifying. It's absolutely horrifying, and to me, there's no amount… like, first of all, I don't believe the administration, when they say they're going after… they're going after any excuse to harass citizens at this point.
• 21:14
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 21:15
  Phil: So I don't… I don't believe them. Even if I did, I don't think that…
• 21:20
  Phil: Gang and drug activity is worth A trifecta of federal
• 21:25
  Phil: 8, like, that's just… that's just mind-blowing.
• 21:27
  Tad Eggleston: I don't think it's worth, like… Misappropriation resources.
• 21:30
  Phil: That, too! It's huge, yes, people have.
• 21:33
  Tad Eggleston: And speaking of non-due process, we blew up another speedboat outside of Venezuela.
• 21:38
  Phil: Oh my god.
• 21:41
  Phil: The fact that that's happened more than once, that's been happening.
• 21:44
  Tad Eggleston: I think that's 4 now? Maybe 5?
• 21:48
  Tad Eggleston: Apparently Stephen Miller is directing the strikes, another unelected…
• 21:53
  Phil: Mmm.
• 21:54
  Tad Eggleston: official?
• 21:57
  Tad Eggleston: And Yeah, I don't even care about that one.
• 22:07
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, this would be huge news if it was not this week, or… so, so let's actually… let's, let's jump in. The Homeland Security
• 22:19
  Tad Eggleston: Put up a video
• 22:22
  Tad Eggleston: That shows a bar with words in front that mimics that of early video games, saying, life after all criminal aliens are deported.
• 22:32
  Tad Eggleston: Behind the bar runs a series of images of the United States in the late 60s, 70s, and early 80s. It shows Trump himself as a young man in what appears to be the Trump Tower in New York City in the 1980s.
• 22:46
  Tad Eggleston: Nostalgia Co. for reclaiming Trump's glory days has tucked within it the McDonald's Mac Tonight moon image, an image used by white supremacists.
• 22:57
  Phil: Wow. I didn't… I didn't know about that white supremacist McDonald's image, but that's a…
• 23:03
  Tad Eggleston: I didn't either, but I trust.
• 23:05
  Phil: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:07
  Phil: I'm just saying that's another reason to stay away from McDonald's. And this is…
• 23:11
  Tad Eggleston: Well, I don't… they haven't used the Magnite in a long, long time.
• 23:16
  Tad Eggleston: I just, I… So, so, so…
• 23:18
  Phil: I haven't had.
• 23:18
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, I stay away from McDonald's, too.
• 23:20
  Phil: Yeah.
• 23:20
  Tad Eggleston: For any number of reasons.
• 23:23
  Tad Eggleston: But, like, that's not necessarily a fair plug-it-on-them.
• 23:28
  Phil: That's… okay.
• 23:29
  Tad Eggleston: It's reappropriation of their image after they have used it.
• 23:34
  Phil: And here's the thing, I haven't had McDonald's in, like, 2 years now, and I still get Big Mac cravings, so I am literally grasping at straws, any excuse I have to stay.
• 23:43
  Tad Eggleston: That's fair. That's fair. So,
• 23:47
  Tad Eggleston: And this is… I love Heather's, way of writing sometimes. The world depicted in that video reflects the period before Trump met convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But that story is not going away.
• 24:02
  Tad Eggleston: The House of Representatives was supposed to be back in session on Monday, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has sent members home until October 14th.
• 24:14
  Tad Eggleston: Representative Shelley Pingree noted today that Johnson appears to be delaying the swearing-in of newly elected Arizona Representative Adelita Gajalva, a Democrat. Gajalva says she will sign the discharge petition that will require the Speaker to bring to the House floor a vote
• 24:31
  Tad Eggleston: on instructing the Department of Justice to release the files from the investigation into Epstein's actions, which needs only one more signature to force the vote.
• 24:42
  Tad Eggleston: Regarding Johnson's declaration that the House will take another week away from the Capitol rather than coming back to negotiate a way to end the government shutdown and preserve Americans' access to healthcare, Pingree asked.
• 24:56
  Tad Eggleston: Is this about the shutdown?
• 24:58
  Tad Eggleston: Where's this about the Epstein files?
• 25:04
  Phil: Yeah, I mean, it… the fact that…
• 25:07
  Phil: they're… they're shutting down the government, and then attempting to blame Democrats is also pretty, no.
• 25:14
  Tad Eggleston: Well, particularly because, like, as with the last time they shut down the government.
• 25:20
  Tad Eggleston: They don't need Democratic votes.
• 25:24
  Phil: Exactly.
• 25:24
  Tad Eggleston: I'll open it.
• 25:25
  Phil: Exactly.
• 25:27
  Tad Eggleston: Like, everybody forgets that about the 35-day shutdown in… you know, the longest shutdown ever in Trump's… like…
• 25:38
  Tad Eggleston: They could've… they could've nuked the filibuster and just opened it on their own.
• 25:45
  Tad Eggleston: His own party killed his damn border wall.
• 25:51
  Phil: Yeah, there's…
• 25:52
  Tad Eggleston: point that they needed Democrats for… for that.
• 25:56
  Phil: Oh, yeah.
• 25:57
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 25:59
  Phil: They just… what they really need is a scapegoat, and it's clear that they've found it, and they.
• 26:04
  Tad Eggleston: Well, no, they… they… it's pretty clear that they've never found it. I mean, I'm not… I'm not big on the who to blame, and this is one that I actually think that the Democrats are better off, like.
• 26:21
  Tad Eggleston: Not pointing fingers as much as saying, you're damn right we let it get shut down, because… the option…
• 26:28
  Phil: Oh my goodness.
• 26:29
  Tad Eggleston: Because we don't fight for your healthcare.
• 26:31
  Phil: Yeah.
• 26:34
  Tad Eggleston: But…
• 26:36
  Tad Eggleston: But all polling data says that, like, by a 17-point margin, the American people are blaming the Republicans for the shutdown.
• 26:47
  Phil: That's good.
• 26:47
  Tad Eggleston: So…
• 26:48
  Phil: At least, you know.
• 26:50
  Tad Eggleston: So, yeah.
• 26:55
  Tad Eggleston: That's the world we live in, Phil.
• 26:57
  Phil: Yeah, it's pretty, it's a… It's not great. It's… it's…
• 27:03
  Tad Eggleston: I, I drive, I drive by Great Lakes every day.
• 27:08
  Phil: Great Lakes.
• 27:09
  Tad Eggleston: And the naval base, which is where… where they stage ice out of in Chicago.
• 27:14
  Phil: Wow.
• 27:16
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 27:19
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah… Yeah.
• 27:22
  Tad Eggleston: Anyway, let's talk some new-to-order comics, because there's some.
• 27:25
  Phil: There's a lot of good ones coming up.
• 27:27
  Tad Eggleston: There's some cool stuff. Christopher Cantwell and Alex Linz are getting to come back and conclude Briar Rose's journey in Briar Knight's Terror number one.
• 27:40
  Tad Eggleston: From Boom Entertainment, Briar Rose, and Spider finally share a moment of romantic bliss in the village of Highscrape, but the final challenge still awaits. The gang must navigate the perilous Falsewitch traps, the last barrier to reach Granded's lair.
• 27:58
  Tad Eggleston: And though the journey is treacherous, what awaits is even more so, with one last spell, we'll…
• 28:04
  Tad Eggleston: To revive Gendrid to the height of her powers? Will our heroes be prepared for the ultimate showdown?
• 28:12
  Tad Eggleston: This is out from Boom.
• 28:14
  Tad Eggleston: Comics on December 3rd. Very much looking forward to this.
• 28:21
  Phil: Alright, next up, we have Carmen Redclaw, Belly of the Beast number 1, from Ray Allen Mike McMiola?
• 28:28
  Phil: This is supernatural gun-for-hire and shapeshifting descendant of the notorious El Bagavante. Carmen Redclaw faces a new type of monster when investigating supposedly cursed ranchland. Something is killing the cattle in the area, but Carmen has to find out if it's really a beast to blame, or if humans are the real monsters here.
• 28:48
  Phil: That is from Dark Horse, in stores, January 7th.
• 28:54
  Tad Eggleston: The new space age, from Kenny Porter and Mike Becker, disgraced astronaut Mike Mitchell, has only ever had one true mission, to find his little brother Joey, who was abducted by aliens from a crop circle when they were little, but when Mark's shot
• 29:13
  Tad Eggleston: ShotShot?
• 29:14
  Tad Eggleston: or Hot Shot.
• 29:15
  Phil: Mmm.
• 29:17
  Tad Eggleston: They skipped a space there. When Mark's hotshot piloting gets him grounded and the last of the public space program defunded, Mark loses his only means of finding Joey out in space.
• 29:31
  Tad Eggleston: Until Mark's homemade scanning rig discovers the shocking truth about the crop circles, their instructions for space travel. Mark will need to uncover the hidden messages and have been left… that have been left on Earth
• 29:44
  Tad Eggleston: 4 years, and reverse engineer the magic that can finally help him find Joey. This is out from Mad Cave on December 17th.
• 29:57
  Phil: Alright, next up is WrestleHeist from Carl Starks.
• 30:02
  Tad Eggleston: Aisle!
• 30:03
  Phil: Kyle! Did I say Carl? I did say Carl. I'm so sorry. Kyle Starks.
• 30:08
  Phil: A former pro wrestler who has a brush with death thanks to a crooked promoter assembles a crew of fellow wrestlers he's screwed over to rob him blind from the biggest wrestling event of the… during the biggest wrestling event of the year.
• 30:22
  Phil: From outrageous, action-packed mind of multi-time Eisner nominee Kyle Starks, with eye-popping colors by Vladimir Popov, comes a no-holds-barred heist caper packed with body slams and backstabs in stores December 17th from Image Comics.
• 30:43
  Tad Eggleston: Some graphic novels. Charlie!
• 30:46
  Tad Eggleston: The funniest man in the world, Charles Chaplin.
• 30:50
  Tad Eggleston: By Seymour Schwast.
• 30:53
  Tad Eggleston: And Stephen Brower, Charlie, Charlie? Charles Chaplin, the funniest Man in the World, is a light-hearted comic biography of one of the most important cultural figures of the 20th century. Suitable for young readers and adults, and lovers of early comedians and films everywhere, Chaplin and his persona of the Little Tramp
• 31:11
  Tad Eggleston: Was a celebrity known around the world, humorously illustrated by legendary designer
• 31:17
  Tad Eggleston: Seymour Truast of Pushpin Studios fame.
• 31:21
  Tad Eggleston: With text based on Chaplin's own words by Stephen Brower, told in the first person, Charlie celebrates the life and films of the multi-talented actor, writer, director, and film score composer. Chaplin's film portfolio is wittily portrayed throughout, reflecting the subject's whimsical approach to filmmaking.
• 31:40
  Tad Eggleston: This will be in stores on December 3rd.
• 31:45
  Phil: Oh yeah, the art there looks absolutely charming.
• 31:49
  Tad Eggleston: No.
• 31:51
  Phil: Alright, next up, The Dragons of Paris from Joanne Sarr and Tony Sandoval.
• 31:58
  Phil: What if dragons invaded Paris during the Belle Epoch? Writer Joanne Svarr and illustrator Tony Sandoval weave their imaginations into a canvas of adventures, battles, sacrifices, love, and humor. A folkloric, playful, and liberating journey told in breathtaking epic beauty.
• 32:15
  Phil: Paris, 1900. For thousands of years, dragons have lived hidden from everyone, sealed in statues and gargoyles throughout the city.
• 32:22
  Phil: Legend has it that only the sacrifice of a being of great magic can protect Paris from their wrath and maintain their slumber. But when a roguish Hawaiian princess rescues a mermaid from suspicious danger, the malevolent shadow of dragons grows once again over the city of lights. From the catacombs to the pravi of Notre Dame, a romance is born under the awakening of a thousand-year-old evil.
• 32:47
  Phil: in stores December 3rd, Rum, only… er, no.
• 32:53
  Tad Eggleston: Magnetic and Oni. Magnetic, magnetic…
• 32:56
  Phil: I can only? Okay.
• 32:57
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah. Yeah.
• 32:59
  Phil: Gotcha. I thought it was gonna be Oni, but it… okay, I was half right.
• 33:02
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 33:03
  Tad Eggleston: The Exile by Eric Creek.
• 33:09
  Tad Eggleston: 223 Mocha Arts Fest Award of Excellence recipient. After 7 years of exile, Battle Hardened Holstein Thortson.
• 33:19
  Tad Eggleston: returns home to Iceland only to find that old wounds haven't healed. His stepmother, Solvig.
• 33:28
  Tad Eggleston: and his half-brother, Otar, are besieged by wood thieves directed by her unwelcome suitor, Einar. The exile's presence disrupts the delicate balance and threatens to tip all of Iceland into violence. A remarkable, decades-spanning epic.
• 33:48
  Tad Eggleston: By Eric Creek's The Exile is equal parts action, western, and family drama, with a surprising story of violence and consequences at its core.
• 33:59
  Tad Eggleston: Told in a naturalistic modern style, but with tremendous fidelity to the historical period in which it is set, the exile depicts the Viking Age in all its conflict, turmoil, and social structure, with every detail depicted vividly on the page.
• 34:16
  Tad Eggleston: Hailing from the Netherlands, Creek is an internationally decorated illustrator known for his work on In the Pines and Gutsman, lushly told with gorgeous, traditionally
• 34:28
  Tad Eggleston: drawn brushwork, and a limited palette illustration style reminiscent of the great three-color illustrators of the 40s and 50s. Creek's art is alternately breezy and gritty, but always stunning, whether he's depicting a full-blown Viking battle or a wearying sea voyage.
• 34:47
  Tad Eggleston: From Uncivilized Books. This'll be out on December 10th.
• 34:52
  Tad Eggleston: I'm gonna be at,
• 34:55
  Tad Eggleston: da-da-da-da, the Pretty Good Fest, Comics and Zine Fest, in Chicago later today. Uncivilized will be there. I'm kind of curious as to whether Tom will already have copies of this.
• 35:07
  Phil: Yeah, I was gonna say, that looks and sounds absolutely stunning. I was gonna say, I'm sure someone… one of my mutuals on Blue Sky, Jess Nevins, will… would love to read that, because I know he's developing a, Viking Age role-playing game, and is a… a Viking scholar.
• 35:27
  Tad Eggleston: Uncivilized Books just puts out ridiculously well.
• 35:30
  Phil: Oh, yeah.
• 35:31
  Tad Eggleston: Stuff.
• 35:32
  Phil: I… every… every… I think every solicit that I've read from them have been like, damn, it sounds really good, I gotta read that.
• 35:37
  Phil: Next up, we've got Stray Volume 1, not the Stray series with cats, a different one, from Ryo Kamio and Yu Nakahara. From the hit creators of Last Inning follow an ex-convict's path to redemption riddled with vengeance, betrayal, and deadly conspiracies. The stakes are too high for him to strike out off the pitch.
• 36:01
  Phil: After serving 9 years for a crime he didn't commit, Hachia Ken is free, but his past is far from behind him.
• 36:10
  Phil: Released from prison, he's confronted by Hana, the fiery daughter of a ghost from his past. Together, they're forced to navigate a deadly web of betrayal, Yakuza power, and political corruption. In stores December 3rd, from… is this Titan?
• 36:27
  Phil: Titan. Yeah. Okay, from Titan.
• 36:34
  Tad Eggleston: some collections, fire and ice hell freezes over.
• 36:41
  Tad Eggleston: Of course, I gotta go through… there we go. From Joanne Starer and Steven Byrne, opposites attract chaos when fire and ice find themselves swapping powers!
• 36:53
  Tad Eggleston: And spiraling into an all-new disaster. Fire and ice are back in action, just not how they planned.
• 37:01
  Tad Eggleston: After briefly reclaiming their Justice League status during absolute power, the duo is left dealing with an unexpected side effect. Fire now wields ice, and ice bursts into flames. No solution in sight, they retreat to Smallville, hoping for a quiet reset. But when a magical mishap turns their predicament from bad to worse.
• 37:22
  Tad Eggleston: Their small-town sanctuary becomes the epicenter of another catastrophe. Can these best friends fix their powers before they burn or freeze everything to the ground?
• 37:35
  Tad Eggleston: Joanne, Sarah and Stephen Byrne bring heart humor and high-stakes hijinks into this must-read adventure.
• 37:44
  Tad Eggleston: This is from DC Comics, and it's out on January 27th.
• 37:49
  Tad Eggleston: I love what Joe and Sarah has done with Bayard Ice. They've been…
• 37:54
  Tad Eggleston: Both of the… both of the series have been just…
• 37:58
  Phil: She's definitely…
• 37:58
  Tad Eggleston: fun.
• 37:59
  Phil: It sounds, it sounds absolutely delightful.
• 38:03
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, this one's really good, too.
• 38:04
  Phil: Very nice. This is The Pale Night from Peter Milligan and Val Rodriguez, England, 1349.
• 38:14
  Phil: Sir Hugh de Gray, the Pale Knight, returns from war to find a land ravaged by the Black Death, and his son dying of the plague. When he prays to God to save his son's life, it is not God who answers, but death himself. And death is willing to cut a deal. The Pale Knight is a horrifying descent to defendantasmagorical hell. In stores December 24th from Mad Cave.
• 38:42
  Tad Eggleston: 180… Final order cutoff this week.
• 38:49
  Tad Eggleston: Monday, October 13th.
• 38:51
  Tad Eggleston: For Globetrotters, Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Byland's World Tour from Julian Village and Julie Rochello from Abrams, out November 5th. Harley and Ivy, Life and Crimes, number 1, from Erica Henderson at DC Comics, out November 5th.
• 39:09
  Tad Eggleston: Huge Detective, such a good book.
• 39:12
  Tad Eggleston: The collection from Adam Rose, Magenta King, and Dalt Dalton, out from Titan Comics on November 5th. I Am Their Silence by Jordy Lefebre, out from Dark Horse on January 20th.
• 39:25
  Tad Eggleston: John LeCare's The Circus, Losing Control, number one, from Matt Kent and Ibrahim Mustafa, out from Dark Horse on November 19th, and Mickey Mouse, The Phantom Blots, Double Revenge, number one, from Andrea Castellan, Ted Osborne, Simone Ciel Albrigi, Joe Torkivia.
• 39:47
  Tad Eggleston: Roberto Avian, Floyd Gottfridson, and Stefano Intini, out from Banta Graphics on November 19th.
• 40:04
  Tad Eggleston: You're laughing, because.
• 40:05
  Phil: I am laughing.
• 40:06
  Tad Eggleston: I had to change it on the fly.
• 40:08
  Phil: It, yeah, that's okay, that's okay. It, it, it was, it was…
• 40:14
  Tad Eggleston: We're still crowdfunding right now. We have the Zach Quaintance and Anna Redman's Macabre Belly. Go back and listen to our interview with Zach.
• 40:24
  Phil: We had a lot of fun.
• 40:25
  Tad Eggleston: I hate to take away from Zach here, but I should have also said, go back and listen to the talk with Adam Rose and Magenta King on Huge Detective. Like, because we've… we've talked to Adam twice, and Magenta once, with Adam. Comic Shop Anthology, Lifeline Comics, on…
• 40:44
  Tad Eggleston: Kickstarter through October 23rd. Dracula Book 3, The Count.
• 40:50
  Tad Eggleston: for Matt Wagner and Kelly Jones on Kickstarter through October 30th.
• 40:55
  Tad Eggleston: Feeling Messed Up, from David F. Walker on Kickstarter through October 30th. Our long national nightmare from political cartoonist Tom Tamaro on Kickstarter till, through October 30th.
• 41:09
  Tad Eggleston: Lots of books.
• 41:11
  Tad Eggleston: That I'm gonna have to pay for during the last couple of days in October.
• 41:20
  Tad Eggleston: The Dead and the Damn number 3 from Sebastian Gerner and Kelly Williams from Goats Flying Press on Kickstarter until October 31st, and the Comic Scoria issue number 3 from Tiffany Babb.
• 41:33
  Tad Eggleston: on Kickstarter through November 1st.
• 41:37
  Phil: the, the dangerous game of Kickstarter, you know? Pledge, pledge now, you know, happy now when you pledge, and sad later when you pay.
• 41:45
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 41:48
  Tad Eggleston: Particularly when they all come together.
• 41:54
  Tad Eggleston: So yeah.
• 41:56
  Tad Eggleston: some amazing books this week. They're all terrible, number one and two. Like, it says it's reprinting it, but, like, I keep meaning to look this up. I don't remember this ever…
• 42:09
  Phil: Coming out.
• 42:10
  Phil: I remember…
• 42:11
  Tad Eggleston: war.
• 42:11
  Phil: hearing about it coming out before, because I follow Ramon, and so I'd seen art of it and whatnot. It was a while ago. There's a pretty big gap between…
• 42:21
  Tad Eggleston: Okay, I guess, okay, okay, okay, no, I'm seeing this now. It was, it was the second round of, of,
• 42:34
  Tad Eggleston: Bad Idea books I didn't do, because the bad idea shop that I was going to…
• 42:46
  Tad Eggleston: And stop carrying.
• 42:48
  Tad Eggleston: Bad idea.
• 42:49
  Phil: Oh, so you missed it.
• 42:51
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah…
• 42:54
  Phil: Dang.
• 42:55
  Tad Eggleston: Issue 1 and 2.
• 42:57
  Tad Eggleston: came out. Yes.
• 42:58
  Phil: your day.
• 42:58
  Tad Eggleston: Because they're… they're finally gonna continue.
• 43:01
  Phil: Yesterday?
• 43:02
  Tad Eggleston: Well, not yesterday.
• 43:05
  Phil: Sorry.
• 43:06
  Tad Eggleston: I bought it yesterday, because my show didn't… my store didn't actually have it, but…
• 43:12
  Phil: Oh, wow.
• 43:14
  Tad Eggleston: But… but, da-da-da-da-da… Viva…
• 43:20
  Tad Eggleston: has Bad Idea Digital Comics, so…
• 43:24
  Phil: Okay.
• 43:25
  Tad Eggleston: There you go. So, I bought it yesterday and read it this morning.
• 43:29
  Phil: It was good, I picked it up too.
• 43:32
  Tad Eggleston: It was… it was… it was very, very, very good. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes, because my God, was there a fantastic choice at the end. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 43:45
  Phil: It really was.
• 43:46
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, it wasn't… wasn't completely shocking, given the…
• 43:49
  Phil: Yo.
• 43:50
  Tad Eggleston: Title of the book?
• 43:52
  Phil: I still didn't quite see it coming, though.
• 43:56
  Tad Eggleston: But… it was… it was shocking enough…
• 44:00
  Tad Eggleston: Particularly with, like, all of them
• 44:05
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, it looks like it came out originally in 2022 from…
• 44:10
  Phil: Yeah.
• 44:11
  Tad Eggleston: Bad idea.
• 44:13
  Tad Eggleston: But they only got the first two out, so they re-released the first two, with 3 and 4 coming out.
• 44:21
  Tad Eggleston: Going forward.
• 44:23
  Phil: I mean, I… I think… I think that's a… that's a pretty good strategy, you know?
• 44:26
  Tad Eggleston: It is.
• 44:27
  Phil: Especially.
• 44:28
  Tad Eggleston: Total roads.
• 44:29
  Phil: Yeah. I mean… It's… it's a great way to, you know.
• 44:35
  Phil: be, like, a… a primer of, like, hey… especially because, like, I know that… that Ramon is… is…
• 44:42
  Phil: he works traditionally, so, like, all of that art, he does all the stifling, he just… it's so packed with detail.
• 44:51
  Phil: absolutely ridiculous pages that are… that are gorgeous, and, like, it takes time, and I respect that, and that's why I'm glad that he… from what I've heard, it sounds like he's… he's pretty happy with Bad Idea. I hope… I think I remember hearing that he might have his own
• 45:07
  Phil: book, hopefully he might get to do that after this.
• 45:09
  Tad Eggleston: I'm pretty certain that everybody who's… I mean, everybody I've talked to that's worked for Bad Idea has been
• 45:16
  Tad Eggleston: happy with working for Bad Idea.
• 45:19
  Phil: Twitter.
• 45:20
  Tad Eggleston: They pay on time, they pay well, they don't rush you.
• 45:23
  Phil: All of these things make for a solid, strong comics publisher.
• 45:28
  Phil: Who'd have thunk it?
• 45:30
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 45:31
  Tad Eggleston: So yeah, that was… that was… amazing.
• 45:44
  Phil: Tad is now going down the rabbit hole of, of, looking.
• 45:47
  Tad Eggleston: I am, and frustrated because, like,
• 45:56
  Tad Eggleston: I, I, I, I,
• 46:03
  Tad Eggleston: I hate it when it doesn't keep me signed in to League of Comic Geeks, because I.
• 46:07
  Phil: I have.
• 46:07
  Tad Eggleston: my paid… Oh, he contributed to the Copra fanzine?
• 46:15
  Phil: That sounds likely. I mean, I… he had a, podcast a little while…
• 46:20
  Tad Eggleston: fancying from life.
• 46:23
  Phil: That's awesome! But yeah, he, he interviewed me at Cal 5.
• 46:28
  Phil: I'm on an episode of his podcast, Mex Fantayo.
• 46:33
  Tad Eggleston: at,
• 46:38
  Tad Eggleston: This is a… this is kind of… I hadn't flipped through it yet. This is kind of a who's who of various people involved in the fan scene. Yeah.
• 46:49
  Phil: This is… this is making me realize I need to… I need to go catch up and finish COPRA.
• 46:53
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, no, I need you, too. I need you, too.
• 46:56
  Tad Eggleston: I did have a nice conversation with Mike Calfefe… my wife.
• 47:02
  Phil: That.
• 47:03
  Tad Eggleston: At CXC, and hopefully we will have him on at some point.
• 47:09
  Phil: Definitely being cool.
• 47:10
  Tad Eggleston: Also amazing this week was Kaya, number 30, from West Craig. Kind of wraps up
• 47:18
  Tad Eggleston: Oh, it wraps up a chapter, and I think it's gonna represent a pretty major…
• 47:22
  Tad Eggleston: Inflection point in the series.
• 47:25
  Tad Eggleston: And, Matt Fraction, continues to deliver on Batman.
• 47:33
  Tad Eggleston: As much as it frustrates me that…
• 47:36
  Tad Eggleston: That I must buy Batman. The book that everybody buys, the book that me
• 47:42
  Tad Eggleston: Great, we'll move the sales, not one iota.
• 47:49
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, even if everybody listening to my voice bought a copy of Batman, it would increase the sales by less than a fraction of 1%.
• 48:01
  Tad Eggleston: So, whereas with, like, Kaya, if everybody listening bought a voice, or bought a copy, you know.
• 48:08
  Phil: That probably helps.
• 48:10
  Tad Eggleston: pretty certain Kaya sells in, like, the 5,000 range, so, like…
• 48:16
  Tad Eggleston: 30… 30 new subscribers would be a big deal.
• 48:21
  Tad Eggleston: I mean…
• 48:21
  Phil: Yep, that, you know, honestly, $5,000 for… for issue 30, that sounds like a pretty healthy level for… for an indie series, I'd hope.
• 48:28
  Tad Eggleston: I… I think… I think… and that's why I'm guessing 5,000. I get the impression that it's… it's at a healthy level.
• 48:37
  Tad Eggleston: But not, like… A massively profitable level.
• 48:43
  Phil: Hmm.
• 48:43
  Tad Eggleston: I have a feeling that, like, Kaya is keeping Wes' name out there, and not losing money, and that.
• 48:52
  Tad Eggleston: And that he's making his living selling original Kaya art, and… Commissions.
• 49:00
  Tad Eggleston: If that makes sense.
• 49:02
  Phil: Oh, absolutely, yeah.
• 49:03
  Tad Eggleston: You know, so, yeah. So, so take us on a walk, Phil.
• 49:10
  Phil: Alrighty, I'm walking here. This is… so, this is the week that Good Devils Don't Play Fair with Evil one-shot from Nick Dragata, and David Brothers from Image Comics came out, that unfortunately I didn't get to pick up, because I had forgotten to pre-order it from my shop. They didn't have.
• 49:27
  Tad Eggleston: I did, it was good, though I was a little bit disappointed that it was actually reprints, not news stories, and I.
• 49:33
  Phil: I don't think I picked.
• 49:34
  Tad Eggleston: that up before.
• 49:35
  Phil: Interesting.
• 49:36
  Tad Eggleston: Including one from the Shortbox Comic Fair in 2023.
• 49:39
  Phil: Very exciting. Well, I… I don't think…
• 49:41
  Tad Eggleston: But half of it I'd read before because it was backup stories in New Bern.
• 49:45
  Phil: Gotcha. So it's all gonna be new for me, so that's gonna be exciting. But the good news is that, when I asked my shop, they were still able to get another,
• 49:54
  Phil: still able to get more copies in. They ordered, several more. In hindsight, I should have egged them on to order even more. I should have said, hey, how many Absolute Batmans do you sell in a month? You know, you could probably get at least half of those.
• 50:06
  Phil: Next, there was, but so then, since I didn't pick that up, I grabbed Issue 1 of, The Author Immortal from, Frank Barbary and Morgan Beam. That was…
• 50:15
  Phil: really good. That was very exciting. The premise sounded super, super interesting before, so it was a nice little… little pick-me-up. And of course, I also got, They're All Terrible, which was…
• 50:26
  Phil: Very fun, very exciting, looking forward to the rest of that miniseries. And then, lastly, I just wanted to plug and say, hey, Jawstone is an incredible comics artist, comics person. They do the Art of Comics podcast, where they do deep dives, talks on books that are really great. They actually created the Nebulous, identity flag with the palette based on the Pillars of Creation.
• 50:51
  Phil: for, you know, a different flavor of they-them that I find really charming and wonderful. And they're just, they're going through a hard time right now, so if you've heard of them.
• 51:00
  Phil: and… want to find an excuse to support them, please do, on Patreon or Ko-fi, anything that…
• 51:07
  Tad Eggleston: It actually looks like it needs to be on Ko-fi, because they're having Patreon issues.
• 51:13
  Phil: Oh, no!
• 51:15
  Phil: I didn't quite read that… that far into it, I just, like, I saw, oh, Jaws needs help, let's help Jaws. But no.
• 51:22
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, no, they deleted their gallery on Patreon because they got flagged with an adult content marker.
• 51:30
  Phil: Oh my god.
• 51:31
  Tad Eggleston: But Patreon wasn't willing to tell them, like, why.
• 51:36
  Phil: I mean, I… I imagine it was… it was for some kind of, you know, slightly erotic art, which, you know.
• 51:44
  Tad Eggleston: Well, but it sounds…
• 51:45
  Phil: What the hell are you for?
• 51:46
  Tad Eggleston: It looks like… it looks like they had separate accounts, because…
• 51:49
  Phil: Oh, that's even more appalling, then.
• 51:53
  Phil: What the hell?
• 51:55
  Tad Eggleston: I'm looking at that they're safe for work one.
• 51:58
  Phil: Yeah.
• 52:00
  Phil: Oh my gosh, that is… hmm.
• 52:02
  Phil: Isn't it.
• 52:03
  Tad Eggleston: They give no indication of which posts they specifically refer to.
• 52:07
  Tad Eggleston: No opportunity to remove the offending drawings.
• 52:15
  Tad Eggleston: So, the only place that they're active as of now is on Blue Sky.
• 52:26
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah…
• 52:33
  Tad Eggleston: And I've seen a couple of people have… this sort of…
• 52:39
  Tad Eggleston: thing going on with Patreon, which is kind of a pain in the neck.
• 52:44
  Phil: I'd heard of… I'd heard of it happening to others before, for sure.
• 52:52
  Phil: Yeah, that's, yeah, that's… that's a…
• 52:55
  Tad Eggleston: They're not as transparent as they should be, it sounds like.
• 52:59
  Phil: Yeah.
• 52:59
  Tad Eggleston: It also kind of looks like they… Sure, Patreon.
• 53:03
  Tad Eggleston: It kind of looks like they've handed some of their, customer service over to AI.
• 53:11
  Phil: Boom.
• 53:13
  Phil: I wanna talk to people.
• 53:15
  Phil: AI has not been able to help me over the phone with anything. Every time, my wife… my wife's tech is to just say as calmly as possible, speak to a representative, speak to a representative, speak.
• 53:27
  Tad Eggleston: Oh, yeah.
• 53:27
  Phil: a representative.
• 53:29
  Tad Eggleston: Oh, yeah.
• 53:30
  Phil: Yeah.
• 53:31
  Tad Eggleston: No, I get it.
• 53:32
  Tad Eggleston: That's… that's the type of thing that I do, too.
• 53:37
  Tad Eggleston: So yeah, that's a shame.
• 53:39
  Phil: Yeah.
• 53:44
  Tad Eggleston: Not that a lot of people have followed our Patreon yet. Patreon.com slash 22panels podcast.
• 53:52
  Tad Eggleston: Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Adam.
• 53:56
  Tad Eggleston: It actually…
• 53:57
  Phil: Is Adam a Short Box Comics Fair fan? Could we turn him on to Short Box Comics Fair?
• 54:04
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, Adam's my little brother, and I don't know if he's got, like, the funding, but we could. Adam, you should definitely check out Shortbox Comics Fair.
• 54:17
  Phil: Yoho.
• 54:17
  Tad Eggleston: Probably find some digital comics that you'd like.
• 54:19
  Phil: It's Andy. Andy should check out.
• 54:21
  Tad Eggleston: Andy should totally check out.
• 54:24
  Phil: Yes.
• 54:24
  Tad Eggleston: Andy, Patreon stopped taking his money, and he could never figure out why, so he started sending it to us directly.
• 54:32
  Phil: Oh, well, what a mention.
• 54:33
  Tad Eggleston: So, so, like, Patreon doesn't get their cut because they…
• 54:37
  Phil: Hey.
• 54:38
  Tad Eggleston: They stopped resi… yeah.
• 54:41
  Phil: I like the sound of those supporters, you know?
• 54:44
  Phil: Give… give us an excuse to cut out another middleman.
• 54:48
  Tad Eggleston: Right, so, yeah… yeah, yeah.
• 54:53
  Tad Eggleston: So, support JAWS on, on Ko-Fi.
• 54:59
  Phil: Yes! So Fort Jaws on Ko-Fi, please.
• 55:06
  Phil: Ted, I hear this week you got back to One Piece.
• 55:10
  Tad Eggleston: I did, I read another volume, and it was good.
• 55:14
  Phil: Yeah? Is our… how… how's the development? Are things… are things, escalating?
• 55:19
  Tad Eggleston: We finished up our backstory with… with, luffy and Ace.
• 55:26
  Tad Eggleston: And now… now the band's getting back together.
• 55:31
  Tad Eggleston: And, and Luffy may or may not have… Declared the… New era of pirates.
• 55:45
  Phil: Mmm…
• 55:47
  Tad Eggleston: So… Serious turning point.
• 55:52
  Phil: I feel like we just talked about serious turning points.
• 55:55
  Tad Eggleston: For, for other things, too.
• 55:58
  Tad Eggleston: Kai. Oh, yeah.
• 55:59
  Phil: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's… it's a time to turn. Not that… not that it was a new volume of… of One Piece, but no, this is… this is a little teaser just for you, and also a plug, if anyone hasn't listened to, our die actual play, 22 Panels No More, I'm really proud of it. I think our most recent episode especially was a great jumping-on point, because we welcomed in a new player, recapped a bunch of stuff, and a little teaser, because next weekend.
• 56:24
  Phil: and we are playing again, there, there might be some piracy! There might be, there might be some pirates coming, you know?
• 56:30
  Phil: Okay.
• 56:31
  Tad Eggleston: Okay, I dig pirates.
• 56:33
  Phil: I would be shocked. Anyone who doesn't dig pirates is kind of a, wait, what's wrong with you? Why not?
• 56:41
  Phil: You know, pirates are fun, what…
• 56:43
  Tad Eggleston: On, on, on, on one hand, like…
• 56:46
  Tad Eggleston: we really shouldn't dig pirates, because, like…
• 56:50
  Tad Eggleston: Fictional characters are fun. They tend to be really, really horrible individuals.
• 56:55
  Phil: Fictional pirates are a good old time. Real life pirates? Please no.
• 57:00
  Tad Eggleston: You know, it's, it's one of those, those, crazy places where, where,
• 57:12
  Tad Eggleston: That's the word I'm looking for, really horrible people manage to, to, to have, have,
• 57:23
  Tad Eggleston: Fantastic legends and storytelling come up around them anyway?
• 57:29
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 57:30
  Phil: camp.
• 57:32
  Phil: You know, which, I mean… I'm just… I am…
• 57:38
  Phil: Struggling to think of a, you know, historical, adventuring archetype that doesn't have a dirty… dirty truth behind them, you know?
• 57:51
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, like, the closest you get is… is, like…
• 57:57
  Tad Eggleston: Which Cassidy does tend to have, like, gone out of his way not to kill people.
• 58:06
  Tad Eggleston: But he was still a… robber, and it's not clear that he DIDN'T kill people.
• 58:14
  Tad Eggleston: you know, like, like, the scene in the movie where they used too much dynamite on the car, I mean, that happened, but they also, like, very much separated it from the rest of the train before they did it.
• 58:27
  Phil: Okay.
• 58:28
  Tad Eggleston: You know…
• 58:29
  Phil: So it wasn't a complete monster, is what you're telling me.
• 58:32
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, like, but, like,
• 58:42
  Tad Eggleston: by contrast, Jesse James is, like, a thousand times worse than he's normally portrayed. I'm sure.
• 58:49
  Phil: I am absolutely sure, holy shit, you know.
• 58:53
  Tad Eggleston: Jesse James was literally the South will ride again.
• 58:57
  Tad Eggleston: He was, he was part of… I forget what the…
• 59:01
  Tad Eggleston: There was a group of… of…
• 59:05
  Tad Eggleston: Missouri, I forget what they call themselves, but, like, they're a particularly gruesome group of… of…
• 59:14
  Tad Eggleston: Missouri, we'll call it a militia, sure, why not? That, like, Terrorized the region.
• 59:25
  Tad Eggleston: For years after the… war ended.
• 59:32
  Tad Eggleston: kind of a precursor to the Ku Klux Klan, and with much more willingness to, to, to, like, open slaughter.
• 59:44
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 59:46
  Tad Eggleston: That's where Jesse James… like… made his name.
• 59:53
  Tad Eggleston: And then was, you know…
• 59:56
  Tad Eggleston: Billy the Kid, you know, like, the Young Guns movies actually, like, capture the story in some ways better than a lot.
• 1:00:07
  Tad Eggleston: Except for the fact that they kinda, like, lionized the kid. Like, he might have been on the righteous side of a really bad turf war, but…
• 1:00:23
  Tad Eggleston: But, like, that's the best part that you can say about him. He was certainly a shoot-first, ask questions later.
• 1:00:32
  Tad Eggleston: You know, there is evidence that Doc Holliday shot somebody for snoring.
• 1:00:37
  Tad Eggleston: Mmm. Yeah, that's… that's a… it's a temperamental person right there. You know, I mean, yeah. And this is… this is… this is actually the argument that I often use, when… when… when people are… are… are complaining that,
• 1:00:54
  Tad Eggleston: the… that they got rid of the expanded universe in Star Wars. I'm like, no, they didn't.
• 1:01:04
  Phil: Silica.
• 1:01:05
  Tad Eggleston: Brent, they just call it Legends now.
• 1:01:07
  Phil: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:08
  Tad Eggleston: And, like, there's the history of Billy Kidd, and there's the legend of Billy Kidd, and they're both valid, and frankly, the legend's a lot more fun.
• 1:01:17
  Tad Eggleston: I'm… oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's… that is the thing.
• 1:01:20
  Phil: is that it is… well, I guess the one… the one historical figure that seems like, her truth is getting more interesting than fiction would be Harriet Tubman.
• 1:01:31
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah?
• 1:01:32
  Phil: You know? But it is rare when you find someone who can outlive their legend.
• 1:01:38
  Tad Eggleston: No.
• 1:01:39
  Phil: Yeah.
• 1:01:39
  Tad Eggleston: Well, I mean, and it's commonly a woman of color.
• 1:01:45
  Phil: And yeah, it's usually people who didn't get enough respect in the first place.
• 1:01:50
  Tad Eggleston: Right, right.
• 1:01:52
  Phil: Yeah.
• 1:01:54
  Tad Eggleston: So, this is actually not a bad segue to, know your station.
• 1:02:02
  Phil: So, Phil, this is your first read. What did you think? It was. You know… It's… it's interesting.
• 1:02:10
  Phil: Because I am realizing Tad has shared his screen, I'm now seeing the art on, in double-page spreads. I read this on my phone, and I gotta say, that was… that was definitely not the move. If you have the chance to read this on a large screen, do that.
• 1:02:26
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 1:02:27
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, the story's… the story's powerful enough that it's not terrible to read it panel by panel, but…
• 1:02:33
  Phil: And that was the problem.
• 1:02:34
  Tad Eggleston: But you miss out on a lot of Leanna Kangas's… Layout and design, and… yeah.
• 1:02:42
  Phil: Yeah, that was the problem, is I wasn't reading it panel to panel. I was reading it zoomed out, and then zooming in when I need to…
• 1:02:48
  Tad Eggleston: When there was a…
• 1:02:48
  Phil: bubble I couldn't quite get, so it's… it's literally, there… there were details and elements of composition that were too compressed for me to appreciate, you know?
• 1:02:58
  Tad Eggleston: Mmm…
• 1:02:59
  Phil: Yeah, so, so I definitely…
• 1:03:01
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, because I bring up the panel by panel because there are lots of Easter egg type things that wind up mattering a ton more later.
• 1:03:11
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, like, particularly, like…
• 1:03:16
  Tad Eggleston: This room, when you go through and, like…
• 1:03:21
  Tad Eggleston: look at what's going on. It's, like, valuable to be able to zoom in and…
• 1:03:28
  Tad Eggleston: And take a better look at the art on the walls.
• 1:03:33
  Tad Eggleston: That sort of thing.
• 1:03:37
  Tad Eggleston: So… yeah… So, I mean, one of my favorite things… is… Finance staff members.
• 1:03:54
  Tad Eggleston: serve and support CFO Alberto Fairmilk. The nations of the world pooled their capital in an effort to save humanity. Alberto leveraged carceral resources to turn that funding into groundbreaking profit.
• 1:04:12
  Tad Eggleston: Think about that sentence for a second. Yeah.
• 1:04:16
  Phil: Yeah… yeah. Our soul…
• 1:04:19
  Tad Eggleston: Resources.
• 1:04:21
  Phil: Yeah…
• 1:04:22
  Phil: That's, that, that was definitely another thing, I mean, which… and right… right beneath that, they have little, for finance staff orientation, select diamond symbol. For all other staff roles, select circle symbol. I really loved a lot of the graphic design elements.
• 1:04:40
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:04:40
  Phil: this, I felt like there were some really interesting applications. The first page, seeing the, the editing
• 1:04:50
  Phil: process of a catchphrase, I thought was a really interesting start to the book, and the kind of thing that I don't think I'd seen that technique in comics before, and I think it worked really well in comic form.
• 1:05:06
  Phil: But, but yeah, I… this is gonna be a book that I'm gonna need to come back to, and I'm gonna need to reread again, because…
• 1:05:12
  Tad Eggleston: Oh, I have… I have… yeah, this is, like, already.
• 1:05:14
  Phil: gas.
• 1:05:15
  Tad Eggleston: 6th or 7th read.
• 1:05:16
  Phil: Well, and that's the thing.
• 1:05:17
  Tad Eggleston: And I see new things every time.
• 1:05:21
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, again, it was, like, the third time
• 1:05:24
  Tad Eggleston: That the meaning of the word carceral.
• 1:05:27
  Tad Eggleston: Sunk into me.
• 1:05:29
  Tad Eggleston: It was, like, the third read that I went, oh wait, the richest dude here is the one that owns the prisons.
• 1:05:36
  Phil: Yep.
• 1:05:36
  Phil: Yep.
• 1:05:38
  Tad Eggleston: Yep.
• 1:05:39
  Phil: Yeah, yeah, that is… and, and…
• 1:05:42
  Phil: That was another element that I… I was… I was going so fast that I know I missed a lot of those things.
• 1:05:49
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, Jesus.
• 1:05:50
  Phil: this is a dense book. There's a lot of ideas packed into it, and it's… it's also very subtle, in that, like, even as I was reading it, I… I noticed… which nowad is on probably one of my favorite pages of the book, where, the main character
• 1:06:09
  Phil: Stinks into bed.
• 1:06:11
  Phil: with the blankets wrapping around them, and a slight, like, distortion effect. I have felt that way rolling myself up into covers before, so I thought that was a really strong.
• 1:06:22
  Tad Eggleston: Well, and you weren't even going through withdrawal from a powerful drug.
• 1:06:27
  Phil: I wasn't.
• 1:06:28
  Tad Eggleston: That your employer got you hooked on.
• 1:06:30
  Phil: Right, right, that, yeah, that was probably another part that I didn't quite put together, that, oh, this, this drug is, is coming from the employer.
• 1:06:39
  Tad Eggleston: Or at least from the employer's AI.
• 1:06:42
  Phil: Yeah, yeah, that, for sure.
• 1:06:48
  Tad Eggleston: So here's a big question, because, like.
• 1:06:51
  Phil: Huh.
• 1:06:51
  Tad Eggleston: the AI did definitely attain sentience.
• 1:06:56
  Phil: Right.
• 1:06:56
  Tad Eggleston: which is… which is something that, like, our current AIs are… are still, like… Yes.
• 1:07:03
  Phil: 20 miles away. Yeah.
• 1:07:04
  Tad Eggleston: Current machine learning.
• 1:07:09
  Tad Eggleston: But, like… didn't want its programmer to know that it had sentience. It made a couple of friends.
• 1:07:16
  Phil: Started making art.
• 1:07:19
  Tad Eggleston: was kind of pissed off at the art that it was asked to make. I thought that was some great commentary on AI art.
• 1:07:25
  Phil: Yeah.
• 1:07:26
  Tad Eggleston: They don't want to let me take credit for it, and… and… they're always asking for dumb things. Put me in this picture!
• 1:07:34
  Phil: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:07:37
  Phil: It's… it's one of those… and I think that was… that was another piece of it that, you know, for… for anyone who hasn't heard me, seethe with rage about AI before, I don't like it. I don't like it a lot.
• 1:07:49
  Phil: And to the point where, in instances like this, when there's a book that contains a character that's an AI, it… it kind of…
• 1:07:58
  Phil: it rubs me the wrong way, even when their views on AI align with my own in this. I don't think this book was a champion for AI in any way, shape, or form. It was definitely a cautionary tale that, hey,
• 1:08:12
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, as it turns out, they decided that this AI was okay.
• 1:08:17
  Phil: And decided to feed it more supplies for its artwork.
• 1:08:21
  Tad Eggleston: Right. But seeing as its supplies for its artwork is billionaires.
• 1:08:30
  Tad Eggleston: You know, I mean, this is where I go back to, like, I think, no technology is inherently good or bad, it's all how you use it.
• 1:08:41
  Phil: Yeah, it's… and it's… it's difficult for me to…
• 1:08:44
  Tad Eggleston: He says, as he looks at the, at the, at the mobile of Hanging Glen… Yes.
• 1:08:50
  Phil: Yeah, and as I say, with a… you know, it is as difficult as it is for me to wholeheartedly agree with you about that in regards to AI,
• 1:09:02
  Phil: I, I at least acknowledge.
• 1:09:03
  Tad Eggleston: Well, and this is one of the reasons that I hate to say… I just… like, I try to reject the word AI, because that's a marketing term, not what it is.
• 1:09:13
  Phil: Absolutely.
• 1:09:14
  Tad Eggleston: And it's used… it's used as a blanket to mean too many different things right now, none of which are actually…
• 1:09:21
  Phil: No. And, and also is, is.
• 1:09:25
  Tad Eggleston: None of which their designers and programmers would dis… Describe as actual intelligence.
• 1:09:34
  Tad Eggleston: They would describe them as tools. Yeah. And I think one of the biggest problems with AI right now…
• 1:09:41
  Tad Eggleston: is actually… That too many people who use it don't understand that it's a… tool.
• 1:09:52
  Phil: Yep.
• 1:09:52
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, I honestly think, and I know that this is one of my most minority Opinions.
• 1:10:00
  Tad Eggleston: That there will come a time We're… we're good art…
• 1:10:05
  Tad Eggleston: is used using AI as a tool.
• 1:10:11
  Tad Eggleston: But it will be using AI as more of a paintbrush than as a do-all-the-work-for-me.
• 1:10:20
  Phil: I think that's possible. It's… it's one of those, again, it… it… there's a… it curls a certain part of my spine to admit that, but it's possible, you know?
• 1:10:29
  Tad Eggleston: It would be… like, I, I was, I was talking to,
• 1:10:35
  Tad Eggleston: Scientist friend of mine recently, and they use… They use AI for editing.
• 1:10:42
  Tad Eggleston: Particularly… particularly when they need to get their… They're abstract down in size.
• 1:10:49
  Phil: Nina.
• 1:10:49
  Tad Eggleston: They're scientists, not writers.
• 1:10:52
  Tad Eggleston: And, like, when they need to shave 180 words from… from…
• 1:10:59
  Tad Eggleston: The 380-word abstract, because it needs to be a 200-word abstract.
• 1:11:07
  Tad Eggleston: They know what they wanted to say, they don't necessarily know how to do that, but if they.
• 1:11:12
  Phil: Hmm.
• 1:11:12
  Tad Eggleston: Pump it into… the right… programs and say, take this…
• 1:11:22
  Tad Eggleston: And say the same thing in 200 words or less.
• 1:11:26
  Tad Eggleston: And then they get to edit it. They get to go, no, I don't like that, no, they missed this, or, you know. Again, they're using it strictly as an editing tool. And for them, I don't know if you ever went back and listened to…
• 1:11:41
  Tad Eggleston: matt Fraction crashed the… the…
• 1:11:45
  Phil: I did listen to that.
• 1:11:46
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 1:11:47
  Phil: I did go back and end.
• 1:11:48
  Tad Eggleston: I thought Fraction made some great points about how hilarious it was that the tech bros and, like, the C-Class people were so interested in AI, because the way he saw it, it was actually their jobs that it knew how to do best.
• 1:12:02
  Phil: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
• 1:12:03
  Tad Eggleston: Wasn't gonna… wasn't gonna request… replace the measly writer.
• 1:12:07
  Phil: But it would replace the executive that went, well, but a car chase would be good here.
• 1:12:13
  Tad Eggleston: car chase to be good, you still needed a writer to weave that car chase in.
• 1:12:17
  Phil: It turns… it turns out AI… AI can… can easily replace uninformed decision making, which is.
• 1:12:23
  Tad Eggleston: Right.
• 1:12:24
  Phil: Largely happens at the executive level.
• 1:12:26
  Tad Eggleston: Exactly.
• 1:12:26
  Phil: So, yes.
• 1:12:28
  Tad Eggleston: Or even… or even informed decision-making, but non-creative decision-making.
• 1:12:33
  Phil: Right, I… I say on this…
• 1:12:35
  Tad Eggleston: uninformed decision-making is something that happens far too often at my day job. It totally, it totally is, totally is, and like, I don't want to take away from that, but there are times where it is still informed decision making.
• 1:12:51
  Tad Eggleston: But it's informed with a different purpose than…
• 1:12:54
  Phil: Right. You know, the writer was trying to write a great story, and the.
• 1:12:58
  Tad Eggleston: Executive is trying to make that story make money.
• 1:13:02
  Phil: Yeah. Now, if the executive just adds the thing that makes money, it generally winds up clunky and not making money. But that doesn't mean that the thing that the…
• 1:13:12
  Tad Eggleston: The executive wanted added, Couldn't have been added in a way.
• 1:13:17
  Phil: Right.
• 1:13:19
  Tad Eggleston: You know… Yeah.
• 1:13:21
  Phil: It's… I guess it's just… it… it's… the older I get.
• 1:13:27
  Phil: the… the… and here's the thing, I was… as a kid, I was already a decent amount
• 1:13:33
  Phil: You know, anti-commercial, anti,
• 1:13:39
  Phil: you know, sort of… those sorts of things. And I… even now, it's…
• 1:13:45
  Phil: it's one of those… I get offended. I get a little bit offended at someone saying, hey, do this, it'll make more money. And I just want to look at them and say, that's not the fucking point.
• 1:13:56
  Tad Eggleston: I mean… I'm trying to make money.
• 1:13:57
  Phil: money here.
• 1:13:58
  Tad Eggleston: You're not.
• 1:14:00
  Phil: No.
• 1:14:01
  Tad Eggleston: But the person paying you is…
• 1:14:03
  Phil: Exactly, and that's… that's why nobody's paying me to do this!
• 1:14:06
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 1:14:07
  Phil: You know? I still remember, I forget, I forget who it was.
• 1:14:11
  Tad Eggleston: where you're coming from, and I think that that's every artist's choice to make.
• 1:14:14
  Phil: It is.
• 1:14:15
  Tad Eggleston: But, but, like, artists also want to, like… eat.
• 1:14:22
  Phil: Right, and, well, here's the thing.
• 1:14:23
  Tad Eggleston: Maybe, maybe have a house.
• 1:14:26
  Phil: Right!
• 1:14:26
  Tad Eggleston: Some of them like to have children.
• 1:14:28
  Phil: I, I would…
• 1:14:29
  Tad Eggleston: All of these things cost money.
• 1:14:31
  Phil: Yes, I agree. I constantly struggle with the gap between the world I wish we had and the world we actually have, you know? And so it's…
• 1:14:42
  Phil: It's… it's more of…
• 1:14:44
  Phil: I forget who it was, but there was a writer I saw recently that posted something, I would never do anything that was anti-commercial, or, you know, like, that they didn't think they would be able to sell for money. And part of me was just, like, just like, you know, twisted up my face, and I'm like, okay.
• 1:15:03
  Phil: I… there's absolutely stuff that I want to do that's anti-commercial, you know?
• 1:15:07
  Tad Eggleston: Well, but, but you're also,
• 1:15:12
  Tad Eggleston: A hobbyist at this point. Well, but no, how do you think he meant it when he said anti-commercial?
• 1:15:16
  Phil: Some, like… something that…
• 1:15:22
  Phil: wouldn't make money, or wasn't designed to make money, or wouldn't appeal to people who wanted to buy it.
• 1:15:29
  Tad Eggleston: See, that's not how I would define anti-commercial.
• 1:15:33
  Phil: Okay.
• 1:15:34
  Tad Eggleston: I would define… I would define anti-commercial as… I would never sell anything… or never write anything that I didn't want people to read.
• 1:15:44
  Phil: Oh, I see.
• 1:15:47
  Phil: That's an interesting… and they… if they.
• 1:15:49
  Tad Eggleston: Caring.
• 1:15:50
  Tad Eggleston: I definitely missed that.
• 1:15:50
  Phil: Understood it.
• 1:15:51
  Tad Eggleston: Not being… not being strictly commercial doesn't mean you're anti-commercial.
• 1:15:59
  Phil: Yeah, that's fair.
• 1:16:03
  Tad Eggleston: You know… There's a… there's a huge…
• 1:16:08
  Tad Eggleston: There's a huge amount of space between the… the… .
• 1:16:16
  Phil: Everything must sell.
• 1:16:18
  Tad Eggleston: Well, not even the everything must sell, but the… the… the corporate…
• 1:16:25
  Tad Eggleston: Workshopped and put together boy group, and the band that thinks that they've triumphed when they clear out the bar and never get invited back.
• 1:16:39
  Phil: Yes, the insect warfares of the world.
• 1:16:42
  Tad Eggleston: Right.
• 1:16:44
  Tad Eggleston: Y-you know what I mean?
• 1:16:45
  Phil: I do, I do, and that's…
• 1:16:47
  Phil: And that's… that's… I do see what you mean, and so I can understand, like.
• 1:16:53
  Phil: I agree that… that, yeah, no, my goal is not to get rejected by society.
• 1:16:58
  Phil: But there… there are definitely parts of society that don't appeal to me.
• 1:17:02
  Tad Eggleston: People won't like your stuff, and that's okay, but that doesn't make it non-commercial, that just makes it…
• 1:17:08
  Phil: You know, Ted, thank you.
• 1:17:09
  Tad Eggleston: Not necessarily optimized to commercial.
• 1:17:12
  Phil: Right! And that's… I just want to say thank you for that alternative interpretation, because I do think that that makes a lot more sense.
• 1:17:19
  Phil: And.
• 1:17:21
  Tad Eggleston: And, you know, I think that's, like…
• 1:17:24
  Tad Eggleston: You know, I don't want to put…
• 1:17:26
  Tad Eggleston: Like, words in a fractions head, or anything like that, but, like.
• 1:17:31
  Tad Eggleston: I could see a writer where, like, if they're writing Batman, they wouldn't give a damn if their editor was using…
• 1:17:37
  Tad Eggleston: AI to give them ideas, and sometimes they'd dismiss them, and sometimes they'd use them, and they'd always try to write a great story, but they're writing Batman. That's decent.
• 1:17:47
  Phil: she's.
• 1:17:48
  Tad Eggleston: book.
• 1:17:48
  Tad Eggleston: And it's a completely different thing when they're writing Sex Criminals.
• 1:17:53
  Phil: Yeah, that's fair.
• 1:17:55
  Phil: Yeah, and I guess it's… it's also… it's just one of those where…
• 1:17:59
  Tad Eggleston: And that's also one of the places where, like, in general, when you're making movies, you're playing with other people's money.
• 1:18:05
  Phil: Yes, yes. And that's… that is the kind of thing that is… is definitely one of the reasons why I've been, you know, reconsidering my willingness to write… write work for hire work, because…
• 1:18:17
  Phil: you know, there are times where I might be amicable to, oh yeah, sure, I'll work in your, you know, like you said, your chase scene in Episode 2, whatever, and there might be times where, if I know that, hey, your… your…
• 1:18:30
  Phil: AI is making the suggestion that that… again, there's… I don't want… I don't want to be connected to it in the creative process. I'm still…
• 1:18:37
  Tad Eggleston: But, but, but, but, but I mean, really, what it comes down to is, is…
• 1:18:42
  Tad Eggleston: Like, if you make that decision, where.
• 1:18:45
  Phil: Interesting.
• 1:18:45
  Tad Eggleston: because the AI made the decision, not because you don't think it'll work.
• 1:18:51
  Tad Eggleston: Are you making the best product?
• 1:18:54
  Phil: And that's… and so the two things.
• 1:18:57
  Tad Eggleston: Like, if you can push back and say, no, I don't think that'll work, and this is why, that's a whole different ballgame from…
• 1:19:05
  Phil: It is. And this is where, you know, again, I recognize that a lot of this is, you know.
• 1:19:14
  Tad Eggleston: And this is, this is, this is where psychology is, is, like…
• 1:19:18
  Tad Eggleston: A great baseball manager knows which players to, like, tell about statistics, and which players to coach using the statistics without ever allowing them to know that you know the stats on something.
• 1:19:31
  Phil: Yes, this is where I say that I recognize that I absolutely need editorial help, but
• 1:19:41
  Phil: I am also a challenge to be edited.
• 1:19:44
  Tad Eggleston: Well, and, like, most good writers are. I mean, that's… and, like.
• 1:19:49
  Phil: And, and, and, and I hear…
• 1:19:51
  Tad Eggleston: The balance is, like, if you're a pain in the ass, you're not gonna get at work in any… Yes.
• 1:19:55
  Phil: Right. Any.
• 1:19:58
  Tad Eggleston: collaborative medium. Right. But, like, most good artists at every level appreciate honest feedback and pushback and whatever. Oh, yeah. So…
• 1:20:12
  Tad Eggleston: Like, if you're not a pain in the ass about it, being a challenge to be edited isn't a big deal, particularly not if, at the end of the day, if your editor decides to draw a line in the sand, you understand that they're the boss.
• 1:20:26
  Phil: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
• 1:20:27
  Tad Eggleston: Or if they're an editor for hire, you can draw your line in the sand, and they can go, well, I made my suggestion, and like, I mean, because with editors, it can go either way. You know, a lot of people with independent projects will hire an editor.
• 1:20:41
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah, oh yeah. Then you're also their boss.
• 1:20:43
  Phil: Yeah.
• 1:20:44
  Tad Eggleston: And I recommend not firing them, but you don't have the same…
• 1:20:48
  Tad Eggleston: you don't have the same requirement to take their advice as you would if you were working at, like, a DC or a Marvel.
• 1:20:55
  Phil: Exactly. Oddly enough… And they were… they were on one level your boss.
• 1:20:59
  Phil: It's, it's kind of like, going to therapy by choice, as opposed to state-mandated.
• 1:21:05
  Tad Eggleston: There you go.
• 1:21:06
  Phil: Oh, yeah.
• 1:21:08
  Tad Eggleston: But it's 8.30, so let's talk about what will be spectacular next week. I've been looking forward to this one for a while. High Strangeness?
• 1:21:18
  Tad Eggleston: It's a… it's a… Daniel, Noah, and.
• 1:21:25
  Phil: I mean, it's Chris Con, so I know you're gonna love it.
• 1:21:27
  Tad Eggleston: You know, who's Frodo Baggins?
• 1:21:29
  Phil: Protobagans?
• 1:21:31
  Tad Eggleston: Elijah Wood.
• 1:21:34
  Phil: Oh!
• 1:21:35
  Tad Eggleston: company called SpectraVision that does, like, weird stuff, and this is their first… this is their first foray into comics, and Chris Condon's getting to write the first issue with one of my favorite artists in the business right now, Dave Chisholm. That's really cool. High Strangeness number one.
• 1:21:51
  Tad Eggleston: So I'm really looking forward to that. Death to Pachuco, number 1, Henry Barajas, Rachel Merrill.
• 1:21:57
  Tad Eggleston: is out from Image. I kickstarted this, so I'm hoping I see it this week.
• 1:22:03
  Tad Eggleston: And then, so happy to see, monthly Uncle Scrooge Comics.
• 1:22:11
  Tad Eggleston: in, like, the more traditional style, because obviously Marvel's doing something right now, too. That's pretty good, but, like…
• 1:22:17
  Tad Eggleston: These are with the historic numbering, or at least…
• 1:22:21
  Tad Eggleston: the, the, the number and the historic number, back from, from Fanta Graphics, Uncle Scrooge and Flint Hart Glomgold's Sinister Secret from Francesco Artobani, Jonathan H. Gray, and Alessando Perina are…
• 1:22:36
  Tad Eggleston: Are my,
• 1:22:40
  Tad Eggleston: my, my, my big hopes to be spectacular. Some things that I've read and know are fantastic. Dark Empty Void, the collect edition, is coming out this week. Physics for Cats, a collection of,
• 1:22:56
  Tad Eggleston: science.
• 1:22:56
  Phil: Always close.
• 1:22:57
  Tad Eggleston: Tom Gould. Always let me know. Right.
• 1:23:00
  Tad Eggleston: And Witchcraft from Soleil Otero is coming up from Phantographics this week, as is Lost and Found, which I haven't read yet, but I have my reader copy, so, like, I'll know by the end. And Black Arms to Hold You Up from Ben Passmore, Pantheon, I read in advance of, and is really good.
• 1:23:18
  Phil: I am now writing down witchcraft… From…
• 1:23:25
  Phil: Soleil Otero, because I remember when we read the solicits for that, and it was incredible. So my…
• 1:23:36
  Tad Eggleston: We have an advance.
• 1:23:40
  Phil: There we go.
• 1:23:43
  Phil: So, so my, my Tradeware graphic novel picks, I've been keeping my eyes on Bug Wars from Jason Aaron and Mahumu.
• 1:23:51
  Phil: Mom.
• 1:23:53
  Phil: Mahmoud, Asrar, and Matt Wilson, apologies if I misunderstood.
• 1:23:57
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, I'm certain I'll read this at some point, but I read, like, the first issue, and it's, like, the least adjacent Aaron book has ever grabbed me, and I don't.
• 1:24:05
  Phil: Interesting.
• 1:24:06
  Tad Eggleston: You know, I mean, like…
• 1:24:08
  Phil: Well, and so…
• 1:24:09
  Tad Eggleston: I always like to make really, really clear that, like, I read so many comics that.
• 1:24:14
  Phil: Right.
• 1:24:14
  Tad Eggleston: me not liking it never means that it's not good. Right. It could mean that I was tired when I got to it, it could mean that I was reading things too fast, it could mean any billion things. But, like, it's the first time in a while that a Jason Aaron non-superhero book…
• 1:24:32
  Phil: Yeah.
• 1:24:33
  Tad Eggleston: Oh, this is…
• 1:24:34
  Phil: I mean, it feels superhero-y, but…
• 1:24:36
  Tad Eggleston: Wasn't… wasn't… well, okay, a non-licensed book, if I would prefer.
• 1:24:43
  Tad Eggleston: First time in a while that a Jason Aaron non-licensed book wasn't among the things that, like…
• 1:24:51
  Tad Eggleston: I kept reading.
• 1:24:53
  Tad Eggleston: month to month. I read that first issue, and I'm like, I'm certain I'll revisit this, but…
• 1:24:59
  Tad Eggleston: Never got around to the 2, 3, 4, because there's so many other comics, and it just… it didn't…
• 1:25:04
  Tad Eggleston: Didn't grab me enough to stay high enough on the list to get rent.
• 1:25:09
  Phil: Yeah, I mean, and here's the thing, I've been a little down on Jason Aaron for a while. It's been a while since I've read anything of his. I gave up on his Avengers run.
• 1:25:20
  Tad Eggleston: I mean, I loved… His apocalyptic love story.
• 1:25:28
  Phil: And that one sounded really interesting, Once Upon a Time at the End of the World?
• 1:25:31
  Tad Eggleston: Yeah.
• 1:25:32
  Phil: It's funny.
• 1:25:32
  Tad Eggleston: time at the end of the world.
• 1:25:34
  Phil: Interesting. Yeah, and I'm… I'll probably get around to that at some point, too. But, you know, it had been a minute since I had read anything of his that really grabbed me, too, so that's why I'm like, okay, you know, bug wars, that sounds like my kind of jam, you know? I like bugs, I like weird stuff, this sounds like weird buggy stuff.
• 1:25:52
  Phil: So yeah, so I'm hoping… I'm hoping it gets me… gets me back into… back into a fan of his work, because… because there's… there's a lot of stuff of his that I've enjoyed a lot.
• 1:26:01
  Phil: And then, 1 Billion Genies by Charles Soule and Ryan Brown, also from Image Comics. I loved their, Curse words was great. God Hates Astronauts is, a staggering talent of hilarious
• 1:26:16
  Phil: obscenity. And, yeah, I'm sure this is… this is more fun from them. And then, of course, it is a week for The Power Fantasy No. 12. The third arc kicks off. If you're not reading this book, what is wrong with you?
• 1:26:31
  Phil: You read a lot of…
• 1:26:32
  Tad Eggleston: I'm behind. I'm behind.
• 1:26:34
  Phil: You can be behind, it's okay. I was behind at one point. I missed a couple issues, and I had to catch up, so, you know, it happens.
• 1:26:48
  Tad Eggleston: Dumping witchcraft back into our folder.
• 1:26:51
  Phil: Well, there we go.
• 1:26:52
  Tad Eggleston: So… You have access to it now. That's the 22 panels preview copy. I'm not even breaking any…
• 1:27:03
  Phil: Of course. I, I, I, I, I am a…
• 1:27:05
  Tad Eggleston: I'm saying that for anybody who's listening.
• 1:27:09
  Phil: Yes. Not breaking any rules, it's the 22 panels preview copy.
• 1:27:14
  Tad Eggleston: So, yeah, that's, issue 2… or episode 204 in the books.
• 1:27:23
  Tad Eggleston: So, yeah, for Phil and myself, this has been 22 panels.
• 1:27:29
  Tad Eggleston: And we will see you.
• 1:27:31
  Tad Eggleston: After the next page…