Our Talk with Jordan Clark 2

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
All right, everybody. So on today's show we're
welcoming back a powerhouse in comic book world.
He's written for Aquaman, he's written for Star Wars, he has
written for Samurai Sonya. And he is part of the milestone

(00:28):
as you see on his lovely hoodie initiative, which brings a fresh
voice, which brings fresh voice voices to comics.
He also is the Co host of the critically Akane podcast White
People Won't Save You where he breaks down Hollywood's white
savior complex one film at a time.

(00:50):
His newest book is called Ancestral Recall, which is a
sci-fi mystery where black history meets superpowers, is
dropping in August from Ahoy Comics.
Anyways, we are pleased to welcome him back to the show.

(01:10):
Mr. Jordan Clark. Yay, Jordan.
Hey. What's up?
Everybody. Yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, I appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me back.
Of course, of course. Yeah.
Thanks for coming back. So, Jordan, let's start off this

(01:31):
week's show like you start off every week's show.
How has your previous week been?It's been, you know, up and
down. I think everybody's weeks are
kind of like a blending into oneanother, like it's June, which
feels sudden, but also like I guess time has been going.

(01:53):
Yeah, like I get like every great, I guess.
Yeah, like every every couple ofweeks, you know, this whole year
I've kind of looked up and been like either a, it's only June or
damn, it's June already. So.
But yeah, I mean, I, I, I think I'm, I'm doing pretty good.

(02:17):
I went to see, I don't know if you guys have a had a chance to
see bring her back yet, which isthe new a 24 horror movie.
I saw that yesterday. That was good.
If you like Hereditary, yeah, yeah.
If you, if you like Hereditary or films in that vein, like I
would go see it. Like it's, it's a lot to take

(02:39):
in, but it's also a good movie. They said it's very gory.
It gets that, you know, like thethe beginning half, I had read
that and I was like, this isn't so bad.
And in the back half I was like,oh, OK, yeah.
And they said there's a lot of child stuff going on.

(03:00):
It is a, it is about a child that has passed and you know,
the grief of the parent and there's some other kids
involved. It's not, again, it's not worse
than if you've seen Hereditary or, you know, films like that.
But yeah, I mean, you know, there would be a trigger warning
absolutely if you if you have some sensitivity to that stuff.

(03:22):
Yeah, I definitely want to see with all the hype was going on
about that because I have heard a lot of stuff.
But no, I have not seen it as ofyet.
But on the white people won't save you scale.
How was that movie? Was that a white savior complex?

(03:47):
Not entirely. I mean, I guess, you know, if
you kind of dig down into it, there's some some of that
because not nothing spoilery, but you know that it is about
these two children who get adopted by this kind of not so
great woman. And one of them is Asian.

(04:10):
So like there is a little bit ofthey don't really get into it
into it in the sense of like how, you know, sometimes
specifically within the foster system, like there are a lot of
minority children that get adopted by, you know, white
families and parents. And I mean, across the foster
system, like there are, you know, unfortunately, a lot of
instances of people just trying to cash a check.

(04:32):
So, you know, they'll bring kidsin and, you know, not really
treating them well. I think it was, I'm forgetting
the story of the those children in Atlanta who like ran away
from that woman who's like it was real bad.
So I don't know if this had any because it's an Australian film.
So I'm not quite sure if the commentary is there, but I, I

(04:55):
mean, I, I wouldn't say it gets into that.
We've, we've seen worse. We just watched.
I don't know if either of you have seen Sheena, which is based
on the comic book of Sheena thatcame out in the 1980s.
It was like 1984 where it is quite a rush.
Now on White people can't say because I've been on the show

(05:17):
and I reviewed what's that stupid movie called I Hate
Stonewall Stone. Yes, Stonewall, which tells the
story about the Stonewall riots.It was a horrible movie.
Deafly white people can't save you.
And I have to say that y'all do a real service because I

(05:40):
couldn't do that every every week.
I could not see in front of a microphone and talk about movies
that are that that I have such aproblem with on like a not even
on a is it good or bad, but on like the on like a fundamental

(06:01):
level, like the mental fortitudethat it takes the, the patience
that it takes. Like kudos to y'all too.
Because I could never, never like the one that I did it.
It was the toll just getting through it.
It did. It was a toll talking about how
horrible that movie was. So yeah, that was really, really

(06:25):
fun. But I don't see how yeah, I
could do that. We give ourselves a little treat
every once in a while. Like we talked about sinners and
we talked about Nickel Boys and some other movies.
So like we we we have to take the breaks here and there to
celebrate, you know, like excellence and achievement, you
know, by minorities in film, butalso like, yeah, just for our
general well-being. That's a lot.

(06:48):
That's a lot to take in Did. You talk about Brave New World,
the Captain America movie. We haven't talked about that one
yet. I mean, again, it is interesting
in a lot of these films where there are certain dynamics that
like, for example, we talked about Braveheart, Not Break Die

(07:09):
Hard. Three Yeah, the Die Hard.
Are the vengeance? I was trying to remember the
what what the tagline 4 was because that's the one with Sam
Jackson. And like, I made the argument
that technically most action movies could be considered white

(07:31):
Sabre films in the sense that like, it is almost exclusively a
straight white man saving the world, You know what I mean?
And often times there are some minority sidekicks.
I mean, again, like this was SamJackson kind of like they gave
him enough that like he felt integral to the plot.

(07:53):
I don't know if you've seen Die Hard 3, but like most of it is
it's Hans Gruber's brother is, is now terrorizing New York.
And like, it's a series of like phone calls.
Well, he'll he'll call John Mcclane and like ask a question
and they have to like solve it. And we're like, man, if he had
just asked like exclusively likeblack trivia.

(08:16):
Like. New York would have been done
like they would never got past if he was like, who's who's
Martin's upstairs neighbor? Like that's so.
Yeah, Yeah. So you said you saw Nickel Boys.
Now we're going off a tangent here.

(08:39):
I saw Nickel Boys. What was the overall verdict?
Because I haven't listened to that show yet, but what was the
overall verdict on the boys? Did y'all like it or did y'all
not like it? We really enjoyed it.
I think for us, you know, there's so few opportunities for
black independent film makers toget a chance to just do

(09:02):
something. You know, like a lot of the
movies that get financed are fairly like straightforward kind
of films. And like, it's not that that's
bad. Like we like, we like just one
of them days. Like that was a kind of budget,
you know, black independent filmthat like, you know, I don't
know how much that movie cost tomake, but like, I'm sure it made

(09:25):
its budget back and then some just because like it's really
just, you know, says, but for nickel boys, it's like, well,
this is, this is somebody kind of taking the swing because, you
know, not only was it done mostly from, you know, the, the
POV perspective, which is that's, that's tricky to pull

(09:48):
off. You know, I, I can understand
for some people watching that maybe being like, I don't know,
this is kind of taking me out ofit.
I think for some other people itwas really, you know, pulling
them in. It's, it's difficult because
obviously, you know, performances by younger actors
sometimes can be hit or miss, you know, so like, I think the

(10:09):
two leads, like, did they crush it?
You know, like maybe it wasn't like the best performance you've
ever seen, but I think both of them did did the job and then
some. And then, you know, just the
overall story itself. Because I I also really enjoyed
the book that it's based on. And it's it's the same, you

(10:30):
know, I think the book gets moreinto the details because the the
and everything that the book andthe film is based on in terms of
like those schools for boys thataren't prevalent.
Yeah. You know, up and down, you know,
the South and you know, parts ofthe East Coast, like those are
real places that kids got sent to and like things worse than

(10:55):
what you see in the film happens, you know.
And so I think just in terms of,of even bringing some light to
that because I mean, you know, you think about that and then
you think about the indigenous schools in Canada and other
places where it's like, you know, you, it's kind of easy to
gloss over some of that stuff because it's not really brought
up to the forefront. But I, I enjoyed it.

(11:18):
I thought it was good. It was because I'm trying to
think of some of the other movies that came out that year,
like Sing Sing and there was like one or two others.
It was weird because we talked about it as well that there was
a lot of films that were about black people or like from a
black lens that were made by black people that came out that

(11:41):
year as well. Like Sing Sing was one of them.
We grown. That was one of them.
Where, you know, it wasn't necessarily it was it wasn't bad
at all. Like Sing Sing I thought was a
great movie. But like, what what the
differences would have been if that film was also directed by a
black director or written by, you know, black screenwriters?

(12:01):
And what other nuances would have been included that didn't
get a chance to be told in that film?
So. Yeah, so like I also saw Nickel
Boys and I think I said on this show that my problem with Nickel
Boys is it wasn't graphic enoughlike I did.
I wanted to see some of the horrible stuff that was coming
on as a horror fan 'cause, you know, it's, that's totally

(12:25):
important story that I did do myGoogle searches in my Wikipedia
afterwards. So like, oh, OK, this is, you
know, not good. But it was interesting, you
know, and I learned something new.
But I would like to see the abuse.
I think it goes back and forth. I definitely feel, you know,

(12:46):
nobody's wrong really either way.
You know, some people are like, and I think that the director,
you know, said that was the intent of like not wanting to
not even show black pain, but like, it's an, it's a, it's
inferred Like you can, you can guess.
And sometimes even, you know, like what you can imagine is way
worse than like what we can showyou on screen, you know, But

(13:08):
then as well, when you think about something like Underground
Railroad with with Barry Jenkins, it's like that's very
in your face. Like a man gets burned in the
first episode. And it's like, this is what's
happening. So, you know, I, I think you can
go either way with it. It's really just, yeah, like a
matter of taste. Like some people again, like
Jared might want to see like, let's see it.

(13:28):
You know what I mean? Like, let's not shy away from
it. Let's show it.
Other people might be like, well, you know, it's not even
that it's not necessary to show,but like, let's maybe not focus
so much on that, the violence itself, but maybe the aftermath
and the, you know, residual trauma from that that that
lingers even though, you know, the violence is over.

(13:49):
So like you kind of pick and choose how you want to, you
know, approach it. Yeah, that's definitely me.
I'm the one. I'm like I I don't have to see
the head getting cut off with marks.
Like you can throw a couple of men.
I don't need it. Yeah.
So DeMarcus, how was your previous week?
My previous week, it was a little long, low key, yeah.

(14:12):
Even though, you know, you know,I have a friend here in town.
She stuck around till Monday or no, she actually left a day
early. But then so just hung out Monday
and I don't know, a little bit behind at work.
So just trying to keep playing catch up most of the week.
You know, my girlfriend still has like a back injury, so like
just trying to help her out as best I can.

(14:33):
Yeah. So you know, long but not bad.
Can't complain all. Right, guys.
So this is the point. How long are we wait?
A minute what? About you.
My week was very uneventful, nothing much going on.

(14:54):
It really does seem like the days are blurring into each
other. As you know I have been
dismissed from my previous job so I'm currently on the job
plan, but other than that nothing really new is going on
with me this past week. So nothing much to report there.

(15:19):
Sorry we. Need you to start living a more
eventful life? Well, I did get a a treadmill.
It was a treadmill. Yeah, it was an impulse
purchase. It's not a.
Small purchase either. Well, I found the really cheap
1, so OK, it wasn't like $400.00which is the medium price for a

(15:41):
treadmill, so it was. No, it wasn't.
Yeah, $40 is the median price for a treadmill.
Like they can go up or down, butthey're around there.
OK, I see you already 9 so I believe you.
Yeah. What?
What are you thinking the medianprice is?
I don't know, I'm thinking like a treadmill, like a whole
treadmill is like $1000. Like with the little buttons and
stuff. I mean, no, on Amazon they're

(16:03):
like around 400, but I found onefor 100 and it's a small little
compact one that I can like foldup and like store away and, and
it's good for me because I can walk on it, watch TV and yeah,
so I just be walking in the morning on my treadmill and I'll

(16:23):
be doing my 2.4 speed. I think I'm doing something.
So yeah. Three man, those are rookie
numbers. Well, I mean, I just started
out, DeMarcus, you do something at 3, OK?
I I started 3 is a little low for me.
OK, but you go to the gym all the time, so.
Fair enough, I was in the gym twice this weekend.

(16:44):
I feel pretty. Good.
Well, now the point in the show where we put people on to
something that we like, Jordan, we're going to start with you.
That's going to be. What about Movie Pass?
I'm I'm giving Jordan some time to think.
I got to tell him what he got tothink about.
OK all. Right.

(17:05):
Can I? Can I do my part in this
segment? A camera fail.
Hold on, I. See your camera fail, you need
to get it together. But Jordan, you can put our
listeners on to anything I'm in movies, TV, podcast, books or
anything you want to. And this segment is sponsored by

(17:27):
MoviePass. If the markets can give me 30
seconds. So, DeMarcus, can you please
tell them about? Move pass.
Of course, Movie Pass is a subscription based service, so
you know, they're all about making movie going more
accessible, easier for the average person like us.
You know, we don't have $20 a week to go see a movie, but we

(17:50):
do have $10 a month to pay for Movie Pass or we can go see 3-4
movies however we want to spend those credits.
So once you subscribe to Movie Pass, you will get your
MoviePass card, which is acts just like a MasterCard.
You unlock that, buy your movie with the Master with the Movie
Pass card, and you're done. You go enjoy your movie in
theaters. Yeah, yeah.

(18:13):
So, Jordan, do you have anythingin the world that you want to
put our listeners on to? I guess because it's I just read
it not that long ago, the new Mr. Terrific series.
Oh, the number one, yes. This week from Al Letson and

(18:35):
Valentine Dilandro, it's Mr. terrific is one of those
characters that I feel like especially now because they're
going to, you know, put them in the Superman movie.
Like with I don't know how y'allfeel about his appearance on
flash where it was like yes and no, You know, like they they,

(18:58):
they tried to do, you know, everybody got CW5A bit on the
show. But like the the constant thing
about Mr. terrific is that like he's not confrontational in a
way. That's like that's what he came
there to do. But he's confrontational in a

(19:19):
way. Like absolutely.
Like you're not going to say that to me.
You're not going to I'm not going to sit here while you do
that, you know what I mean? Like, because, hey, I mean,
everybody gets a weird title, you know?
So he's the third smartest man in the world, you know?
Arguing like. Is Bruce smarter?

(19:39):
What does Bruce actually know? You know what I mean?
Like they give him a lot of qualitative like skills that
are, you know what I mean? So, but like in that sense
though, like he's not going to take shit from people.
Just, you know, just you got superpowers or, you know,
whatever. And so, you know, on on the

(20:01):
Flash, I was like, I don't need him to like punch Barry in the
face, but like, maybe he should tell Barry to shut the fuck up
sometimes, like. Jack him up a little bit, like
shake him around. Yeah, just cuz like, I, I know
what I'm talking about. And I know again, they were
trying to portray him as kind oflike a younger, you know, not
quite Mr. Terrific yet. This series is interesting

(20:22):
because it is it's Mr. Terrific Year 1.
So it's kind of flashing back tohis initial, you know, entry
into being a superhero and like,combine it with some some
present day in universe stuff. But I do feel like he is one of
those characters. It's not even like he gets
overlooked or forgotten. But I think a lot of the times
when people go for black superheroes, they're going for

(20:44):
Jon Stewart, they're going for Cyborg, you know, they're going
for Miles, which are all great characters.
Yeah. But like Mr. Terrific is one of
those like he's, he's definitely, he's definitely like
a OG, but he's also one of thoselike, you know, like the fair
play jacket, like just his wholemantra is like one of those

(21:05):
things that sets him apart from,I think a lot of other heroes
because it's not even that they are, you know, just happy to be
in certain spaces, you know, butit's more like, again, Mr.
Terrific is, is one of those people who like his reputation
precedes him, you know what I mean?
And like he is, he's not going to take less just because that's

(21:30):
what you're offering him. Like, if you're giving him a
position and he's like, not onlyam I more qualified for this,
but like, I could just go make acompany right now and go do
this. So you're like, if, you know, if
you want me to work for you, like you need to make this worth
my while. Like, I'm not just coming here
to be another member of, you know, whatever this is.

(21:52):
And so I think, yeah, we'll see what his role is in the film,
you know, in terms of, like, if this is him because it's not his
movie. So I'm not really expecting him
to be like a big player in it, but I am hoping that, you know,
there's a there's a good enough response to his character that
maybe we get like a peacemaker type show with him.

(22:12):
Or it's like, you know, here's aseason of Mr. Terrific.
Or, you know, we, we kind of. Have silly hopefully.
Yeah, things to roll him into, but the first issue of the new
Mr. Terrific Year 1 was really good.
So it was good goes into the present, goes into the past.
But according to Comic Buy, the people ahead of him in terms of

(22:33):
intelligence are Lex Luthor and Ray Palmer.
Do you think that they deserve those spots ahead of Mr.
Terrific? You could make a argument.
I mean, Lex I would say is is legitimately a genius.

(22:55):
He is because I think that's oneof the, the more interesting
things is how you, you quantify intelligence.
You know what I mean? Like he's really smart with,
with science, you know, and, andmath, if that's what you're
talking about specifically, likehe's not emotionally
intelligent. He's not intelligent in terms of

(23:17):
like, you know, like he's not creative or inventive in that
way. Like, you know, artistically
intelligent. He's very just like cold
science, business, etcetera. So like, you know, I, I do think
he's very smart. Ray Palmer.
I think. I think you might could give Mr.

(23:39):
Terrific, you could swap that like he might put him at 2:00.
OK, great. I mean, no, no shots at right.
He is a genius as well. But I don't know.
I could. I could see it.
I could see it both ways. OK.
OK. OK.
Thank you for that. As a person who was being in the
DC world, I really wanted to know that answer.

(24:02):
DeMarcus, do you have anything that you would like to put them
on to for this week, something that's better than the movie you
put them on to last week? Because I saw that movie.
What movie? That 1000 faces or whatever.
Oh, that was such a good movie it.
Was such a horrible movie. It was such a horrible movie.
It was a romantic movie, right? It was so dumb.
Jared doesn't like romance. Jordan it was, have you seen it?

(24:23):
So stupid. I've heard about it.
I haven't. I haven't got a chance to see
it. A movie?
No, I I did not like it at all. I saw how it could possibly have
appealed to Someone Like You. Wow, like me?
Someone like me, that movie was boring and I actually.
Put my phone. Away I put my phone away.

(24:45):
I was 100% into it and again, I did not like it at all.
But I could see why you would. So do you have anything better
to give? This.
I have been listening to a new audio book called 4th Wing.
I can't remember who was by in this moment, but it is about a

(25:09):
young lady who goes to like dragon riding college is a like
an adult fantasy. She goes to dragon riding
college and she doesn't want to She wants to be like a scribe.
She wants to like write and takenotes for the army.
She was like a very militaristiclike society and her mom is like
a big time general. So I'm looking at the Arthur

(25:33):
now. But like so her mom forces her
to go into the army. Her mom's like, Nah, you know,
forget all that scribe stuff. You're going to go to the army,
you're going to be a dragon rider because I'm a dragon
rider. Your brother was a dragon rider,
your sisters a dragon rider. We coming from a line of dragon
rider. So you'll do it too.
And so she's like she, she doesn't want to at first, but
once she gets there, she's like,I want to prove to my mom that I

(25:55):
can do this, that I, that I'm not just like the weak link of
the family. And it's pretty good because she
goes through a lot of like she goes through a lot with in the
book where she's meeting people who like have it out for her
mom, but they can't get to her. So they're trying to take it out
on, you know, the daughter, she finds out she's like learning
more about like Dragons and like, and she's learning that

(26:17):
she actually is pretty weak. Like, you know, she gets her arm
broken and like, and it's not even the person doesn't even
have to try that hard. It just kind of like pull it and
it just comes out. And so, but you know, over time,
I think this is like going to bea good, good one of those like
coming of age stories where you get to see a character like, you
know, learn, learn where their strength lies.

(26:39):
But it's also pretty brutal. It's also pretty brutal because
like the Dragons, like they haveto choose you.
And if they don't choose you, they just like burn you alive on
the spot or eat you. The 4th Wing by Rebecca Yaros.
Yeah, so the last thing that thelast book that you were reading
was solo levelling or audio booking that I also read the

(27:02):
manga for. How did you enjoy solo
levelling? Yeah, manga.
So how did you endure solo levelling?
It was good. I really, I really enjoyed it.
I like listen to the book. There's so much more.
What I always enjoy about books is there's so much more detail
and there's so much more attention and care with the the
characters and the story and like making sure things look

(27:24):
feel and look like really full. Where sometimes, like, you know,
in a, in a movie or ATV series, you got to cut a lot of this
stuff because you only have likeX amount of time to really do
your thing. But yeah, like I love, I really
enjoyed the book, the end of it.Would that like the the bonus
chapters at the end? Some of them are like, oh, this
is cool. Some of them, like you could

(27:45):
have kept this because like someof the bonus chapters were just
like, oh, like he goes to get coffee one day and talks to this
guy and that's the chapter. And I'm like, why did I?
Why did I need to listen to that?
I love those, let me see. Oh so do the audio books have
pictures in the included or it'sjust audio straight?
Audio, it's just audio. It's just like you, you listen

(28:06):
to it. They and I think the, the person
reading 4th Wing, 4th 4th Wing is a better reader, book reader,
a better audio book person because you know, I don't know,
it's just more, they're just more fun to listen to.
OK, well. Sounds very in the world.

(28:30):
If I can put you on to something, my listeners, I would
like to put you on to this show that I I've been hearing a lot
about. I haven't really given it much
thought. I finally watched the first
episode. I still didn't give it much
thought. Then I watched every other
episode and it blew me away. It's called The Rehearsal and
it's on HBO. This show was so insane it blew

(28:57):
me out of the water. So the first episode does
nothing but set the show up. So you are like he, so the print
was of the show is this guy, he likes to rehearse things.
So he finds this person on Craigslist who has to tell this
other person that, that he has been lying to them.
He does not have a master's degree.

(29:18):
So he sets up all these rehearsals.
He wants to add a bias or triviafriend.
He gives him all the trivia answers.
It's a whole lot of kooky and a whole lot of kookiness.
So I'm thinking, OK, so the restof this series is going to be
more cookiness, is going to be more fun, just for the rest of

(29:38):
the six episodes. I was wrong.
Because the rest of the six episodes, he begins to try to
rehearse with this lady. She wants to have a child and
she wants to have a child on in Oklahoma and or somewhere like
that, Oklahoma, Oregon, somewhere that's wrong because

(30:01):
she lives in the city and she wants to have a child and they
want to rehearse what that's like.
So what how it starts off? They want to rehearse having a
child. Yes, how it starts off because
you know, child labor laws and all all the other people in this
show are actors. So how it starts off is the the

(30:23):
production team is kidnapping this child, this baby out of his
crib. And you're like, what in the
world is going on? And they're replacing the baby
with a little doll. And you're like, what's going
on? That's how that's how it opens.
So you're like, what's going on?You hear the presents.
I mean, the the premise of the show.
And then she finds somebody who she wants to rehearse with on a

(30:47):
dating app. So then, so then they're like,
OK, we can do that. They go to the guy's house.
He is getting in a roommate, getting in an argument with his
roommate, smoking weed and driving.
He doesn't have a job. He was like, like all of the
religious stuff that she was into, he was into, but also he

(31:10):
was really into numerology. He was really into a lot of
crazy stuff. So then he ended up leaving in
the dead of night because it wastoo much for him.
So you're like, OK, so the end episode, the guy who's doing the
rehearsals decides to be the father figure.

(31:31):
Then it just goes off rails fromthere.
The what? Happened to the Tinder guy the
the the dating that guy. He left in the middle of the
night. So then it goes into I, I'm not
going to go into the whole show because I didn't want to go
long. But some interesting things that
happened is they, they plant a garden that is all vegetables

(31:53):
from the grocery store. So they don't really have a
garden. It's just like watermelon and
they bury the watermelon halfway.
So, so they're doing that. One of the, oh, he has to go
away for his job. He's still doing the rehearsal,
so he has to go away to New Yorkand film because they're like

(32:16):
like speeding the timeline up. He is away from his child for
nine months. So when he comes no, nine years.
So when he comes back, the child's like, hey, how you
doing, dad? They're like, no, can we do that
again? But like, you're mad at me.
So then see, he comes back. He's the the actor starts
treating him like he's horrible,like the dad is horrible because

(32:39):
he's been away for nine years and then he gets into a drug
overdose, like a fake drug overdose and.
And this is the guy running the rehearsal.
Thing No, this is the guy who isacting like his child.
So then. The child does a fake overdose.
Well, he's a teenager now, said he doesn't fake overdose.

(32:59):
He decides that this is too muchfor him, so he reverts the child
back to six and then the six year old forms an emotional
attachment to the host of the show, the six year old actor,
because he's calling him daddy all day.
He does not have a father figurein his life, so he has to then

(33:20):
go to his house and be like, I'mnot your dad.
And it just, it just goes. It just gets so completely
crazy. I implore you to watch just the
first scene. I watch both seats.
The second season is the first season.
Watch the first season. This show, it's 6 episodes and

(33:40):
they range from like 30 minutes to an hour each.
It is so insane. It is so insane.
I, I beg you to watch this show.Please just make it to the first
episode. Yeah.
If you if you like that because this is Nathan Fielder, who did
a show on Comedy Central for a long time called Nathan for You,

(34:01):
which is similar in that his whole thing was like people
would would bring him their problems with their business and
he would fix their business. But it would often be like the
most absurd, ridiculous things that you could do.
And it's started off with like, you know, very simple, like mom

(34:25):
and pop shop businesses. But then it got all the way to
like somebody who ran a Starbucks.
And so he made something called Dumb Starbucks.
And the second season of the rehearsal is he literally
trained for two years to become a pilot, commercial airline
pilot so he could fly a 737 overthe Mojave Desert.

(34:50):
It was in like a lot of the second-half of that show isn't
any dialogue. It's just the suspense of he is
in the air with a plane full of actor passengers and you're
like, are they all going to die?Because he talks about how he
talks about how the he was the worst student because it took

(35:14):
him the longest. Like they kept saying it took
him the longest. People are literally they show
the craft. People are dying on the set like
other students are dying on set.So this is the real and it's
just, it's correct. Please watch this show.
That's all I'm going to say. OK, Please watch this show.

(35:35):
OK, I'll check it out. Yeah, just make it past the
first episode. It tells you what it's all about
and then it doesn't do any of that.
OK, I'm gonna check that out. OK, the Vikings.
The rehearsal. The rehearsal on HBO, Do we have
an activity for today? Yes, we do.

(35:59):
And for those of us, those of you dear listeners out there who
are joining us for the first time, the way activities work is
that the Marx decides the questions, the answers, and he
decides the winners and losers. So for today we are going to
have some Aquaman trivia and. That's Oh, no.

(36:21):
You know. OK, and and just to let our
listeners know you haven't heardmy before episode with Jordan.
Jordan did write for Aquaman. He wrote a long series, Aqualad
with Aqualad. So again, the market skews these

(36:41):
towards our guest to always win because I've never even I don't
come close to winning when we had a guest so.
All right. So a few corrections in that
statement. You do come close often thinking
I skew them toward things that our guests would know about
because it would be unfair to ask our guests about what Boruto

(37:02):
and you're the only person that wants.
All right, cool. But I know you read comics,
Jerry. So you've, you've come across
some Aquaman stuff. So what's going to happen is
that I am going to give you all a description of a character or
characters or people, you know, iconic things from the Aquaman
series. And all you have to do is tell

(37:23):
me the name. Tell me who I'm describing.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy. And and that's the second thing
DeMarcus knows. I'm not good with names, you
know. There, that is the character
flaw that you need to be workingon and the fact that you keep
coming up into these things where you need to know things,
things, names and people's names.

(37:45):
I think that's, I think these are the signs from the universe
saying Jarrett work on this, work on.
Names DeMarcus, these people areif we.
If we need a hint, are we able to get a hint?
Or yeah, yeah, yeah, I got, I got some hints, but these are
going to be easy. So you know.
The only person I know is is Mira so I'm letting y'all know

(38:06):
that now that's. You don't know Aquaman.
I don't know his. I don't know his.
Is it Arthur? OK, go ahead and play the game.
OK. All right.
I need you both to give me a number between 1:00 and 10:00.
3. 7. Wow, crazy.
Let's see, let's do choose another number.

(38:30):
Both of you choose another number. 4.
OK. 10. OK, great.
The number was 3 the second time.
It was five the first time. And Jared chose three.
You chose 7. Both of y'all are two away from
5. How do I decide who goes first?
I guess I could flip the coin. But anyway, Jared, you're going

(38:53):
first. All right.
Which Atlantean hero is half human, can communicate with
marine life, and serves as King of Atlantis and a founding
member of the Justice League? Oh, that's Aquaman, of course.
So did he find the Justice League?

(39:13):
What's the founding member? A founding member.
So he was a founding member? Yes.
So like he wasn't like, oh, I really want to make the Justice
League happen. They were like, hey, Aquaman,
you're pretty strong. Come join us.
Like I know he wasn't super friends but is he in the new 52?
I think so, yeah. Yeah, no, he was part of that.
Yeah, definitely. OK, OK #2 let me do.

(39:39):
Let me start. Give me a score here.
My only point? All right #2 Jordan is for you.
Which fierce warrior from Zebel possesses hydro kinetic powers
and becomes Queen of Atlantis after marrying Arthur Corey

(39:59):
Curry? That would be Mira.
That, of course, that is Mira. OK.
All right. Yeah.
See, easy, right to easy. I'm trying to make these more,
you know, competitive, I suppose, Jared. #3 for you.
Which rootless undersea villain known for his deadly helmet and
laser weaponry, is Aquaman's most enduring nemesis?

(40:23):
That is black manta. Of.
Course, that's one of our favorite black super villains.
There are a lot of black super villains in common.
Because black people are evil, obviously.
Yeah, and there should be a lot more black super villains.
A lot more. I think that there should be a

(40:44):
lot more black superheroes because black people are in
reality black more. I think black people are like
more altruistic more often. Yeah, but I think that there
should be a super villain who gives Luthor a run for his
money. Well, I mean, depending on which
I watched in Luthor, could be. Dude, there could be black

(41:07):
you're. Kind of sort of what?
What? What is he black in Superman
Adventures? I didn't know.
Justice League Unlimited, Maybe he could be passing if you.
Yeah, but he. Wasn't though.
That's what I was thinking. I thought of Justice League,
Justice League unlimited Luther and I'm like he's I'm like Oh
no, he's just like a white guy with a tan right?

(41:28):
Like are y'all going to blow my mind and tell me he's just a
light skinned? No, I don't.
Know, I mean because, you know, then you then you watch Spider
Man and it's like, is Norman Osborne the only white man with
waves like something? Yeah.
Norman Osborne is a ginger, that's what that is.
Yeah, but in Superman, Superman adventures that used to play on

(41:52):
like Kids WB or whatever, he wasdefinitely a black person.
Yeah, OK, OK. In talk and in skin.
All right #4 Jordans for you. Which power hungry Atlantean
Prince and half brother to Aquaman frequently wages war for
control of the throne? It's OSHA Master.

(42:17):
Yeah, I was. I was trying to remember his
actual name, but if you. Want to give me the actual name?
I'll give you a bonus point. I'm blanking on it but.
It's or Marius. Yeah.
Maybe pronounce Marius, not sure.
All right #5 Jarrett, which cunning Atlantean advisor surged
the throne of Atlantis while often pursuing his own secretive

(42:41):
political agendas? I think this is Jan.
Is this Jan? No, it is not Jan Jarrett.

(43:03):
But she can turn into water whenshe says Wonder Twins powers
activate. Wait a minute.
Form of water. No, like I'm like, is there a
character named Jan or no, it ain't Jan from the damn Wonder
Twin. Is that her name?
Jan. Are they even?
Yeah. What?
What Jason Jan, I think, or something like that, Are they

(43:27):
Atlantean? Are they even Atlantean?
No, they're aliens. They're not from Earth.
Yeah. It wasn't OK.
Don't piss me off Jared Jordan, back to you.
Which former Aqua Aqualad becamea magic wielding hero known as
Tempest after training and sorcery and joining the Teen

(43:49):
Titans? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait. Who was the advisor?
Oh, I said vocal nudist. Vocal, vocal.
OK. One of those guys who rides the
line between hero and villain. I don't know if rides falls on
the villain side. Do you need to repeat it?
So. It's it's who becomes Tempest.

(44:11):
Is that Gareth? Yes.
It's Garth, but I know who you're talking about.
Garth Garrett. I'm not.
Going to not going to be a Dick about it.
Why did you say he's on the TeenTitans?
I would have known more of whichwhite guy to be looking for if
you say. He was on the OK, but this one

(44:34):
is which Modern Aqua lad and sonof Black Manta is a hydro
kinetic metahuman and hero in both comics and the animated
series. And because I already gave you
Aqualad, you got to tell me his real name.

(44:54):
I know his name is Connor. He's like no.
And I just looked this up. Oh God.
And I have the person who wrote him right here on this podcast.
This is so embarrassing. Let me, I don't know.

(45:18):
I'm, I'm thinking it's all I canthink.
Give me a hint. I will accept his human name or
his. God, that's not a hint.
Or his Atlantean name. That's I'm just hold on.
I was broadening the spectrum ofrightness for you to make it
easier for her. Here's your hint.
OK, he is the son of Black. Man, I know he's the son of

(45:38):
black man, so that's not. What the fuck up there?
Let me let me finish with my damn head.
Shit, OK. Man, I.
Don't want to tell you nothing. No, I know he's that Lady name
has like a comma in it because Ican see it, it starts with his
lady name starts with like AK, right?

(46:02):
And I can see it in my brain, but I can't.
He he is the son of Black Manta,whose real name is David Hyde.
Hyde is it Jason, No. You close, you close, brother.

(46:25):
That's a whole different name though.
I know. Let us out that name.
I don't know. I'm, I'm, I'm just going
straight to Jason. So tell me who it is.
It is Jackson Hyde. Jackson.

(46:47):
Calderon, Jackson, Hyde. That was a good that.
Was that that That was kind of hard.
That was kind of hard, Jared. I mean, it wasn't 'cause I just
looked this up before this show,so that shows my memory.
No accounting for that. All right.
Gordon, back to you. Which former Queen of Atlantis
and mother of Arthur Corey playsa key role in his royal lineage

(47:09):
and the politics of Atlantis? I'm going to because I, I know
it's, I know it's Nicole Kidman in the movies.
But that's not the answer that you're looking for.
Oh yeah, I mean, I don't, that'snot.
So let me see if I can get a a good hint for you.

(47:33):
Because I often get like her andthen like some of the Amazon
names mixed up. Well, does it help you if I tell
you that she is named for the Kingdom of Atlantis?
As a queen Atlantia. Very close, very close.

(47:58):
OK, very close. Or Atlanta.
There we go. That's it.
That's it. Queen Atlanta of Atlantis got
there. Yeah, you got there.
You got that. See, you know, recall is more

(48:20):
important than memory. All right, Jerry, this is going
to be one of the most, one of the hardest questions, so I'll
give you 2 hints and I'll give you some time to answer it, but
you might not need it because you're a comic book aficionado,
you know, reading everything on Wednesday when it comes out,
I'll. Just be looking at the pictures
for real so. All right, which monstrous deep

(48:41):
sea dwelling race was introducedduring the New 52 and represents
primal terror in the ocean depths?
Oh, so they have the sharp teeth.
They have the sharp teeth and they're like people.
They have the webbed things web hands.
They are humanoid, all that. You're right.
And they are called. So what's the 1st?

(49:07):
What's the first hint? They are named.
The trench. The trenches.
Yes, that's it. The trench, Yes.
Yes, yes, I got. It nice, nice, nice.
All right, the score now is 3 to4.

(49:27):
Jordan, you're up by 1. You can seal the win with this
final question. Which marine biologist, once a
mentor to Arthur Corey, became obsessed with discovering the
truth about Atlantis, even at great cost?
This is also one of the harder ones.
Yeah, again, I could picture theguy from the movie and the guy

(49:50):
from the. Cartoon Was the Aquaman movie
that good? No.
I think it was just that I it was coming out around the time
that I was working on the series.
So like, I was like, I should probably watch this just to get
an idea of yeah, give me. OK, so he is a doctor, not.

(50:19):
When he said that. Oh, did you say he was a doctor?
No, you say he was a doctor in the hand, did I say?
He was a. Doctor, you say?
He was a biologist. I said that don't mean he's a
doctor. You can't be no St. biologist
working. I know a marine biology.
You can be a marine biologist with a bachelor's degree from
Hampton. They have marine biology as a

(50:40):
degree. I do not know any marine
biologist you. Say his name starts with like AO
or. His name, His first and last
name both start with an S. It's not Simon, right?
It is not Simon. That's two hints.

(51:07):
Yeah. I don't think I'm going to.
I don't think it's going to. Come to me.
His name is Doctor Stephen Shin.What's Stephen Shin?
Stefan. It's the pH Stephen with APH.
All right, but that's the end ofthe game, Jordan.
You're still the winner. 4 to 4:00 to 3:00.
Sorry 4 to 3, Jerry. It's a close one.

(51:29):
You put absolutely a close one that was super competitive.
I think if you had tried a little harder on the the the
Jackson one. Oh God.
I told you you were two letters off and you know.
Yeah, Connor is the That's GreenArrows sidekick.
OK. I was thinking Connor as in

(51:51):
Connor Kent from where? Yes, that's.
This. Yeah.
Lots of Connors. Yeah, Connors.
Yeah, do y'all, do y'all like the the alert alliteration in
names like Connor Kent, Steven Shin, Peter Parker?
Sometimes if it's a, if it's a good name, if it's kind of
something kind of silly where you're just like, nobody would

(52:15):
be called that in real life. But.
I like them. I love a good alliterated name.
Yeah, it makes them more memorable.
All right, Jordan, let's go ahead, jump into it and talk
about your latest work. Now, I read this thing and let

(52:35):
me just say that you really did blow my mind when I read the
preview of it. I'm I'm very excited to actually
buy this when it comes out, but I read the preview of it and you
blew my mind. Not only first, because the main
character is not a young whippersnapper, some Gen.

(52:56):
Z, some Gen. Z guy.
He is pretty ancient, you know, in about 2025 years I'm going to
be at that age. So don't do that.
So I, I was very excited to see you had somebody who had Gray
hairs as your main character. So like, why did you chose

(53:20):
choose to go that route instead of the root of somebody young
and frisky? That was going to be my first
question too. I love it.
I love it. Like I was reading it.
I was just like, I was like, oh,I was like this cute old couple.
I was like obviously someone young and surprised going to
come in in like 3 pages. That's the maker.

(53:40):
No, no, no. I.
Think, yeah, I mean, a couple ofthings went into that decision.
The 1st, maybe not so obvious. Like I was very inspired.
Unfortunately, it was after he passed.
But Michael K Williams did like two or three things, like kind

(54:05):
of near the end of his life where he was talking about his
career and looking at some of the roles that he played.
And one of the things that he, he talked about a lot was like
how important it was to him to be able to portray people from
the black community who often either don't get seen or aren't

(54:27):
afforded dignity in the roles that they they get to play, you
know, in these places. Because he's like, I know these
people. These are people from my
neighborhood that I grew up withor like, you know, I'm familiar
with. And so, you know, a lot of the
times, like, you know, you guys were saying like, obviously,
sure, you know, like a cool new young, you know, kind of hero,

(54:48):
you know, catches people's attention.
But a lot of this book is about a paying attention to and
remembering, you know, the people who paved the way for us
to be where we are, as well as kind of, you know, those people
who go under the radar, right? So like the main antagonist of

(55:09):
the book is this sentient AI corporation from the future
who's kind of like targeting andpulling people from the past
that it's like, well, nobody's going to remember this person,
you know what I mean? Like if you remember like The
Dark Knight, that scene where Joker's talking to Harvey dead
and he's like, you know, 2 gang bangers kill each other, nobody

(55:30):
cares, you know, that's just according to plan, right?
And like, you know, so the guy who drives the bus everyday, if
they disappear, like people get new jobs, they move on, you
know, a new bus driver that thatcouple that lives in the park,
you know what I mean? Like, you know, people come and
go all the time, nobody remembers them, right?
And like, unfortunately, a lot of the time, you know, older
people in, in all communities, they're kind of, you know,

(55:52):
forced into the situations whereeither you put them into a home
or, you know, they're kind of, you know, relegated to these
spaces where, you know, they're not really made to feel like
they matter anymore. And I thought, you know, having
a character that a is kind of atypical, right?
You know who you're not typically used to seeing not

(56:13):
only just in stories, but like as the protagonist of a story I
thought would be, you know, something interesting to kind of
shake things up. But then also because it is a
love story, you know what I mean?
Like, I think particularly with with black love, right, like we
never really get to see us grow old, you know, together.

(56:34):
Like there's usually some situation that is either, you
know, broken a couple up or you know, somebody's passed away.
And the main inspiration betweenthe two characters is this jazz
musician, Thelonious Monk and his wife, Nellie Monk.
And like, Thelonious Monk was a was a, was a genius.

(56:55):
He was also a very eccentric person.
You know, if he was alive today,I'm sure he would have been
diagnosed with, you know, bipolar disorder or, you know,
something on the spectrum because he, he was just focused
on the music, right? Like his wife was the one that
got him. Like, he couldn't even get to an
airport by himself. Like she had to help get home,
you know, everywhere that he wasgoing.

(57:17):
Yeah. And you know, I think for a lot
of people, you know, looking on the outside into that
relationship, you might be like,well, what is she getting out of
this? Because she's like, you know,
basically having to take care ofthis man.
Like, where is what is what is her part in this?
She's just like a caretaker. But like, when you actually
learn about the relationship, like he loved her deeply and

(57:40):
like he loved her more than thananything, right?
Like if he loved the music that much, he would get on the plane
to go play, you know, in Paris or wherever.
But like he did that because of her, because she encouraged him
to do that. And so having, you know, this
relationship between these two people who, you know, their love
transcends, you know, every likeit literally transcends space

(58:01):
and time by the end of the book.And so I thought that was
important to kind of show, you know, this older couple who, you
know, it's like their lives aren't over just because
they're, you know, in their 60s and 70s.
Like that's not the end for us. And like, there's a phrase that
I it's at it's the header for my, my, my ex account, Twitter

(58:23):
account. But it's that, you know, there
are black people in the future, right?
And I think it's important to beable to imagine ourselves in the
future older, you know, like still being able to do all the
things that we do and still having a presence and, and a, a
space, you know, in the world. So like being able to show this
older black couple will, you know, not necessarily even just

(58:45):
like if they just wanted to playbingo all day, that's cool too,
you know, but like they're, they're also, you know, active
and still, you know, doing things in the world.
And now they're going on this big interdimensional adventure
as well. Yeah.
Yeah, that look cool. So I guess I was what is the
I've read the comic, but for ourlisteners, what is the premise

(59:07):
of the book? What is the what is the story
we're getting into? Sure.
So the book follows Melvin Waring, who is a, like I said,
kind of this older eccentric painter, like, you know, he's
came up in the the 80s and the 90s and like, you know, got all
this acclaimed. But then, you know, his, his

(59:30):
passion for being like a public figure waned very quickly.
Like he, he loved the art, but he wasn't interested in being
famous. So he kind of became more and
more reclusive. But, you know, because his wife
gets caught up in this, this whole situation where she gets
taken to the future, He's kind of called upon to act.
And so he taps into these abilities that let him basically

(59:55):
commune with the ancestors, commune with people from black
history and be able to access their abilities, their knowledge
and use them for his benefit. So for example, in the first
issue, he gets in contact with Jean Louis Michel, who is a like

(01:00:15):
he was the, he was the best, maybe the best sword fighter
ever, but definitely the best sword fighter of his time.
He was like a Haitian soldier that like Napoleon was like I.
I need that man to be. You know, a part of a part of my
army, like not the Haitian army,but like the French army because
he's like that good, you know. And so, you know, throughout the

(01:00:39):
adventure, you know, as Melvin kind of continues to go along
tracking his wife June, like he comes into contact with a bunch
of different figures throughout black history who are people
that you don't you're not going to read about in the history
book, right? You like you, you get certain
things, unfortunately, most of at least, you know, from the

(01:01:00):
American education standpoint, you get slavery, you get civil
rights, you get maybe a little bit of modern like, you know,
Black Lives Matter movement. And then that's the end.
So there's a lot of people who did a lot of incredible things,
you know, throughout black history that it's not even just
about, you know, like race or not, but it's just the, the

(01:01:21):
amount of odds that people overcame despite all of the
obstacles in their way, like they, they didn't let somebody
say no to them. They still found a way to do
these things and like they should be remembered that they
should be given, you know, that spotlight.
So hopefully this book is, is shedding some light on that.
But that's the the basic plot is, you know, he's trying to to
find June, who's been taken to the future.

(01:01:44):
You know, they're fighting through time, you know, and then
against this evil AI corporationto try to find each other and
ultimately bring everybody back home.
Yes, and you really did blow my mind with with the inclusion of
that person like again, after hewas in there, I immediately did

(01:02:07):
my Google search to find out more about him.
So is it that like the, the overall meaning or the, I don't
know what word I'm trying to say?
The the overall premise of this comic is to really tell an
amazing story and have people who did not get this education

(01:02:33):
in other places to find out who these people are through your
comic book. Definitely that's, that's one of
my big goals because I think that, you know, like I started
working on this book about 3 years ago, like just, you know,
the general idea and then like starting to put things together
and, you know, is, is far from my intention.

(01:02:54):
But like, the closer we've gotten to the release, like the
more timely it feels where, you know, we're in a world where
they're literally, they're literally trying to erase like
history, like everyday, like there's something that's
happening where they're trying to shut down museums.
They're trying to take names offof memorials.
They're trying to, you know, take names out of websites
basically, like conceal the information.

(01:03:15):
And it was already difficult enough, you know, in a lot of
instances, if you wanted to learn more about historical
black figures, like you needed to do the research, like you
needed to go find the books, youknow, find the podcast, find the
documentaries, like have that information given to you.
Like a lot of the things that I know about Black history are
just kind of like oral, like speaking to somebody, you know,

(01:03:37):
somebody was like, oh, did you know about this person or have
you heard about the story? You know, it wasn't from a
textbook or, you know, just general K through 12 education.
You know, like I went to I went to Hampton for a bit and then I
went to Morgan State, you know, in Baltimore.
And like, those were the places that I really was exposed to

(01:03:58):
black historical figures that itweren't just, you know, Martin
Luther King and Rosa Parks and like, you know, both very
important people. But like we, we are more than
that. You know, we've had more people
who contributed to where we are now than that.
So I, I really wanted to do things that were able to get

(01:04:18):
these figures in front of people, you know what I mean?
And like, it's a 20 page comic. I don't have all the time to
kind of like break everything down.
But even if I could just get thename in front of you, even if I
can just get, you know, the accomplishment in front of you
that you can just have, you know, a page or two of, of
seeing who this person is. And then, you know, like Jerry
was saying, and then I go and I look them up and even, you know,

(01:04:40):
within the issues, we're trying to figure out ways that we can
have extended back matter or things that, you know, give
people a little bit more information.
Because I think once you kind ofget going down that trail, then
it's like, oh, who else, right. Like who else is out there?
Like what else is there to to uncover?
So. No, absolutely.
And so I want to I want to ask so none of these, none of the

(01:05:02):
people that he that that wearingcommunes with, none of these are
people are made-up. All of these are actual black
people from history who have, you know, accomplished something
and done something. And that's dope.
And you say you've been working.So was most of your research
just like finding these people or was this more or was more of

(01:05:23):
a writing the story? There was a good balance to it.
I think, you know, for me, I wanted to have that balance of,
you know, here are here are people that you certainly can
look up and like have a role andan impact on the story.

(01:05:45):
Because, you know, a lot of it is what is Melvin need to do
right now, right? Like, OK, Melvin needs to ride a
horse or like, what are the, youknow, historical black Cowboys
or people who could kind of, youknow, play into that role.
Melvin needs to, you know, drivethis car really fast.
Are there any historical like, you know, black race car
drivers? Melvin needs to know martial
arts right now. You know, like, who are the, who

(01:06:08):
are the, you know, forefathers of, you know, black martial arts
and all this stuff? And like, I think that was
really part of the fun too, was being able to do that research
and look up these people becausethere's people like, like Ronald
Duncan, who was the first black,I'm sorry, let me take that
back. He was the first American ninja

(01:06:28):
period. Like wow, he was black, but he
was the first like went to Japan, learned Dujitsu first
black, like act like ninja, you know, period.
So like people like that where you're just like, oh, OK, You're
like, wow, like that's. That's dope, yeah.

(01:06:49):
Incredible to kind of know just because there's people like that
who you would think like you might have just come across
generally just like looking up information.
But it's not even again, it's not even that it's being hidden
actively like now it is. But previously, like a couple of
years ago, it was, it was more just like you got to seek it out

(01:07:10):
like this information isn't being presented to you.
You know, it's like in that way where all a whole bunch of white
people watch Watchmen. They were like, wait, they
burned down a town in Oklahoma? Like, they just made that up for
the show, right? And it's like I don't.
Know that that's. Real.
That actually happens, yeah. And so, you know, a lot of

(01:07:32):
people don't come in contact with things unless not
necessarily it's like put into pop culture and things like
that. But even now it was sinners.
Like, people are looking back at, you know, not even just that
specific time, which was a real town that existed, but they're
also looking back, you know, at the Blues.
They're also looking back at even like, you know, people are
getting into like Irish folkloreand like, you know, dances and

(01:07:54):
stuff. Like all of that stuff.
Once it's in just like in front of your face, it's a lot more
accessible, right? Like, it just kind of piques
people's interest. And so, you know, as much as I
can do that with a lot of these figures, it's like, you know,
I'm not expecting people to go on the right dissertations or
anything, but like certainly, you know, you can, you can

(01:08:16):
Google it, go to YouTube, you know, wherever you want to go
and like actually get more information about these people.
Nice, that's hella dope man, I love that.
Yeah, and I definitely remember that big to do about the Tulsa
Race War and watch. I was like, this isn't common
history. Like do white people really not

(01:08:38):
know what they did? No, we just do it and forget it,
you know? Oh.
OK, here is the list of other towns in America that you have
destroyed just because black people live there.
OK, but one of my. I don't know.
Like I said before, I don't likeromance, I don't like cutesy
things. But one of my favorite new

(01:08:59):
characters somehow I was definitely hoping for in every
scene was the little panda AI companion.
And like, I'm just interested inlike, 'cause you have such a,
you know, with the things in thebackground, the little
advertisement, everything, you have a real parallel between

(01:09:25):
future technology and the history.
So like, why did you think that having that there was important
to this make, you know, this be a very historic comic book, but
also be aware of, you know, where we're going with
everything. For sure, I mean, if in in terms

(01:09:47):
of Petunia herself, the panda like that, all that credit that
goes to Attic and Ilhan, the artist who was also part of the
milestone group with me, like Attican is an incredible artist.
And you know, one of the joys ofworking on this book was not
simply just collaborating with him, but also just like coming
back with the art and seeing some of the things that he would

(01:10:08):
kind of stick in there and beinglike, yes, you know, I'm going
to steal that. I'm going to take that.
That's going to be in the next issue.
Like we're going to keep these threats going because he did
such a great job, like you said,Jared, of of inserting things
into the background that kind ofcatch your eye and kind of fill
the world out. And so, you know, with, like I
said before, like this was this was a couple years ago that I

(01:10:31):
was thinking about this. And now again, we're living in
the AI future where, you know, all of this stuff is coming at
you very quickly. You know, past informs, present
informs future, right? You know, like all the things
that came before us, it's important to have perspective on
that and an understanding of that because that lets you know
about where we are now and then also helps you make decisions

(01:10:53):
about where we're going in the future, right?
And so, you know, having that contrast between all of these
things that Melvin is calling upon, right, in terms of not
even just the figures themselves, but like their
stories and, and their importance to culture and
history. As opposed to, you know, the the
main antagonist of the book, which is again, literally a

(01:11:16):
sentient corporation. Like just, it's just
information, it's just statistics.
It's just whatever gets the bottom line the highest, you
know what I mean? So it's not interested in
people. It's not interested in history,
It's interest in people is how can I manipulate them to improve
my programming, to make me better at selling people

(01:11:38):
products, You know what I mean? And so you know that that
contrast of like, you know, our main character who has a real
reverence for history, has a real connection to history, has
a real is, is empowered by the history, right?
Versus like a literal computer who is just like seating all of

(01:11:58):
this stuff into itself in order to sell you, you know, the next
Taco Bell, you know, creation orthe next, like whatever it is.
Because that's the thing too. I mean, the more that we kind of
live in this world, we take a lot of things for granted.
You know, we take a lot of things as just how it is.
But like, it's weird that you look up jeans and then you go to

(01:12:20):
Instagram and they're selling you those jeans.
Yeah. Like it's weird that like, you
know, you, you just have a conversation about toothpaste
and then Facebook is telling you, here's some toothpaste.
Would you like to buy this? You know what I mean?
Like it's, it's if, if you were talking about this maybe like 10
years ago, you would be like conspiracy brother.

(01:12:42):
You know, like everybody would be like, oh man, you know,
you're taking this too far. Like that's not really what's
going on. But like, the more that we hear
about it, it's like, no, that's yeah, anyway, every way yeah,
that they can kind of figure outhow to get these products in
front of you. I mean, like beyond the
aggressiveness of AI, like the aggressiveness of sports

(01:13:02):
gambling, the aggressiveness, you know, of a lot of these
things that it's just like, thisis just it now you know what I
mean? And like, while it would be nice
to to put certain things back inthe box, like I think a lot of
these people who have gotten very comfortable with a lot of
these things, why should they, you know, like, why if I can, if

(01:13:25):
I can eliminate the number one cost of my business, which is
labor, which is people, why would I not do that?
You know what I mean? And so it's, it's I think I was
having a conversation earlier today just about like what, what
all of this means. And I think a part of it too, is

(01:13:46):
that, you know, science fiction's job a lot of the time
is to give us a map for what thefuture could be like and, and
how we can move about it, right?Because like, you know, it's one
thing to just say, man, that's bad, right?
And then we all agree that it's bad.
And then we're like, OK, you know, it's another thing to say,

(01:14:06):
well, what what do we do, right?And like, I'm not even saying
that this book is like this is the blueprint for how we should,
you know, move in the future. But more so like the more
options and the more ways that we're able to kind of imagine
ourselves in the future and think about how we want to
confront a lot of the stuff. I think the better equipped we
are in real life, you know, whenwe do have to deal with it

(01:14:29):
because we've already had, you know, a a bit of practice
through the fiction to see how, you know, not even just
fictional characters dealt with it, but like, what are the the
ramifications and consequences, right?
Like people bring up stuff like 1984 and Brave New World, you
know, in a way that's like, man,wouldn't that be crazy?
And now we're all like, man, that's kind of outside, Yeah.

(01:14:52):
Like we're kind of going throughit now.
That's exactly what happens. So yeah, that's.
But again, that's why it's important to to keep, you know,
the history and keep these booksand these texts and these things
alive because like they, they don't want you to read that
because they're trying to do that.
So. Yeah, yeah.
And and you, you bring up the, the, the AI sort of like

(01:15:13):
marketing to us. And do you do you all remember
the days where like your last name appeared on merchandise and
on Facebook that he was trying to sell you?
I feel like that was, I had another question about the
powers. And so, and I guess I'm just
curious like, how do the powers work?
Like because we've seen him, we we see him, we see them activate

(01:15:36):
a couple times here. And like one time he's just like
talking to somebody in the past.Another time he's like, just
kind of like gaining their abilities like a la matrix, like
downloading Kung Fu to Neil's head.
So is it sort of is it works? Is it, does it work however he
needs it to work in the moment or you know, do you what is the,
I guess what's the basis there? Yeah, I mean, it's I I view it

(01:15:57):
kind of like a stress test, right.
You know what I mean? Like, I don't know if you guys
are familiar with Dial H for Hero.
Oh, are you? Yeah.
Yeah. What I mean, it's not quite that
because that was like, you know,you would you would dial the
phone and you would just get whatever, you know, you didn't
really get to choose a superpower, but like you would

(01:16:18):
you would kind of just gain a new ability for Melvin.
It's kind of like not necessarily OK, you know who's
who's in my mental Rolodex of ofblack people that I can call
upon, but it's like something happening right now and like I'm
I'm reaching this like stress point kind of like, I mean, even
if you think about it like the Hulk, right, like Bruce Banner

(01:16:39):
just can't turn into the Hulk atwill.
Like some comics they kind of let him do that.
But in most cases, like he has to reach a certain stress level
to access those powers. So Melvin is kind of the same
way where it's like he's got to really get to like a really
stressful point where it's like,I, I need something, right?
And so, you know, even in the first instance, like he wakes

(01:17:01):
up, he finds his wife is missing.
You know, he's going through a really stressful time.
Like the best person to get in in contact with her is Sam
Marlowe, the real life inspiration for Faella Marlowe,
right? So he's like now introduced to
this detective who can kind of help him with his abilities.
There's another issue later on where he needs to break into

(01:17:21):
like this facility. So there's a woman, Bury Van
Britton Brown, who was the inventor of what we know is the
modern security system. Like, she just made the security
system for her house because shewas like, I can't trust the cops
and like, nobody else is going to protect me.
So, like, let me set this up. And so, you know, whenever he's

(01:17:44):
in need, whenever he's kind of, you know, facing the situations
where he's got to do something again, it's not always physical.
Sometimes you just need acknowledge and information, but
that's where the the power startto connect.
So I think of it like almost like an ancestral, like web, you
know, that he's able to navigateand kind of find certain people,

(01:18:05):
you know, and they and they findhim too, right, Like I I think
of it as a two way St. like it'snot necessarily just him, you
know, saying, oh, you know, help, help.
I need somebody. It's more like, oh, like in the
web they're said say, oh, like Melvin needs us, like we need
something. Who's the best person to go help
him? So, you know, cuz you'll see as

(01:18:25):
the series goes along, like as he meets, you know, different
figures. It's not just like you're a
stranger. Like they know him.
Like they speak to him like family.
And so, you know, there is that connection between them where it
is like Toni Morrison spoke a lot about just like that feeling
of knowing, like knowing people,knowing, you know, certain

(01:18:46):
things that feel familiar to youjust through culture, just
through like having, you know, this experiences, you know, when
somebody says, oh, like, you know, you do that just like
Uncle Jerome used to, you know, and it's not like you're not
doing it intentionally, but likethere is something that is just
kind of trickles down through, you know, generations where we

(01:19:06):
just pick things up naturally, you know, and it's it's kind of
that feeling. Yeah.
And so I guess this is a very small part of this, Like, so
when there is a language barrier, does he like understand
their language? Or without giving too much away,
because we saw the one part where the guy speaking French or
maybe Haitian. Yeah, Yeah.

(01:19:29):
No, I think it's it is, it is a bit of that where you know,
there is a, a common connection between them.
So like, even if he's not picking it up all the way, you
know, like there's enough of that where he's able to figure
it out out and just, and just kind of again, can feel the
movements, feel the things that they're asking him to do or

(01:19:49):
guiding him. Yeah, now that was probably
enjoyed. He's like, you know, speaking to
him in French. He's like what?
He's like, look, guard up. Yes.
You're in danger. Yes, so an amazing first issue.
I was ready to read the rest andwe have the way all the way to
August. What?

(01:20:10):
Yeah. But yeah, definitely I encourage
anybody who is, there's a lot tooffer, right.
Like, I mean, if you, if you enjoy black history, if that's
something that is meaningful to you or interest you, like that's
certainly there. If you like a good romance
story, that's certainly there. If you like science fiction,

(01:20:31):
that's certainly there. If you like action, we got a
little bit of that. We tried to, you know, throw
some comedy into as well throughout the story.
So like, you know, we're trying to make it a bit of a, a couple
of different things. It's not it's I would say mostly
a science fiction comedy, but like, you know, we've got a lot
of different things to offer. So if you know this sounds like

(01:20:55):
a book that might interest you first issue is out August 6,
coming out five issues sovereignuntil December.
So definitely let your comic book shop know that you would
like that issue. I'm.
Adding it to my list man. So just five issues.
It's not gonna go on for longer.It seems like it's gonna go on
for ever. You know, that could be a

(01:21:17):
possibility if the issues sell well enough.
So if you like it, and if you want to see more of it,
supporting it is a good way to let the publisher know and other
people know that you'd like to see more.
Absolutely. I know we're getting close to
our time here, but if I could ask one more question, We we
sort of hit on this earlier, maybe talk about a different

(01:21:37):
instance. And then we see it in the comic
where his wife is saying like, hey, if I didn't have to, you
know, if I wasn't recovering from the surgery, I would go do
this thing for you. You mentioned how Melvin has
like, trouble, like being had trouble being a public figure.
He has trouble like, out in the world is like mental.
Is there like a mental health story here as well?
Like, yeah. Yeah, certainly.

(01:22:00):
I think I would, I would definitely encourage people to
to look up, you know, TheloniousMonk and his wife Nelly, because
it is a very interesting story of somebody who like very much.
So in private circles, you know,when people talk about him like
they would say monk, you know, amonk is funny.
You know, a monk is quirky. He's kind of weird.

(01:22:21):
But like he's he's certainly somebody who, you know, is just,
you know, all around like not necessarily enjoyable person
because he would just like sometimes just shut down if he
wasn't interested, you know whatI mean?
And like his wife would kind of have to, you know, get him going
or just kind of take him out of places.
But I do think that, you know, specifically with Melvin in the

(01:22:46):
way that, you know, I wanted to portray him, it is it is
definitely interesting him and Mirren, who is his kind of
psychic throughout the story, like both of them have social
anxieties and issues that kind of make it difficult for them to
navigate the world and pairing them together, you know, it's

(01:23:12):
kind of a way for them to make it through together because like
they're they're kind of both ends, right?
Like Melvin is very much just like, if I don't have to speak
to anybody, I will not. If I don't have to interact with
anybody, I'd rather not, you know, like I, I just want to
stay in the studio and do my art.

(01:23:32):
You know, I'm comfortable aroundmy wife.
I'm comfortable around, you know, like a select few people.
But like, otherwise, please don't bother me.
Miran is like a very social person who doesn't pick up on
anybody's cues. He wants to talk to you forever
about anything and everything. It was very excitable and like,
you know, the combination of thetwo of them where they're kind

(01:23:52):
of like, OK, how does this work?Because like Melvin has to do
things, but he doesn't want to, you know, unless somebody's
there to push him along. And so Mirin is there to kind of
take him, you know, through the journey.
But it's also like she's not, I mean, she's 1, like, you know,
14, so not an adult, you know, not able to, she doesn't have

(01:24:17):
all the life experience. But also, you know, I thought it
was a really interesting, you know, look at these two
characters because, you know, specifically when we're, we're
speaking about mental health, I think a lot of the times, you
know, there's, there's various ways to approach it.
But I think something that is relatable for everyone and
whether or not it's it's an actual condition that you have

(01:24:40):
or just a general feeling of anxiety, you know, in social
situations, I think a lot of people can relate to whether
it's difficult conversations with people, whether it's, you
know, travelling to a new place or like being in front of large
groups of people. Like we all kind of deal with
things in different ways. And so having, you know, a

(01:25:00):
protagonist who's like not excited about any of this,
definitely not like not for me, yes.
You know, like even again, like June is what's calling him, you
know, to, to keep moving forward.
But like, you know, if it was anything else, like he probably
wouldn't do it, you know? So yeah, you'll see kind of

(01:25:22):
throughout the story there's an issue later on that really like
delves into it and breaks down exactly what Melvin is going
through. But yeah, that's not like at the
forefront. Again, just because I feel like
for a topic like that, I'd rather have 5 issues to really

(01:25:42):
like, you know, delve into it and breakdown.
But there are, again, a lot of things that are, I try not to
make it like surface level wherelike we don't touch on it at
all. But I also try not to, you know,
make it so prominent where that's what the whole book is

(01:26:05):
about. I think my approach as much as
possible is to try to respect the readers intelligence and let
them kind of like figure out cues and stuff as we go along.
So, you know, they'll be heads that are dropped, they'll be
explanations of things going along.
But I think it's also like again, like, you know, you read
the first issue and you're kind of like, I wonder what that's

(01:26:25):
about, you know, and like, and we're and we're kind of, you
know, threading that along. So, you know, as much as there's
a, there's a lot of things againwithin, you know, just the black
community, there's a lot of conversations to be had.
And not like one book can't haveall of them.
But I would like to have it be as expansive as possible so that
we can't touch on as many different things as possible as

(01:26:48):
you're reading along. Nice.
OK. Well, thank you for that.
And we will be getting that in August, but we can preorder it
now, correct? Absolutely.
OK, we will preorder it now to have it waiting for us in our
comic book store. But this is the time where we

(01:27:08):
ask our guests 17 questions. These questions are from our
previous shows. They are from our, you know,
experiences with you Jordan. And you may have heard these
questions before. They may we, we may do one that
you heard before just to get your updates.

(01:27:31):
So are you. Oh, and you do not have to
answer this whole question with a whole answer.
You could just say yes, no, or whatever the answer is and we
can move on. But we would love to hear your
explanation of the question of your answer, you know, if you
find it in your heart to give itto us.

(01:27:55):
So Are you ready? I'm ready.
OK, first question, who is the gayest super villain?
No Who is the gayest Disney villain?
Oh, OK. You know, it's tough because

(01:28:16):
whether they're going to say it or not, they queer coded a lot
of these villains. And you know, when you look at
it, you're kind of like, I don'tknow how I feel about that
Disney. Like I'm sure, you know, there
were some queer people working on these that were kind of like,
maybe we can sneak this in here or there, but some of it's just

(01:28:36):
like, but why does it only with the villains that you did that
with? Why?
Why was it no other characters? I would say if I had to choose,
probably Jafar. But you know, I think Ursula
also is, is is up there as well.Like they're something about

(01:28:58):
both of them. And I'm kind of like the the
subtlety was not set to high. They kind of just like let's how
close can we get to saying that without saying that?
But I would say, I would say Jafar and then like Ursula kind
of like right, right below. OK.

(01:29:20):
OK, OK. Lex Luthor or Doomsday, who's
your favorite? You know, I think I I wish they
would give doomsday just like one more dimension, you know,
because I think that would make them a more interesting.
Like I understand the point of them is just like I come and I

(01:29:41):
fuck shit up and that's it. But like, you know, after
killing Superman, like where do you go?
You know, like you kind of it's,it's not all downhill from
there, but it's like you're not going to get that high again,
you know, like everything else is kind of punching down.
So I think Luthor, Luthor for me, you know, just in terms of

(01:30:05):
his general journey, like, you know, he he runs, he runs the
full spectrum. Sometimes he's, you know,
benevolent, Sometimes he's the worst person on Earth.
Sometimes he's, you know, the lesser evil.
Sometimes he's, you know, like he's he's got a lot of
dimensionality to him. And I think my favorite versions

(01:30:27):
of Luthor, I like the All Star Superman, Luthor who was just
kind of like, you know, let's just drop all the pretense.
Superman, like, you know, I hateyou.
You. I don't know if you're capable
of hating me, but you know what I mean?
We're certainly not friends. So like, let's let's just have

(01:30:49):
an honest conversation after allof this time.
And then I liked the they kind of did it a little bit with
Justice League Unlimited too. But like President Luthor
because he was kind of, yeah. Like it was like, I finally got
it and it's not great. You know what I mean?

(01:31:10):
Like I had the most powerful manon Earth, but then I have to do
all of these. Like it was a lot simpler when I
could just focus on killing Superman, you know, like I got
to do all these other things, like damn.
So I think, you know, Luthor, he's difficult to pin down in
certain ways. I'm interested again to see what
they do with Nicholas Halt. If he's he seems like he's going

(01:31:33):
for it. Like just from the trailers that
seem like he's he's Luthor in 10.
So we'll see if he's doing the most or there's any subtleties
in there. But I would say Luthor over
Superman or over over Doomsday. OK, OK, OK.
Who is your favorite black couple in comic books?

(01:31:58):
This is another interesting one because I feel like let's help
help me run down a few because I'm trying to think of all of
them. Obviously you've got, depending
on if you like Storm and T'challa.
I love Storm and T'challa. Storm and T'challa is is the one
that most people go to. Yeah, cuz that's the thing.

(01:32:20):
Like Luke Cage is with Jessica Jones.
Yeah, War Machine is with Miss Marvel.
Right, all right. Are Cyborg and Bumblebee
together or were they ever together?
Cyborg and Bumblebee. Bumblebee was with.
He had a couple different names,but it was Guardian.

(01:32:43):
Yeah, Bumblebee's with Guardian now.
Oh, OK. Yeah, Cyborg.
Cyborg got some black love interest, but they weren't
superheroes. They were just women that he
knew in his everyday life. Jon Stewart was with Vixen for a
minute, that is. A good one.

(01:33:06):
That was a sexy couple. Yeah, Miles has been around
black woman. I think in the second to latest
run he did have a black love interest.
Yeah, I'm the Vulture's grandchild.
Where? Photon and Dr. Voodoo were

(01:33:27):
together a while ago. Sam Wilson was with Misty
Knight, was that correct? Yeah, a a while ago, but a
mystique no Photon is now with the blue Marvel and Sam is not

(01:33:47):
with her. I don't know who's saying, but
there's a couple up in there. There's not a lot there's.
A couple in there, yeah. I mean, I would say they're not
always together and I don't knowif they necessarily need to be
together, but I do like Static and Rocket, OK, just because I

(01:34:09):
think there is something interesting about not
necessarily just the two of themtogether, but like it's there's
a lot to kind of unpack with them, you know, because they are
both young superheroes. They didn't become superheroes
because they wanted to be superheroes.

(01:34:30):
They became superheroes just because that's what had happened
to them. And they're trying to navigate
all these situations. You know, Rocket later becomes
like a single mom. And, you know, it's like, it's
really interesting to kind of see them move because so much of
the Milestone universe was steeped in realism, you know

(01:34:51):
what I mean? Like, even the issue we're
Static was on the cover with thecondom.
They were like, but can't do that.
But it's just like, you know, they're they're a more realistic
version of a couple who are going through a lot of the same
things. And that brings them together,

(01:35:12):
but also kind of pushes them apart where, you know, they have
maybe similar goals or maybe different goals.
And, you know, like, it's two sides of the coin, right?
Like my book is like, you know, older love of of these couples
who have been together for a long time and have settled into
something. But there is something about,
you know, the younger relationships.

(01:35:32):
It feels again, a lot like PeterParker, where like man can't
stop fumbling everything all thetime.
You know, every every Mary Jane going Stacey, you know, all the
various other girls that he was with.
It's just like I can't keep it together.
Static felt a little bit like that, but there is that, like
you know, when they're together and things are working, Like I

(01:35:54):
do enjoy their dynamic because Rocket will just roast the shit
out of him. And that's fine.
So when? They like every black
relationship. So we just kind of touched on
it, but do you like stormy bloodPanther I?
Think that there there is something to the relationship a

(01:36:19):
lot of it has to do with how Storm is positioned because like
she's a goddess you know which which I would assume is above a
king but also. According to Kanye West, it is.
But also, I mean, it is interesting, it just in terms of
Wakanda as a country, you know what I mean?

(01:36:39):
Like it's not even that she's not Wakandan, but like she
spent, she spent a lot of time in Egypt and then a lot of time
in America. And you know, when she comes
back, it's not that she's not African anymore or doesn't have
any ties to Africa, but it is like she is like being the queen

(01:37:05):
of Wakanda is very different than just being Black Panthers
wife or, you know, girlfriend. Like there's certain
responsibilities that come alongwith that that like, I don't
know, I don't even know if she'sinterested in that.
I mean, she's never really been interested in being a ruler of
any kind. And like seemingly she goes back

(01:37:26):
and forth even if she wants to be a goddess or referred to as a
goddess. So interested in the
responsibility child. We got to start there.
Oh, well, well, I mean, he's andT'challa is messy in a lot of
ways that I think people give him a pass for, but like, they
should, you know? Yeah, Storm is also because, I

(01:37:48):
mean, Storm's been with Ford, she's been with Wolverine,
Craig. I think she's, yeah, she's had a
couple other relationships where.
Dinner with Doctor Doom every other weekend.
Yeah, I don't think it's necessarily that like she needs
to be. She could do whatever she wants,
you know what I mean? Like if she wants to just kind

(01:38:09):
of have her own somewhere storm and, you know, keep it loose and
chill like she can, she can liveher life.
But I do think that there was there was a lot put on that
relationship just because there were not a lot of other black
superheroes in relationships. And like they were put on a a

(01:38:30):
major pedestal because they wereboth royalty.
And I think, you know, you're going to you're going to have it
an unfortunate, you know, catch 22 of those people who are like,
you can never break them up, butthey always have to be together.
And like, you know, you and, andyou can't have Storm did a white
man after that, like she's got to be with, you know, black men

(01:38:50):
forever. And T'challa, it's like, you
know, he's got a well who's who's he going to move on to?
It's always downhill from Storm,Like who's the next person that
he's going to find? And it's like, you know, I think
they can both. I think the thing that I like is
that both of them seem to have accepted that this is probably
not the best idea for them and they are cordial with each

(01:39:13):
other, you know, and and respecteach other.
But I think both of them have realized that maybe, you know,
that was that was a moment in time that has passed and we
should let that go. Yeah, I think people do forget
that Storm used to run around the X mansion naked, like she's
always been fast, loose and free.

(01:39:35):
So Storm has always been who Storm is.
And men always love free women and they want to put them in the
cage. Yeah, that's you as well.
OK, next question, would you rather be a werewolf or a
vampire? Well, because it's like, I

(01:39:58):
guess, I guess at least with a werewolf you can be out during
the day, but you have to deal with, I mean, you can be on at
night. I mean, I guess it's just the
full moon, you know, you just got to be aware of of that lunar
cycle. You do lose all autonomy for a
time. I just have to hope that nobody

(01:40:22):
murders you or you don't do anything horrible in that time
span you. Get a period vampire.
Yeah, I mean like you do. There's a lot more restrictions
on vampire. A lot more restrictions on
vampire and I kind of feel like,you know, there's a lot of weird
vampire alternatives or adjacentwhere it's like, you know, can

(01:40:47):
you drink animal blood? Can you like it's not even like
can you be a daywalker like blade, but like, like, are you
are you a haunted class? Are you kind of an invisible
class? Are you like, you know, how do
you move about the world? I guess, I guess being a
werewolf is less complicated. So I go with a werewolf, but you

(01:41:08):
also have to have a crew of people that you trust to like,
you know, when it's that time ofthe month you.
Know. You got to lock, got to lock me
down. Got to lock me, hey?
Yeah. Don't let me out.
Yeah. Martin or Family Matters?

(01:41:29):
This is this is an interesting one because there's been a lot
of Family Matters revisionist conversations in terms of people
not necessarily asking if FamilyMatters was in fact a black
sitcom, but more so questioning how good Family Matters was in

(01:41:51):
the long term. You know what I mean?
Like, I will, I will, I will agree in so much in that like
late Family Matters was just fucking crazy.
The last two seasons of Family Matters.
They were just like he's a robotnow.
I don't know Doc, like just TuneIn and we'll see what

(01:42:12):
happens. We kind of lost the plot a while
ago. More Urkel Martin.
I probably would go with Martin,I think just because of the the
the longevity and the rewatch ability, like a lot of 90s
everything generally right, Likestraight homophobia going on in

(01:42:36):
a lot of places where you're just like, I didn't remember
that, but I guess we did that. And also just like some jokes
that you're kind of like, yeah, maybe that was funnier when I
was younger. Now it's kind of like, but I
think just episode 4 episode Martin was a better show.

(01:42:57):
I think Family Matters certainlyhad a strong run when it was
like on, but then, yeah, like inthat later half where it started
just not even just become Urkel centric, but they just kind of
were like less interested in thefamily and more just like, what
crazy hijinks can Urkel get up to this week?

(01:43:18):
In this random people in like these random people's house
that's not even here, Yeah. Why is he always go home?
Well, that was the thing too. Because it was.
It wasn't his show like. He wasn't.
Really supposed to be on the show.
He just became so popular that they were like, sorry, Winslows,
you got to we got to move you tothe side here to make room for

(01:43:40):
the real star. So.
Yeah, all right. Who is your favorite rapper
turned actor? Let me start listing some out
just because I'm like, I know there's one that I'm forgetting.

(01:44:02):
Ice T is very interesting in that, like, he went on to play
almost exclusively cops. Yeah.
I. Mean yeah, there was like I
don't. Experience with him?
Yeah, it was like, is this just like a potential like rebranding
concept or I don't know. But like, he was it some some

(01:44:23):
fun and then he was in like TankGirl, like he did some weird
stuff in the 90s. Oh, he was one of the kangaroo
people in tank. Ice Cube is also interesting
just because I feel like he justthat turn like all of them
really, you know, that turn fromlike used to be a menace to

(01:44:47):
society, like for real, like white people like did not like
Ice Cube at all. And then they were like, hey,
are we there yet? Like, let's go watch this movie.
And it's just like, whoa, that'sa crazy in my lifetime.
Just turn around of like, I guess we like Ice Cube now.

(01:45:08):
I would say probably the one that I like to watch the most.
I don't know if they're the bestactor.
It was just always interesting to see DMX in a movie just
because like, you never knew what you were going to get.

(01:45:29):
What movie was DMX in belly? DMX was in belly, DMX was in
Romeo Must Die. DMX was in like a bunch of
others weird Steven Seagal movies and like, you know what I
mean? Like he was because he was, he
was vulnerable enough to play more than just like the, you

(01:45:54):
know, the thug action character.But it was like.
But it's also DMX. Yeah.
You just kind of can't Unsee, you know, everything that's
going on. It's hard to it's hard to buy
him as a character. OK.
So. But I would say DMX.
Yeah. OK.
That's interesting, I first DMX.Right.

(01:46:16):
Didn't even love. Yeah, go ahead.
Sorry. I'll be sorry, who is the kind
of the character that you would most likely that you most like
to work with? So I'll I'll give you I'll give
you a marvel in the DC. OK, so this is this is going to

(01:46:42):
be nobody's answer, just just myanswer but.
I really. Like I really like Booster Gold
and so that's that's my number one DC guy just because I feel
like he is the most relatable superhero.
Like he it's it's all on the face.

(01:47:04):
He said I can go back in time and get rich and then went back
in time and was broke because hecould put the pieces together.
And I really again, I just I just love his.
A lot of his story arcs aren't necessarily I mean like it is
people dunking on him. Like in the 52 storyline, he

(01:47:27):
dies and then all of his sponsors put their like brands
on his casket. Stay put on the ground.
Like he's a very silly character, but he can also
handle some more serious moments.
Like there was in one of the Crisis books, like Doomsday had

(01:47:51):
come back to Metropolis and Superman was off somewhere.
And so it was just Booster Gold.And it wasn't even about like,
can I beat Doomsday? It's like, can I, can I get my
ass kicked long enough for everybody else to get to safety?
You know what I mean? And it's like, I'll, I'll take
that. Like, if that's how I can help

(01:48:11):
people is like get beat up, you know, for an hour or so for
everybody else to evacuate. And it's like, you know, like he
is as much as he's a selfish asshole, he is also a hero, you
know, when he needs to be. And so I think there's some some
interesting things going on there at Marvel.
I'm interested to see what happens with this character.

(01:48:34):
But I really would like to writePatriot.
I think that Patriot is a character who has a lot of
interesting possibilities, You know what I mean?
Like being at first being, you know, Isaiah Bradley's grandson
and not having Isaiah Bradley's powers.

(01:48:55):
And then, you know, going through the whole, you know,
drug storyline where he like, took those drugs to get the
powers and then like, you know, basically crashed out and then
had to like, you know, rearrangeeverything.
But when you look at a lot of the specifically the younger
black heroes of the day, I mean,it's not even that they're not

(01:49:18):
active in doing things, but I feel like from the family that
he's from and the way that he probably looks at the world,
like I would like to see him as a character and a figure that is
like he's on the ground with it.Like there's problems and like
I'm going to solve the problems,you know what I mean?

(01:49:38):
Like none of these other people are doing the things that need
to be done. Look at how many black people
are in jail for no reason. I'm going to do something about
that. You know what I mean?
Look at the way that, you know, people are police.
Like I was reading the book about policing in America and
you know, they were talking about how in the 60s with the

(01:49:59):
Black Panthers, like they would just run the cops out the
neighborhood period. You know what I mean?
Like if if they saw somebody being harassed by the police,
everybody would just come together and just get the police
out, you know what I mean? And I think specifically for,
you know, because it's not even that Miles isn't about that, but
like Miles is definitely a kind of character that you have to

(01:50:22):
kind of tell a specific line with like a miles got too
radical, you know what I mean? Like there are people who might
become a little bit uncomfortable with that.
And I don't even think you need to have, you know, patriot be
like the Malcolm X to his Martin, but like having somebody

(01:50:43):
who, because I kind of tried to do it a little bit with the
Champions run of like, you know,younger heroes trying to tackle
issues that are going on in the world.
But even that whole family, likeJosiah X, you know, and you
know, Isaiah, like there's a lineage there that I think is
very interesting. Also trying to live up to the
name, you know, where it's like my, my grandfather was one of

(01:51:07):
the greatest heroes ever, you know what I mean?
And like, what would he do? You know what we, what would he
do in the situation? There's somebody that's being
detained by ICE that's wrong. Should I just watch this happen
or like, do I do something aboutlike, what am I supposed to do?
And so kind of having those, youknow, situations that, you know,

(01:51:29):
he is somebody who is, again, he's not Mr. Terrific in that
sense of like, he's going to speak up.
But he did tell the Young Avengers at times like, Nah,
this ain't good, you know what Imean?
Like, I'm going to do something about it.
I, you should also probably helpme, but like, I can't sit here
and watch this. And like specifically, again,
his family was, was, you know, the sort that like they, they

(01:51:51):
just jumped to the action. So I think having a character
like that who, you know, maybe sometimes he's going to think or
he's going to act before he thinks.
And so, you know, there will be consequences for those actions.
But it could be interesting to kind of to play him off of a lot
of the things that are happeningboth real world and in the
actual Marvel Universe. Yes, I would also like to see

(01:52:14):
him interact more with Blue Marvel since they have a kind of
shared history, both the two grandparents and Miles, because,
you know, he doesn't like to gettoo down and dirty.
OK, aliens come to Earth and they say that you have to

(01:52:35):
nominate a movie from them to watch to make them like movies.
What movie do you make them watch?
I'm trying. I'm trying to think of like
because I don't want to confuse them, OK, you know what I mean?

(01:52:58):
Like if I show them like predator what they be like they.
Don't even. That's not even how they are.
I've met those guys. But it's also like, yeah, I
guess, I guess if I had to choose a movie that I liked,

(01:53:21):
that I hope they would also enjoy Everything Everywhere All
at Once. I feel like it's a movie that
gives you a lot of different things in one movie.
And so you get a little bit of comedy, you get a little bit of

(01:53:42):
action, you get, you know, some drama and some like, family
stuff. You get some science fiction and
like, you know, if if they were just kind of like, let's let's
get a scope of everything that'sgoing on.
And it's just a fun movie. Like, it moves really quick, you
know, like it's unexpected in a lot of the ways.
Like it'll, it'll at least keep their attention.

(01:54:04):
I don't know if they'll understand everything that
they're saying, but maybe maybe they'll be like, you know, the
humans have a huge bagel. Like we should beware of the
bagel. Yeah.
But like, OK. Yeah.
That that would be my choice. Good choice, Good choice,
Jordan. Who would you?
Cosplay as this is this is toughbecause I I've thought about it

(01:54:29):
and I guess is it is the question who would like?
Do I have to make the costume? No.
Or can I get it? Professionally made if you if
you no budget. What's your dream cosplay?
There's there's two that I thinkwould be cool. 1 is just very

(01:54:53):
simple, like I, I love the Doctor doom design and I think
like just the doom being Doctor Doom would be cool.
Like, you know, with the mask and the Cape and like
everything, you know, again, if there's no budget, like you got
to, you know, you got to do likeMarv versus Capcom 2 Doom, like
with like the, the, the palms light up and all that stuff.

(01:55:17):
So I would do that. I mean, it would probably be
hot, but if I could get somebodyto, you know, make it for me,
maybe there'd be some, you know,circulation or not.
I don't again, like the practicality of it seems crazy,
but then I've also seen people do it.

(01:55:38):
So like, I don't know. But like a Gundam would be cool.
But yeah, like I the the the ones that I've seen people do, I
just, I can't figure out what's happening, you know?
Did you, how did you do this? But like, yeah, I hope, I mean,
to be a mech for, you know, a couple hours, that would be kind

(01:56:00):
of kind of dope. Yeah, yeah.
Mine is the old 1940s Robin, a little Speedo, some little
slippers like an elf and a polo and a cake.
That's all I need. And I'll be walking around that
Conviction Center happy. OK Who is your favorite black
character who is not black? And this is going to be our

(01:56:20):
last. Well, this will be, I say, the
last one. Who is your favorite black
character who is not black? And we already said Luthor from
Superman, but other people have said like Panthro, Skeeter,
Sonic, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
So who is your favorite character who is not black?

(01:56:50):
I'm trying to think because I, I, I remember I did have a good
answer for this Once Upon a time, because on our podcast, we
talked about characters who, whoare canonically black.
You know, like we have all agreed that this is a black
person, even though the show is not saying it explicitly.
Like Piccolo is black, Like Piccolo is a black man.
He's a black uncle. And we know this and, you know,

(01:57:14):
like they're not going to say it, but like we've all agreed
that that's the case. Yeah, I'm having a talk.
I would, I guess I would go witheither Skeeter.

(01:57:37):
Skeeter's kind of weird, though,just only because like he, he
didn't get as much, you know, like when you think about Hey
Arnold, right? Like Gerald's got episodes.
Like Gerald was not just Arnold's friend, he was also
like a person, you know what I mean?
Like episodes with him and Jamieand like their sibling rivalry
and all that stuff. Like you got a bit more Skeeter

(01:57:59):
kind of was just Doug's friend. So like he didn't get too much
depth. Maybe in the later I didn't
watch the new Doug on Disney, somaybe something else happened.
But and and what I watched, he was kind of just Doug's friend.
But I did like Skeeter. Like, I mean, again, just one of

(01:58:19):
the first characters that I was like, I'm pretty sure he's
black. Yeah.
You know, I don't have a lot of proof to that, but he just feels
black. So I will go skater give me some
more examples because I feel like, you know, Panthro is cool
but I don't know if I want to behim.
Goofy. Goofy, yeah.

(01:58:45):
I can't really think right now, but yeah, that was some of ours
maybe. Pic I I'd throw Piccolo in
there. Piccolo.
I like Piccolo. I know some people play on
Piccolo, but I think he's cool. That's a real good one.
OK. And our last question, what
movie or TV show that is coming up is on your must watch list?

(01:59:15):
TV show I'm I'm excited for IronHeart.
I know there's a lot of to do going on, but.
Not with us. Not with us, I'm.
A watch, I think I think that isdefinitely has the potential and
specifically after because it's the last one, right, like it's

(01:59:38):
the last show that they're making.
Is that true? Is.
It they are making Wonder Man that's coming out in December
with ya ya. Well, maybe it's this.
Maybe it's the end of this cycle.
Of yeah, I think it's the end ofthis cycle.
So, but yeah, I mean, I think RiRi, I'm hoping, I'm hoping a

(01:59:59):
couple things. One, that we do either get a
Champions or Young Avengers teamthat RiRi is a part of and
secondly, that they do. Enough work with her to cuz I
mean, it's she got a weird introduction into the MCU where
she was like half Wakandan, you know, like not an official

(02:00:21):
Wakandan, but like it was kind of dragged into that conflict.
But then also like she didn't have any connection with Tony
Stark, you know, like she did inthe comics where it was kind of
like she had just, you know, reverse engineered his armor and
then like, you know, at least got to meet the man before he
died. So I'm not quite sure.

(02:00:43):
You know, it's not even that sheneeds a mentor, but like, you
know, her bridge into the wider MCU.
I'm not quite sure who. I mean, I guess we'll have to
see what Sherry's doing because that will be the big tell of
like if Sherry is a in this show, but then also like if we
get any further stuff going on, because I'm sure she I mean, you

(02:01:09):
know, Rimi's outside, like she'sdoing stuff like she's going to
be people are going to see somebody in a big Iron Man suit
flying around Chicago and say, what's up with that?
So like, I don't think it's going to take long for her to to
come into contact with the others, But I am interested to
see how they play off her dynamic because again, in the

(02:01:31):
comics, she's not quite like a like a moon girl where moon girl
is just like, shut up Reed Richards like.
I don't have to. Listen to you, but you know,
like I don't I'm I'm curious to see how they play her
intelligence because RiRi is very smart and you know, I'm not
quite sure where they're going to slot her in of like given the

(02:01:56):
current Avengers lineup, she would be the smartest person
next to Steven Strange. And so I am excited for
Ironheart too. I love Reread to Death.
More excited for what they're going to do with the hood.

(02:02:16):
Totally more excited for what isgoing to be.
I need to see what the hood is doing is.
He going to get away. Ironheart Show.
He's the villain. Oh I love the hood.
I read his. Max.
Say. It again, there's Max Comic.
The Max comic. So you don't.
I didn't read. I didn't read that one.

(02:02:37):
I read this the 5th comic from awhile ago and I.
Was the dark rain. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, the Max comic is where youneed to start.
That was amazing. All right, so we had an amazing
talk with Jordan, talking about Ancestral Recall.

(02:02:58):
Jordan, why can't this come out tomorrow?
I read the first issue I need tosee.
Oh, and the cover by Kerry Randolph.
We didn't even talk about that, but Oh my God, we're going to
have the cover by Kerry Randolph.
When you see it, you need to go down to your bookstores
immediately. Ask them if you think you put it
on your pool list. And to have this and the

(02:03:21):
remaining 5, four issues after that, it is going to be amazing.
This first issue was amazing. And Jordan, where can they find
you to make sure they stay up onall things ancestral recall?
Can find me on Instagram at Share Sosa 18.

(02:03:42):
I'm still on the other place at Share Sosa 18.
I am, I'm just getting into bluesky now.
So that's like where I'm, I'm trying to move everything over
to. So I might, I might just legacy
my account at the other place and then fully put everything on

(02:04:02):
blue sky. I'm not great at managing all
the different social media accounts.
So I, I mostly I'm just on Instagram, but that's where you
can find me and then you could find my podcast like people
won't save you at people won't save you pod on Instagram as
well as on blue sky. Our episodes come out every two

(02:04:23):
weeks. Like Jared said, we talk about
everything crazy from movies like Stonewall to movies like
Sheena to movies like the green book.
So if you've ever seen a movie and been like, what is
happening? Why are these white people not
even just like trying to save this black person, but like, why
why why did I come to see a movie about a genius piano

(02:04:46):
player and I'm just watching hisdriver take him around?
Like. That's making sense.
Yeah, definitely check out our show if that sounds like
something you'd like to see. Yes, yes, exactly.
And you can follow and I'll put Jordan's information at the

(02:05:07):
bottom of this of this show notes, but you can follow us at
what is it you get e-mail your request at the black geek
energygmail.com. You can follow us at spell black
energy, Instagram, black energy,Facebook, blue sky, TikTok,
YouTube, twitch and threads Black energy.

(02:05:27):
We are on Twitter at BG Under Score Pod and DeMarcus that you
know that we had a Patreon. Yes, I did there.
Did you know that it's only $0.10 a day?
Three black American dollars a month?
We'll get you all the hidden content.

(02:05:47):
VG, Dark BGD. No.
Black, Black geek dungeons. The dungeon dragon stuff.
All right, Yeah, Come on, Jared.That's not what you meant, but
I. Put it in the group chat before.
Yeah, that's not what you meant,but but.

(02:06:08):
I'll workshop the name. I'll keep working on that one.
But yeah, follow us there for all the hidden secret tidbits
from me and Demarcus's life. And on today's episode, I'm
going to give him a quiz that hecan he can actually win this
time. So follow that one.
But yeah, but yeah, joining thisis another great interview with

(02:06:33):
you. You have got to come back after
absolutely after Ancestral Recall so we can do a follow up
podcast episode on the whole runbecause that's what we like to
do. And yes, yes, yes, yes.
We will see all you guys next time on Black.

(02:06:58):
GE.

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