November 21, 2023 • 65 mins
This week, Kris and Dave look to the future and pick their most anticipated January 2024 comic book releases. Which books made the cut? Plus, some major characters were cut from No Way Home, Matthew Vaughn wants to remake Star Wars (snicker), and the return of nerd commendations!
Nerd News
Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy, Aunt May all cut from No Way Home script
Matthew Vaughn wants to remake Star Wars
Byword Big Talk
January 2024 Comic Solicitations
Nerd Commendations
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It's the only context in which my name or Dave should be in the same sentence as the
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word "silicitation."
We're looking ahead at comic books scheduled to release in January 2024 and highlighting
the ones we can't wait to read.
Episode 170 of The Byword begins now.
[Music]
(00:42):
Welcome to The Nerd Byword, the best nerd-centric podcast this side of the
Delta Quadrant.
On today's itinerary, we're scanning ahead to January 2024's comic book "Silicitations."
See, I feel dirty even saying it, at which titles we can't wait to get our hands on.
God, I made it worse.
All right, hurry up and cue the sounder for.
(01:03):
[Music]
Dave, what's up?
Yeah, so, "Nurt Newswise."
I need a shower after that introduction just so you know.
So news wise, the world is kind of crazy out there right now and as far as the actor
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strikes still going on, the studios, bucking and there's so much weird stuff going on
the world right now.
You have the mess in the middle east, the washing DC, the world is messy.
So I decided to zoom in on a very, very small issue because God knows a nerd podcast is
not the place to deal with the big issues.
And I found an interesting situation that goes back to a movie that you and I both enjoy
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it quite a bit and that is "Spider-Man No Way Home."
Our little multiverse, Spider-Man movie that brought Andrew Garfield and Toby McWire
over from the previous Spider-Man series and you and I both had really positive feelings
about this movie.
I think it's fair to say though that if we have any legitimate criticism, it probably is
(02:12):
that the movie is very male-centric, right?
I mean, there's not a lot of female characters.
You have your Aunt May and you have your MJ and that is pretty much it.
And one of whom was killed off.
Yeah, and considering that this sort of multiverse movie, there was always a bit of a disappointment
going on that we didn't get a glimpse of "Curston Dunst", "The Smerry Jane Watson"
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or maybe an alternate version of Aunt May and all of this, that there was more character
fun to be had there that was kind of left laying on the table.
And it turns out that we're not the only ones that feel that way.
Screenwriters Chris McKenna and Eric Summers have confirmed in a new book, MCU, "The Rain
(02:57):
of Marvel Studios", that "Curston Dunst", "Smerry Jane Watson"
as in the script at one point as were Sally Field on May from the Andrew Garfield version
of Spider-Man as well as Gwen Stacy and the Stone.
They were all supposed to make appearances in some capacity.
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Now with the Gwen Stacy of it all, they were not clear if that was some kind of flashback
or what was going on there, but the original script apparently included all of those characters.
The writers however according to the entry in the book felt that they were starting to
overdo it with cameos and then that led to the ultimate axing of Mary Jane on May and
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Gwen Stacy in the movie.
So here is the quote, "Somers in McKenna" at various points wrote versions of the story
that incorporated Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy, "Curston Dunst", "Smerry Jane Watson" and
Sally Fields on May.
And ultimately cut all those women when they decided that the story was already overstuffed.
The only female characters with significant screen time would be Mercer Tomay's on May
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and Zendaya's MJ.
Because the screenplay was constantly in flux, none of the actors could read a locked script
and they joined the project based on their faith in Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige,
producer Amy Pascal and director John Watts.
And of course in the lead up to the movie both Emma Stone and Curston Dunst were asked multiple
(04:28):
times if to be making an appearance and they denied that.
I think the only other relevant quote here to consider is probably Feige back in 2021 when
he was talking to the New York Times about the movie.
He said when people see the movie they will understand it's about the story.
It was a big goal for all of us.
That Peter Parker senior year in high school didn't get lost amid the insanity that ensues,
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he's encounter with Dr. Strange that could easily have happened and that's the reason there's
not another 20 people in the movie.
So on the one hand I understand that you know this wasn't supposed to turn into a complete
cameo fest on the one hand.
On the other hand I think that there are opportunities that are definitely left on the
table by not including these additional characters for one.
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As I mentioned at the top you know a little bit more of a female perspective here would
have been extremely welcome considering that there are two female characters one of them
and one of them gets killed off and the other one gets mind wiped.
I mean it's not a good movie for the female perspective.
It would have also been very interesting for another Aunt May to kind of bounce off of
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Marisa Tomay's Aunt May and I think it would have been particularly interesting for MCU Spider-Man
to kind of see the different incarnation of MJ out there and for there to be sort of an
MJ interaction.
I think there were things that could have been done that would have enriched the story
I guess rather than made it feel like a cameo fest.
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I think there's just a lack of understanding and how to incorporate these characters because
they happen to be I don't know female characters like I don't know it seems to me to be a fairly
obvious way how those could have been incorporated in a better way in this movie rather than just
cutting them out right.
So I guess for a movie that I really enjoyed this element of it I found extremely disappointing.
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Now not speaking of Gwen Stacy here because besides having some kind of flashback I don't
know exactly how they would have went about that but having MJ and another version of
Aunt May here I think would have been very very interesting to how the characters interacted
and a real lost opportunity Chris.
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Yeah I think there was also another quote that came out of that that it was like this ever
changing type of thing and you could kind of see that like that McGuire and Garfield weren't
even confirmed until like a couple of months before some kind of deadlock.
I can't remember I don't have the page in front of me right now and that feels very very
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kind of apropos to what we saw the final product.
I think this movie I would not have wanted to be involved with this movie from a directorial
standpoint I do not envy John Watts I don't envy Kevin Vigie based on the expectations that
this movie had and I'm surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did.
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I think it's fair to say Chris that I described this movie as sort of a beautiful mess you
know.
It's a very messy movie that by all accounts should not have come together as well as it
did but it did come out together fairly well in the end I think.
Yeah I think I mean you're bringing back you know Toby McGuire is the more critically acclaimed
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Spider-Man you and I hold a candle out for for Andrew Garfield's portrayal any day the
week.
Yeah I think so that's my preference but so you have a lot of nostalgia addicts that are
oh my god Toby McGuire is coming back.
You have this juxtaposed with the wildly over expectation performance of Into the Spider-Verse
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across of course it not been released yet.
So you have that as like a really unfair watermark to compare yourself against so they did
not want to go down the live action Spider-Verse lane which I think was probably for the best
I agree with that.
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So yeah this is an unenviable task in so many different ways.
Kind of just sitting back and let you read that and kind of wash it over.
I don't think I think it would be in I think it's auditioned by subtraction not having
Gwen Stacy in there as great as Emma Stone was in that role in that performance.
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I think it I think it just would not have fit and it would just have added to the trauma
of it all.
I would anytime I see Sally Field on my screen it's the best.
I love that woman to the moon and back I think she's perfect in that role.
We have we have no shortage of great Aunt Mays and I ride for Marissa to me I think that's
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an interesting take on the character yes we want to make memes about the hot Aunt May and
everything but it's a pretty realistic you know 21st century take on what a single aunt
raising her nephew would look like in the 2020s you know I think it's pretty realistic.
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So I mean I would have loved to see Lily Tom went I think Lily Tom might even be my favorite
Rosemary Harris is impeccable.
But yeah I think I think the one story that needed a little more for me was Toby McGuire's
and I don't know if adding MJ to that does it but he needed a little bit of something we
(10:17):
have like the back problem jokes and everything we have the jokes around the organic web shooters
I think Garfield had a great arc and Garfield fans like yourself yourself and me we were like
finally he gets good material to work with.
The Hayden Christiansen of the Spider-Manly.
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Exactly perfect perfect perfect analogy.
Yeah so I don't know I feel like I'm like again I'm surprised it worked as well as it did
and I think the reason that it's a beautiful mess and the fact that it worked is on the
strength of the performances.
Full stop full stop I think McGuire brought it.
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Garfield I knew he was gonna bring it he always brings it.
Holland brought it.
Holland really acted his took us off and Willem Dafoe was out of his mind as always just
so method so perfect.
And then you know even to Merced Tomay everybody was cooking in this movie Zintaya was cooking
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in this movie and so I think plot wise that's probably the greatest criticism you could
throw at this movie but the performances just carried over the top for me and it gives
it a re-watchable value for me.
And it's really interesting to me that and I'm gonna be I want to be a little fan boy
for a second here.
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Although you know Spider-Man 2 with with Toby McGuire in particular is is held up to a great
pedestal and is a really good movie and was a great experience in the theater and everything
and was sort of a pinnacle of what you could do with a Spider-Man movie at the time.
You know he's in the long one probably not my favorite Spider-Man performance and I think
a lot of that comes from that very the Sam Raimi is in those movies where they they almost
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go a little too cheesy with the Peter Parker character as opposed to trying to be a little realistic
with him.
And now that I have now that I have more context for Sam Raimi that makes all the more
sense to me.
Yeah.
But I will say this after no way home although there were a lot of people riding for
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another Andrew Garfield Spider-Man and I will admit that would be that would be great
to see him in that role you know one more time and to kind of be able to put a bow on
what he did with the character.
I would really ride for a Toby McGuire-Curston-Dunce Spider-Man sequel where we revisit the character
you know as their older you know further down in the journey sort of a sort of a Peter
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B Parker version of what's going on with with those characters and it's really sad because
one of the quotes that I read you know when when Carson Dunne was asked about whether she's
involved in no way home she said something to the effect and I'm paraphrasing here but
she said something to the effect of yeah they don't want the old girls in there you know.
And I find that super regrettable because checking in with that version of Mary Jane and
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that version of Peter Parker later on in their journey and having a you know a movie about
them would I would actually really really want to see that I would be super interested in
seeing a Spider-Man 4 if you will more so than anything else after watching no way home.
I think I'm more fascinated by that I'm going to be real with you I think this was Toby McGuire's
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strongest performance as Spider-Man in that role I think even with Spider-Man 2 I think he is
outshined by Alfred Malena who I neglected to mention as well in this movie is great.
Alfred Malena will eat your breakfast anytime you put him in a movie.
Yeah.
Holy smokes dude.
Yeah.
The few moments he's in Raiders of the Lost Ark like he's got so good.
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He is a little package of charisma it's ridiculous.
Yeah and so I think I also would be more interested because I love Kirsten Dunst there's a lot
of roles that she just devours in as well like I love her in Jumanji as this little smart
Alec Whipper snapper type of kid I just think that she was more Gwen and I'll say this to
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the cows come home she had more qualities of Gwen Stacy than she did of Mary Jane.
This is absolutely true.
A misnomer I think she was much more Gwen than she was MJ and a little bit vice versa with
Emma with Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy for being honest she was a little more MJ and she was
Gwen so I feel like it was a little bit of a freaky Friday swap if you will but I would
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be much more interested to revisit those characters now and especially I think what worked for
me the best about Toby McGuire in this movie is he is not handcuffed to that 70s era Lee
Ramida aesthetic that the Ramy Trilogy went for.
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That is exactly right.
I think that was to its detriment.
It worked in the first one and it was fine but I think the more that we kind of committed
to that kind of moment in time I think it was to its detriment and so I'm I tell you what
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I think happened at least I'm speculating but if you look at the Richard Donner Superman
movie they were going for a very specific vibe with that very sort of pre-crisis Superman
sort of a very specific 70 76.
78 but it felt more like I think Superman comic books maybe from the 50s right it very much
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tried to capture a vibe of Superman but at the same time it also tried to be timeless in
that right.
The idea is by not stooping it too much in 1978 modern day sensibilities you would create
a fairly timeless movie and I think for the most part they succeeded in that there's some
moments in there that are not timeless but on the whole the movie feels timeless and I
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think that's what Sam Ramy was going for too he thought he by by steeping it in a very
specific snapshot of the character he would be able to achieve a kind of timelessness and
I don't think it worked nearly as well with the McGuire Spider-Man movies I think they're
not timeless in fact they feel very aged now and I think a different a different approach
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with those same characters now might be able to achieve a more timeless quality because
I don't think you know when we talked about this before when we tried to you know quote
unquote fix them but I don't think or revisit them I don't think they aged necessarily as
well as something like Superman the movie has.
Do you think they would even approach this without Ramy though?
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I don't know I think that is probably fair question I think it's fair to say that Marvel
is okay with Ramy considering you know Doctor Strange and Multiverse of Madness which is
heavily maligned and I don't get it I really dug that movie.
I dug too but again it's it's there's a lot of Sam Ramy is in there but it works
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in that context so you know I think the best way to describe the Sam Ramy isms that are
in in the Spider-Man movies is to not look to his horror stuff but to look to like Hercules
Legendary Journeys or Xeno Warrior Princess that Sam Ramy showed up to make the Spider-Man
movies right including including Lucy Lawless guy with eight legs sounds high yeah so it's
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I don't want to harp on the movies because they were great their great movies and I enjoy
them a great deal when they came out but I am very interested after no way home I would
love to see those characters on the big screen one more time in sort of a Peter B.
Parker situation sort of checking middle-aged Spider-Man and roll with it.
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Let's say the harsh truth Dave let's say why we want to see that it's because that's
what Marvel comics won't let us have is a Spider-Man that grows develops in ages a little
bit yeah it's true yeah I'm I feel like we're we're coming up soon on an episode where we're
going to be talking spidey state of spidey or something like we keep we keep scratching
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at it and I know you and I don't seek a hundred percent eye to eye on the topic but I feel
like we're coming just to that just been Riley episode just been Riley.
Well let's move on to Star Wars Chris you have a there's there's do I need to get my trusty
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pen ready because there's already a bleep worthy work just in in our dominant trying to do
my best I'm trying to do my best but the Guinness here might do the talking.
Yeah so Matthew Vaughan won't stop talking and this is a problem that's very common yeah
yeah and and and in some cases it was beneficial for those of you that don't know Matthew Vaughan
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did the Kingsmen films which I have not seen but I've heard it good he also did the reboot
as it were of X-Men First Class which for the most part was a good film the Darwin of it all
still makes me angry all these years later but at the same time that one Magneto scene where he's
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in Argentina and Nazi hunting is one of the best scenes in any comic book movie and which is
hard to say when you're talking about an X-Men movie you want to talk about how bad DC films are
try being an X-Men fan but but he really kind of dropped another oh so the the one that we did not
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talk about on last episode that was of note is when they tricked Halle Berry into joining X-Men 3
there was a story with it with us with a script that they had written that included more scenes
really good scenes for her and then decadamarle they have no intention of filming him Jesus
right so that made headlines a couple weeks back but the one that we're talking about today is he
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was on the happy sad confused podcast and they asked him about Star Wars and he said quote for me doing
a Star Wars movie is to play with the characters that I love so if they said to me do you want to reboot
Star Wars and actually have Luke Skywalker solo invader and you do your own version of it everyone
would say you're an idiot to try but that would excite me that'd be fun why not bond you ask me
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who is going to play the next Wolverine why are these characters so hollow that from 1977
you can't redo it for a new audience Star Wars is the Skywalker family and that's where I think
they've gone wrong because they've forgotten and they've done brilliantly in the TV world but it
needs an epic new film and that's what I would do and quote and holy god if I hear the word reboot
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one more time like we have to stop rebooting everything like I'm good with the reboot even the
most recent Ninja Turtles film mutant madness um there's a mutant mayhem I can't remember but
anyways like it it wasn't even a full reboot like the origin story was very quick and it was very
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much like an alternate universe kind of retelling and then we just like focus on like the main points
of the story I come good with reboots I don't think I ever need another reboot like people have seen
people go back to the original trilogy of Star Wars and watch it again and again and again we don't
need a retread of like the hallowed ground that is the original trilogy and I think something
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that Star Wars fans of a certain age need to realize and are realizing if they're opening their
minds to the idea is the prequels have a section of fandom that were children you know and that were
kids when those grew up or they grew up with them and they were that's their original trilogy and
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that's okay and as as maligned as the sequel trilogy is there are fans of it and we've had our
criticisms of it we've we've you know applied our fixes to it and so I think that the most
egregious thing about this is him saying that the skywalkers are Star Wars like you can't go pass
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that like that is one of the I'm sorry it's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard so and you
have now talked about this ad nauseam recast yes reboot hell no
yeah okay so I think we're gonna have to accept at some point that not everything needs to be
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rebooted like you know Star Wars is certainly a seminal franchise right and and the original
trilogy in particular is one of the most influential pieces of cinema in you know ever but we're
gonna have to discuss at some point that not you know nobody's talking about rebooting hamlet I hope
right like we can leave a piece of art and stand let it stand by on its own that doesn't mean
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that you can't make sequel or additions even if you want to talk about like something that
Boslerman did with Romeo plus Juliet that was still at its core the same thing it just went
through different lens and it was fantastic I love Romeo plus Juliet love it but just but just
retelling the original trilogy story I don't know man I would rather you know like you said we've
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talked about this a lot but a recast to create additions are much more interesting to me you know like
I would love for them to recast the core three in a similar way as they you know recast for the
Star Trek you know movies and then just like tell a story like air to the empire something like that
you know like I think there are things to do there you know reading the the Star Wars comic books at
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Marvel has been putting out especially the run that took place between a new hope and empire strikes back
there was really good stuff in there you know like that kind of thing as a tv series or as an
additional movie I can get behind with good casting and care being put into it but you know like
let's reboot Star Wars because I don't you know I want to put my own spin on it like
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as so lazy like come up with something original I don't know man I just I don't like the idea of
constantly rebooting I'm interested in interesting sequels and furthering a story absolutely
but constantly going back and just like I'm gonna retell this again you know I'm gonna reboot this
again why is our tendency in society to reboot successful things and when something fails you
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just let it fail and linger like there are so many things out there that at its core had a cool
premise but then just didn't work an execution like take one of those and reboot it that'd be much
it more interesting to move than me than rebooting something that was successful good I have it
literally makes no sense to me other than you like are getting high on your own supply and like you
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think that you are so above everybody else like I can't understand why you think you need to reboot
the original trilogy like I don't get it all right that wraps nerd news for this week when we come
back we will be headed for our byword big talk and the comic book solicits for January 2024 stick around
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all right welcome back to the main segment for this episode we like to call it our byword
and for this episode we are looking ahead to the January 2024 solicits for comic books we have
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each highlighted three that we cannot wait to read Dave what is first up on your list and of course
you're going off the beaten path don't always though isn't that just like power the course when you're
hanging out with me in reading comics there's always something weird going on so as far as January
goes there's a mini series launching from only press that I immediately found very interesting
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the series is called Jill and the killer so it's a four issue mini series number one is solicited
for January 2024 it's written by Olivia Guaterro Briggs with art by Roberta in Grenada and I think
that's already interesting because we have a female creative team both on art and on writing and a
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female main character so this is already good in my book however with my horror tendencies you
better believe that there's some scary going on here so here is our official solicitation a double
sized and dangerous 48 page debut Olivia Guaterro Briggs who apparently wrote Mary Shelley Monster Hunter
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by the way sounds interesting immediately and I need to check that out and Roberta in Grenada who
did work on witchblade and doctor who present a new kind of game where even murder is much more than
it seems returning to school after the unsolved disappearance of her mother teenager Jill Estrada
can't wait for things to return to normal even as her friends become compulsively obsessed with
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box killers a true crime subscription game where each month's unsolved case is custom tailored to
the life of its player there's only one catch Jill's game seems to be all too real and when her
clues begin to connect to a series of disappearances in her town Jill and her friends must uncover the
truth behind these mysterious crimes before one of their own becomes the next victim so we have
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the book comes out on January 31st 2024 48 pages so it's a double sized issue and is retailing at
699 art looks absolutely gorgeous nice colors in the in the covers as far as I can see here
I'm very very interested in sort of the art style that's represented here it's sort of realistic
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but has sort of a slight cartoony edge over it I think most importantly though I think I've never
heard quite anything like this I mean we've seen horror stories that involve some kind of game
more another but this seems to kind of I guess connect with the idea of like subscription boxes
and there's been so many of those that were extremely you know popular various themes
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you know you get you get a box of goodies once a month stuff like loot crate and and the like
so doing this as a true crime game and then tying it into reality in some way I think that's a really
interesting premise I'm really really interested in this one Chris I think there's really something here
enough that I'm interested to go and check out Mary Shelley Monster Hunter while I'm waiting for
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this to come out in January yeah this is fascinating and it's capitalizing really smartly
on popular things like true crime podcasts and and subscription boxes that are are still a thing
like we for a couple years we had snack crate where we would they would have like a country per month
and they would send snacks from that country and so that was like a cool way to like kind of introduce
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the family to to different parts of the world and their different tastes and what we liked
what we didn't like and and stuff like that so that's it's really fascinating kind of capitalizing
on on both of those kind of elements and creating a captivating looking story on that
yeah like I said you know as far as the art goes to it's you know the covers look very very good
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so if interior art matches with that you know that's a big win really big fan of the art right away
and you know it's hard to be original when it comes to you know suspense and scary stuff these days
so I think I think this one has something and only generally speaking only press is a publisher that
always does something interesting that seems to fly under the radar like they have a series right
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now with Colin bun for example that they have the second issue solicited for a January and I've
not even heard of this thing it called invasive so they're always doing something interesting and
yet at the same time I always seem to kind of miss out on a lot of this stuff and I think I need to
just have a better eye on what only is doing generally speaking Chris all right so what is your first
(31:13):
pick from the January solicitations listen you you must you might think I'm a company man because
all four or all three of mine are coming from my beloved marvel but I mean it's just home to me
and so it's the first place I look and first place I go I'll strain go with the boom studios book
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which there's one they're soliciting the the fifth issue of rare flavors which we've already
reviewed on the podcast and I plan to continue reading but as far as new stuff that kind of caught my eye
I'm going first and foremost with the resurrection of magneto by Allewing and our first ever creative
interview Luciano Ovecchio on art so this is a this is a great team and I'm already hooked just because of
(31:58):
that not to mention it's one of my all-time favorite characters and comics being brought back to life
and with the current state of ex comics like I don't have a whole lot to look forward to you want
to you want to talk about spider-man comics like yeah a crocoa is done and over with I can I don't
know what the the regression to the mean is going to entail but I'm definitely not looking forward to it
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I've been kind of off-base reading ex comics for the better part of two months and I'm not exactly
excited to get caught up but Allewing is just one of those creators that I'll follow wherever he goes
and sadly this is what what appears to be his grand finale writing for the ex office so
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this might be one of the final like mainstays of me reading ex comics like religiously like I have been
like I you know I'm open to being surprised pleasantly surprised but doesn't look great for ex comics as it
goes right now but solicitation reads life death on crocoa resurrection from the dead was as easy
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as completing a circuit but crocoa fell the time of easy miracles is over and the only hard roads
and only the hard roads are left now it falls to storm as the epic conclusion to the crocoa in age
looms to bring their oldest enemy home to fight against the fall of the house of x but after all he
did and all that was done to him can magneto bear to return so it's it's almost like I'm looking
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forward to reading this because it's it's all youing it's magneto it's storm with the same time it's
it's a bittersweet kind of thing and I'm interested to and intrigued but a little bit saddened by the
by everything all the extenuating factors of it yeah so on the back of the creative team alone I think
that there's probably a really quality story here um we've talked about before how I'm sort of
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exman agnostic you know everyone's something comes along that catches my attention before the
most part it's not you know a franchise that necessarily grabs me the upheaval that it's going
through right now is not really helped um even you know in with the Kamala Khan of it all I've been
reading the new Miss Marvel series but it's it's you know firmly entrenched in this whole fall of x
(34:20):
idea and we're you know the idea of going back to them being you know persecuted not having a
place to turn to and all that um it feels very sort of done before uh pretty sure magneto has
died and come back before too um so on on the on the back of the creative team it looks interesting to
me but beyond that I'm you know pretty unsure if I'm gonna get a whole lot out of this particular story
(34:45):
yeah for sure it's something and isn't there not not not not in a rough but isn't there also already
like a magneto clone running around or something I seem to recall seeing that character pop up in um
in scarlet witch I think so there's like something believe that's Joseph that's an old 90s call back
but when it comes to one uh you want to talk about agnostic that's a character i'm agnostic about
(35:10):
I will say um you know I have not the background in the character that you do however the current
scarlet witch series has been a absolute home run as somebody who you know is not entrenched in
particular opinions about the character based on past experiences um that that comic book is
(35:30):
ridiculous man the art is is gorgeous the writing is you know sharp as attack I mean it's it's really
really something um I've really enjoyed it and I've heard similar things from from my fellow x-fans
so I may one day give it a look maybe when it's at its completion I'll just binge through it because I've
heard great things as well uh I think they're gonna relaunch at next year um as a team team up book
(35:54):
between her and her brother quick silver so um but I think the creative team's still gonna be the
same so yeah so it's definitely something I'll probably we'll have to eventually check out even if
I'm dragged kicking and screaming um I just always I just always look at wander with apprehension
and kind of squinted eyes of suspicion it's just I'm not a do do that redesign alone oh my god man
(36:21):
there's just good stuff there all right so one of our favorite publishers Dave uh unsurprisingly
gets the next book on your list boom goes to dynamite now obviously there's more uh you know
um something is killing the children house of slaughter stuff coming so I can't you know argue
with that but the thing that really caught my this time is a new series that's launched in called
(36:46):
Pine and Merrimack uh writer's Kyle Stark's uh Eisner nominated writer uh also uh recently wrote
for DC uh mini series piecemaker tries hard that kind of aligned uh the piecemaker character a little
bit more with the with the television show I think um and was you know quite good from a writing
perspective um this is uh Kyle Stark's first original series um also features art by friend Galan uh
(37:15):
I thought that name sounded familiar and I had to kind of look uh look up this artist and he actually
did some work um on the uh spider man beyond arc that you and I both enjoyed fairly well although I
didn't really like the ending that much um but uh you know there were two issues I think and that's
(37:36):
where I remembered the name from so solid art absolutely topped the bottom um so here is the
official solicitation on the corner of Pine and Merrimack sits a small unassuming town just a simple
place simple people and one horrifying secret that could change everything after a lifetime of
witnessing the worst that humanity has to offer former homicide detective Linnea Kent has decided
(38:01):
to put all that behind her alongside her husband a former professional MMA fighter and the unofficial
brawn to her brains she's moved far from the busy city to open up a quite little detective agency
at first a simple case is this nuke of the world has to offer where exactly what she was looking for
but there's more to the quaint hamlet than Linnea could have possibly imagined and something truly
(38:23):
sinister pulling the strings so uh this is an unexpected detective tale perfect for readers of
reckless and the department of truth uh the release date is january 3rd 2024 retail price is 499
um so obviously on the back of the writer being somebody I'm aware of and has been eyes
and are nominated but it's not somebody that I would consider a household name at this time i'm very
(38:47):
much interested in reading this i'm i'm always interested in you know finding writers that are doing
interesting work um and it may not be like uh the go-to name that you naturally just right away pick
something up and then frangalans work at on amazing spider-mandering the beyond arc are really really
liked and if you look at uh the frangalon cover there's definitely a really really interesting art
(39:11):
style here so i am definitely all about this one chris yeah it looks really fascinating it almost
looks like one of those us a shows uh that we used to watch where like there was like it just feels
like that type of aesthetic maybe like even like an a mc like this feels like uh like a like a
television series in comic book form and it's really really intriguing and and detective stuff like
(39:35):
that always is going to catch my interest more on that later it's definitely a characters welcome
situation so what is your second pick chris um i'm going solely based off of the creative team on
this but i'm going Avengers twilight by chhipsadarsky and daniel akunia in a gleaming world
(39:59):
excuse me in a gleaming new world of prosperity captain america is no more but steve roger still
exists floating through an america where freedom is an illusion where the avengers are strangers and
his friends are long dead but is the dream how do you assemble avengers in a world that doesn't want them
um and then the second issue is being solicitors as well with the clock ticking to new york's day
(40:24):
and the world against him captain america must build an army to save america with his surviving
friends sign up or is he going to have to lead the lag the ragtime group called the defenders
against the expert military marksman known as bullseye um and based off like how much i've enjoyed
chhipsadarsky's run on spectacular spider man uh his work on daredevil um and then daniel akunia like
(40:52):
i daniel akunia draws my dreamscape like what he did with um black panther and the galactic empire
of akonda that whole volume of black panther is just like some of the most gorgeous stuff that you'll
ever seen this like kind of water color aesthetic is just just impeccable to me and so i know that
(41:14):
like a lot of future dystopia type of stuff has been done before but the solicitation the creative team
it's it's enough to tip the scales for me and i'm definitely checking this one out
yeah so post apocalyptic kind of avenger story really anything where steve roger's has to be
inspirational is gonna be good by me the creative team looks really interesting too um so yeah i'm
(41:37):
definitely gonna check this out um obviously out of continuity stories hidden miss right
sometimes you get really good stuff and sometimes you don't but chhipsadarsky has impressed me so
much with his daredevil run even if his batman run doesn't quite hit the same highs to me i think it's
just that's a really really solid writer and so where chip goes i follow davan really excited to
(42:00):
talk about your next one because it's a writer that i've seen the best of and i've seen the not so best of
but it's a character that is your all-time fave oh my god how can i not talk about Superman uh the
Superman books have really just been hitting all the right notes over the last few months and i'm
so enjoying the ride and now they're they're now they're bringing in jason aireon uh in january as of
(42:26):
action comics 1061 jason aireon is gonna be writing action comics uh with art by john tims and let
me tell you the john tims cover already uh showing Superman fly towards the reader with bizarre
row coming up behind him is absolutely stunning so i'm very very excited for this book there's also
(42:46):
i have to say a beautiful variant cover by horey yiminis that shows uh you know low is kind of getting
uh Superman up against the wall a little bit and getting a little frisky and it's it's hilarious and
very low is and i absolutely love it and it's one of the first um variant covers in a long time that
i almost feel like going and picking up um it's just a very very low slain cover i guess you could say
(43:12):
but more interestingly aireon looks to be coming out swinging right away uh and trying to do something
interesting uh with uh Superman's villains so here is the solicitation text the wizard bizarro
jason aireon writes Superman for the very first time teaming up with all star artist john tims to
present a startling new vision of the man of steel strangest foe when superman stopper ganger discovers a
(43:37):
dark secret about himself it unleashes the most dangerous version of bizarro the world has ever seen
bizarro is a really interesting character that has had so many different interpretations and
versions already so seeing a different take on him that can take him to a different level would be
really interesting aireon also has written arguably one of my favorite Thor runs um so that is
(44:01):
already i think a really good sign for this and i know his avengers work is a little more controversial
and not nearly as well loved but i think aireon might excel a little bit at sort of solo character stuff
more than than team books and so seeing him on Superman ought to be a really really interesting ride
(44:21):
and i think the current run has been doing a really really good job also playing around with
Superman's villains a little bit already the reinvention of parasite kind of evolving him a little
bit was very interesting the the setup that lex luther is in jail but he's now trying to be a good
guy and is trying to actually help Superman maybe if he's not got some other plan going on there are
(44:44):
very interesting things happening with the villains already so extending that to bizarro is right
away i think a really good move and shows i think that aireon has a really good shot here of fitting
in well with what they are already doing right now in the Superman book so i'm i'm very optimistic
about this one Chris yeah i'm really intrigued by this and i i think you may be kind of
(45:09):
um hitting the nail on the head when it comes to solo characters versus a team book i will
i will admit i read about half of his avengers run and i enjoyed it more than i anticipated
like i can see what he was going for and the one thing that i'll say about jason aireon is he
swings for the fences if you'll if you'll excuse the sports reference i know a baseball is the one
(45:34):
sport that you kind of have a little bit of time for he's he's a big slugger like he's either going
to hit a home run or strike out swinging like he's just not going to go for a bun he's not going
to go for a single or a double it's either home run or nothing and so i see what he was he was
ambitious and what he was going for with his avengers run and sometimes it landed and sometimes it
did not so i'm i'm still a fan and i'm i'm definitely intrigued on this i need to get caught up on
(46:00):
my Superman comics because i really enjoy that first one and i'm absolutely entranced by mariland
moonlight and so i just i just honestly just need to read for her if nothing else
and i think in the solicits over in the Superman book there's a big mariland moonlight story
actually coming up in january as well so so there's just good stuff on the rise and for Superman it's a
(46:23):
very nice time to be a Superman fan i'd christ what is your final pick well i thought you might want
tips on this one but you said go ahead so we've talked about this a couple of times on the show already
but it needs as much as possible because we're super excited about it it's ultimate spider man
or solicit is visionary writer Jonathan hickman and acclaimed artist marco uh chichetto bring you a
(46:48):
bold new take on spider man with this the debut title of the new line of ultimate comics after the
events of ultimate evasion the world needs a hero who will rise up to take on that responsibility
be prepared to be entangled in a web of mystery and excitement as the all new ultimate spider
man comic redefines the wall crawler for the 21st century that's a pretty intriguing one and
(47:15):
we kind of talked about this a little bit when it popped up in our news stories previously but if
they're not going to let six one six peter grow the f up hopefully this line will um for the 21st
century like that that line alone gives me kind of hope um and i mean like the the artwork that
(47:38):
covers they're doing they've got some really great great variant covers um that i'm digging and as
you said i'm not a physical comic person really um i just kind of have them sitting on a shelf
but some of these covers may kind of swing me the other way and i'm kind of looking towards
(47:58):
getting some of these also with something especially to me as ultimate spider man is i might go down to
the lcs and and grab a couple of these um i'm just really really excited on i think i still hold like
the the hickman of it all as this gigantic world builder telling stories across multiple titles
(48:19):
across multiple years being on a street level character not cosmic not reality warping with
Franklin Richards not completely shaking the table like house of x powers of ten i'm really
(48:40):
interested to see where he goes with this yeah um first of all i don't know if i've ever mentioned
this to you but i when the first ultimate spider man comic book launched i was not back in the
comic books yet i ended up in a comic book shop um months later um and i think the first issue that
i actually picked up was amazing it was ultimate spider man number thirteen i think so the entire first
(49:04):
year of the run i don't own in single issues i have the entire run in single issues and then the first
two trade paperbacks and it kind of still breaks my heart to this day because you i cannot complete
that collection ever the those issues are so expensive on the collector's market you can forget that
right and so this might be one i have to pick up physically just just in case um this becomes one
(49:28):
of those books that absolutely adore i would i would absolutely hate not to be able to to complete
the run um as i did for example with like run marz the screen lantern i got that entire one um that
that you know i'm not much of a collector but when you when i really love a story i'd like to have the
the entire story you know so uh yeah i'm again there's not a lot known at this time about this all we
(49:53):
really know is it's a new ultimate universe we don't even know if this is really Peter Parker or not
we all we know is that this is um you know a peter b parker situation as in sort of an older spider man
likely um and we've speculated before given that in ultimate invasion there was a scene where the maker
prevented the spider from biting peter parker as a teenager and took the spider that maybe the set
(50:18):
up of the book is that the spider actually will bite peter parker later in life right when he's
already in middle age and it's an inexperienced hero who's not a teenager but fully grown and has to
kind of figure out how to integrate the super heroics into his life and i think that that would be
interesting but there's a possibility that it's not peter parker and all the variant covers show you
(50:40):
know different versions too sort of i was just gonna ask you if there's i was just gonna ask you if
there's anything to read into that because there are three very three of the four variant covers
are variations on the main cover and so you have a spider man 2099 you have very clearly a ben
Riley spider man and then the black suit spider man yeah i think i don't know i think that they're
(51:02):
leaning into the speculation of who this is and they're definitely keeping their mouth shut some
shut on purpose right i think that's you know there's a lot of speculation a lot there is excitement
among people who wish that you know mainline peter parker would do a little bit of growing up
and the quote that is a sort of a middle-aged situation but on the flip side this could be an entirely
(51:24):
new character this could be an alternate version of a different character we really don't know what
we're getting here yet and even if it's not an alternate version of peter park it could still end
up being very very interesting right it could still be a very good story um for this one i'm definitely
gonna pick it up because i want to see how it shakes out but i'm also gonna take a weight and see
approach a little bit um it's hard it's hard to tell how this is gonna turn out and i think
(51:49):
it's fair to feel that way because i think when ultimate spider man first came out um there was
also a lot of skepticism because it wasn't that long ago that they had tried to do sort of a soft
quote unquote relaunch uh the john's car no oh the john burn yes oh yes not so yeah and so doing a
(52:10):
quote unquote you know relaunch of a character and you know going back to the beginning and everything
is not necessarily something that people always trust right so i'm i'm cautiously optimistic
optimistic and very interested but we'll have to see uh you know how it shakes out i think similarly
to the no way home of it all like this is not an enviable task you know ultimate spider man is
(52:35):
is hallowed ground for a lot of people um i'm i'm willing to give this a shot based on you know
the creative team because we can talk about hickman to the dig to you know until the cows come home
but marco chicano and like what he was able to do on dark on dare double and specifically with
electros hair like i'll watch that dude you draw anything man so the creative team alone has me there
(53:00):
i don't like i have i'm in a temper my expectations on this i'm not gonna let nostalgia
kind of color my view on that that's something that i always try to kind of keep in check
but at the same time i don't think that this is like a direction they would go in unless they had
like a strong feeling about the quality of the story that they wanted to tell like i don't think this
(53:24):
is like this is pretty much like a sacred cow and i don't know that they would go back into this area
unless they had a good story to tell we we would hope um this is also not under spider editorial right
like the ultimate the new ultimate line is not connected to spider editorial i think
last time i checked so this would be the first time in quite a while that spider you know a spider is
(53:49):
not being edited by Niklow so if i understood if if i if i got if i got my facts right thank the maker
if that's the case if i if i got my facts right um i know there's been some speculation about that
and i guess we'll know a hundred percent for sure when we opened the book and see who's listed as editor
(54:11):
but my understanding was that the new ultimate line was not under the purview of the spider office
which i think is really interesting it'll be and be smart and i think might be intentional
on on hickman and companies part all right that wraps up our
highlighted picks for the January 2024 solicits which books did we miss which books are you
(54:33):
waiting to see waiting to read hit us up on social media at nerd by word across all socials
and when we come back from our final break finally my nightmare is over and nerd commentations
have returned
we're back for the fan favorite segment where we recommend the good stuff to you that we've been
(54:59):
enjoying we call it
Dave you're nothing if not consistent you thought your nightmare was over but i am still back on
the horror train um so uh turns out uh hack and slash is back and that kind of blew my mind and
(55:23):
in more than one way so hack slash of course has been uh Tim Ceeley's baby from the get go and has
you know bounds between publishers and had various different series but has had sort of a
an overarching story arc uh most recently uh there was a um 12 issue maxi series a couple years back
(55:44):
called hack slash resurrection uh that furthered the story and was very very good and was the first time
i think that ceeley uh himself was not involved in the writing of that book um and that seems to be a
pattern that he set now where he's letting other creators sort of play in his with his creation a
little bit so uh just for background hack slash is uh you know it's been around for a very long time
(56:09):
currently sitting with image comics and follows the character Cassie hack who teams up with a
monstrous uh dude who's actually has a really good heart called Vlad and they go around and they hunt
slasher quite literally the uh undead return that turn into basically stuff like um Michael Myers
(56:30):
Jason Voorhees you know Freddy Krueger slasher from horror movies so she is the she's the slasher
of slasher she slasher slasher say that three times real fast and uh the series has you know always
been sort of a weak spot of mine and that i always have really really enjoyed it uh as somebody who's
you know neck deep in the horror tropes and the like seeing a series and comic books that sort of
(56:53):
plays around with those tropes a little bit uh you know really really really enjoyed and and here is
the official uh solicitation for the new four issue miniseries hack slash back to school the first
issue of which has been released already as of recording hack slash returns with an untold tale
and critically acclaimed cartoonist Zoe Thoreau good at the bloody helm slasher hunter Cassie hack is
(57:17):
only just getting used to her man monster partner Vlad when she's drawn into a new case involving a
murderous bunny mascot dead kids and an entire squad of maladjust a teenage serial killer hunters
a completely new chapter in the beloved long running series that's perfect for new readers and old
fans alike just in time for Halloween so this is sort of an in between cool going back to the
(57:39):
beginning of the the character as this is right after she first meets Vlad so she's uh you know younger
here than in some of the more recent stories more inexperienced and she gets drawn into an organization
that purports to take uh you know final girls basically female victims of slasher and train them
(58:02):
up to hunt slasher and i guess this is going to be a story in some ways about how she got
some of the skills she's gotten but there's also already some hints that this quote unquote school
is not all it seems to be um what really is the selling point of this besides if you're big fan of
a fact slash to begin with is simply Zoe Thoreau good this is a very different kind of take although
(58:28):
it's still very much feels like hack slash it's a very different kind of take particularly visually
and i think um you know when you when you give a creator writing an art duties and you're like let them
cook this is the creator's baby you always get something special and right away from this first issue
this already feels like something special uh the art absolutely sings the writing is very very sharp
(58:52):
they do something a little more um internal when it comes to Cassie hack you get a little bit more into
her head into in this series than you have in the past and as somebody who's you know been there
from the beginning and read all of of hack slash crossovers and everything they've done with it i
am thoroughly fascinated with this take on the franchise and i'm very very interested to continue
(59:15):
reading this so hack slash back to school number one first of a four part mini series if you like
horror if you like old hack slash if you like Zoe Thoreau good just give this thing a read it is
absolutely worth the price of admission yeah i'm very intrigued by this and i had totally forgotten
about your previous nerd accommodation with us and as someone who uh has really enjoyed Tim
(59:38):
Seely's work on night wing i think he even did some some green lanterns stuff that i read um i'm
definitely intrigued by this um and and you know me like a writer doing uh or a creator i should say
doing uh words and art like that's always like the chicken soup for my soul like so i may have to
(59:58):
give this one a look all right Chris so um your recommendation we've actually talked about and it's
queued up in my um in my um marvel unlimited subscription i can't wait to actually get to it what
have you got yeah so i said that this one was written specifically for you so um but mood night
by Judmike like it's been one of the things that i've always been meaning to sit down and read uh
(01:00:23):
it's been highly recommended by friends um i think i i'm reading my text that i sent to you i said
of this equal parts detective thriller spiritual warfare but through like a horror lens uh i think
it's i think it's a masterpiece and you know the thing of it is it's like jumping in with a character
(01:00:43):
this deep into their publication history do you need a deep background and i don't think so
i i read the one uh series from a couple years ago um not the jeff lamir one but the one before that
where they introduced like the white and black suit um and and that was really great uh previously
or recommended um so i think this is pretty new reader friendly um and i what i love about it is that
(01:01:11):
it is like it tackles so many different big things and it incorporates so many different elements
and it really kind of plays with them and i you know a lot of people who have very remedial
kind of background on the character of moonnight say well he's marvels batman and for me
(01:01:35):
that's kind of infuriating because that's like saying ramen and spaghetti are the same because they both
have noodles like these are very different type of characters they have similarities uh you have
a wealthy man who's a street level fighter but that like like that's just the surface value you have
he's great tactician and all that like these are so different um so i i i don't like
(01:02:03):
endured commending things until i'm done with them but i'm only 11 issues in and i i'm gonna have
to break my own rule here because the quality is just so good like it feels like there's there's
some of these issues are like episodic in nature it almost feels like a buffy the vampire slayer episode
like where like there's a complete story told within one issue but then it also has over arching
(01:02:30):
stories that are being told throughout arcs throughout trades if you will um and even those episodic
things those episodic adversaries have implications to the larger stories as well like it's just
like jad mckay after his work on black cat those uh those different volumes is is reaching
(01:02:54):
all-ewing territory for me where i will just follow them for whatever they're writing i'm looking
to read a doctor strange book for the first time because jad mckay is writing it so like this is one of
the best books that marvel is putting out i know right now it's coming to its tail end um but i cannot
recommend this highly enough like it's you literally have faiths religions gods that are competing
(01:03:21):
with one another you have consue locked up in asgard um and yet he's still trying to communicate with
moonlight he's having to he's trying to ask consue four things four favors while he's in captivity um
because of his his previous actions so like and just the idea of like gods not necessarily being this
(01:03:44):
benevolent thing that we always kind of take for granted with religion or faith it's just a fascinating
thing um and it's kind of like it almost harkens back to like the old Greek tragedies where the gods
are emotional they're petty and it's just it's just a great great title like i said i'm 11 issues
in it's introduced new characters that i'm obsessed with um you've got Reese who's his vampire
(01:04:10):
and she's fantastic that just really great book and i can't wait to read all of it honestly sold
yeah i'm ready for it i'm gonna read i'm gonna read this so you you've converted me i'm ready
i'm gonna read some moonlight which also will be my first moonlight series i believe so i'm i'm
(01:04:31):
psyched all right that wraps up another episode of the nerd by word we thank you so much for riding
along with us if you like what you hear please like and subscribe on your podcasting platform of
choice whether that is apple podcast spotify amazon iheart radio or nerd by word dot com and keep an
eye out over the next few months on our official website as things are really starting to cook there
(01:04:55):
and there's also possibility you might want to get on our youtube channel as some things are
cooking there as well i'm hoping with the next couple of months we're gonna launch some new features
for the by word that i think a lot of our long-time listeners will really enjoy
and then of course there's the socials you know you got the the twigs of it all and any other social
(01:05:17):
media platform you can imagine you can find us at nerd by word or individually at that
nerd day even at that nerd crisp so let us know what you think i'll show we'd love to hear from you
and as always stay well and stay nerdy the nerd by word is written and produced by chris and
dav two nerds with a love of all things pop culture the podcast features music by al ymanez with
(01:05:39):
additional drops composed by joe biammy our show art is by ashery design
find us at nerd by word.com and wherever podcasts are available
[no audio]
It's the only context in which my name or Dave should be in the same sentence as the
(00:06):
word "silicitation."
We're looking ahead at comic books scheduled to release in January 2024 and highlighting
the ones we can't wait to read.
Episode 170 of The Byword begins now.
[Music]
(00:42):
Welcome to The Nerd Byword, the best nerd-centric podcast this side of the
Delta Quadrant.
On today's itinerary, we're scanning ahead to January 2024's comic book "Silicitations."
See, I feel dirty even saying it, at which titles we can't wait to get our hands on.
God, I made it worse.
All right, hurry up and cue the sounder for.
(01:03):
[Music]
Dave, what's up?
Yeah, so, "Nurt Newswise."
I need a shower after that introduction just so you know.
So news wise, the world is kind of crazy out there right now and as far as the actor
(01:27):
strikes still going on, the studios, bucking and there's so much weird stuff going on
the world right now.
You have the mess in the middle east, the washing DC, the world is messy.
So I decided to zoom in on a very, very small issue because God knows a nerd podcast is
not the place to deal with the big issues.
And I found an interesting situation that goes back to a movie that you and I both enjoy
(01:52):
it quite a bit and that is "Spider-Man No Way Home."
Our little multiverse, Spider-Man movie that brought Andrew Garfield and Toby McWire
over from the previous Spider-Man series and you and I both had really positive feelings
about this movie.
I think it's fair to say though that if we have any legitimate criticism, it probably is
(02:12):
that the movie is very male-centric, right?
I mean, there's not a lot of female characters.
You have your Aunt May and you have your MJ and that is pretty much it.
And one of whom was killed off.
Yeah, and considering that this sort of multiverse movie, there was always a bit of a disappointment
going on that we didn't get a glimpse of "Curston Dunst", "The Smerry Jane Watson"
(02:34):
or maybe an alternate version of Aunt May and all of this, that there was more character
fun to be had there that was kind of left laying on the table.
And it turns out that we're not the only ones that feel that way.
Screenwriters Chris McKenna and Eric Summers have confirmed in a new book, MCU, "The Rain
(02:57):
of Marvel Studios", that "Curston Dunst", "Smerry Jane Watson"
as in the script at one point as were Sally Field on May from the Andrew Garfield version
of Spider-Man as well as Gwen Stacy and the Stone.
They were all supposed to make appearances in some capacity.
(03:19):
Now with the Gwen Stacy of it all, they were not clear if that was some kind of flashback
or what was going on there, but the original script apparently included all of those characters.
The writers however according to the entry in the book felt that they were starting to
overdo it with cameos and then that led to the ultimate axing of Mary Jane on May and
(03:43):
Gwen Stacy in the movie.
So here is the quote, "Somers in McKenna" at various points wrote versions of the story
that incorporated Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy, "Curston Dunst", "Smerry Jane Watson" and
Sally Fields on May.
And ultimately cut all those women when they decided that the story was already overstuffed.
The only female characters with significant screen time would be Mercer Tomay's on May
(04:06):
and Zendaya's MJ.
Because the screenplay was constantly in flux, none of the actors could read a locked script
and they joined the project based on their faith in Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige,
producer Amy Pascal and director John Watts.
And of course in the lead up to the movie both Emma Stone and Curston Dunst were asked multiple
(04:28):
times if to be making an appearance and they denied that.
I think the only other relevant quote here to consider is probably Feige back in 2021 when
he was talking to the New York Times about the movie.
He said when people see the movie they will understand it's about the story.
It was a big goal for all of us.
That Peter Parker senior year in high school didn't get lost amid the insanity that ensues,
(04:52):
he's encounter with Dr. Strange that could easily have happened and that's the reason there's
not another 20 people in the movie.
So on the one hand I understand that you know this wasn't supposed to turn into a complete
cameo fest on the one hand.
On the other hand I think that there are opportunities that are definitely left on the
table by not including these additional characters for one.
(05:16):
As I mentioned at the top you know a little bit more of a female perspective here would
have been extremely welcome considering that there are two female characters one of them
and one of them gets killed off and the other one gets mind wiped.
I mean it's not a good movie for the female perspective.
It would have also been very interesting for another Aunt May to kind of bounce off of
(05:40):
Marisa Tomay's Aunt May and I think it would have been particularly interesting for MCU Spider-Man
to kind of see the different incarnation of MJ out there and for there to be sort of an
MJ interaction.
I think there were things that could have been done that would have enriched the story
I guess rather than made it feel like a cameo fest.
(06:03):
I think there's just a lack of understanding and how to incorporate these characters because
they happen to be I don't know female characters like I don't know it seems to me to be a fairly
obvious way how those could have been incorporated in a better way in this movie rather than just
cutting them out right.
So I guess for a movie that I really enjoyed this element of it I found extremely disappointing.
(06:29):
Now not speaking of Gwen Stacy here because besides having some kind of flashback I don't
know exactly how they would have went about that but having MJ and another version of
Aunt May here I think would have been very very interesting to how the characters interacted
and a real lost opportunity Chris.
(06:49):
Yeah I think there was also another quote that came out of that that it was like this ever
changing type of thing and you could kind of see that like that McGuire and Garfield weren't
even confirmed until like a couple of months before some kind of deadlock.
I can't remember I don't have the page in front of me right now and that feels very very
(07:10):
kind of apropos to what we saw the final product.
I think this movie I would not have wanted to be involved with this movie from a directorial
standpoint I do not envy John Watts I don't envy Kevin Vigie based on the expectations that
this movie had and I'm surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did.
(07:33):
I think it's fair to say Chris that I described this movie as sort of a beautiful mess you
know.
It's a very messy movie that by all accounts should not have come together as well as it
did but it did come out together fairly well in the end I think.
Yeah I think I mean you're bringing back you know Toby McGuire is the more critically acclaimed
(08:00):
Spider-Man you and I hold a candle out for for Andrew Garfield's portrayal any day the
week.
Yeah I think so that's my preference but so you have a lot of nostalgia addicts that are
oh my god Toby McGuire is coming back.
You have this juxtaposed with the wildly over expectation performance of Into the Spider-Verse
(08:28):
across of course it not been released yet.
So you have that as like a really unfair watermark to compare yourself against so they did
not want to go down the live action Spider-Verse lane which I think was probably for the best
I agree with that.
(08:48):
So yeah this is an unenviable task in so many different ways.
Kind of just sitting back and let you read that and kind of wash it over.
I don't think I think it would be in I think it's auditioned by subtraction not having
Gwen Stacy in there as great as Emma Stone was in that role in that performance.
(09:10):
I think it I think it just would not have fit and it would just have added to the trauma
of it all.
I would anytime I see Sally Field on my screen it's the best.
I love that woman to the moon and back I think she's perfect in that role.
We have we have no shortage of great Aunt Mays and I ride for Marissa to me I think that's
(09:33):
an interesting take on the character yes we want to make memes about the hot Aunt May and
everything but it's a pretty realistic you know 21st century take on what a single aunt
raising her nephew would look like in the 2020s you know I think it's pretty realistic.
(09:54):
So I mean I would have loved to see Lily Tom went I think Lily Tom might even be my favorite
Rosemary Harris is impeccable.
But yeah I think I think the one story that needed a little more for me was Toby McGuire's
and I don't know if adding MJ to that does it but he needed a little bit of something we
(10:17):
have like the back problem jokes and everything we have the jokes around the organic web shooters
I think Garfield had a great arc and Garfield fans like yourself yourself and me we were like
finally he gets good material to work with.
The Hayden Christiansen of the Spider-Manly.
(10:40):
Exactly perfect perfect perfect analogy.
Yeah so I don't know I feel like I'm like again I'm surprised it worked as well as it did
and I think the reason that it's a beautiful mess and the fact that it worked is on the
strength of the performances.
Full stop full stop I think McGuire brought it.
(11:04):
Garfield I knew he was gonna bring it he always brings it.
Holland brought it.
Holland really acted his took us off and Willem Dafoe was out of his mind as always just
so method so perfect.
And then you know even to Merced Tomay everybody was cooking in this movie Zintaya was cooking
(11:26):
in this movie and so I think plot wise that's probably the greatest criticism you could
throw at this movie but the performances just carried over the top for me and it gives
it a re-watchable value for me.
And it's really interesting to me that and I'm gonna be I want to be a little fan boy
for a second here.
(11:48):
Although you know Spider-Man 2 with with Toby McGuire in particular is is held up to a great
pedestal and is a really good movie and was a great experience in the theater and everything
and was sort of a pinnacle of what you could do with a Spider-Man movie at the time.
You know he's in the long one probably not my favorite Spider-Man performance and I think
a lot of that comes from that very the Sam Raimi is in those movies where they they almost
(12:14):
go a little too cheesy with the Peter Parker character as opposed to trying to be a little realistic
with him.
And now that I have now that I have more context for Sam Raimi that makes all the more
sense to me.
Yeah.
But I will say this after no way home although there were a lot of people riding for
(12:35):
another Andrew Garfield Spider-Man and I will admit that would be that would be great
to see him in that role you know one more time and to kind of be able to put a bow on
what he did with the character.
I would really ride for a Toby McGuire-Curston-Dunce Spider-Man sequel where we revisit the character
you know as their older you know further down in the journey sort of a sort of a Peter
(12:58):
B Parker version of what's going on with with those characters and it's really sad because
one of the quotes that I read you know when when Carson Dunne was asked about whether she's
involved in no way home she said something to the effect and I'm paraphrasing here but
she said something to the effect of yeah they don't want the old girls in there you know.
And I find that super regrettable because checking in with that version of Mary Jane and
(13:20):
that version of Peter Parker later on in their journey and having a you know a movie about
them would I would actually really really want to see that I would be super interested in
seeing a Spider-Man 4 if you will more so than anything else after watching no way home.
I think I'm more fascinated by that I'm going to be real with you I think this was Toby McGuire's
(13:46):
strongest performance as Spider-Man in that role I think even with Spider-Man 2 I think he is
outshined by Alfred Malena who I neglected to mention as well in this movie is great.
Alfred Malena will eat your breakfast anytime you put him in a movie.
Yeah.
Holy smokes dude.
Yeah.
The few moments he's in Raiders of the Lost Ark like he's got so good.
(14:12):
He is a little package of charisma it's ridiculous.
Yeah and so I think I also would be more interested because I love Kirsten Dunst there's a lot
of roles that she just devours in as well like I love her in Jumanji as this little smart
Alec Whipper snapper type of kid I just think that she was more Gwen and I'll say this to
(14:36):
the cows come home she had more qualities of Gwen Stacy than she did of Mary Jane.
This is absolutely true.
A misnomer I think she was much more Gwen than she was MJ and a little bit vice versa with
Emma with Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy for being honest she was a little more MJ and she was
Gwen so I feel like it was a little bit of a freaky Friday swap if you will but I would
(15:00):
be much more interested to revisit those characters now and especially I think what worked for
me the best about Toby McGuire in this movie is he is not handcuffed to that 70s era Lee
Ramida aesthetic that the Ramy Trilogy went for.
(15:21):
That is exactly right.
I think that was to its detriment.
It worked in the first one and it was fine but I think the more that we kind of committed
to that kind of moment in time I think it was to its detriment and so I'm I tell you what
(15:45):
I think happened at least I'm speculating but if you look at the Richard Donner Superman
movie they were going for a very specific vibe with that very sort of pre-crisis Superman
sort of a very specific 70 76.
78 but it felt more like I think Superman comic books maybe from the 50s right it very much
(16:12):
tried to capture a vibe of Superman but at the same time it also tried to be timeless in
that right.
The idea is by not stooping it too much in 1978 modern day sensibilities you would create
a fairly timeless movie and I think for the most part they succeeded in that there's some
moments in there that are not timeless but on the whole the movie feels timeless and I
(16:38):
think that's what Sam Ramy was going for too he thought he by by steeping it in a very
specific snapshot of the character he would be able to achieve a kind of timelessness and
I don't think it worked nearly as well with the McGuire Spider-Man movies I think they're
not timeless in fact they feel very aged now and I think a different a different approach
(17:01):
with those same characters now might be able to achieve a more timeless quality because
I don't think you know when we talked about this before when we tried to you know quote
unquote fix them but I don't think or revisit them I don't think they aged necessarily as
well as something like Superman the movie has.
Do you think they would even approach this without Ramy though?
(17:24):
I don't know I think that is probably fair question I think it's fair to say that Marvel
is okay with Ramy considering you know Doctor Strange and Multiverse of Madness which is
heavily maligned and I don't get it I really dug that movie.
I dug too but again it's it's there's a lot of Sam Ramy is in there but it works
(17:47):
in that context so you know I think the best way to describe the Sam Ramy isms that are
in in the Spider-Man movies is to not look to his horror stuff but to look to like Hercules
Legendary Journeys or Xeno Warrior Princess that Sam Ramy showed up to make the Spider-Man
movies right including including Lucy Lawless guy with eight legs sounds high yeah so it's
(18:14):
I don't want to harp on the movies because they were great their great movies and I enjoy
them a great deal when they came out but I am very interested after no way home I would
love to see those characters on the big screen one more time in sort of a Peter B.
Parker situation sort of checking middle-aged Spider-Man and roll with it.
(18:37):
Let's say the harsh truth Dave let's say why we want to see that it's because that's
what Marvel comics won't let us have is a Spider-Man that grows develops in ages a little
bit yeah it's true yeah I'm I feel like we're we're coming up soon on an episode where we're
going to be talking spidey state of spidey or something like we keep we keep scratching
(19:00):
at it and I know you and I don't seek a hundred percent eye to eye on the topic but I feel
like we're coming just to that just been Riley episode just been Riley.
Well let's move on to Star Wars Chris you have a there's there's do I need to get my trusty
(19:21):
pen ready because there's already a bleep worthy work just in in our dominant trying to do
my best I'm trying to do my best but the Guinness here might do the talking.
Yeah so Matthew Vaughan won't stop talking and this is a problem that's very common yeah
yeah and and and in some cases it was beneficial for those of you that don't know Matthew Vaughan
(19:45):
did the Kingsmen films which I have not seen but I've heard it good he also did the reboot
as it were of X-Men First Class which for the most part was a good film the Darwin of it all
still makes me angry all these years later but at the same time that one Magneto scene where he's
(20:05):
in Argentina and Nazi hunting is one of the best scenes in any comic book movie and which is
hard to say when you're talking about an X-Men movie you want to talk about how bad DC films are
try being an X-Men fan but but he really kind of dropped another oh so the the one that we did not
(20:26):
talk about on last episode that was of note is when they tricked Halle Berry into joining X-Men 3
there was a story with it with us with a script that they had written that included more scenes
really good scenes for her and then decadamarle they have no intention of filming him Jesus
right so that made headlines a couple weeks back but the one that we're talking about today is he
(20:51):
was on the happy sad confused podcast and they asked him about Star Wars and he said quote for me doing
a Star Wars movie is to play with the characters that I love so if they said to me do you want to reboot
Star Wars and actually have Luke Skywalker solo invader and you do your own version of it everyone
would say you're an idiot to try but that would excite me that'd be fun why not bond you ask me
(21:15):
who is going to play the next Wolverine why are these characters so hollow that from 1977
you can't redo it for a new audience Star Wars is the Skywalker family and that's where I think
they've gone wrong because they've forgotten and they've done brilliantly in the TV world but it
needs an epic new film and that's what I would do and quote and holy god if I hear the word reboot
(21:36):
one more time like we have to stop rebooting everything like I'm good with the reboot even the
most recent Ninja Turtles film mutant madness um there's a mutant mayhem I can't remember but
anyways like it it wasn't even a full reboot like the origin story was very quick and it was very
(21:56):
much like an alternate universe kind of retelling and then we just like focus on like the main points
of the story I come good with reboots I don't think I ever need another reboot like people have seen
people go back to the original trilogy of Star Wars and watch it again and again and again we don't
need a retread of like the hallowed ground that is the original trilogy and I think something
(22:19):
that Star Wars fans of a certain age need to realize and are realizing if they're opening their
minds to the idea is the prequels have a section of fandom that were children you know and that were
kids when those grew up or they grew up with them and they were that's their original trilogy and
(22:41):
that's okay and as as maligned as the sequel trilogy is there are fans of it and we've had our
criticisms of it we've we've you know applied our fixes to it and so I think that the most
egregious thing about this is him saying that the skywalkers are Star Wars like you can't go pass
(23:02):
that like that is one of the I'm sorry it's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard so and you
have now talked about this ad nauseam recast yes reboot hell no
yeah okay so I think we're gonna have to accept at some point that not everything needs to be
(23:24):
rebooted like you know Star Wars is certainly a seminal franchise right and and the original
trilogy in particular is one of the most influential pieces of cinema in you know ever but we're
gonna have to discuss at some point that not you know nobody's talking about rebooting hamlet I hope
right like we can leave a piece of art and stand let it stand by on its own that doesn't mean
(23:50):
that you can't make sequel or additions even if you want to talk about like something that
Boslerman did with Romeo plus Juliet that was still at its core the same thing it just went
through different lens and it was fantastic I love Romeo plus Juliet love it but just but just
retelling the original trilogy story I don't know man I would rather you know like you said we've
(24:11):
talked about this a lot but a recast to create additions are much more interesting to me you know like
I would love for them to recast the core three in a similar way as they you know recast for the
Star Trek you know movies and then just like tell a story like air to the empire something like that
you know like I think there are things to do there you know reading the the Star Wars comic books at
(24:36):
Marvel has been putting out especially the run that took place between a new hope and empire strikes back
there was really good stuff in there you know like that kind of thing as a tv series or as an
additional movie I can get behind with good casting and care being put into it but you know like
let's reboot Star Wars because I don't you know I want to put my own spin on it like
(24:59):
as so lazy like come up with something original I don't know man I just I don't like the idea of
constantly rebooting I'm interested in interesting sequels and furthering a story absolutely
but constantly going back and just like I'm gonna retell this again you know I'm gonna reboot this
again why is our tendency in society to reboot successful things and when something fails you
(25:22):
just let it fail and linger like there are so many things out there that at its core had a cool
premise but then just didn't work an execution like take one of those and reboot it that'd be much
it more interesting to move than me than rebooting something that was successful good I have it
literally makes no sense to me other than you like are getting high on your own supply and like you
(25:44):
think that you are so above everybody else like I can't understand why you think you need to reboot
the original trilogy like I don't get it all right that wraps nerd news for this week when we come
back we will be headed for our byword big talk and the comic book solicits for January 2024 stick around
(26:05):
all right welcome back to the main segment for this episode we like to call it our byword
and for this episode we are looking ahead to the January 2024 solicits for comic books we have
(26:32):
each highlighted three that we cannot wait to read Dave what is first up on your list and of course
you're going off the beaten path don't always though isn't that just like power the course when you're
hanging out with me in reading comics there's always something weird going on so as far as January
goes there's a mini series launching from only press that I immediately found very interesting
(26:55):
the series is called Jill and the killer so it's a four issue mini series number one is solicited
for January 2024 it's written by Olivia Guaterro Briggs with art by Roberta in Grenada and I think
that's already interesting because we have a female creative team both on art and on writing and a
(27:16):
female main character so this is already good in my book however with my horror tendencies you
better believe that there's some scary going on here so here is our official solicitation a double
sized and dangerous 48 page debut Olivia Guaterro Briggs who apparently wrote Mary Shelley Monster Hunter
(27:39):
by the way sounds interesting immediately and I need to check that out and Roberta in Grenada who
did work on witchblade and doctor who present a new kind of game where even murder is much more than
it seems returning to school after the unsolved disappearance of her mother teenager Jill Estrada
can't wait for things to return to normal even as her friends become compulsively obsessed with
(28:02):
box killers a true crime subscription game where each month's unsolved case is custom tailored to
the life of its player there's only one catch Jill's game seems to be all too real and when her
clues begin to connect to a series of disappearances in her town Jill and her friends must uncover the
truth behind these mysterious crimes before one of their own becomes the next victim so we have
(28:26):
the book comes out on January 31st 2024 48 pages so it's a double sized issue and is retailing at
699 art looks absolutely gorgeous nice colors in the in the covers as far as I can see here
I'm very very interested in sort of the art style that's represented here it's sort of realistic
(28:50):
but has sort of a slight cartoony edge over it I think most importantly though I think I've never
heard quite anything like this I mean we've seen horror stories that involve some kind of game
more another but this seems to kind of I guess connect with the idea of like subscription boxes
and there's been so many of those that were extremely you know popular various themes
(29:13):
you know you get you get a box of goodies once a month stuff like loot crate and and the like
so doing this as a true crime game and then tying it into reality in some way I think that's a really
interesting premise I'm really really interested in this one Chris I think there's really something here
enough that I'm interested to go and check out Mary Shelley Monster Hunter while I'm waiting for
(29:37):
this to come out in January yeah this is fascinating and it's capitalizing really smartly
on popular things like true crime podcasts and and subscription boxes that are are still a thing
like we for a couple years we had snack crate where we would they would have like a country per month
and they would send snacks from that country and so that was like a cool way to like kind of introduce
(30:00):
the family to to different parts of the world and their different tastes and what we liked
what we didn't like and and stuff like that so that's it's really fascinating kind of capitalizing
on on both of those kind of elements and creating a captivating looking story on that
yeah like I said you know as far as the art goes to it's you know the covers look very very good
(30:26):
so if interior art matches with that you know that's a big win really big fan of the art right away
and you know it's hard to be original when it comes to you know suspense and scary stuff these days
so I think I think this one has something and only generally speaking only press is a publisher that
always does something interesting that seems to fly under the radar like they have a series right
(30:49):
now with Colin bun for example that they have the second issue solicited for a January and I've
not even heard of this thing it called invasive so they're always doing something interesting and
yet at the same time I always seem to kind of miss out on a lot of this stuff and I think I need to
just have a better eye on what only is doing generally speaking Chris all right so what is your first
(31:13):
pick from the January solicitations listen you you must you might think I'm a company man because
all four or all three of mine are coming from my beloved marvel but I mean it's just home to me
and so it's the first place I look and first place I go I'll strain go with the boom studios book
(31:34):
which there's one they're soliciting the the fifth issue of rare flavors which we've already
reviewed on the podcast and I plan to continue reading but as far as new stuff that kind of caught my eye
I'm going first and foremost with the resurrection of magneto by Allewing and our first ever creative
interview Luciano Ovecchio on art so this is a this is a great team and I'm already hooked just because of
(31:58):
that not to mention it's one of my all-time favorite characters and comics being brought back to life
and with the current state of ex comics like I don't have a whole lot to look forward to you want
to you want to talk about spider-man comics like yeah a crocoa is done and over with I can I don't
know what the the regression to the mean is going to entail but I'm definitely not looking forward to it
(32:23):
I've been kind of off-base reading ex comics for the better part of two months and I'm not exactly
excited to get caught up but Allewing is just one of those creators that I'll follow wherever he goes
and sadly this is what what appears to be his grand finale writing for the ex office so
(32:44):
this might be one of the final like mainstays of me reading ex comics like religiously like I have been
like I you know I'm open to being surprised pleasantly surprised but doesn't look great for ex comics as it
goes right now but solicitation reads life death on crocoa resurrection from the dead was as easy
(33:07):
as completing a circuit but crocoa fell the time of easy miracles is over and the only hard roads
and only the hard roads are left now it falls to storm as the epic conclusion to the crocoa in age
looms to bring their oldest enemy home to fight against the fall of the house of x but after all he
did and all that was done to him can magneto bear to return so it's it's almost like I'm looking
(33:34):
forward to reading this because it's it's all youing it's magneto it's storm with the same time it's
it's a bittersweet kind of thing and I'm interested to and intrigued but a little bit saddened by the
by everything all the extenuating factors of it yeah so on the back of the creative team alone I think
that there's probably a really quality story here um we've talked about before how I'm sort of
(33:59):
exman agnostic you know everyone's something comes along that catches my attention before the
most part it's not you know a franchise that necessarily grabs me the upheaval that it's going
through right now is not really helped um even you know in with the Kamala Khan of it all I've been
reading the new Miss Marvel series but it's it's you know firmly entrenched in this whole fall of x
(34:20):
idea and we're you know the idea of going back to them being you know persecuted not having a
place to turn to and all that um it feels very sort of done before uh pretty sure magneto has
died and come back before too um so on on the on the back of the creative team it looks interesting to
me but beyond that I'm you know pretty unsure if I'm gonna get a whole lot out of this particular story
(34:45):
yeah for sure it's something and isn't there not not not not in a rough but isn't there also already
like a magneto clone running around or something I seem to recall seeing that character pop up in um
in scarlet witch I think so there's like something believe that's Joseph that's an old 90s call back
but when it comes to one uh you want to talk about agnostic that's a character i'm agnostic about
(35:10):
I will say um you know I have not the background in the character that you do however the current
scarlet witch series has been a absolute home run as somebody who you know is not entrenched in
particular opinions about the character based on past experiences um that that comic book is
(35:30):
ridiculous man the art is is gorgeous the writing is you know sharp as attack I mean it's it's really
really something um I've really enjoyed it and I've heard similar things from from my fellow x-fans
so I may one day give it a look maybe when it's at its completion I'll just binge through it because I've
heard great things as well uh I think they're gonna relaunch at next year um as a team team up book
(35:54):
between her and her brother quick silver so um but I think the creative team's still gonna be the
same so yeah so it's definitely something I'll probably we'll have to eventually check out even if
I'm dragged kicking and screaming um I just always I just always look at wander with apprehension
and kind of squinted eyes of suspicion it's just I'm not a do do that redesign alone oh my god man
(36:21):
there's just good stuff there all right so one of our favorite publishers Dave uh unsurprisingly
gets the next book on your list boom goes to dynamite now obviously there's more uh you know
um something is killing the children house of slaughter stuff coming so I can't you know argue
with that but the thing that really caught my this time is a new series that's launched in called
(36:46):
Pine and Merrimack uh writer's Kyle Stark's uh Eisner nominated writer uh also uh recently wrote
for DC uh mini series piecemaker tries hard that kind of aligned uh the piecemaker character a little
bit more with the with the television show I think um and was you know quite good from a writing
perspective um this is uh Kyle Stark's first original series um also features art by friend Galan uh
(37:15):
I thought that name sounded familiar and I had to kind of look uh look up this artist and he actually
did some work um on the uh spider man beyond arc that you and I both enjoyed fairly well although I
didn't really like the ending that much um but uh you know there were two issues I think and that's
(37:36):
where I remembered the name from so solid art absolutely topped the bottom um so here is the
official solicitation on the corner of Pine and Merrimack sits a small unassuming town just a simple
place simple people and one horrifying secret that could change everything after a lifetime of
witnessing the worst that humanity has to offer former homicide detective Linnea Kent has decided
(38:01):
to put all that behind her alongside her husband a former professional MMA fighter and the unofficial
brawn to her brains she's moved far from the busy city to open up a quite little detective agency
at first a simple case is this nuke of the world has to offer where exactly what she was looking for
but there's more to the quaint hamlet than Linnea could have possibly imagined and something truly
(38:23):
sinister pulling the strings so uh this is an unexpected detective tale perfect for readers of
reckless and the department of truth uh the release date is january 3rd 2024 retail price is 499
um so obviously on the back of the writer being somebody I'm aware of and has been eyes
and are nominated but it's not somebody that I would consider a household name at this time i'm very
(38:47):
much interested in reading this i'm i'm always interested in you know finding writers that are doing
interesting work um and it may not be like uh the go-to name that you naturally just right away pick
something up and then frangalans work at on amazing spider-mandering the beyond arc are really really
liked and if you look at uh the frangalon cover there's definitely a really really interesting art
(39:11):
style here so i am definitely all about this one chris yeah it looks really fascinating it almost
looks like one of those us a shows uh that we used to watch where like there was like it just feels
like that type of aesthetic maybe like even like an a mc like this feels like uh like a like a
television series in comic book form and it's really really intriguing and and detective stuff like
(39:35):
that always is going to catch my interest more on that later it's definitely a characters welcome
situation so what is your second pick chris um i'm going solely based off of the creative team on
this but i'm going Avengers twilight by chhipsadarsky and daniel akunia in a gleaming world
(39:59):
excuse me in a gleaming new world of prosperity captain america is no more but steve roger still
exists floating through an america where freedom is an illusion where the avengers are strangers and
his friends are long dead but is the dream how do you assemble avengers in a world that doesn't want them
um and then the second issue is being solicitors as well with the clock ticking to new york's day
(40:24):
and the world against him captain america must build an army to save america with his surviving
friends sign up or is he going to have to lead the lag the ragtime group called the defenders
against the expert military marksman known as bullseye um and based off like how much i've enjoyed
chhipsadarsky's run on spectacular spider man uh his work on daredevil um and then daniel akunia like
(40:52):
i daniel akunia draws my dreamscape like what he did with um black panther and the galactic empire
of akonda that whole volume of black panther is just like some of the most gorgeous stuff that you'll
ever seen this like kind of water color aesthetic is just just impeccable to me and so i know that
(41:14):
like a lot of future dystopia type of stuff has been done before but the solicitation the creative team
it's it's enough to tip the scales for me and i'm definitely checking this one out
yeah so post apocalyptic kind of avenger story really anything where steve roger's has to be
inspirational is gonna be good by me the creative team looks really interesting too um so yeah i'm
(41:37):
definitely gonna check this out um obviously out of continuity stories hidden miss right
sometimes you get really good stuff and sometimes you don't but chhipsadarsky has impressed me so
much with his daredevil run even if his batman run doesn't quite hit the same highs to me i think it's
just that's a really really solid writer and so where chip goes i follow davan really excited to
(42:00):
talk about your next one because it's a writer that i've seen the best of and i've seen the not so best of
but it's a character that is your all-time fave oh my god how can i not talk about Superman uh the
Superman books have really just been hitting all the right notes over the last few months and i'm
so enjoying the ride and now they're they're now they're bringing in jason aireon uh in january as of
(42:26):
action comics 1061 jason aireon is gonna be writing action comics uh with art by john tims and let
me tell you the john tims cover already uh showing Superman fly towards the reader with bizarre
row coming up behind him is absolutely stunning so i'm very very excited for this book there's also
(42:46):
i have to say a beautiful variant cover by horey yiminis that shows uh you know low is kind of getting
uh Superman up against the wall a little bit and getting a little frisky and it's it's hilarious and
very low is and i absolutely love it and it's one of the first um variant covers in a long time that
i almost feel like going and picking up um it's just a very very low slain cover i guess you could say
(43:12):
but more interestingly aireon looks to be coming out swinging right away uh and trying to do something
interesting uh with uh Superman's villains so here is the solicitation text the wizard bizarro
jason aireon writes Superman for the very first time teaming up with all star artist john tims to
present a startling new vision of the man of steel strangest foe when superman stopper ganger discovers a
(43:37):
dark secret about himself it unleashes the most dangerous version of bizarro the world has ever seen
bizarro is a really interesting character that has had so many different interpretations and
versions already so seeing a different take on him that can take him to a different level would be
really interesting aireon also has written arguably one of my favorite Thor runs um so that is
(44:01):
already i think a really good sign for this and i know his avengers work is a little more controversial
and not nearly as well loved but i think aireon might excel a little bit at sort of solo character stuff
more than than team books and so seeing him on Superman ought to be a really really interesting ride
(44:21):
and i think the current run has been doing a really really good job also playing around with
Superman's villains a little bit already the reinvention of parasite kind of evolving him a little
bit was very interesting the the setup that lex luther is in jail but he's now trying to be a good
guy and is trying to actually help Superman maybe if he's not got some other plan going on there are
(44:44):
very interesting things happening with the villains already so extending that to bizarro is right
away i think a really good move and shows i think that aireon has a really good shot here of fitting
in well with what they are already doing right now in the Superman book so i'm i'm very optimistic
about this one Chris yeah i'm really intrigued by this and i i think you may be kind of
(45:09):
um hitting the nail on the head when it comes to solo characters versus a team book i will
i will admit i read about half of his avengers run and i enjoyed it more than i anticipated
like i can see what he was going for and the one thing that i'll say about jason aireon is he
swings for the fences if you'll if you'll excuse the sports reference i know a baseball is the one
(45:34):
sport that you kind of have a little bit of time for he's he's a big slugger like he's either going
to hit a home run or strike out swinging like he's just not going to go for a bun he's not going
to go for a single or a double it's either home run or nothing and so i see what he was he was
ambitious and what he was going for with his avengers run and sometimes it landed and sometimes it
did not so i'm i'm still a fan and i'm i'm definitely intrigued on this i need to get caught up on
(46:00):
my Superman comics because i really enjoy that first one and i'm absolutely entranced by mariland
moonlight and so i just i just honestly just need to read for her if nothing else
and i think in the solicits over in the Superman book there's a big mariland moonlight story
actually coming up in january as well so so there's just good stuff on the rise and for Superman it's a
(46:23):
very nice time to be a Superman fan i'd christ what is your final pick well i thought you might want
tips on this one but you said go ahead so we've talked about this a couple of times on the show already
but it needs as much as possible because we're super excited about it it's ultimate spider man
or solicit is visionary writer Jonathan hickman and acclaimed artist marco uh chichetto bring you a
(46:48):
bold new take on spider man with this the debut title of the new line of ultimate comics after the
events of ultimate evasion the world needs a hero who will rise up to take on that responsibility
be prepared to be entangled in a web of mystery and excitement as the all new ultimate spider
man comic redefines the wall crawler for the 21st century that's a pretty intriguing one and
(47:15):
we kind of talked about this a little bit when it popped up in our news stories previously but if
they're not going to let six one six peter grow the f up hopefully this line will um for the 21st
century like that that line alone gives me kind of hope um and i mean like the the artwork that
(47:38):
covers they're doing they've got some really great great variant covers um that i'm digging and as
you said i'm not a physical comic person really um i just kind of have them sitting on a shelf
but some of these covers may kind of swing me the other way and i'm kind of looking towards
(47:58):
getting some of these also with something especially to me as ultimate spider man is i might go down to
the lcs and and grab a couple of these um i'm just really really excited on i think i still hold like
the the hickman of it all as this gigantic world builder telling stories across multiple titles
(48:19):
across multiple years being on a street level character not cosmic not reality warping with
Franklin Richards not completely shaking the table like house of x powers of ten i'm really
(48:40):
interested to see where he goes with this yeah um first of all i don't know if i've ever mentioned
this to you but i when the first ultimate spider man comic book launched i was not back in the
comic books yet i ended up in a comic book shop um months later um and i think the first issue that
i actually picked up was amazing it was ultimate spider man number thirteen i think so the entire first
(49:04):
year of the run i don't own in single issues i have the entire run in single issues and then the first
two trade paperbacks and it kind of still breaks my heart to this day because you i cannot complete
that collection ever the those issues are so expensive on the collector's market you can forget that
right and so this might be one i have to pick up physically just just in case um this becomes one
(49:28):
of those books that absolutely adore i would i would absolutely hate not to be able to to complete
the run um as i did for example with like run marz the screen lantern i got that entire one um that
that you know i'm not much of a collector but when you when i really love a story i'd like to have the
the entire story you know so uh yeah i'm again there's not a lot known at this time about this all we
(49:53):
really know is it's a new ultimate universe we don't even know if this is really Peter Parker or not
we all we know is that this is um you know a peter b parker situation as in sort of an older spider man
likely um and we've speculated before given that in ultimate invasion there was a scene where the maker
prevented the spider from biting peter parker as a teenager and took the spider that maybe the set
(50:18):
up of the book is that the spider actually will bite peter parker later in life right when he's
already in middle age and it's an inexperienced hero who's not a teenager but fully grown and has to
kind of figure out how to integrate the super heroics into his life and i think that that would be
interesting but there's a possibility that it's not peter parker and all the variant covers show you
(50:40):
know different versions too sort of i was just gonna ask you if there's i was just gonna ask you if
there's anything to read into that because there are three very three of the four variant covers
are variations on the main cover and so you have a spider man 2099 you have very clearly a ben
Riley spider man and then the black suit spider man yeah i think i don't know i think that they're
(51:02):
leaning into the speculation of who this is and they're definitely keeping their mouth shut some
shut on purpose right i think that's you know there's a lot of speculation a lot there is excitement
among people who wish that you know mainline peter parker would do a little bit of growing up
and the quote that is a sort of a middle-aged situation but on the flip side this could be an entirely
(51:24):
new character this could be an alternate version of a different character we really don't know what
we're getting here yet and even if it's not an alternate version of peter park it could still end
up being very very interesting right it could still be a very good story um for this one i'm definitely
gonna pick it up because i want to see how it shakes out but i'm also gonna take a weight and see
approach a little bit um it's hard it's hard to tell how this is gonna turn out and i think
(51:49):
it's fair to feel that way because i think when ultimate spider man first came out um there was
also a lot of skepticism because it wasn't that long ago that they had tried to do sort of a soft
quote unquote relaunch uh the john's car no oh the john burn yes oh yes not so yeah and so doing a
(52:10):
quote unquote you know relaunch of a character and you know going back to the beginning and everything
is not necessarily something that people always trust right so i'm i'm cautiously optimistic
optimistic and very interested but we'll have to see uh you know how it shakes out i think similarly
to the no way home of it all like this is not an enviable task you know ultimate spider man is
(52:35):
is hallowed ground for a lot of people um i'm i'm willing to give this a shot based on you know
the creative team because we can talk about hickman to the dig to you know until the cows come home
but marco chicano and like what he was able to do on dark on dare double and specifically with
electros hair like i'll watch that dude you draw anything man so the creative team alone has me there
(53:00):
i don't like i have i'm in a temper my expectations on this i'm not gonna let nostalgia
kind of color my view on that that's something that i always try to kind of keep in check
but at the same time i don't think that this is like a direction they would go in unless they had
like a strong feeling about the quality of the story that they wanted to tell like i don't think this
(53:24):
is like this is pretty much like a sacred cow and i don't know that they would go back into this area
unless they had a good story to tell we we would hope um this is also not under spider editorial right
like the ultimate the new ultimate line is not connected to spider editorial i think
last time i checked so this would be the first time in quite a while that spider you know a spider is
(53:49):
not being edited by Niklow so if i understood if if i if i got if i got my facts right thank the maker
if that's the case if i if i got my facts right um i know there's been some speculation about that
and i guess we'll know a hundred percent for sure when we opened the book and see who's listed as editor
(54:11):
but my understanding was that the new ultimate line was not under the purview of the spider office
which i think is really interesting it'll be and be smart and i think might be intentional
on on hickman and companies part all right that wraps up our
highlighted picks for the January 2024 solicits which books did we miss which books are you
(54:33):
waiting to see waiting to read hit us up on social media at nerd by word across all socials
and when we come back from our final break finally my nightmare is over and nerd commentations
have returned
we're back for the fan favorite segment where we recommend the good stuff to you that we've been
(54:59):
enjoying we call it
Dave you're nothing if not consistent you thought your nightmare was over but i am still back on
the horror train um so uh turns out uh hack and slash is back and that kind of blew my mind and
(55:23):
in more than one way so hack slash of course has been uh Tim Ceeley's baby from the get go and has
you know bounds between publishers and had various different series but has had sort of a
an overarching story arc uh most recently uh there was a um 12 issue maxi series a couple years back
(55:44):
called hack slash resurrection uh that furthered the story and was very very good and was the first time
i think that ceeley uh himself was not involved in the writing of that book um and that seems to be a
pattern that he set now where he's letting other creators sort of play in his with his creation a
little bit so uh just for background hack slash is uh you know it's been around for a very long time
(56:09):
currently sitting with image comics and follows the character Cassie hack who teams up with a
monstrous uh dude who's actually has a really good heart called Vlad and they go around and they hunt
slasher quite literally the uh undead return that turn into basically stuff like um Michael Myers
(56:30):
Jason Voorhees you know Freddy Krueger slasher from horror movies so she is the she's the slasher
of slasher she slasher slasher say that three times real fast and uh the series has you know always
been sort of a weak spot of mine and that i always have really really enjoyed it uh as somebody who's
you know neck deep in the horror tropes and the like seeing a series and comic books that sort of
(56:53):
plays around with those tropes a little bit uh you know really really really enjoyed and and here is
the official uh solicitation for the new four issue miniseries hack slash back to school the first
issue of which has been released already as of recording hack slash returns with an untold tale
and critically acclaimed cartoonist Zoe Thoreau good at the bloody helm slasher hunter Cassie hack is
(57:17):
only just getting used to her man monster partner Vlad when she's drawn into a new case involving a
murderous bunny mascot dead kids and an entire squad of maladjust a teenage serial killer hunters
a completely new chapter in the beloved long running series that's perfect for new readers and old
fans alike just in time for Halloween so this is sort of an in between cool going back to the
(57:39):
beginning of the the character as this is right after she first meets Vlad so she's uh you know younger
here than in some of the more recent stories more inexperienced and she gets drawn into an organization
that purports to take uh you know final girls basically female victims of slasher and train them
(58:02):
up to hunt slasher and i guess this is going to be a story in some ways about how she got
some of the skills she's gotten but there's also already some hints that this quote unquote school
is not all it seems to be um what really is the selling point of this besides if you're big fan of
a fact slash to begin with is simply Zoe Thoreau good this is a very different kind of take although
(58:28):
it's still very much feels like hack slash it's a very different kind of take particularly visually
and i think um you know when you when you give a creator writing an art duties and you're like let them
cook this is the creator's baby you always get something special and right away from this first issue
this already feels like something special uh the art absolutely sings the writing is very very sharp
(58:52):
they do something a little more um internal when it comes to Cassie hack you get a little bit more into
her head into in this series than you have in the past and as somebody who's you know been there
from the beginning and read all of of hack slash crossovers and everything they've done with it i
am thoroughly fascinated with this take on the franchise and i'm very very interested to continue
(59:15):
reading this so hack slash back to school number one first of a four part mini series if you like
horror if you like old hack slash if you like Zoe Thoreau good just give this thing a read it is
absolutely worth the price of admission yeah i'm very intrigued by this and i had totally forgotten
about your previous nerd accommodation with us and as someone who uh has really enjoyed Tim
(59:38):
Seely's work on night wing i think he even did some some green lanterns stuff that i read um i'm
definitely intrigued by this um and and you know me like a writer doing uh or a creator i should say
doing uh words and art like that's always like the chicken soup for my soul like so i may have to
(59:58):
give this one a look all right Chris so um your recommendation we've actually talked about and it's
queued up in my um in my um marvel unlimited subscription i can't wait to actually get to it what
have you got yeah so i said that this one was written specifically for you so um but mood night
by Judmike like it's been one of the things that i've always been meaning to sit down and read uh
(01:00:23):
it's been highly recommended by friends um i think i i'm reading my text that i sent to you i said
of this equal parts detective thriller spiritual warfare but through like a horror lens uh i think
it's i think it's a masterpiece and you know the thing of it is it's like jumping in with a character
(01:00:43):
this deep into their publication history do you need a deep background and i don't think so
i i read the one uh series from a couple years ago um not the jeff lamir one but the one before that
where they introduced like the white and black suit um and and that was really great uh previously
or recommended um so i think this is pretty new reader friendly um and i what i love about it is that
(01:01:11):
it is like it tackles so many different big things and it incorporates so many different elements
and it really kind of plays with them and i you know a lot of people who have very remedial
kind of background on the character of moonnight say well he's marvels batman and for me
(01:01:35):
that's kind of infuriating because that's like saying ramen and spaghetti are the same because they both
have noodles like these are very different type of characters they have similarities uh you have
a wealthy man who's a street level fighter but that like like that's just the surface value you have
he's great tactician and all that like these are so different um so i i i don't like
(01:02:03):
endured commending things until i'm done with them but i'm only 11 issues in and i i'm gonna have
to break my own rule here because the quality is just so good like it feels like there's there's
some of these issues are like episodic in nature it almost feels like a buffy the vampire slayer episode
like where like there's a complete story told within one issue but then it also has over arching
(01:02:30):
stories that are being told throughout arcs throughout trades if you will um and even those episodic
things those episodic adversaries have implications to the larger stories as well like it's just
like jad mckay after his work on black cat those uh those different volumes is is reaching
(01:02:54):
all-ewing territory for me where i will just follow them for whatever they're writing i'm looking
to read a doctor strange book for the first time because jad mckay is writing it so like this is one of
the best books that marvel is putting out i know right now it's coming to its tail end um but i cannot
recommend this highly enough like it's you literally have faiths religions gods that are competing
(01:03:21):
with one another you have consue locked up in asgard um and yet he's still trying to communicate with
moonlight he's having to he's trying to ask consue four things four favors while he's in captivity um
because of his his previous actions so like and just the idea of like gods not necessarily being this
(01:03:44):
benevolent thing that we always kind of take for granted with religion or faith it's just a fascinating
thing um and it's kind of like it almost harkens back to like the old Greek tragedies where the gods
are emotional they're petty and it's just it's just a great great title like i said i'm 11 issues
in it's introduced new characters that i'm obsessed with um you've got Reese who's his vampire
(01:04:10):
and she's fantastic that just really great book and i can't wait to read all of it honestly sold
yeah i'm ready for it i'm gonna read i'm gonna read this so you you've converted me i'm ready
i'm gonna read some moonlight which also will be my first moonlight series i believe so i'm i'm
(01:04:31):
psyched all right that wraps up another episode of the nerd by word we thank you so much for riding
along with us if you like what you hear please like and subscribe on your podcasting platform of
choice whether that is apple podcast spotify amazon iheart radio or nerd by word dot com and keep an
eye out over the next few months on our official website as things are really starting to cook there
(01:04:55):
and there's also possibility you might want to get on our youtube channel as some things are
cooking there as well i'm hoping with the next couple of months we're gonna launch some new features
for the by word that i think a lot of our long-time listeners will really enjoy
and then of course there's the socials you know you got the the twigs of it all and any other social
(01:05:17):
media platform you can imagine you can find us at nerd by word or individually at that
nerd day even at that nerd crisp so let us know what you think i'll show we'd love to hear from you
and as always stay well and stay nerdy the nerd by word is written and produced by chris and
dav two nerds with a love of all things pop culture the podcast features music by al ymanez with
(01:05:39):
additional drops composed by joe biammy our show art is by ashery design
find us at nerd by word.com and wherever podcasts are available
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