Pick of the Week Podcast Episode #75: Avengers: The Initiative #1

[conorkilpatrick]

It's our 75th episode and it may have been cursed.

We discuss Ron's Pick of the Week for April 6, 2007:

http://www.ifanboy.com/images/POW_040407-thumb.jpg
Avengers: The Initiative #1
by Dan Slott & Stefano Caselli

Click here for download info and show notes! (http://www.ifanboy.com/archive/weblog/hey_rons_back_i.html)

Click here to discuss the show! (http://www.ifanboy.com/archive/pickoftheweek/04042007_avenge.html)

[labor_days]

Good show. But Ron's argument about readers having no power over the industry is total bullshit. If enough people stop buying a book retailers are going to stop ordering it. Reader apathy for changing the status quo of the industry is part of what is killing it. /soapbox

For some reason I was under the impression 2/3rd the iFanboys didn't read 52. Ron did have the right of things regarding the art in 52. Some weeks the art was OK. Other times just brutal. 52: Week 47, I'm looking in your direction.

[fred]

way to go guys - I'm 36 minutes in and so far it's great

by the way, on buffy - I believe I've heard that Whedon is doing 6 up front and then 6 or so later on. He's 'show-running' the whole thing and writing almost half.

one more thing on why Uncanny X-Men are 'uncanny' - I don't know this to be the absolute truth so take it for what it's worth.

If you read Lee's initial issues of X-Men he uses 'uncanny' as a watchword/motif/tip of the hand to show you a character is a mutant. It's hysterical if you read them all in a big chunk because they introduce a new character and for some reason or another they are 'uncanny' and they turn out to be a mutant. He does it with existing characters too(ie Warren Worthington's uncanny wings and uncanny ability to fly). If you read them too fast it's really noticable. It makes it feel like he gets a bonus for using the word or something like he's writing a story and goes 'oh yeah I need that $50' ta-da "UNCANNY"

anyhow, I always assumed the name change was a tribute to Lee

[conorkilpatrick]

For some reason I was under the impression 2/3rd the iFanboys didn't read 52. Ron did have the right of things regarding the art in 52. Some weeks the art was OK. Other times just brutal. 52: Week 47, I'm looking in your direction.

We all read 52.

[labor_days]

Oh? could have sworn Ron or Josh dismissed 52 a couple weeks back. I stand corrected.

[sk0pe]

Great show guys.

Really, how much do you guys drink before the show?
I know alot of the time the AC guys are drunk stupid but that's what makes their podcast different and funny.

Conor - you said you enjoyed Fallen Son, what was your take on it (I get my comics about a fortnight to a month later than you guys).


Joe Madureira -
I was a big fan of his Uncanny X-men, I was also a fan of Battlechasers which was amazing art wise and starting to get intriguing but he just left a fairly loyal fan base out in the cold. (I have to agree Red Monika's breasts were way too large... I can't believe I'm saying that).
His style is so specific I can't believe Conor wouldn't be able to pick it out.

There was a Pizza Hut advert in one of my back issues that I was re reading and it was some X-men deal or something but the artwork looked really familiar and new it had to be Madureira, I finally found his signature in a corner.
I look forward to Ultimates Volume 3.

Daniel Way -
Did you guys read the minis that Dillon and Way did? - Bullseye, Punisher vs. Bullseye, I thought these minis were well written and great fun to read but Dillon also knows how to put art down. I didn't go on to Wolverine Origins because I prefer not knowing about his origins.


I'm sure you've shown some fanboy love for Darkhorse before, let's say Sin City?



I thought the 11 year old emailer and your reactions were great, especially as you guys started swearing alot more after the fact.

I started reading comics at around 11 (due in part to the X-men cartoon), I read the X-men and Spidey books regularly and then borrowed out trades from the library such as Watchmen, V for Vendetta and some Batman books.

I enjoyed the former 2 books as a respect for this new medium I had discovered but didn't think too much of them. Later on when I earned enough money to buy these books for myself, I actually understood the stories and their individual complexities which really pointed out how excellent these books were.

I think Ron was justified in what he said, the comic shop is going to buy it's core titles from the big 2 then expand using their customer's pull lists.
Sure, if enough people stop reading a book it will be cancelled but there will be that lag time. Obviously there are enoug people reading Wolverine Origins to keep it's sales up, this could possibly be due to the art or simply that they like the story too.
No one needs petitions, if you don't like the book just drop it, vote with your wallet.
I read plenty of comics just for the story, the art may suck but I read it because the story is good. On the flipside I read Streetfighter by Udon Comics because I really like the art style, the story is really weak but I don't care.

The 11 year old should can continue to read the mainstream b grade titles but I doubt he can comprehen all the more "advanced" books, which is quite clear by his favourite book being Amazing Spidergirl, or maybe it just is the writer using an alias.

It's pretty obvious that the New Avengers: The Initiative or Captain America the title are going to find a fill in for Cap. However I prefer if The Patriot takes over in that role but doesn't have to wear Cap's suit and isn't called Captain America - Why do fanboys need a Miss America like contest for the character, just let him die and let someone else pick up, at the most, the shield.

[conorkilpatrick]

Really, how much do you guys drink before the show?
I know alot of the time the AC guys are drunk stupid but that's what makes their podcast different and funny.

We don't drink before the show. That was just a joke. In fact, I'm the only one of the team that really drinks alcohol at all. That's the audio show. The video show... I can't say that I've been 100% sober for some of those.

Conor - you said you enjoyed Fallen Son, what was your take on it (I get my comics about a fortnight to a month later than you guys).

I enjoyed it. I thought it did a good job of capturing Wolverine's reaction to the death of someone he respects and admires. And the art was fantastic.

His style is so specific I can't believe Conor wouldn't be able to pick it out.

Didn't read Uncanny X-Men at the time, and didn't ever read Battlechasers, so...

I'm sure you've shown some fanboy love for Darkhorse before, let's say Sin City?

Hmm... possibly. Definitely for The Escapists, which was one of our Books of the Year for 2006.

Welcome to the forums!

[sk0pe]

Forgot to write this in the post above -

Runaways and Punisher

Punisher (MAX book by Garth Ennis), book happens outside of normal Marvel Universe continuity, it's very much realistic and wouldn't tie in with any other book, it basically ignores the rest of the Marvel Universe except for the occasional Shield or Nick Fury en****er.

That's why Punisher War Journal (by Matt Fraction) was restarted, it's basically a book about the Punisher in the Marvel Universe. It started off for Civil War (wasn't really pertinent, but was interesting), the stories are really well written and fit the character that Ennis has rewritten.

It's a great book and also allows for appearances in other Marvel Universe books to be believable.

I knew you were joking in the podcast Conor, my browser is having a problem with putting in smilies, I was just going along with the joke.

[mikegraham6]

I got a kick out of the iFanboy Marvel/Quesada discussion mainly because I recently listened to a few of your older podcasts and I remember Conor and Josh lambasting Ron about Marvel. You guys challenged him to name a good marvel book that wasn't written by Bendis or had the word Ultimate in the title, and i dont think he could come up with anything. Its good to see you guys have come around on the Marvel camp but I guess that due to the consistent quality Marvel has been putting out lately (not everything is great but most of their high profile books are above average these days)

another great podcast guys keep up the good work!

[conorkilpatrick]

I knew you were joking in the podcast Conor, my browser is having a problem with putting in smilies, I was just going along with the joke.

You'd be surprised how many people write us thinking we are drunk when we do the show.

[steve-m-]

Good show, ifb, one of your best and that is saying something. I have an 8 year-old and a 5 year-old, and sorry, but I don't want them listening to the show yet. I don't think I could handle it if my 5 year-old walked in and said, "Dad, Ben 10 was total bullshit today--I'm looking at you Men of Action."

But when they hit 13 or so, I'll introduce them if you guys haven't sold out and gone Hollywood or some total bullshit like that. 11, that kid's mom so loves you guys...:)

[jaflanagan]

I got a kick out of the iFanboy Marvel/Quesada discussion mainly because I recently listened to a few of your older podcasts and I remember Conor and Josh lambasting Ron about Marvel. You guys challenged him to name a good marvel book that wasn't written by Bendis or had the word Ultimate in the title, and i dont think he could come up with anything. Its good to see you guys have come around on the Marvel camp but I guess that due to the consistent quality Marvel has been putting out lately (not everything is great but most of their high profile books are above average these days)

Please, whatever you do, don't use our past words against us! :D

There's no doubt there have been ebbs and flows in the quality of Marvel stuff, but even if it was just Bendis, and the Ultimate books, that's not a bad track record. Hopefully I'll make it through all this cosmic crap they've got coming up.

[labor_days]

Punisher (MAX book by Garth Ennis), book happens outside of normal Marvel Universe continuity...

A shame Ennis' Punisher seems to fly so low under the radar. He's been putting out consistently good stories for a while now. I'm always struck by how naturally each arc flows into the the next. Not that all the story arcs are connected but every once in awhile there's a reference to "Kitchen Irish" or "Mother Russia". Strange how the book feels so cohesive yet self contained.

Fraction's Punisher is a different beast entirely. War Journal started out alright but has gotten oh so bad. Fraction has written some pretty fun comics before. P:WJ is not one of them.

[darron]

Sorry Josh...you're the weird guy.

[jaflanagan]

I can take being weird to an 11 year old.

[darron]

I can take being weird to an 11 year old.

Yea, but he notices subtle differences between things in Spider-Girl! At 11, I woulda thought Spider-Girl was the lamest thing on the planet, simply for the fact that it's not Spider-MAN, but Spider-GIRL. Sorry, but to an adolecent boy, Spider-Girl is not appealing. The fact that this kid is reading comics un-biasedly (See, I don't even think thats a word), for the story, at 11, amazes me. At 11, I was reading Battle Chasers for the BOOBS.

So, apparently, no, I am not smarter than a fifth grader.

[tavella]

Click here for download info and show notes! (http://www.ifanboy.com/archive/weblog/hey_rons_back_i.html)

Click here to discuss the show! (http://www.ifanboy.com/archive/pickoftheweek/04042007_avenge.html)

Is there any way we can get an index page of these links from past shows? Or is there one I'm missing seeing the link to?

[conorkilpatrick]

Is there any way we can get an index page of these links from past shows? Or is there one I'm missing seeing the link to?

http://www.ifanboy.com/audio_podcast.html

[tavella]

http://www.ifanboy.com/audio_podcast.html

That doesn't have a link to the discussion threads, does it?

[conorkilpatrick]

That doesn't have a link to the discussion threads, does it?

Um... in a roundabout way it does. At the bottom of the show notes there's a link to the PoW discussion. Of course, this is all for the iFanboy site. The discussion on the Rev3 forums is something we can't really customize. The best way to find those would be to go to the SEARCH function on the upper nav bar and type in "Pick of the Week".

[jimski]

For what it's worth, I started reading Spider-Girl as a 31 year old. I checked out the first arc of the book's latest resurrection, as well as the original volume's first digest. I didn't stick with it, though strangely for an all-ages book I would expect it to be a lot more popular with people who were 11 in 1985 than people who are 11 now.
If you read Defalco and Frenz's Amazing Spider-Man in the eighties, you've read Spider-Girl; it's like their original run never ended, and is literally still going on in its own little parallel universe.I don't know why it didn't click with me; as a kid, I liked that team's original run on Spidey very much, the Hobgoblin mystery and all that, but now it leaves me cold. Maybe Tom Defalco's innate ability is to strike a chord with anyone who happens to be 11.