Episode 121 - Misery 4 and Spawn 358

[00:00:00] Speaker A: These morons, they don't know Simmons like I do. He's one of the deadliest assassins on this planet. Perhaps my greatest achievement. But he's manic, obsessive. Once he sets his mind to something, he's like a dog chewing its bone. And the moment we attacked him, a response is now inevitable. It's simply a question of how long he'll take to deliver. Well, good evening and welcome to the Malbols. This is regarding Spawn, the world's best Spawn podcast. I'm your co host, John Fisher. [00:01:06] Speaker B: And I'm your co host, David Williams. And as. As good old Jason Wynn has said, Johnny, like a dog chewing its bone, we've had a. We've had an influx of dogs. So there might be a lot more background noise. And I'm apologizing for it up front because I'm not gonna be able to stop it. [00:01:23] Speaker A: That's okay. As long as we acknowledge it. And everyone loves a dog. And we love that you love dogs. So must love dogs. [00:01:32] Speaker B: Oh, well, that's. That's good. Must. Yes, I am. If you buy that movie now, it is literally just 90 minutes of me going, hey, look at this dog. [00:01:41] Speaker A: I love these dogs. [00:01:42] Speaker B: What about this one? So I. I don't know how the movie now maintains an NC17 rating, that it's somehow just become me showing you pictures of dogs. Take that up with the MPAA. They don't know what. [00:01:54] Speaker A: Must Love Dogs isn't rated NC17. [00:01:57] Speaker B: Well, it is now that all the copies have turned into just me for some reason. I don't get it. [00:02:01] Speaker A: I guess you rated NC17. [00:02:03] Speaker B: I guess I say the fuck word too many times. [00:02:05] Speaker A: Oh, that's. I mean, that'd be a lot. I mean, it's a Fuck a lot. You know what's crazy is Evil Dead 2 is rated X. NC17. [00:02:13] Speaker B: Really? [00:02:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:15] Speaker B: For what? [00:02:16] Speaker A: Violence? [00:02:18] Speaker B: That's not even the one that's got a titty in it. Or sexual assault. Not to make light of sexual assault. [00:02:23] Speaker A: That's also NC17. [00:02:25] Speaker B: Oh, really? Okay, well, I thought it was unrated. [00:02:28] Speaker A: I think they released them both unrated. But they were going to be rated NC17. [00:02:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it definitely. It definitely deserves it. For the. The trees. [00:02:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that one Evil Dead one feels evil. Yeah, Evil Dead one feels like it could hurt you. [00:02:42] Speaker B: It's. It's malicious. [00:02:43] Speaker A: It's malicious. It's dark, it's good. It's probably my favorite of the three. I don't know. [00:02:48] Speaker B: Evil Dead 2 just came over and ate all your chips. And it's like, hey, man, you might run out of chips. [00:02:53] Speaker A: Yeah. It's just funny because they. The reason they made all the blood different colors and that was to try to avoid a rated X rating. And that's what I got anyway. [00:03:01] Speaker B: Oh, man. Yeah. Like, even. Even though you can tell that it's all. You can tell that it's all fake, but it is just so viscerally and goopy in the first one. Like, the first time I saw the stabbing of the pencil into the ankle, I was just like. [00:03:21] Speaker A: Yeah. And the. The Deadites are so malicious and, like, really mean in the first one. They're really the scariest Deadites for sure. [00:03:29] Speaker B: They don't. They don't care about the sanctity of human life. [00:03:33] Speaker A: So I like Evil Dead Rise. I feel like the Deadites in that were much similar to the ones in One. They're much more malicious. [00:03:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, and that was a. That was a wild one, too. They should have called it Evil Dead High Rise. [00:03:44] Speaker A: I think that's the pun, David. [00:03:46] Speaker B: Oh, David. That's a new. A new recurring segment where you explain things that went over my head. [00:03:54] Speaker A: Evil Dead Rise. [00:03:55] Speaker B: Evil Dead rise. Evil Dead. Smee. Ooh. [00:03:58] Speaker A: I think the next one's called Evil Dead Kills, or I don't know what it's called. I'll look it up. [00:04:04] Speaker B: The evil that Dead do goes on and on. Well, speaking of evil. Evil. Evil Dead. Smee. Johnny. Now that skeleton crew is officially over. Man, I have not felt about Star wars this way since, you know, the mid-90s, when the re releases came out and we were just all Star wars. [00:04:29] Speaker A: All the time, really. That's why I felt after Force Awakens and Last Jedi. But I'm glad that you're feeling that. [00:04:36] Speaker B: It was so good. Can I tell you exactly? [00:04:38] Speaker A: It was good. [00:04:39] Speaker B: The moment that brought it. That brought it home to me. And I don't know if this is a spoiler or not, so sorry if it's a spoiler, but motherfucking B wings. That's what did it for me. I was just like, ah, a B wing. [00:04:53] Speaker A: Everyone loves a B Wing. [00:04:55] Speaker B: Everybody loves a B wing. [00:04:56] Speaker A: They go, yeah, they're cool. It's called Evil Dead Burn. Evil Dead Burn is the next Evil Dead. [00:05:04] Speaker B: It's a. It's a comedy starring Aston Kutcher as Kelso. So it's just Evil Dead burned. [00:05:12] Speaker A: Oh, boy. Yeah, I hope so. Love Aston Kutcher. [00:05:19] Speaker B: Oh, boy. You know, Mila kunis was, like, 14 when they hired her for that show, and she was like, yeah, I'm 19. [00:05:27] Speaker A: Really? That's hilarious. [00:05:29] Speaker B: Is a badass. [00:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Pretty cool when she wrote that letter that supported the guy who played Hyde in jail. [00:05:37] Speaker B: Yeah, that's sad. I know. [00:05:40] Speaker A: I'm kidding. [00:05:41] Speaker B: But outside of that, I know. [00:05:43] Speaker A: I just. The Internet hates her and Ashton Kutcher now. [00:05:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, that's. That's the Internet. [00:05:50] Speaker A: That's the Internet Internet gonna hate. [00:05:53] Speaker B: I mean, that's. That's the. That's the reality of life is you don't always know all of an entire person and you gotta defend the bit of the person, you know? [00:06:03] Speaker A: That's true. That's very deep. [00:06:04] Speaker B: That's. It's just. It's also just very topical since the. The major news outlets are now getting a hold of the Neil Gaiman story and. [00:06:12] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I saw that. [00:06:13] Speaker B: Just like that Vulture story is brutal. Oh, man. Like, not even. Not even in just the depictions of what happened, but just like, they're like. And this man spent 30 years writing stories about bad people exactly like him getting their comeuppance. And it's like, damn. [00:06:33] Speaker A: Wow. I haven't read it. I don't know. I only have so much of a stomach for that sort of thing. [00:06:38] Speaker B: Yeah. The entire time I read it, I'm like, why am I still reading this? I don't want to do this to myself. It's. I don't. I don't. But, you know, much like. Much like my desire to see the nastiest, most disgusting filth on the Internet tends to be as a recognition of the victims. I want the victims to know that. That somebody still cares for them. I feel. I feel it's a. It's an obligation to, to, to like, ride these things out and pay attention to them and, you know, cultivate empathy where empathy is needed. [00:07:18] Speaker A: Okay. I can see that I'm a very weird person. I can respect that. That's okay. Because we're. We're always talking about weird people on this show. [00:07:28] Speaker B: Yeah, we are. And. Oh, man. Speaking. Speaking of, since it's topical, I was at the. I was at the comic book store yesterday picking up my books a day late, and one of the guys said it's. I bet Todd McFarland is like having the last laugh in this whole. This whole business. [00:07:49] Speaker A: What with the diamond distributor? [00:07:51] Speaker B: Well, no, with the, The Neil Gaiman with the whole. [00:07:53] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, legal. [00:07:55] Speaker B: The whole legal battle. [00:07:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:58] Speaker B: Old. Old Todd father came out on top on this one. [00:08:02] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. [00:08:03] Speaker B: But yeah. Oh, man, Diamond. Diamond collapsing is wild. [00:08:07] Speaker A: What does that even mean? [00:08:08] Speaker B: I don't know. I don't know. [00:08:11] Speaker A: Comics. [00:08:12] Speaker B: Well, I mean, DC uses their own distributor anyway, so DC Books won't have any issues. [00:08:18] Speaker A: But diamond does image, right? [00:08:20] Speaker B: Diamond does everybody else. Everybody. [00:08:25] Speaker A: Okay. [00:08:26] Speaker B: But I mean, I'm sure that if it came down to it, the Todd father would get himself a cdl and literally drive a semi across the country to deliver books every week if he needed to. [00:08:38] Speaker A: I'm sure he would. He'll figure out a way. [00:08:40] Speaker B: He's. He's. He's like life, Johnny. It finds a way. [00:08:46] Speaker A: He does. He's like a pro compsognathus. [00:08:50] Speaker B: He's like the. The all female, all female dinosaurs finding a way to somehow reproduce asexually because. [00:08:58] Speaker A: They were frog DNA. [00:08:59] Speaker B: Frogs. [00:09:01] Speaker A: Frogs are known to spontaneously switch sex from male to female. [00:09:04] Speaker B: That happens. That happens a lot. [00:09:05] Speaker A: I mean, like, quoted by Dr. Alan. [00:09:07] Speaker B: Grant, Earthworms, I guess. Earthworms are hermaphroditic, though. Maybe they accidentally used earthworm DNA. Although if they did that, if you cut. If you cut like a one of the dinosaurs in half and it would just turn into two dinosaurs, like a hydra. [00:09:22] Speaker A: Now that'd be cool. [00:09:23] Speaker B: Oh boy, that would be wild. [00:09:27] Speaker A: No, it's. That's. That was their explanation of the movie anyway. I can't remember. The book was probably a little more. [00:09:31] Speaker B: Detailed, but a lot of detail left out of the movie because Michael Crichton was a fucking nerd. [00:09:39] Speaker A: Yes, he was. [00:09:40] Speaker B: Oh boy. I do like that they didn't kill John Hammond like immediately though. I like. [00:09:47] Speaker A: Yeah, he's a little more. [00:09:48] Speaker B: He's more malicious in the book. [00:09:50] Speaker A: Yeah, he's like a little shit. He's a little shit in the book. [00:09:53] Speaker B: And it's just a. He's just a rich grandpa who doesn't know what to do with his fucking money. And he's like, what do grandkids. What are grandkids like? Dinosaurs. Okay, that's dinosaur. [00:10:02] Speaker A: The movie is much more mystical and special and kind. I don't know, it's more that Spielberg touch as opposed to the Crichton cynicism. [00:10:14] Speaker B: Good movie. Jurassic Park. Hot take, Johnny. Jurassic Park. Good movie. [00:10:20] Speaker A: Wow. [00:10:21] Speaker B: Can you believe I'm saying that? In this, the year of our Lord. [00:10:24] Speaker A: 2021, it's one of the best. It's one of the movies I probably watched the most of my life. [00:10:27] Speaker B: I imagine they just don't make them like that anymore. [00:10:30] Speaker A: They really don't. [00:10:31] Speaker B: They really don't. [00:10:33] Speaker A: It's so funny to think about what Jurassic park was like and then think about Jurassic World 3, and it's just like, wow. Yeah, these are just different ends of the spectrum here. [00:10:44] Speaker B: I think I've only seen Jurassic World 3 once because my sister refused to watch it because apparently Taylor Leone and David Duchovny had a. I'm talking about Jurassic World 3. Oh, Jurassic World. Oh, man. I'm just talking about the third one. [00:10:57] Speaker A: No, third one's. Okay. [00:11:01] Speaker B: Well, apparently Te Leone and David Duchovny had a very, very bitter divorce. And my sister was very pro David Duchovny, and so she's like, ta Leone. We're not watching this. So just never watched it. I actually haven't seen Jurassic World 3, so. [00:11:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I figured. Not Dominion. It's called. It's a ridiculous movie. I kind of like it, but it's just so far removed from, like, Jurassic Park. It's so funny to think about them existing in the same series. [00:11:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's got the. It's currently got the scream problem where like, every new entry into the series is basically just the same movie again. Yeah, just the same movie again. Make a new dinosaur movie. Please. Make a live action version of We're Back. Come on, come on. That's the remake I'm looking for, not this Mufasa shit. Well, now you have a song to sing to your brother every time you see him. [00:11:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm sure he'd love that. [00:12:00] Speaker B: You gotta make him love it, Johnny. [00:12:02] Speaker A: Hello to you, my brother. That's gonna become the song of the podcast. [00:12:09] Speaker B: It's gonna have to be. It's gonna have. It's gonna replace Ghost as the. The Seal of official podcast. [00:12:15] Speaker A: Then we'll have to end up watching Mufasa on the podcast. [00:12:18] Speaker B: Oh, boy, oh boy, oh boy. Maybe we can then straight. We can. We can stream trying to get past the stampede level on snes. Lion King. [00:12:29] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's a hard one. [00:12:30] Speaker B: Never gonna happen. [00:12:32] Speaker A: I remember the just can't wait to be king level was fairly difficult as well. If I'm remembering correctly. I also could have just been a dumb kid. [00:12:39] Speaker B: I mean, probably both. You never know. [00:12:43] Speaker A: Probably both. [00:12:45] Speaker B: But you know what else is both, Johnny? [00:12:47] Speaker A: What? [00:12:48] Speaker B: These issues that we're covering this week, they're both. [00:12:51] Speaker A: What? [00:12:52] Speaker B: There's just two of them? [00:12:54] Speaker A: Oh, there's two of them? Yes, because. Welcome. This is regarding Spawn, where each week we bring you two issues from Spawn's universe. Except when we don't. This week we are bringing you two. We've got the fourth out of four of Misery Spinoff title all the way from September 2024. Then we have Spawn 358, continuing Rory McConville's run before the top father takes over. This is from November 2024. So we have two beautiful issues. Yes, indeed, they were glad to have in our hands. Yeah, we have a comics distributor, but. [00:13:32] Speaker B: Hopefully, hopefully we don't have to go to Burbank and, you know, knock on Todd McFarlane's door and be like, hey. [00:13:41] Speaker A: Hey, you got some comics to sell? Yeah, I don't know. [00:13:45] Speaker B: It looks like the publishing office is in Portland. Oh, dang. Gonna have to go to Portland. [00:13:50] Speaker A: You gotta go all the way to Portland. Oh, my God. [00:13:53] Speaker B: Portland, Oregon. Not Portland, Maine. [00:13:55] Speaker A: Okay. [00:13:57] Speaker B: Speaking of beautiful, Johnny, this Don Aglio cover for misery, number 404. This is incredible. [00:14:06] Speaker A: Yeah, it's pretty cool. [00:14:07] Speaker B: It's very good. [00:14:10] Speaker A: It's like Misery, we're in this crazy flowing gown. Or I guess her name's not Misery. That could be her superhero name. [00:14:20] Speaker B: It might be her superhero name at some day. [00:14:23] Speaker A: I was thinking it would be Cyan, not Misery. It's the copy of the book Misery on the COVID That's it. [00:14:32] Speaker B: Yeah. No, it's. It's very good. Like, yeah, Cyan is like reaching. Reaching Creation of man style toward a disembodied glowing hand above her. And then she's got the. The hands holding her down at the bottom there. [00:14:52] Speaker A: Yeah, real good. I have a first edition copy of Misery, the book. [00:14:58] Speaker B: Yeah, nice. [00:14:59] Speaker A: From my mom's collection. [00:15:01] Speaker B: Hell yeah. I've recently started just hitting up all the used bookstores and seeing what they got. And man, some of those first edition Stephen Kings are still like dropping a hundo on them. [00:15:13] Speaker A: I don't know how much for Misery is, but it's in pretty good shape. I read that book like two or three times, but I've only read this. I read the soft cover to keep the hardcover in better condition. [00:15:26] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Also, soft cover is way easier to just shove in a pocket. [00:15:31] Speaker A: It is. [00:15:32] Speaker B: That's what I like about them. [00:15:34] Speaker A: A paperback, I guess you would say Paperback Rider. [00:15:41] Speaker B: And then we've got a. We've got a cover B on this. Do we, Johnny? Do we have a cover B? How many covers for this issue? [00:15:48] Speaker A: I don't believe so. [00:15:49] Speaker B: It looks like there's just a one cover. Yep, that's a great cover. They. It's a beautiful cover. It's unfortunately probably the best part of the episode of the issue, but that's just because it's fucking amazing. [00:16:09] Speaker A: Oh, there's also a red, like just a blank Red one. [00:16:13] Speaker B: Blank red one. Oh, man. I've never seen a blank red one. Interesting. [00:16:19] Speaker A: There's a blank red one. [00:16:21] Speaker B: Very nice. [00:16:22] Speaker A: So there are two covers, technically. [00:16:24] Speaker B: Nice. Think of all that. [00:16:25] Speaker A: We always want to be 100 accurate on this show. [00:16:28] Speaker B: 100%. [00:16:30] Speaker A: Even when we're not just, like, two issues. Except when we don't. [00:16:35] Speaker B: Except for when we don't. [00:16:38] Speaker A: Yeah. That was a great cover. Pop it open. We got the credits. Script plot by Todd McFarlane. [00:16:45] Speaker B: Yes, indeed. [00:16:46] Speaker A: Art by Simon Kudransky. Color by FCO Plasencia. Lettering by Anne World Design. The COVID artist we already covered. Creative director is Todd McFarlane, and editor in chief is Thomas Healy. Previously in Misery, Cyan goes undercover looking for answers, and instead finds unwanted attention from a dirty cop. [00:17:15] Speaker B: From a very dirty cop. From a dirty cop who's wanting to shoot her up with some smack. [00:17:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:23] Speaker B: Oh, man, what a. What a terrible dude. And then she touches him and sees flashes of all the bad he's done. And smack is like the worst. Not. Smack is not the worst of it, unfortunately. [00:17:35] Speaker A: No. He's a bad cop. [00:17:39] Speaker B: Very bad. [00:17:39] Speaker A: And that's where we pick up is after she's touched him and had their shared misery experience. And he started bleeding out of the orifices, out of his eyes, out of. [00:17:47] Speaker B: Everywhere he could bleed. [00:17:49] Speaker A: They were both passed out in the cop car. [00:17:51] Speaker B: Yeah. We got a whole bunch of cops descending on this one lone cop car. And they pile out, and they've got their flashlights and their guns, and they're like, what the fuck? They look in, and it is. It is a bit of a horror show because the cop, as we said, bleeding out of everywhere. He's bleeding out of his eyes, he's bleeding out of his mouth, bleeding out of his ears. And Cyan is just like, fine. [00:18:21] Speaker A: Just pass out. And they look like they're both about to do drugs. Yeah, they got their arms out. [00:18:27] Speaker B: Yeah. And then, you know, one of the cops is like, she's got a pulse. Send another ambulance. So they started only with the ambulance for the cop. And they're wondering what the hell went on. Because I don't. I. If I came across a scene like that, Johnny, I would be like. [00:18:47] Speaker A: No, she got me. He got miseried. [00:18:50] Speaker B: Okay. [00:18:50] Speaker A: That's what I'd say. [00:18:52] Speaker B: He's less miserable. He got le m. [00:19:00] Speaker A: I love the Todd father's great misery pun, I guess, or, like, joke in the letter at the end. That would cause a fair amount of misery, wouldn't you say? [00:19:13] Speaker B: Well, I mean, that's. That's that's the Todd. Father's writing. I'm some. I'm surprised he didn't somehow throw it into these first four issues in proper dialogue. Like having Cyan be like, I'm miserable. I'm full of misery. [00:19:30] Speaker A: Yeah. And so Cyan is pretty miserable. She's in a sad hotel hospital. [00:19:36] Speaker B: Yeah. The saddest of hotels. It's especially one of the saddest of hotels, Johnny. St. Vincent's in Manhattan was. Is largely. Largely recognized as, like, the epidemic or the epicenter of the original AIDS epidemic. [00:19:52] Speaker A: Oh, really? [00:19:53] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's. It's got. It's got a lot of baggage. St. Vincent does. So definitely not the place you want to be. [00:20:03] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Okay. The cops are already coming after her, being like, they're gonna. She's gonna answer some questions for us. [00:20:10] Speaker B: Yeah, she better. Right? That's what they say. And they start asking her questions. They don't like the answers she's given, and they start getting upset at her because he's in a coma or in a sense of care, not a coma. [00:20:26] Speaker A: They're just like, what'd you do? Why was he trying to arrest you? [00:20:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:29] Speaker A: She's like, he wasn't. I didn't do shit. [00:20:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Why. Why is he in intensive care and you aren't hurt? What's. What is. What is going on? And then CPS comes in, Johnny. The entire Chicago public school system walks right through the door. [00:20:46] Speaker A: No. Child Protective Services. No one's gonna fucking get that joke. [00:20:52] Speaker B: Well, that's why I explained it, okay? Cps, Chicago Public Schools. Don't you know, Johnny, the best jokes are the ones that need to be explained. The more explanation, the funnier. [00:21:05] Speaker A: Usually, I think that's how it works. [00:21:07] Speaker B: I mean, this podcast definitely is a testament to that. [00:21:11] Speaker A: Yes, A shining example. Yeah. Child Protective Services comes in, and they're like, sorry, you're done. Yeah, we got priority. [00:21:21] Speaker B: And then, you know, she's trying to get. She's like, I need to. I need to see this. This young woman's effects, please. And then in the. In the bag that Cyan had with her, she pulls out the. The business card from the V cop. Who? [00:21:40] Speaker A: Jenny. [00:21:41] Speaker B: Jenny. And so then Agent Sonia Glenora from CPS calls up Jenny and is like, hey, I got this child in the hospital. She had your business card in. In her effects. Maybe you should. Maybe, you know, come on down here, hang out a little bit, Give me a call. Then later. Later that night, a nurse comes in and is like, hey, I brought you some dinner to Cyan and Cyan's like, I'm not hungry. And then Ginny comes in and does a. Is like, I'll get her to eat. [00:22:15] Speaker A: Yeah, just leave it. [00:22:17] Speaker B: Yeah. And she's. And she's like, I. I know. I know this cop. I. I know what kind of trouble you're in, so you gotta let me help you, because it's not looking. It's not looking very good. And. But we need to. We need to make sure that you are safe and protected. Jenny. Jenny shows up wearing some. Some sunglasses, right? And she's wearing some sunglasses. And Cyan is like, you're wearing sunglasses and it's night. Do you think you're cool? Do you think you're living in that Corey Hart music video about wearing your sunglasses at night? And she's. She's like, so. So I can. So I can. But then. But then Jenny's like, now. Now, these sunglasses don't make me cool. And she takes them off and reveals some china. [00:23:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Like a big black eye. [00:23:09] Speaker B: It's even worse than. Even worse than. Oh, crap. How did I forget she spawn's name? Jessica Priest. Even worse than Jessica Priest's black guy from when she met Mark at the sidewalk cafe a couple episodes ago. [00:23:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Pretty gnarly looking. [00:23:28] Speaker B: Yeah. And so then they get a. They. They get into like an actual heart to heart conversation where. Where Cyan is trying to console. Console Jenny when it should technically be the other way around. But then, you know, Jenny's like, well, Jenny gets distracted by a phone call from her child. Her child's like, hey, dad's not home. I need you to come make dinner. And she's like, yeah, I'll be there. I'll be there. And then Cyan gives her science is like, hey, wait, where are you going? And she's like, I'm gonna. Jenny says, I'm gonna protect you. I'll be back. Don't worry. [00:24:09] Speaker A: And we cut to this crazy ritual. It was like a torch or like a match being lit. [00:24:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:17] Speaker A: Lighting some candles. [00:24:18] Speaker B: It's. It's what 1 million moms assumes the average D and D game is like, right? [00:24:24] Speaker A: It's just people in cloaks sitting around a bunch of candles. They're saying that it's time. It's time to rid themselves. [00:24:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:39] Speaker A: Who the devils have tainted with their powers. So. Sounds like they want to get rid of people with powers. [00:24:45] Speaker B: Yeah, they use. They use such. They use such lovely language, Johnny. They. They don't want to succumb to those that are immortal. Impure. Nobody. Nobody of good quality. Has ever said that. I don't want to succumb to the impure. [00:25:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:05] Speaker B: And then they. From the. The light of these candles, they. They're looking at a. A recent newspaper, and it's got a picture of Al Simmons on it right on the front page. Says, dead hero, not so dead. [00:25:19] Speaker A: So this place is this right around, like, 297, 298? Yeah, right around there where he was coming out to the world. [00:25:24] Speaker B: Yeah, where he was. He was. He was zooming in from the. The cabin in the woods that he sequestered Mark at and, like, didn't even tell him where they were. [00:25:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:37] Speaker B: Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Yeah. [00:25:41] Speaker A: And he says, ah, man, show some gnarly teeth. [00:25:44] Speaker B: Yeah, he's got, like, the mouth of Sauron teeth going on there. [00:25:48] Speaker A: Yeah, they're gross. [00:25:49] Speaker B: Ah, God. So frightening. So frightening. And then we cut back to Cyan in the dark, the dark hospital room. And then some eyes appear in the darkness and say, wake up, dear child. [00:26:06] Speaker A: Granny. [00:26:06] Speaker B: Granny? [00:26:09] Speaker A: No, no, you can tell by that speech bubble that's not Granny. [00:26:11] Speaker B: Yeah, come on, Cyan. You should be able to read the bubbles. And she's like, granny, what big teeth you have. And this beast says, the more to rend you flesh from bone. [00:26:25] Speaker A: And she says, you shall not ruin our plans. We shall not allow your existence to poison us. He kind of looks like hot, but he's not hot. [00:26:33] Speaker B: Yeah, he's got, like, the. The nasty hell spawn hands, like. So what is. What is he exactly? What is he? What kind of demon? [00:26:43] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:26:44] Speaker B: Don't know. [00:26:45] Speaker A: And the demon says, you must die. You've become a monster to Cyan. [00:26:49] Speaker B: Yeah. And then Cyan screams. And then her eyes turn blue white. And then, like, she explodes a force out of her chest. And the. This beast's head just, like, bloop. It just goes bloop. [00:27:05] Speaker A: Just flies off. [00:27:06] Speaker B: Flies off. Oh, man. And then. And then Cyan starts running down this hallway from the. From the. The disembodied head just sitting on the floor there. And then we learn it was a dream. It was a dream. And somebody says, cyan, wake up. You're dreaming. And it turns on the light. And who is it? Well, you can call him Al John. [00:27:29] Speaker A: You call him uncle Al. Little Uncle Albert. Good uncle AI. [00:27:35] Speaker B: Uncle AI. [00:27:38] Speaker A: I told you. That's the curse of writing Al Simmons. [00:27:40] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, it looks like AI. [00:27:41] Speaker A: Looks like AI Simmons. [00:27:44] Speaker B: Hey, hey, that's a good. That's a new story. A new story arc. We could. We could pitch Johnny. There's An AI Hell spawn. [00:27:54] Speaker A: Oh, boy. [00:27:55] Speaker B: Oh, boy. Could you imagine? It's like the physical. Physical manifestation of an AI generated hell spawn, just like in real. [00:28:05] Speaker A: The best use of AI Scene recently. Have you seen these series of videos where this old lady walks into Star wars scenes and gives people cookies and they eat them? [00:28:12] Speaker B: No. That sounds awesome. [00:28:15] Speaker A: I'll send you this. She's like, you want some cookies? And, like, it's like there's fighting Revenge of the Sith, and they just start eating cookies. [00:28:23] Speaker B: Oh, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. Yeah, I don't. I don't keep up with what's new in AI because I'm. I'm like, I don't. I don't want the computers to take over, so I'm going. [00:28:34] Speaker A: I mean, I'm not really keeping up. What's new in AI? It's just like a video, like, freely admitted. It was, like, captured. AI is getting out of control. [00:28:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:42] Speaker A: And it was this old lady feeding them cookies. [00:28:45] Speaker B: Nice. [00:28:46] Speaker A: Pretty good. [00:28:47] Speaker B: That's good. That's real good. And so. So Al Simmons is talking to Cyan, saying, hey, yeah, you know, sorry. Sorry it took me so long to get here, but I'm here now. Um, let's get you back to Granny Blake. And Cyan's like, nah, I can't. I can't be doing that. And. And Al's like, I don't think you understand the world you are in. Like, we kept you separate from it for a very long time, but it is bigger and wilder and dangerouser than you could probably ever believe. [00:29:20] Speaker A: Dangerouser. [00:29:21] Speaker B: Danger, definitely. It's a real word. And he says, I can't protect you if you stay here. And she's like, but I have to do this. He's like, all right, fine. Your funeral, basically. [00:29:31] Speaker A: He sparks his eyes at her punctuation on it. [00:29:34] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's like. And I'll. He's like, fine, fine. I'll go tell Granny Blake that you're okay, but you're going to have to talk to her. So. And then he walks away and then leaves Siam by herself. And then we. We cut to the police. The police office or police precinct, I'm going to assume, since there is bars and Cyan. Cyan has been locked up. And Ginny comes back and she's like, what the fuck are you doing? You can't arrest my client. She's under my protection. And they're like, city hall called. [00:30:09] Speaker A: We got a doctor clear. The mayor says he wants her charged and pressed charges, pressed against her for attempted Murder of a cop. [00:30:16] Speaker B: And plus, as you know, your district, Your assistant district attorney found out Jesus escaped once before. As you know, your district assistant district attorney. [00:30:30] Speaker A: Interesting. [00:30:31] Speaker B: That sounds a little bit like a campaign slogan. I'm your assistant da. Oh, I guess DA stands for District Attorney. I was about to say DA Attorney. And so Jenny is sitting there talking to Cyan in the. In the holding cell, apologizing. And then she's like, okay, now that this has happened, we're gonna change our tactic. [00:30:56] Speaker A: And did you know that DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc? That's why it's called DVD Video? [00:31:02] Speaker B: Really? [00:31:03] Speaker A: Uh huh. [00:31:05] Speaker B: Whoa. I didn't know that. Yeah, I always thought it was video. [00:31:10] Speaker A: No, because it's DVD video is what it would say. [00:31:14] Speaker B: Is it versatile? Because it's the same. It's basically the same technology they used for both video games and music. [00:31:23] Speaker A: I guess so. [00:31:24] Speaker B: So I guess technically a CD would be a DVD music or a video game would be a DVD game. DVD app. Game. [00:31:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I just know. I just know that it stands for Digital Versatile Disk. [00:31:37] Speaker B: Nice. [00:31:38] Speaker A: Speaking of DA And DA Attorney. [00:31:42] Speaker B: DA Attorney. DA Attorney. Sounds like a name. [00:31:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm DA Attorney. [00:31:49] Speaker B: But. But yeah, so. So Jenny's like, our tactic now is I didn't officially say this, but don't tell anybody your name. Okay? You got it? It won't buy you much time, but it'll buy you a little bit of time. And then Cyan's like, okay, but you gotta, you gotta be real with me. Why do you. Why do you stay? You got this, this massive black eye. I can see like from your demeanor. This isn't the first time. This is not going to be the last time, unfortunately. But why? Why? And you know, Ginny explains her reasons here for, you know, while they might not be good reasons, they're her reasons. Like, you know, it's just like I'm trying to be there for my kids and you know, I'm. It's just kind of. That's the milieu we've been in for a really long time. And I'm just like, that's where I am. And Cyan is like, hey, you know what? You don't have to do that. You don't have to be there. Then, you know, you got to set an example for your kids, which is, oh, you know, Cyan's looking out. Cyan's looking out for Jenny, who's looking out for her. It's. It's a good relationship there between Sam and Ginny. It's the push Ginny needs I think for her to start, you know, believing the good things that she sometimes thinks about herself and, you know, being able to dispel those very loud, very negative thoughts that probably come up in her head all the time. So this, this. This little exchange, I thought was very well done, except especially for somebody as unsubtle as Todd McFarlane, that the sensitivity given to this conversation I thought was exceptional. [00:33:47] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a great beginning of a relationship that I can't wait to see continue. Continue in many issues, which I'm sure will happen at the end of this issue. [00:33:56] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. [00:33:57] Speaker A: It'll be all resolved. There's only. There's plenty more pages left. Right. [00:34:01] Speaker B: They're going to form a partnership. It's going to be jnc, but it's. [00:34:06] Speaker A: You know, this obviously can't be the end. Like, I'm going to turn the page and there's going to be many more pages after this, right? [00:34:12] Speaker B: Yeah, there's got to be. There's definitely. There's more story to get to, Johnny. And this is the fourth of four, so we got to get to all the story. [00:34:19] Speaker A: What the hell? This is the last page. The next page is the last page. [00:34:23] Speaker B: What? Boo. [00:34:27] Speaker A: I'm just teasing. [00:34:28] Speaker B: Yeah, but so, so, yeah, this is the last page. And coming very quickly off of that very heartfelt exchange between Cyan and Ginny, we see Jenny waiting at City hall, watching the television, watching the assistant DA up there on the. On the television talking about, you know, criminals. We gotta hold criminals accountable. We can't be barbarians. We can't let this stand. And then Jenny gets called into the Assistant DA, the Assistant DA's office, Assistant DA Swan. And the first thing he says is, this is a surprise. Can I fix you a drink? And she. Funny joke. She says, I'm working. And he says, aren't we all? [00:35:19] Speaker A: Yes. [00:35:22] Speaker B: And this is. This is where we learned that this piece of is Jenny's husband. And, you know, he continues to be a piece of. [00:35:33] Speaker A: We knew he was. Yeah, we knew he was Jenny's husband. We didn't know he was the D. [00:35:36] Speaker B: A. Oh, yeah, well, yeah, we didn't know they were. They were the same person. [00:35:40] Speaker A: Right. [00:35:42] Speaker B: And then he says some. Some really shitty stuff. And then we get a. The end. Question mark. [00:35:48] Speaker A: Question mark. [00:35:51] Speaker B: I. Continuing. Continuing a small trend of. Of people that Simon Kudransky draws on the final page of. Of an issue at the. Like, at a turning point in their. Sort of. In their. Their own adventure or story. Not really adventure. Jenny is. Jenny is looking, like, awfully composed Here she's been throughout this whole series. She's been, like, withdrawn and very, very sunken. And like, yes, she is filled and renewed with vigor after her conversation with Cyan here. And she is, like, she is. She is ready to take. Take on what she has to take on in order to right the wrongs here. And yeah, reading this, Reading this again for the second time, I was actually really sad that we don't already have the continuing adventures of Jenny, because I could see Jenny turning into a badass. And I'm excited for it. [00:36:59] Speaker A: Yeah. But this is the end of this issue. [00:37:02] Speaker B: This is. This is the end of this four and four of this miniseries of the Misery story. Who's to say? [00:37:12] Speaker A: Yeah, it just. It just. Just really took me by surprise when I was reading it initially. I was like, whoa. [00:37:16] Speaker B: Yeah, okay. [00:37:17] Speaker A: Yeah, because it's easier to take this time knowing where it's going. But when I first read it, I was like, what? [00:37:23] Speaker B: Yeah, like, especially coming off of issue three and the beginning of this issue, like, I thought there was going to be some sort of resolution. [00:37:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:37:32] Speaker B: And, you know, the non resolution is definitely easy to handle knowing it's coming. [00:37:39] Speaker A: Exactly. But who has answers about this non resolution? [00:37:43] Speaker B: I would say that's probably the writer of the book, Johnny. [00:37:46] Speaker A: It is, because we got a spawning ground from Todd's desk where Todd writes this big old letter. [00:37:53] Speaker B: Do we want to read the whole letter off or. [00:37:54] Speaker A: No, I don't need to read the whole letter. [00:37:58] Speaker B: Okay. But also, you know, much in line with that, that final pose of Ginny Swan, literally, the first paragraph of this letter, Todd McFarlane is like, I wanted to introduce you to two excellent characters. One, you've already known Cyan, and then the second, Jenny Swan. So he's trying to build out this world of support for. For Cyan. And that first character is Jenny Swan. And, you know, it's like when Spawn first was a superhero and he had a cast of characters that we've all grown to know and love. This is. This is the first of that supporting cast for Cyan. [00:38:36] Speaker A: So I'm really gonna point out, like, the Todd father flourishes that are hilarious to me, like the first one is. But as you read, assume you're reading this after you finish the issue. Okay. [00:38:48] Speaker B: I always. I always flip to the spawning grounds first. Johnny, I don't know about you. [00:38:52] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:38:56] Speaker B: Maybe he. Maybe he recently watched, oh, that Billy Crystal movie, When Halle Met, When Harry Met Sally and was like, so many people are gonna read the last page first, so maybe I should cut that off at the pass. [00:39:12] Speaker A: Yeah, just tell them to read it. He basically says, like, this was many years in development. They wanted to do a gritty story with a touch of fantasy, and it's about Cyan, like becoming an adult. [00:39:23] Speaker B: Yeah, this, this almost feels like this, this letter almost feels like we just had to put like a Roger Corman. Like we just had to put out a movie so we could keep the copyright. Yeah, but, but I, I, I like that he, he wants to build out this world and he has, he has ideas for this world, but he know it's not really a world he should mess in too much. It should be allowed to be spoken by other people's voices. Yeah, but he wanted to, he wanted to get a taste out there. So that way, anybody who has a voice that they can lend to this particular storyline, but hopefully is this part. [00:40:05] Speaker A: Of the letter in the middle just reminds me of like those HBO introductions because he goes, because she is finding out they're making a point where she soon will she not be able to touch anyone. Think about that for a moment. What if you could not shake someone's hand, hug a friend, or rest your head on a shoulder of the person you've chosen to share your life with? It would be a curse to you and cause you, I believe, some degree of misery. [00:40:28] Speaker B: So, Johnny, I was just thinking about this earlier because I've still got the Snow Miser and the Heat Miser stuck in my head from Christmas times. And if everything that the Heat Miser touches melts in his clutch and everything that the Snow Miser touches turns to snow in his clutch, they are both probably very lonely and very, very horny boys who have no recourse to take care of it. So I can imagine that not being able to touch anybody that you love or hug a friend or shake anybody's hands would drive you to the point where you want to destroy the world. Much like both of the Miser brothers. [00:41:12] Speaker A: Maybe they can. Are they brothers? Oh, no. Are they actually brothers? [00:41:17] Speaker B: Yeah, because their mother, Gaia is their mother. [00:41:20] Speaker A: Okay, because I was gonna say maybe they could each other because they were. [00:41:23] Speaker B: Like, no, because one would touch the other and they'd like, nullify each other. One would freeze the other and one would melt the other. [00:41:31] Speaker A: Oh my God. [00:41:31] Speaker B: Oh my God. [00:41:32] Speaker A: Like, sorry, I didn't mean to imply incest. I didn't think they're actually brothers. [00:41:38] Speaker B: Bah, bah. The Greeks were all about it. But like, much like the Midas touch. Could you. That's, that's the tragedy of King Midas is everything he touches turns to gold, including his food, including his family, you know? [00:41:53] Speaker A: Yeah. And like, yeah, Cyan. If she touches somebody. [00:41:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:41:58] Speaker A: She gets their misery, man. [00:42:04] Speaker B: It's not fun. Fun isn't the word I'm looking for, but it's a very good thought experiment to have, and a lot of drama can come out of it. Like, how do you get close to somebody but never really touch them? [00:42:19] Speaker A: Yeah. And then the last part of the letter, he just basically, like, says there's tons of stories he could think of as a father of two daughters, but to make it everything it should be, he wants to look to someone who can bring a female perspective to future storylines. And he says he's talked to many talented writers, and if you're as supportive as I hope you'll be, I'll be forced to do the only thing that makes sense. I love the suspense here, and that's to finish the story arc and then give you more tales of these people. Please let us know that if something you, too, may enjoy. I can't wait to hear reactions. Todd McFarland. [00:42:59] Speaker B: Very nice. Yeah, it was good. I like. I like his. I like his explanation. I think. I think, you know, good for him for putting this out there and trying to get something going on it and, you know, you gotta. You gotta start somewhere, and maybe this will be the seed that'll get us a great new Cyan series. [00:43:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I hope so. [00:43:26] Speaker B: Hopefully. I'm looking forward to it. [00:43:29] Speaker A: Yeah. No, it was definitely a lot easier to take and, like, knowing where it was going this time. [00:43:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:34] Speaker A: I actually really enjoyed this issue. [00:43:35] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, me too. Me too. It was. It was nice to revisit as. As sometimes hard as the. The subject matter is to. To grapple with. And then we got the Spawn origins collection, volume one, still only $9.99, and we got that. That Witchblade ad available now. And then our toy ad is World of Warcraft. Haven't seen the World of Warcraft one. [00:44:01] Speaker A: In a while, haven't. [00:44:03] Speaker B: I guess that's because this is an older issue, huh? [00:44:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:08] Speaker B: No. Look at that dragon. [00:44:09] Speaker A: These are sparingly. [00:44:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I think there were only like three or four of them the whole. The whole time. [00:44:16] Speaker A: Yeah. But the most interesting part of these ads, David, is there's no ad on the back. [00:44:20] Speaker B: Yeah, it's just. [00:44:21] Speaker A: It's not another issue. It's just a spawn orb. [00:44:24] Speaker B: It's good. I could. I could deal with the spawn orb being on the back more often. That's a good look. [00:44:29] Speaker A: It's a classic spawn orb. Yeah, it's very classy. [00:44:32] Speaker B: Very clean. [00:44:34] Speaker A: Very clean. [00:44:35] Speaker B: Actually, I might have to. I might have to scan this in and update the orbs I'm currently using on our. On our logo because they weren't really as high resolution as this. [00:44:48] Speaker A: There you go. [00:44:49] Speaker B: It's deceptively hard to find a good clean orb. You think that they're everywhere. They're not. Yeah, that's that. [00:45:01] Speaker A: Everyone spawn orbs for everyone. [00:45:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I'll take. I'll take two. [00:45:24] Speaker A: All right, so next up we've got spawn 358. Like I said earlier, we're continuing that Rory McConville run. Really cool. Great cover. I've got the A cover here. [00:45:38] Speaker B: I. I also have the A cover. [00:45:40] Speaker A: Which is a badass spawn with a samurai sword. [00:45:44] Speaker B: Yeah, it is so good. I like. I like that. Like you this. The detail on the bottom of that blade is just insane. [00:45:56] Speaker A: Yeah, the little. The little Hattori Hanzo blade. [00:46:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. It's a. It's a bitching cover. It's a real bitching cover. Zay Carlos does a very good job if you don't already know. Now you know. [00:46:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Swans is in shadow. [00:46:13] Speaker B: He's got a. You know, he's got his hand in the. He's got some chains on his hands. It's very good. Very good. [00:46:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:46:21] Speaker B: Cover B is by Paul Renaud and it is. It is Spawn standing on a gargoyle with a whole bunch of demons flying around him. It's very. It's very Batman with bats flying around him. Only spawn with demons. It's very good. Well, there's also bats, but yeah, there's. [00:46:40] Speaker A: A big old kind of Fleabiac looking dude behind him. [00:46:43] Speaker B: Yeah. And that gargoyle is very good, man. Maybe I should have gotten that cover. I don't know. This was also a hard week because I choose. I love the Zay Carlos. But that is also a very good cover. Yeah, man. Very good covers. [00:47:01] Speaker A: I just like the new Spawn with the scarf and the sword. It's pretty cool. [00:47:04] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. It's real awesome. I like the. I hope. I hope the sword continues to carry on. It's a fun accessory, Johnny. A sword is a good accessory. And then we gotta pop it open so we can read these credits. We got world record breaking comic up at the top there, Johnny, as you do. Gotta say it, Gotta say it. Toddfather wasn't feeling very sassy because it's not on the front, so not on the COVID We got that script plot by Rory McConville. Oh, we got that art, Johnny. We got that art by Brett Booth. [00:47:39] Speaker A: It's a great Brett Booth issue. [00:47:41] Speaker B: Gotta have it. We got the inks by Adelsa Corona. Robert Nugent did the colors. The Tom father himself did the lettering. Hell yeah. Covered the covers. Tom McFarlane is the creative director. And our father, the editor in chief, is Thomas Healy. Do you think Thomas Healy ever owned a pair of Heelys and called them Heelys? Heelys. Not even to wear them, but just to have them to say that they're Heelys. Heelys. [00:48:10] Speaker A: They were kind of shoe, right? [00:48:12] Speaker B: Yeah. With the. The wheel in the back. He was. [00:48:14] Speaker A: Oh yeah. [00:48:15] Speaker B: He probably was not young enough for Heelys, but probably not. [00:48:18] Speaker A: Maybe he had some. I don't know. He seems like a fun guy. [00:48:21] Speaker B: Maybe we can find some and get them custom painted as I as a magician. [00:48:29] Speaker A: Houdini. [00:48:30] Speaker B: Houdini get like some. Some custom Houdini Heelys. So that way he's a big Houdini. He's Houdini Heelys Houdini. [00:48:38] Speaker A: He should have asked him next time I see him if he ever owned Heelys. [00:48:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, we should. That should be the first and only question you ask, Jon. [00:48:47] Speaker A: Yes, exactly. [00:48:48] Speaker B: Just walk away after that. [00:48:49] Speaker A: Thank you so much. Thank you for clearing this up. [00:48:54] Speaker B: Previously in Spawn. Lyra has been captured by Wynn and his associates. Her only chance for survival is Spawn. Uh huh. Uh huh. And Johnny, I don't know if I read this book before yesterday. That was the spoiler I was going to tell you about. I remember like maybe one of the, maybe one or two of the pages in this book seemed familiar to me, but I was like, I don't, I don't think I read this book the first time through. [00:49:26] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Okay. [00:49:28] Speaker B: So, yeah, this is, this is exciting for me because it was good stuff. [00:49:36] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I. I had read it, I think. It's hard to remember. [00:49:40] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. It's. It's getting harder, if you can believe it. [00:49:45] Speaker A: So much fun. [00:49:46] Speaker B: Yeah. So we. We start with somebody running through the trash of an alley, just huffing and puffing away as they run. I really like the, the bottles of oil box. The. [00:49:59] Speaker A: Yes, the. [00:50:00] Speaker B: The little character on it looks like the, the goop monster that kills Tasha Yar in Star Trek. The. The Next Generation. [00:50:07] Speaker A: It does? Well, I'm assuming it does. I haven't seen that, but sure. [00:50:11] Speaker B: It. It's a. A blobby goop monster in roughly the shape of a man and it kills a lady. I'm sure whatever you're Imagining probably looks better than the actual show did. [00:50:25] Speaker A: Yes. [00:50:26] Speaker B: Yeah. And then. And then. Oh, man, I love it. I love a well marked dead end. This person runs into a dead end that is labeled dead end. [00:50:37] Speaker A: Dead end with graffiti with that nice Brett Booth touch. [00:50:41] Speaker B: Yeah. And then they turn around and they've been. They've been pursued by vampires. And we learned that this person was an angel because the first thing the vampires say is, if only you had your wings. Heh. Still, you gave us a good run. And then something. Something makes a noise behind the vampires and they look back and they see dropping up, dropping down on them from the heavens is the cyber force. [00:51:08] Speaker A: I know it's the cyber force. Exactly what I was gonna say. [00:51:11] Speaker B: It's just that one guy doesn't have four arms. That's the main difference. [00:51:17] Speaker A: It's a bunch of image comics characters from the 90s. [00:51:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, man, it is such good shit. Look at this. This. I like that. The. The angle makes it seem like the alley is circular. [00:51:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:51:30] Speaker B: And yeah, they're falling on him. They're like, it's go time, boys. And they've all got their. Their actions ready. They're. [00:51:38] Speaker A: One has like Wolverine claws. One's got like a big old laser hand. [00:51:43] Speaker B: This. This one guy, this one guy's got like blue energy that he shoots out and he just like completely skeletonizes one of the vampires. Oh, man. Yeah. And look at those. Those Wolverine cross claws right through the head. There's one guy that's just knives. That's just. He's just knives. [00:52:02] Speaker A: Like Wolverine lightsaber claws. [00:52:04] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely dope. And then. And then they corner this final vampire, and a guy that we haven't seen before from this group walks up and he says, what's wrong? Gotten soft, have you? And did you expect us to simply give up? That you continue hunting us like dogs? So this is. This is one of the angels that was left on earth, you know, trying to, you know, make up for all the. The shit that the vampires have been doing to them since the dead zones have been closed. And when we're finished, you'll curse blood forever starting this war. [00:52:47] Speaker A: He's got some kind of technology zap. [00:52:49] Speaker B: With his hand, although it is. It is quite green. So I wonder if there's maybe like some underground necroplasm cybernetics that he's been. He's been implanted with. He's a very cool, all metal man. [00:53:06] Speaker A: Yeah, he's cool. [00:53:07] Speaker B: Yeah, he's got like. He's got like no face, cuz it's all been replaced by T1000 parts, not T1000. Yeah, T1000. T. Yeah. T100. T1. T1000 is the, the liquid metal guy. Yeah, I'm thinking of T100. [00:53:20] Speaker A: I don't think it's T1. I think it's like T6. I don't know. [00:53:23] Speaker B: T600. I don't know. [00:53:25] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:53:25] Speaker B: The Arnold Schwarzenegger one. [00:53:27] Speaker A: T something. People are screaming it at us. [00:53:30] Speaker B: Yeah, they are. I think I should take this time since Blood has been evoked to formally declare that I know why I keep calling him Jason Blood. Johnny, I know. [00:53:41] Speaker A: You said that before. [00:53:42] Speaker B: Yeah, on the podcast. [00:53:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I think so. [00:53:45] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [00:53:46] Speaker A: But say it again. [00:53:47] Speaker B: Well, if I didn't. Jason Blood is the human form of the demon Etrigan in DC Comics. So that's, that's where I got it. Jason Blood. [00:53:55] Speaker A: That's where you got it. [00:53:56] Speaker B: Etrigan the demon. He's one of the high ranking demons because he speaks and rhymes. [00:54:01] Speaker A: Oh, oh, yeah. [00:54:04] Speaker B: And then we, we cut to the, the gunning lab that, that somebody has removed some letters of. To say gun in lab. Yeah, I'm looking for the gun, Johnny, but I don't see it. And it's, it's. [00:54:21] Speaker A: No, you see Lyra. [00:54:22] Speaker B: It's Lyra lashed to a table and just tubes stuck places. Tubes shouldn't be stuck. Geez. She's got tubes coming out of everywhere. [00:54:33] Speaker A: Extract her blood. And it's taking them days just to find a way to draw her blood because her skin is hardened. So she's a hybrid. [00:54:38] Speaker B: Yeah, and we got, we got just, you know, bald doctor man with little pinch snazz glasses and a big bushy mustache. You know, being very clinical about everything, you know, know, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't give a. About this, this, this person is a being. He only cares about it as a specimen. He's pleased to say they've collected more than enough genetic material to restart work on their virus. Johnny. And we see that he is talking to Jason Wynn. And Jason Wynn is, you know, following up on the business that Jason Wynn does. And then when Jason Nguyen is done talking to the scientist who is, who's saying that I'm gonna have to, I, I appreciate that, that we're doing this in a secret location, but in order to do very much more work, I'm gonna have to be back at my home lab. So let's coordinate that lickety split, please. [00:55:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:55:44] Speaker B: And Jason Wynn asks about some updates on. On Spawn from Agent Lynn and we see in the background that there is at least two screens devoted solely to Spawn. [00:55:56] Speaker A: Possibly three. The one behind his head might be Spawn too. [00:55:59] Speaker B: Although the. The presence of that jacket pushed up to the elbows makes me think it might be Jessica Priest behind him. [00:56:05] Speaker A: Oh, yes. Good call. It does look very Jessica. [00:56:09] Speaker B: Yep, yep, yep. And Agent Lynn says that. That nobody's noticed him coming towards the the facility that they are at. And given his diminished state, perhaps we need to consider that he simply isn't coming. And Jason Wentz says that would be foolish. [00:56:27] Speaker A: We got our opening quote. He says that these morons just don't understand Al Simmons like he does. [00:56:32] Speaker B: Yeah. And he's got squinty, skeptical eyes above his burning cigarette or cigar. And he's just like these morons. They don't. [00:56:40] Speaker A: And we get a great flashback to like different. [00:56:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Every time. Every time that Jason went his head to fight Spawn hand to hand as the original Anti Spawn. At some point later that I haven't gotten to in the books where he's. [00:56:53] Speaker A: In like a suit. [00:56:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:56:55] Speaker B: And then as not. Redeemer Disruptor. Disruptor. The Al Simmons punches him so hard that his disruptor helmet falls off. [00:57:07] Speaker A: Yep. That's great. [00:57:09] Speaker B: It's an excellent two page spread. Also, it's. It's framed by Spawn doing the classic jumping off of the. The Crucible. [00:57:18] Speaker A: It's like the Spawn like number one. [00:57:20] Speaker B: Cover almost as cape is just defying all logic. [00:57:30] Speaker A: You'd say it's defying gravity. [00:57:32] Speaker B: Gravity. Yes. [00:57:33] Speaker A: How was my. How was my defying gravity? [00:57:35] Speaker B: It was. It was very good. It was very good. I. It didn't break. Which is the. The important part because like 60% of the time when I try it just like my voice just is just like, nope, we're going to stop. And then we. From there we cut to. I love. I love some goons. [00:58:02] Speaker A: Yeah. He said his father lost coming over as the worst BO Ever. [00:58:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:58:05] Speaker A: Damn, dude. That sucks. [00:58:06] Speaker B: Yeah, they're just. [00:58:07] Speaker A: There's a tough conversation to have and then they. [00:58:12] Speaker B: They hear something and then they realize that they've lost all communication. And then immediately after realizing this, one of them gets a sword right through the chest. Johnny. [00:58:23] Speaker A: Yeah. This is like a crazy bloody fight coming up. [00:58:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Sword right through the chest. And then Al Simmons pulls that sword back and cuts the other guy's head off. Like that's what you get for talking about your father in law, bud. [00:58:34] Speaker A: Cuts his hand off. [00:58:36] Speaker B: Well, no, he cuts his head off first on this first panel. Cuts off. Then he cuts the hand off the first guy he stabbed. [00:58:41] Speaker A: You're right. Oh, my God. [00:58:42] Speaker B: Or maybe the head. A hand and a head are both cut off. [00:58:47] Speaker A: Yes. [00:58:49] Speaker B: And the guy who. Who's still alive says, you fucking little piece of announcement says, shut your mouth. [00:58:55] Speaker A: Mouth, or I'll chop off another piece. [00:58:58] Speaker B: It's very. It's very. A little shaft sh. Sp. Shut your mouth. [00:59:05] Speaker A: Shut your mouth. [00:59:07] Speaker B: He's like, where's your prisoner? And I like this. This panel of Al Simmons reflected in the. The blood. The blood soaked visor of this goon. [00:59:17] Speaker A: The bloody visor. [00:59:19] Speaker B: Brett Booth was putting in overtime in this issue. It is so good. Then we cut back to the control room, and Jason wins. Like, how long till we get visibility back? And the tech who's. Who's doing stuff, he's just like, I don't. As fast as we can. Any second. And then suddenly the view screen pops back up and it's just Al Simmons causing. [00:59:43] Speaker A: Oh, my God. [00:59:43] Speaker B: So much carnage. [00:59:44] Speaker A: So much mayhem. Just as like, arms flying and bodies flying and heads flying. [00:59:49] Speaker B: Yeah. I can't. I can't make heads or tails of what body parts are going. Just so much carnage. [00:59:55] Speaker A: Yeah. It's all over. [00:59:56] Speaker B: It's absolutely incredible. Absolutely incredible. And Jason Nguyen is just. Just. [01:00:04] Speaker A: He's like Lex Luthor. He's like, we're not that different, me and Spawn. [01:00:10] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true. He's like, we both like, you know, he's like, I trained him, so I know that he is basically like me. And he thinks. He thinks he knows what he wants, but I actually know what. What he wants. [01:00:20] Speaker A: We just have villains always got to do that. Doesn't like, the Joker say that to Batman all the time? [01:00:24] Speaker B: Yeah, they're the same. Yeah. [01:00:26] Speaker A: And Lex Luthor to Superman. [01:00:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [01:00:30] Speaker A: Jason Wynn to Spawn. [01:00:32] Speaker B: Jason. When to spawn. Jason Wynn is Spawn's Lex Luthor. [01:00:37] Speaker A: We're not that different, you and I. [01:00:41] Speaker B: And then. And then we get a whole page of just Al Simmons cutting through a whole bunch of people. And I like this. He, like, using his bare hands, pulls a dude's head and spine out of his body. Just like. [01:00:55] Speaker A: Just Mortal Kombats his ass. [01:00:57] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, at the same time that he is stabbing another guy right between the eyes. He's just. [01:01:04] Speaker A: Yeah. He kicks a guy so. So hard his head flies off. [01:01:06] Speaker B: Oh, no, he's got his. He's got his hook chain in his mouth. [01:01:11] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. I thought he just kicked him so hard his head flew off, which would be hilarious. [01:01:15] Speaker B: Oh, boy. Yeah. [01:01:17] Speaker A: And Win's just like. Yeah, he'd be supportive of my virus because he wants to get rid of Heaven and Hell's influence on Earth, too. And he would. Even if it met him so Death, he would do it. [01:01:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Because all else, Al Simmons is a soldier. And the best of them do whatever it is to accomplish their mission. So I guess if you asked Jason Wynn what house Al Simmons would belong in, he would say Slytherin. To follow up on a previous conversation station. [01:01:42] Speaker A: He would. [01:01:43] Speaker B: He would. Because they are unafraid to do what it takes to win. [01:01:47] Speaker A: Yeah. That's why his name is Jason Wind. [01:01:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. All he does is win. [01:01:52] Speaker A: Yeah. Win. Win. [01:01:54] Speaker B: No matter what. And then Agent Lynn comes back, and she says, everything's in position, sir. He says, good. [01:02:02] Speaker A: He looks like a wild man in this issue. He looks like the Wolf Man. [01:02:05] Speaker B: Yeah. He looks like when Wolverine went savage. [01:02:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:10] Speaker B: His hair just, like, keeps getting crazier as the issue goes along. It's. It's great. [01:02:17] Speaker A: It happens with me. If I get stressed or, like, something, my hair will poof. [01:02:20] Speaker B: Oh, nice. Nice. [01:02:22] Speaker A: It'll poof out. [01:02:24] Speaker B: And then. Then we cut back to the lab, and Spawn is helping Lyra off the slab. And she says, where the hell are we? Like, it's likely an old biotech lab, but it looks like they've been harvesting your DNA. Lyra asks, what would they want to do that for? And the answer comes, to save the human race. And then we get Fat boss. Fat boss on a video screen talking. [01:02:50] Speaker A: Classic Spawn. [01:02:51] Speaker B: Classic. Given a. Given a James Bond villain monologue of what he's doing, why he's doing it, and what's going to happen. So he's like, but I still get. I still get to kill you two. So regardless of what you've messed up, that makes me happy. And then we get the. The little beadly beep of a pending bomb. And so Spawn and Lyra just start booking it. And Spawn does the great shoot in the window before they jump through it. Oh, yeah. [01:03:19] Speaker A: You gotta love that. [01:03:20] Speaker B: I love it. And, like, as they're exiting the window, Bluey right behind. [01:03:26] Speaker A: Boom. That's a great shot. [01:03:28] Speaker B: Oh, man, there's so much action on this. Like. Like it. The. The Vet. The Brett Booth vibrations that we talk about a lot. Just so good with an explosion like this. [01:03:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Just all the pieces going everywhere. It's crazy. [01:03:43] Speaker B: And they land. Lyra thinks she broke a room, but other lie broke a what? Lyra. Lyra thinks she broke a ribbon, but otherwise is unharmed. And then we cut back to fat boss man, and he's Immediately, like, so they buy the ruse. Okay, good. I've planted some evidence to make it seem like I've scrambled when I realized that they didn't die. So I'm about to. I'm about to just scoot. And don't worry, Agent Lynn. I'll take care of everything he says. And then we turn the page and we realize that fat man has the exact same fat man sitting behind him, only this fat man is all misery styled. [01:04:25] Speaker A: What the hell? Look at that. What? [01:04:27] Speaker B: How's this fat man in two places at once? Johnny, you can't be in two places. [01:04:30] Speaker A: At once because it's. What's her name? [01:04:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:34] Speaker A: Oh, Marjorie Winter, right? It's Marjorie. [01:04:38] Speaker B: Marjorie. Yeah, Marjorie. I know it's Marjorie. I don't remember what her last name is, though. Marjorie apparently has morphing mighty, mighty morphing powers. Powers. [01:04:49] Speaker A: She's a hybrid too, so she still has her powers. [01:04:52] Speaker B: Man, this is. This is fun where, like, the. The middle of her body is transformed back to herself, but, like, the hands and the. The waist are still, like, fat man sized. So it's like she's wearing a fat man suit. It's great. [01:05:06] Speaker A: That's funny. [01:05:09] Speaker B: And so. So she. She has to take care of. Care of this fat guy. So she's like, you know, if it's any consolation, at least your death will be productive. But apparently he had some dealings with Jason Nguyen that he did not perform adequately. [01:05:29] Speaker A: So somewhere in South America. Yeah, that's connected to Javi's father. [01:05:34] Speaker B: I was about to say. Where have we heard of South America and in Spawn recently? And then. Then we cut from that. We cut from this man's crying face. Oh, boy, that's a terrible final image there on that page. To Jason Nguyen and Agent Lin walking through the corridors of their super secret base talking about the virus, how things progressing. And Agent Lynn is like, jason Nguyen, don't you think you should maybe, you know, like, slow your roll a little bit? Like, maybe lay back in the cut for a second, Be cautious. And he's like. And he's like, yeah, well, we can wait. And she's like, but, you know, one question. Why don't you just kill spawn? Just like, fucking kill him? It's the. It's the Batman, Joker question. Johnny, why don't you. [01:06:26] Speaker A: Why don't you just kill him? [01:06:27] Speaker B: And he says, now why would I do that? [01:06:31] Speaker A: He said, he's the most talented killer out there. [01:06:34] Speaker B: Why would I want to waste that? He's like, it's just so much fun. Come on, the game, he says, and every time he eliminates an angel or demon, he's doing work that we don't have to do. And that's efficient use of resource, Jeremy. [01:06:50] Speaker A: Exactly. [01:06:51] Speaker B: That's why he's the boss. Effective resource management. And he's like, as long as he's doing that, we gotta let him live. But once he clears everyone off the board, then I'll kill him. [01:07:05] Speaker A: Then I'll kill him. Yeah. [01:07:06] Speaker B: And then while Jason Nguyen is saying this, we see that the. The cleanup that Margaery was involved in for this. This big boss man that she mimicked herself as was making it look like he shot himself in the face. [01:07:24] Speaker A: Yes. [01:07:26] Speaker B: And Al Simmons is looking at it quite skeptically. He says. [01:07:30] Speaker A: He's like, I don't know about this. I don't think so. [01:07:35] Speaker B: I like that The. The issue ends with Jason when flicking his cigar away. Like, I'm done with this now. It start. It basically starts with him start lighting his cigar. And now he's like, yeah, this. [01:07:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:46] Speaker B: And then we get the necrometer 0001. [01:07:50] Speaker A: Still at 1. [01:07:53] Speaker B: Not for much longer. [01:07:54] Speaker A: Not for much longer. Thanks, Javi. [01:07:57] Speaker B: We got the Spawning Grounds presents Toy Art. And it's six amazing, amazing toy photography pictures. Johnny. We got this first one of Al Simmons, you know, Spider Manning on top of a chimney with some doves. It's. It's from the. The unreleased John Woo spawn movie. [01:08:22] Speaker A: Right. That's pretty badass. [01:08:24] Speaker B: Yeah. There's that Kingspawn action figure that you have. He's standing in front of his throne. There's a very, very, very good soul. Soul Crusher. I was trying to remember what his actual name is. Now for new Soul Crusher. [01:08:43] Speaker A: Sergey. [01:08:44] Speaker B: Sergey. [01:08:44] Speaker A: Sergey. Sergey. I don't know why I say Sergey. I'm an idiot. [01:08:48] Speaker B: That's what it looks like when it's spelled out. [01:08:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:08:50] Speaker B: So we've got what looks like the Mortal Kombat Al Simmons. [01:08:56] Speaker A: Yes. With the. With the sword. [01:08:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And it looks like he's standing in the rain, so it's very dramatic. The next one is probably a custom cape. Yeah. I think it's the same figure with a custom cape, but it's Al Simmons literally in the. In the rain. And he's got green smoke coming out of his eyes, which is. Got to love the green smoke. [01:09:15] Speaker A: It's got a custom cloth cape. [01:09:17] Speaker B: Yeah. And then, Johnny, the mother of all toy photography. The Billy playset. [01:09:27] Speaker A: Billy Kincaid Suck all the popsicle sticks. Like, one of the most controversial toys ever made. [01:09:32] Speaker B: Yeah. The boy screamed and girl Screamed and I made him scream and scream and scream. [01:09:43] Speaker A: You have underwear on. [01:09:44] Speaker B: Yeah, he's got underwear on. [01:09:48] Speaker A: I had a chicken out. Huh? [01:09:49] Speaker B: I know. I now feel really terrible for having had to look and make sure that there was underwear there, Johnny. [01:09:55] Speaker A: Hey, I did too. So there we go. [01:09:58] Speaker B: We're in this together. Oh, boy. It's an amazing photo. [01:10:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it's great. [01:10:03] Speaker B: Need more Sponge Universe, Johnny. [01:10:06] Speaker A: You know it. [01:10:07] Speaker B: Don't miss the outgoing titles. [01:10:09] Speaker A: Yep. [01:10:10] Speaker B: We've got a. Those are all good ones. Look at those covers. Those are great covers. That Thaddeus Roebeck cover. Great. [01:10:17] Speaker A: Yeah, we got ads for the core four. And then we've got the Image Classics ad with the word cloud of different titles with a SpaceX rocket flying up. [01:10:33] Speaker B: Has it detached from the thrusters yet? [01:10:36] Speaker A: No, no. [01:10:37] Speaker B: Is that the part that they lost recently? [01:10:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the one that fell. You see the images, what that looked like? [01:10:45] Speaker B: No, I didn't. [01:10:46] Speaker A: From the ground. You should look it up. It's crazy. I don't remember where it was being filmed from, but it was nuts. [01:10:51] Speaker B: Nice. [01:10:53] Speaker A: Then we get the Movie Maniacs. The Comedy Maniacs. [01:10:56] Speaker B: Yeah. They're so maniacal, Johnny. [01:10:59] Speaker A: I know. You could have them right next to your Edward Scissorhands and Jason from the first Movie Maniacs line. You'd have the Big Lebowski. [01:11:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:11:07] Speaker A: Andy stitzer from the 40 year old version, everyone's favorite. [01:11:10] Speaker B: Yeah, he's shaved. He's a maniac maniac at that wax. [01:11:18] Speaker A: David Wooderson is a maniac. [01:11:23] Speaker B: Nowadays we would just call him a predator, Johnny. Thank you. [01:11:26] Speaker A: He is a predator. Yeah, that's right. [01:11:28] Speaker B: And then on the back we got. Speaking of not having ads, on the back of Misery, we've got like the mother load of an ad on the back of this one. It's a Bjorn Baron's cover for 359. Oh, boy. [01:11:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:11:41] Speaker B: And it's just Al Simmons. It's loaded down with. With guns. And he's got his big right foot on the chest of like a. Like a zombie soldier man who is just dying in agony. Oh, could you imagine how much it would suck to have that big right foot on your chest, Johnny? [01:12:00] Speaker A: It would be heavy. [01:12:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:12:01] Speaker A: I mean, so the spawn weigh like 600 pounds. [01:12:06] Speaker B: Oh, boy. Oh. Makes me short of breath just thinking about it. Let's spawn 358, Johnny. And, well, these puppies finally died down, so we don't have to cut out their little yips and their grrrs anymore. So that's. I would rate that very highly. But Otherwise, I think it's time to rate these puppies, Johnny. [01:12:28] Speaker A: It's time to rate the puppies. So first up today, we have Misery number four. Something I originally didn't love, but upon revisiting and knowing where it was going, I could appreciate a lot more. I think at first I was just, like, expecting more of a enclosed story because it was a miniseries as opposed to an ongoing series, and that just didn't happen. But I like the intention behind it. You know, I said last time. And, like, thinking about it, like, it feels a little irresponsible to bring in these weighty themes of, like, domestic abuse and things like that and, like, not resolve or, like, kind of deal with them. But hopefully it gets continued and that won't be an issue. [01:13:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. [01:13:17] Speaker A: I think, like, his mission statement of continue with a female writer is the right instinct, too. [01:13:22] Speaker B: Absolutely. That's the way to go. [01:13:27] Speaker A: But other than that, I mean, I love the art. It's good storytelling from the Todd father. It's not as confusing as something to say. [01:13:35] Speaker B: Like Sam and Twitch case files. [01:13:37] Speaker A: Same with twitch7 there. We read last week. It's just. It's straightforward, but it does have a good twist. But it's not, like, too sweaty. It's a good, like, clean twist. The fact that Jenny's husband is the da. [01:13:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:13:51] Speaker A: Assistant da at least the assistant da Attorney. Assistant DA Attorney. The DVD video of attorneys. ODA attorneys. Yeah. I mean, great cover. It's a good story. Like I said, the only thing I regret is that it doesn't. Or I, you know, knock off some points, is it doesn't have a resolution being a miniseries. But we get the letter at the end from Todd. That kind of explains his reasoning. So hopefully we get an announcement soon for the continuation of Misery. [01:14:23] Speaker B: Hell, yeah. I'd like that. I'd be here for it. [01:14:27] Speaker A: Yeah. So I'm gonna give it. I'm gonna give this issue for Al Simmons on the front of the paper. [01:14:36] Speaker B: Hell, yeah. [01:14:37] Speaker A: I like how every time they show that flashback to that time period, they use the Jason, Sean Alexander art. [01:14:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I mean, it's a great. It's a great. Because that's. That's the public image that Spawn put out there. So. [01:14:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:14:49] Speaker B: But, yeah, they don't try to redraw it as good because it's a very good. It's a very good likeness of Al Simmons. I agree. Once I got over the. Because. Because I thought that even if it wasn't going to have a good resolution, it would still at the end of the miniseries. Like, dovetail into something that's currently going on in another book. Being reading a lot of comics, that's kind of what you expect from the end of a miniseries, for it to kind of just be like, oh, this was all just an excuse for you to buy this book, too. Yeah, but I. I liked it as a proof of concept. I like it much better reading it as a whole, knowing where it ends, than I did the first time through. And, yeah, Simon Kudransky is just fucking killing it on art. It's so good. [01:15:32] Speaker A: And, yeah, I didn't really mention that, but, yeah, it's great. [01:15:35] Speaker B: The. The Most measured Todd McFarlane writing We have seen for a very long time. Very restrained. I appreciate it. It. I'm going to give it four. Four out of five, since it's misery. 404. [01:15:52] Speaker A: Misery. Four out of five. Okay, there it is. Then. The next up, we had spawn.358. Really fun, exciting issue. I mean, it just goes all around. It's a bunch of cool action set pieces. You get first, the introduction of the Cyber Force people. [01:16:16] Speaker B: Oh, man. I want to read. I want to read more about them. They. They kick ass. [01:16:21] Speaker A: The Cyber Force Angels. And you get Spawn. Just like. That was one thing I took back. Is like, man, there's just that Brett Booth detail with the. With the swords is just lethal. [01:16:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:16:32] Speaker A: All the details of everything he's cutting off and the stuff he's doing, it's just great. But also, I watched Kill Bill recently, so I was in the mood for some sandwich. Yeah. Ultraviolet, Samurai sword hacking. But, yeah, it's just a fun action set piece. Rescues Lyra. I love that explosion Pete panel. [01:16:56] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [01:17:00] Speaker A: I don't know. It's not much more I can say about it. I'm gonna give it 4.5 dead ends. [01:17:07] Speaker B: Hell, yeah. Four and a half. Didn't. That's a good. That's a very good score. This is Johnny. This is very much a middle issue. [01:17:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:17:15] Speaker B: But it is the way Rory McConville and Brett Booth have been putting these stories together. It is like the ideal middle issue. You get a little bit of everything. Everything moves forward a little bit. Everything moves together. It's. I don't. It's a middle issue that I don't feel unsatisfied with. The end, which is very difficult to do, as we found. It's incredible. It's so good. The. Everybody is just like. Every character in this is a full character. Most of them are frightening. The Brett Booth art is insane. Oh, my goodness. [01:18:01] Speaker A: Yeah. This Is great. [01:18:03] Speaker B: It's like, it's good to see Jason went back to his old. His old tricks and seeing. Seeing a little bit more of what Marjorie is capable of is. Is great. It's great. I'm gonna get. [01:18:19] Speaker A: I love that. I love that two page spread of like the different fights throughout history of Jason Wood and Spawn. [01:18:23] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. It's so good. And then there's just so much. There's so much happening here. And the fights, all of the fights, the historical fights, the fights that are going on now also, we get the fucking original Redeemer, Anti Spawn. He's got the. He's got the fucking belt buckle, the purple. It's so good. So good. I am going to give it four. Four even. I'm going to give it four goop monsters from the box on the first page for the bottles of oil. [01:18:53] Speaker A: And we both chose something for the first page. I chose the dead end graffiti. You choose the goop monster. [01:18:58] Speaker B: I mean, that's Brett. Booth gives and he gives and he gives and he asks for nothing in return except for maybe a salary. [01:19:05] Speaker A: 299 is all he asks. [01:19:08] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a reasonable request. [01:19:11] Speaker A: Soon to be 3.99 because the distributor issues. I'm kidding. Hopefully not. Yeah, two good issues. And I don't know, I was kind of not expecting to like Misery Number four as much as I did this time going through. [01:19:25] Speaker B: Yeah, me too. I feel the exact same way, you know? You know what I don't feel that exact same way about? Because I like them instantly and forever. [01:19:38] Speaker A: Johnny, one of our friends on Instagram. [01:19:41] Speaker B: Our friends on Instagram. Hell yeah. And our friend this week that we want to make that you also. [01:19:46] Speaker A: I was looking that up. I've been getting so much targeted content of that. Why I clicked on one thing that. That Better man movie, that Robbie Williams movie where he's a monkey. [01:20:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:20:00] Speaker A: What the fuck is that? [01:20:02] Speaker B: I don't know. Well, apparently he's an actual. Like an actual musician that's been around for decades. [01:20:08] Speaker A: Yeah, he's really popular in England. You know Robbie Williams? [01:20:11] Speaker B: I don't know Robbie Williams. [01:20:12] Speaker A: No, no, he's just popular in England. [01:20:14] Speaker B: I don't know. They were talking about it at the comic book store yesterday and there was a guy who was like, best movie of 2025. I'm calling it now, so maybe, maybe go see it. [01:20:26] Speaker A: Okay. [01:20:26] Speaker B: Better Man. [01:20:27] Speaker A: Had he seen it? [01:20:28] Speaker B: Yeah, he. Yeah, he was the one. He was telling everybody to go see it. He was like, everybody needs to see this movie. It's amazing. And what the fuck? I'm not gonna go. I'm not gonna go. See, I don't give a shit. Surprising. [01:20:40] Speaker A: So no one looks confused to me. I'll probably try. It's a musical, so I'll probably check it out on streaming. [01:20:45] Speaker B: Yeah. But yeah. Our. Our friend that we want to make sure that you follow and share love with much. [01:20:52] Speaker A: Not Robbie Williams. [01:20:53] Speaker B: Not Robbie Williams, but much the way that our father, Thomas Healy has shared love with them by putting them in this spawning grounds page of spawn358isuke_79. And if you aren't looking at the. The book right now, obviously it's the one that had the Billy Kincaid action figure photography. Like, what other choice did we have, Johnny? We didn't have another choice. Our hands were tied. We gotta. We gotta choose the Billy Kincaid action figure whenever. We can choose the Billy Kincaid action figure. But yeah, he's. He has just like page after page after page of photos for. Of action figure photos. And it is great. It is great. [01:21:40] Speaker A: There are some really crazy ones that he made too. There's one with like Trump's head floating over a bunch of Lego men. There's. There's one where Grogu's like floating chicken nuggets. [01:21:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, that's funny. There's one of Grou looking at late night iPad. It's great. [01:22:02] Speaker A: Awesome. Yeah, he's got a lot of really cool. He's got a lot of hot toys. Figures. Those are some nice figures. [01:22:07] Speaker B: Yeah, they are. They are. He's got some. What was. Where was. He's got some Nosferatu. I didn't know they made Nosferatu figures, but apparently at one point they did. [01:22:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:22:17] Speaker B: But yeah, go check him out. He's got some good shit. [01:22:20] Speaker A: It's real fun. [01:22:22] Speaker B: It's real fun. [01:22:23] Speaker A: And he was featured in the spawning round, so that's great. [01:22:25] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a seal of approval. You know what else is real fun, Johnny? I don't remember our music. [01:22:34] Speaker A: Okay. I can't remember what order we did it in for a second. Yeah. [01:22:37] Speaker B: Our music done by the incomparable Lonnie Bones. [01:22:41] Speaker A: Lonnie Bones. Lonnie with a Y. Look him up. [01:22:42] Speaker B: Yep. [01:22:43] Speaker A: On the Internet. [01:22:44] Speaker B: Yeah. While you're on the Internet, you should also look us up. We're regarded at regarding Spawn pod on Instagram and you know, send us a dm. Well, Johnny will answer it. I might answer, but it's more likely that Johnny will answer it occasionally. [01:22:59] Speaker A: David answers them. [01:23:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:23:01] Speaker A: And if you want to hit us up. More long form. Hit us up. Regarding SpawnPod gmail.com. [01:23:05] Speaker B: Yes, indeed. [01:23:07] Speaker A: Every week I like to ask a question. Just spur thoughts. I just wonder what your thoughts were on that Todd McFarlane letter at the end of Misery. We know our friend Mark is a fan, and we'll be talking about Mark again very shortly. Hold on a moment. Yeah, put a. Put a pin in that. [01:23:21] Speaker B: Yes. [01:23:23] Speaker A: Tiny Spawny. [01:23:24] Speaker B: Spawn. [01:23:25] Speaker A: Who he is. I'm speaking like Yoda again. Tiny Spawny. He is. We know Mark's a big fan of Misery, so if anyone else out there. What did you think of the kind of cliffhanger ending here? Let us know. [01:23:41] Speaker B: I think. I think it definitely needed the letter and the letter. [01:23:45] Speaker A: Yes. Oh, my God. [01:23:48] Speaker B: We would have. This would have been a much. A much different episode had there not been a letter. Nice. Well, speaking about a different episode, Johnny, we. You want to. Do you want to do some of this again? You know, there's some more Spawn that we could talk about. You want to maybe tackle. [01:24:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I want to talk about a very special issue. Spawn. [01:24:07] Speaker B: Okay. [01:24:08] Speaker A: A newer issue. A. [01:24:09] Speaker B: Is it the. Is it the 94 swimsuit issue? [01:24:13] Speaker A: I wish. [01:24:14] Speaker B: Dang. [01:24:14] Speaker A: This is just Al Simmons in a swimsuit. [01:24:16] Speaker B: A Speedo. [01:24:18] Speaker A: Beefy Jason Wynn. [01:24:20] Speaker B: It's the Violator in that. That Borat suit. [01:24:23] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I imagine, too. The Borat. No, I want to cover something people would excited about for a while. It's a big issue. [01:24:35] Speaker B: It's a new one. [01:24:36] Speaker A: We're going to cover Deadly Tales of the Gunslinger, number one. [01:24:39] Speaker B: Hell yeah. [01:24:41] Speaker A: And that will be with guests. It's only one issue. [01:24:44] Speaker B: What? David? [01:24:44] Speaker A: One issue. [01:24:45] Speaker B: One issue. [01:24:45] Speaker A: Usually when we have one issue, we have a guess, and guess what we do. [01:24:48] Speaker B: Hell yeah. Consistency is key. [01:24:50] Speaker A: Consistency is key. Our guest for that issue is just mentioned. Put a pin in it. Mark Zovak. [01:24:57] Speaker B: Tiny Spawny. [01:24:59] Speaker A: Tiny Spawny himself. It's a great time. We talk about Gunslinger and his awesome collection as well. So it's really fun times. Get to find out how he got into Spawn and his backstory. Really good. Really good episode. [01:25:11] Speaker B: Yeah, good. Good issue, too. [01:25:13] Speaker A: Good issue. [01:25:14] Speaker B: Oh, great spoiler for our reviews at the end of the episode. But it was. [01:25:19] Speaker A: It was great issue. [01:25:21] Speaker B: It was so good talking to Mark. We've been trying to get this together for a little bit. And he was like, absolutely, absolutely. You have to. We have to talk about the Gunslinger. [01:25:32] Speaker A: We know he's a big Gunslinger fan, so. Yeah. [01:25:34] Speaker B: So. Excellent. So. So get Deadly Tales of the Gunslinger number one. Already on Hoopla. If you don't have a physical copy. So go to your library, get a hoopla. Hoopla it. Damn. Come back and listen to our conversation with tiny Spawny about it. It's. It was a good time. It was a real good time. [01:25:52] Speaker A: Yeah. And also, please remember to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you can for podcasts. Oh, yes, please review as well. All that good stuff. [01:26:01] Speaker B: Tell your friends, your family, your co workers, your mail, your mail carrier. The Throw open your window and yell at the first boy you see and say, boy, have you listened to respawn today, David? [01:26:14] Speaker A: It's not Christmas anymore. [01:26:16] Speaker B: Christmas doesn't have a monopoly on throwing open your window and yelling at people from it. [01:26:23] Speaker A: I just always think of it as Scrooge. [01:26:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:26:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [01:26:30] Speaker B: Well, Johnny, I think I need to open my window and yell from it. May the scorch be with you. [01:26:38] Speaker A: And also with you, David. [01:26:39] Speaker B: Hell, yeah. Awesome. [01:26:41] Speaker A: Hell yeah. [01:26:43] Speaker B: All right. I really. I really do need to boogie. Okay, like, whatever we can say to get us out of here in the next 10 seconds will be great. [01:26:50] Speaker A: David's gotta go. He's gotta go. [01:26:52] Speaker B: Sorry about it. [01:26:53] Speaker A: No joke. No joke this week. [01:26:58] Speaker B: Just us. We're the joke. [01:27:29] Speaker A: Sa.