#145: Comics of the Year

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to another episode of the Case and Tights podcast right here on capesandites.com. I'm your host, Justin Soderberg. And actually, this episode is the first episode of 2024, but really the roundup of 2023 here on the podcast. We welcome comic book retailer Paul Eaton to the podcast over here to talk comics of the year. Paul runs the Galactic comics and collectibles in Bangor, Maine as the comic book store owner, and so he has a little bit of knowledge on the comics that come in and out of the store all year. Obviously, we read a lot here to discuss our top ten, plus a couple of extra honorable mentions and so much right here on the podcast. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Blue sky, as well as rate review, subscribe, all those things over at Spotify, Apple and all your major podcasting platforms. If you feel obligated to go to YouTube.com and visit our capes and tights YouTube page if you watch the video portions of this podcast as well. So check out this episode, first episode of 2024. Last episode, technically of 2023. Our comics of the year. Enjoy, everyone. [00:01:11] Speaker B: Whip. [00:01:14] Speaker A: Whip. Happy New Year, Paul. [00:01:20] Speaker B: Hey, Happy New Year. [00:01:22] Speaker A: I don't know why it sounds so distraught. Like, I don't know. It's like a busy weekend. We had Santa Claus at or brewing company doing that shindig there. That was fun. Nova was sick last week, so that wasn't fun either. So there's that, my son. So I think I'm just ready to be done with the year. I don't know why, but free to. [00:01:42] Speaker B: Call had, we had a lot of stuff, like trying to just get things done for the end of the year. And I actually worked yesterday, and Liz came and worked with me yesterday on Sunday to try to make a dent into what happened last week here at Galactic Comics. [00:02:01] Speaker A: A lot of long boxes came in your shop yet last week. [00:02:04] Speaker B: Yeah, twelve long boxes in one go. So we tried to process and organize, and then last week was just like a whirlwind. Friday was insane. It was completely insane. The wall behind me was full of vintage amazing Spiderman twelve cent books. Like almost all keys, the first appearance of Prowler, all of these amazing Spiderman books, and they're just gone. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the wall when I. [00:02:37] Speaker A: Had it finished up. Like, felt. [00:02:39] Speaker B: I felt like Ralphie at the end of the Christmas story with the turkey. It's just gone. They're all gone. They're all. [00:02:45] Speaker A: But that's awesome. That's good for you though. That's good people. Do you think people mostly bought those for themselves or they bought them for Christmas presents or probably themselves, right? [00:02:54] Speaker B: Oh, that was definitely all themselves. [00:02:55] Speaker A: I had people Christmas presents for themselves. [00:02:57] Speaker B: Let's see. I don't know, maybe the kids aren't getting anything this year. They'll be fine. They don't need stuff. We'll find stuff around the house and wrap it up. [00:03:05] Speaker A: Well, that's just like, I literally just pressed send on my poll list and I was like, I go, oh, do you choose between buying the last minute gifts for someone or buy comics for yourself? That's a good question. It's one of those things that like polarist things. I can understand maybe waiting I'll pick my polish up after Christmas or whatever. But like a twelve cent spiderman comic, you got to pick it up when you have the opportunity to pick it up. You can't just wait there. [00:03:31] Speaker B: Yeah, Garrett and I talked about Garrett, but Garrett was here Thursday night when we got them in. And Garrett's like, tomorrow is going to be insane, man. And I'm like, I don't know, it's the end of the year. It's Christmas. And no, he was right. It was just, it just never stopped. From the time I unlocked the door, it was insane going on. [00:03:51] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's amazing. I love searching through and I went through some and also looked through this and things. I'm like, I like finding the keys that are not really keys. The keys that are like, they are quote unquote a key. But it's like, okay, it's still a $3 book. It's not like it's this extraordinary book. [00:04:08] Speaker B: All of those cool, weird obscure ones. [00:04:10] Speaker A: Yes. [00:04:12] Speaker B: There's a whole collecting market. I've followed on key collecting out of your dollar bins and they actually have like a checklist. Like here's your 1st 25 you got to try to find. And I'm like, that's pretty cool. That's pretty fun. And most of that stuff is either going to be in your dollar bin up to maybe your back issues at two or $3. There's some random first appearances and stuff. [00:04:35] Speaker A: I think I bought the first appearance of Justin Hammer because my name is Justin and it's not really a book. It's like a dollar book or $3 book. It's not a book that's worth much money. [00:04:45] Speaker B: Avengers. What's his first appearance? [00:04:47] Speaker A: Iron man. It's Iron man. [00:04:48] Speaker B: It is Iron Man. [00:04:50] Speaker A: Iron man. It's an Iron man book. And that's the thing. I bought it because of that. It's not because of just for the sake of it. It's a key book, but it is technically a key book. It's a first appearance, but not every first appearance. And that's one thing that new comic book collectors need to know. Not every first appearance is worth a bunch of money. Not every number one is worth a. [00:05:05] Speaker B: Bunch of, don't get caught at that either. Don't spend too much on a first appearance. Like, oh, I've got the first appearance of so and so. This is going to be, the comic store charged me 50. Just do your research a little bit, guys. [00:05:15] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:05:16] Speaker B: Don't get caught. [00:05:18] Speaker A: I don't think I have any first appearances in my stack of comics here. Not to say this year. [00:05:23] Speaker B: Many places that overcharge for first appearance books, but I've been at a couple of comic stores and been like, that's not what I would put for price tag on that. [00:05:35] Speaker A: That seems ridiculous sometimes. It's just, yeah, but people will fall for it. I think the number of overpriced spawn number ones out there is crazy. [00:05:45] Speaker B: Yes. I don't know if you see it. There's a spawn number one on the wall right now. [00:05:50] Speaker A: Death of Superman. Oh, God, Spiderman number ones. All those ones are like, they put such a crazy price on some of them. That is not necessary. But it is what it is. But we are to talk comics that came out this year. So Paul and I did this last year. We did our comics of the year. Paul, we discussed doing this at the beginning, middle of last year, towards the end of last year. And Paul, you had been reading a lot of back issues and omnibus stuff and trades and things like that, which you're like, well, I can do it. I can try to make this happen because you weren't like, current, current on some stuff, which is you read an issue, one here and an issue here, but you weren't reading full five issue arcs and things like that, which is great because you have obviously so much shit to read. That's hard. So this year, he's like, I'm determined to actually read a lot more from this year in this year. So we have a nice, comprehensive list here. It'd be interesting to see throughout the year what we've matched up on. One thing I actually noticed on my list, and we'll get into, is that there was an ongoing series that was extremely high up last year that didn't even make my list this year, but not because it's bad, not because the book got bad, but there was so much other good stuff. And I think that in my mind, ongoing series kind of slips the background a little bit because I was trying to get into some of these new stuff, some of the stuff that's a finite number of issues or so on and so forth. So it'd be interesting to see how these all land out. I guess the only rules we really had, which Paul broke last year is two issues had to come out this year. And I was trying to think of whether or not it's more beneficial for a book that had two issues come out to spend the year or more beneficial for a book to have two issues come out at the end of a year or at the beginning of the year, meaning that there's actually a series that's on my list that finished in 2023 but started in 2022, and there's one or two on here that started in 2022 but hasn't finished yet. And so that's an interesting thing to see because you get the whole story. So are you more apt to put a book on your top ten list that finished this year compared to one that started this year? And so that'd be an interesting mix of stuff. [00:08:12] Speaker B: And you know what would be interesting, too, is with the Christmas discussion and holidays and this and that on the perspective of being a comic store or being a comic creator and a comic seller, especially from the printer side, what's the best time of year to release books? It seems like summer with the big two always have their big summer arcs. If you're writing a book and you want to get it dropped and you're all set to go, do you want to drop at this time of year? Are people cutting back their orders of their own personal side? So they might be like, oh, you know what? And also in the store side, at the end of the year, we have inventory and stuff to do. When I go to do an order, do I like, oh, maybe I'll drop a few titles that just normally, number one, I might grab. But because it's in a year, I don't, I wonder the business side of all that, what your best release schedule is. I would think if you were doing it at the end of the year, then that gives you that chance to lead into next year and kind of get going. And you get into awards and stuff, too. That gives you that you started last year. People have an idea of it. You start in January. Maybe you get into Eisner talk and stuff like that. If you're deeper into your run. Then we start planning awards and things and you're coming out around that time. You're going to get overlooked. [00:09:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it's interesting. I think there's more thought process that goes into that when they release movies for the big awards, the Golden Globes, the Oscars, like that. I think there is a lot more thought process into when you release the movie, how you release the movie, what the movie's about. I do think in comics there's a lot more of just creating comics and seeing where they let. [00:09:54] Speaker B: It out. [00:09:54] Speaker A: When can you print it? You know what I mean? That's a big thing too. I don't know if that's a thing. Paul, talk for a second. Your microphone sounds kind of, uh oh. [00:10:04] Speaker B: Are we good? [00:10:05] Speaker A: It's just, it's, it's like a weird clipping noise. [00:10:08] Speaker B: Ok, that's the sound I'm getting in my ears. In my earbuds too. Let me. Maybe if we disconnect the Bluetooth. Bear with us, folks. [00:10:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [00:10:27] Speaker B: That time it didn't click. [00:10:31] Speaker A: And I don't know, we are getting storm shit right now too. So I don't know if the Internet stuff is that issue, but we were supposed to do this live in person at collective comics and collectibles in Bangor, Maine. On Hammond Street. Bangor, Maine. But my son was sick and so I didn't want to leave my better half alone without me and helping him. And I'm glad I did because he was sick. [00:11:01] Speaker B: He was definitely that time of the year. And he does daycare, right? Yeah, not preschool, but like daycare. And man, that age group, they're wet, they're snotty, they're sticking their hands in each other's faces. They don't know any better. They all spread it around and he was just. Sound better? [00:11:19] Speaker A: It's better. Yeah, much better. I was like, it's probably going to be fine. Then I'm like, wait, he's still talking. And I'm like, I don't know. We could deal with that. Small moment was doable for most people, I think. But I was like, I don't know if we could do the whole episode like that, that would have been pretty bad. 2024 goal for Capes of Tights podcast year is to get Paul and they set up at the shop so we can just plug it all in. We're good to go. [00:11:43] Speaker B: I think that's a reasonable expectation. Find a place to keep it in this disaster. [00:11:49] Speaker A: Yeah. So it was going to be our first live thing. Like this thing where we're going to do like a little crowd and have the people come. And so we're going to plan on doing that again in the future. I think it could be a couple of things times throughout the year we could do that. It'd be kind of cool. I think it'd be kind of cool to get a guest to actually join us to live and do us a live thing like that. That'd be pretty cool too. We had to move it, obviously, because of the illness, and it ended up working out, though. We can get this recorded for the podcast. So we'll jump in here. So two issues that have to be released this year. That's a big thing. I think what we do, I'll just go through. Do you think that it'd be best to do honorable mentions at the end? Because if they don't make the list. [00:12:31] Speaker B: Let'S do honorable mentions at the end. I think that makes sense. [00:12:34] Speaker A: And just start with the number ten. So what we'll do is I'll do ten, then Paul will do ten, then a nine, nine. Like a snake draft kind of thing. The back and forth again. Back forth. And I think last year you started, I finished. We'll do the opposite this year. I'll start, you finished. So that the end, your number one is the last number one on the list. [00:12:51] Speaker B: Then we go into our honorable mentions. [00:12:53] Speaker A: So I was telling Paul before we started recording is that we were supposed to do this last Tuesday. So we're about a week from actually being able to do it. And I still made edits this morning. I did add one. I dropped one out, added one and added one that didn't go into ten. It actually went into eight. So the fact that it's honestly because of the fact that I overlooked it because of the release of it. And we'll get to that when we get to number eight. But I'll start with number ten. It's a top cow Image comics book that came out and the trade comes out in January, but the actual book finished this year. It's haunt you to the end. That is a book that's written by Ryan Katie, illustrated by Andrea Mutey, and Andrea Muti just became one of my favorite artists of 2023. A number of books that Andrea put out there is that, but it's a ghost story, climate change, the world's over, basically post apocalyptic kind of thing. But there's this Isla island, which reminds you a lot of like Jurassic park, where there's this Isla Nuba kind of island that is about to be destroyed. But there's considered the most haunted island in the world. So this one person wants to investigate whether or not ghosts are real. I explained to Ryan, katie, when I talked to them about the book, that it actually reminded me a lot of ghost hunters meets Jurassic park in a sense that, not the dinosaur aspect of it, but like the ghost hunters tv show where they don't go in there to prove that the ghosts are real, they go under. Ghost hunter's show goes in to prove that ghosts are not real and try to debunk it. And at the end, if they can't figure out that if it's a ghost, they're like, oh, it could be a ghost, I don't know. But their goal isn't out there being like, ghosts are real. We're going to prove ghosts are real. It's to disprove ghosts are real. And that's kind of how this book, it's just a cool book. It's well written. Well illustrated in that sense, too. So I had to slip in there at number ten, haunt you to the end over at image comics. [00:14:47] Speaker B: Nice. All right, so my number ten pick was the devil that wears my face. [00:14:53] Speaker A: Yes. [00:14:55] Speaker B: And this is the biggest one that got me Dave boats. His writing is great. I always enjoy his stuff. However, Alice Cormac's art in this is what's like, sucked me in. It's dark, it's creepy. They've got a great vibe. I love the time periods it takes place in what, like the, it's just all, all around. I just have enjoyed the vibe of this book. I feel like that's the big one sucking me into it. So great job from those guys. I can't wait for that trade to drop out. We're going to put that in stock. But I've been keeping up a little bit in the floppy form this year, so look at me go. So my 10th was the devil that wears my face. [00:15:40] Speaker A: That's a great book, honestly. It's funny as I read so many good mad cave studios books this year, and I honestly only think that one or one made the list. But that's not to say that they just have been releasing so many good books with good creators. [00:15:53] Speaker B: Yeah, Mad Cave has come up a lot on my watch list. Now I focus a lot more in on the mad cave side. I feel like they've done enough things that I've enjoyed that I've kind of jumped into the mad cave group here. So I think that is their only book on my list. Yeah, it's the only one on my list from Mad Cave, however, a shout out to mad cave comics and all. [00:16:15] Speaker A: That they do, it's great and mean. What I meant to say at the top two is if you are listening to this or watching this, is that our goal is not to say, like, in the past, we've done top ten lists. We're like, oh, that's my number one. And then you ruin the whole list. So if it is on either one of our lists, we won't say anything till we get to it, and then the other person can talk about it, too, just so you know. So that was haunting at the end. I actually brought the comic out if anybody wanted to. [00:16:36] Speaker B: Oh, nice. I was going to do visuals and. [00:16:37] Speaker A: I didn't, but I wasn't sure. Number nine, it's a graphic novel. It's like, actually this year put a ogn on the list. There was a couple options for me to pick from that I really liked this year, but lost boy went into that. That's Jay Martin, who illustrated and wrote it over there at Dark Horse, which is a great book. He's a music video director. He directed the hey there, Delilah music video. [00:17:03] Speaker B: I had to explain that to my wife like twice. What exactly? He. [00:17:10] Speaker A: Forget about the director of a music video, honestly, you're like, oh, wait, they're directed. [00:17:13] Speaker B: That's like what the band shows up, cameras there, and they're just like, we'll. [00:17:18] Speaker A: Figure out the rest of music and see how it goes. But it's a deadly crash happens, accident happens in the Wyoming wilderness with his parents. This young boy escapes. He's a soul survivor, but kind of like teaches you who saves you might not be what you expect, which is pretty cool. It's a young adult graphic novel, so it's very easy to read. It's very smooth, it's very quick. And that's what I kind of liked about it. I kind of read it twice. Two or three times I went through and read it. And the fact that I do respect a lot of people who have excellent artwork and excellent writing, and he did both of them in this graphic novel. He has another one coming out this year in 2024 called Yellow from Dark Horse as well. But it's really cool. He's actually a trained cartoonist for cartoon strips, and his dad is also a syndicated for cartoon strips as well. So it's like he has a history in comics in a sense. He's not just a music video director that wrote a comic book, if there is a reason why he did this. But I love that. And again, you know me, Paul, and anybody who listens to this show, I love know it's hard for me to actually go up in there and pick up a trade paperback or a graphic novel and start reading from the beginning. [00:18:24] Speaker B: It doesn't happen often. [00:18:25] Speaker A: And this is in there. So this lost boy from Dark Horse is great pick. [00:18:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I loved that. I thought that was a great book. And I've actually mentioned a few times to my girls about, because I loved him talking about how they didn't have a tv in their house when you interviewed him, him talking about growing up and his dad doing all of the work. So the only thing they had to entertain themselves was comic books. And that's awesome. Number nine, this is a brand new one. There are two out this year, but it made my list because it's so unique, is beneath the trees where nobody sees. For number nine, I love the artwork in this thing. This is what IDW book. I don't know. It's not like an original story per se. You know what I mean? It's a murder mystery, and it's very dexter. The idea of it being through the children's novel, the artwork, all is like, richard, scary busy town looking. And my. My oldest daughter absolutely loved busy town when she was little. So it's funny to read this. And it's very much the same perspective of this murderous that everyone thinks is fine, right? Like, she's part of her little community, and then she goes off to the city to murder people. And then always the rule that you never kill in your town, in your hometown, because you're going to get found out. And then a murder happens in her hometown, and she has to solve it before they figure out what she does. And I just loved it. The art is beautiful, which is weird to say, because some of the best scenes in it, I think, are like, the murdering scenes, which is weird and creepy with them. But I absolutely love it. The COVID for number two is great with this woman that's like, it's a woman, but she's a pig. And then she's standing in front of, like, a butcher shop looking in at a reflection. It's just phenomenal. [00:20:13] Speaker A: And then Pat Oswald, the second printing had the Patton Oswald quote on it that says, making. I forget what it was. It was like this serious quote on it. And then it said, making that fun again or funny or warmth or something like that. [00:20:27] Speaker B: Making murder fun again or something like that. [00:20:30] Speaker A: It was funny. It was awesome. [00:20:31] Speaker B: Something like that. It was great. Yeah, I would look at it, but. [00:20:33] Speaker A: We sold out in effect. The main character is a woman serial killer too. That also adds to the whole thing because you don't expect that it's a multiple twists in that. It's the Richard scary looking thing. It looks like a kid's book murderer and it's a woman. It adds like a bunch of different twists to the idea of what the book's about. [00:20:52] Speaker B: I feel like it fits though perfectly because it's all about keeping her mind in order, right? That's why she killed is like keeping everything nice and neat and having control over it. So that is my number nine of the year is beneath the trees and nobody sees. I can't wait to see more of that series. But fantastic, super fun read. [00:21:13] Speaker A: And that actually the second issue just came out, so it technically qualifies. There you go. [00:21:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I was hoping that we would get number three out for the year too, but it's not going to make it this. [00:21:20] Speaker A: I also think IDW didn't realize how big that book was going to be because they definitely sold out instantly and then had to go to second printing. [00:21:28] Speaker B: And same thing. Number two. We ran out of number two in the store. I went back to get Reorder and they were put onto a back order and I just had second print order this week. So they ran out of two as well. [00:21:40] Speaker A: IDW needs some of those creator own stuff. [00:21:43] Speaker B: That is awesome. They killed it with this one. Whoever signed the dotted line of like, yeah, let's bring this book on. They crushed it. It's great. [00:21:52] Speaker A: Number eight, seven years of darkness. See? And this is why. [00:21:59] Speaker B: This is why. Forget seven years. [00:22:01] Speaker A: But this is why. And this is the reason why I said, oh crap. This morning I got into my office. I created most of this list. Not in my office space here, not in the studio space. So I wasn't near my actual books. I was doing a lot of remembering, a lot of searching kicksandites.com to see what I reviewed a lot of that stuff and so on and so forth. And then I got in here this morning and I'm like, oh, I'll do some visuals, I'll grab some comics, I'll put them down and so on and so forth. And I look up on the wall and I see seven years in darkness. I said, well, technically I think it made my list. I had to look back. I think it made my list last year too, because it technically came out self published last year, or it didn't make it because there wasn't enough issues out yet. [00:22:38] Speaker B: Probably because they only self published once. [00:22:40] Speaker A: That's what it was. So I can't make it mention, but it came out. The first issue came out because it. [00:22:46] Speaker B: Came out to me so long ago. And then there was the quarterly release of the issues. Good call, man. [00:22:53] Speaker A: So I saw it. I said, suck it in there. I'm like, well, it's not my favorite comic book of the year. Sorry, Joe. But it's also not my 10th favorite book of the year. So like one of those things where I'm like, okay. So I switched it in there. I pushed the 10th out and then slid it down pretty, not far, but eigth, I thought it would fit in there. But yeah, Academy of Black Magic opens the doors for the first time in 2200 years. That's such a cool story. 72 children go in. Only a few are going to come out, which is amazing. Seven will come out. It's a seven year journey that Joe is doing with this book. Joseph Schmalkey, who's writing it and illustrating it and coloring it, I call it. And they probably hates to hear about the horror version of Harry Potter. The idea that it's like this black magic or Harry Potter book. It's well, well made. The colors are awesome, especially that first issue towards the end. They use some neon colors to see these things, the lightness, the darkness, all that stuff. Joseph Schmalkey is obviously a talent we both love. And so on. So seven years in darkness from CeX Publishing. Now that all four issues of the first volume are out, it's not just called the trade, it's a collection book. It's actually going to come up in a comic book called Progress Report comes out in early 2024. So you have to check that out if anybody wants to read seven years in darkness. But yeah, Joseph Schwucky killed it. [00:24:07] Speaker B: Great way to pick up the whole thing and then be able to get going for the rest of it. [00:24:11] Speaker A: Don't feel bad because about it too. Sorry, Joe. Again, if you're listening, we didn't mean to. You're at a weird publishing schedule on this one, which made it a little bit more difficult in that sense, but good shout out. [00:24:21] Speaker B: Seven years in darkness. Yeah, I love it. Great call. Yeah. I can't believe I missed it. I can. All right. [00:24:27] Speaker A: I can. [00:24:28] Speaker B: That's nice. Number eight. This was book. This one, I don't know. This one hit home. And listening to Capes and Dice podcast and listening to the writer talk about it I think has given me a deep vibe into this book is a haunted girl by Ethan Sachs over there with like, I love the idea of it. And I think having daughters, it affects me and having my girls and thinking of them growing up and stuff. He talked about the struggles his daughter went through with her mental health and how much this book meant to him, writing it with her. And it's about a girl who doesn't know if she wants to live, and she might be the only person on earth that can save the world. And you get into the coming of what's going to try to destroy the planet and her peace in it, and her being strong enough to stand up and choose to live herself. I don't know, man. Haunted girl this year got me. It was a book I featured heavily in the shop, and I still am supporting. I absolutely loved it. So that was my 8th of the year. [00:25:43] Speaker A: Excellent, excellent pick. Yeah. There's more to the comic book than just being a comic book, which is really cool in that sense, too. It's a lot deeper seeing the ability to. I mean, we're both parents. He had the ability not only to discuss his daughter's mental health, but also the fact that he was able to write a book. How awesome is that going to be if one day you were able to write something or do something with. You're having your daughters come work for the shop, not just part of helping out, but literally being your manager or something like that. I mean, like, we get to go to work together. This is pretty cool. Sharing your passion. Not only sharing your passion of a comic books, but be able to co write the book is pretty badass. I think the only thing that I would think that surpasses that slightly is if Naomi was a artist and he was able to write a story that our daughter was able to illustrate in color. I think that's the only way to beat that, in my opinion, in the comic book world. Other than that, it's perfect, in my opinion, in that sense. [00:26:36] Speaker B: And the artwork in this book is killer. Like, it is great. They've got a perfect team up for the art. [00:26:41] Speaker A: Yes, it is. It's definitely good. My number seven is the one that Paul cheated on last year. And it's know your station. This is a Leona Kangas illustrated book written by Sarah Gaily, who's an excellent writer and author to their own name. Wealthiest people in the world go up to space, abandon Earth because earth sucks and because of climate change. It's kind of funny. It's actually the second book that's on my list that deals with climate change. The 1% feel like they're safe. They're away but now there's a murderer on the loose because there's a murderer and all this stuff happens. It's pretty crazy. And again, I talk to people about this book a lot. How about the next level of horror is when there's a murderer on the loose in a confined space station. This isn't like a confined house where you can find a way out. Run. This is like, if you get out, you're going to die, too. [00:27:34] Speaker B: So there's nowhere to go. [00:27:35] Speaker A: There's this claustrophobia part of it as well. Murder a part of it. There's AI involved in it, which is pretty crazy. I love the story, but Leona Kangas is one of my favorite artists, and what they did with this book and having the AI have this visual aspect to it and stuff like that, it's amazing. I know the first couple of issues came out last year. The first issue came out last year, and it was good enough that Paul felt like, oh, this is great. And again, I don't think that if Paul. If Paul doesn't put this book on his top ten list and it became an honorable mention or whatever it may be, does not make it not good. There were so many good books that came out this year, in my opinion, that it's one of those ones. And also, the first issue came out a year ago, over a year ago. So sometimes it's kind of hard to put that on there. So I just wanted to put that preface out there that if Paul ends up not saying he's going to not put it on there, but not putting it on there, don't think that it's a bad book, in his opinion. I'm speaking for you, Paul, but it's not like it finished out badly. [00:28:30] Speaker B: Know your station. It was number seven. I'm right there with you. No, I loved it. So going right through everything you said and how do I say it? I solved the mystery in the first issue. Yes. But I didn't know how or why we got there. And the howls and the whys are terrific. And yes, Liana's artwork is phenomenal, totally crushing it. All of the, I don't know, the scenes, the colors, the way they work, the technology in over it. Because you're dealing with the space station, having the ability to project things so you could see over what they were seeing was really cool. They did a great job of getting that through visually. And I felt like the build up was great. I really enjoyed the ending and how it all went, even though it's. Man, you get like the horror twist at the end of it. It felt very, I want to say, tales of the crypt, how it always ended with the person getting what they have coming type thing. Had that sneaking in at the end of it thing. So, yeah, that was my 7th pick was know your station. [00:29:46] Speaker A: And I think it has this ability to translate at some point if it ever got optioned to be a film or a tv show that has the Sci-Fi element to it, but also the horror. Kind of like an alien, where alien is technically considered a horror movie, but it's Sci-Fi as well. So it has a Sci-Fi horror crossover that I think that know your station. Plus people love murder mysteries now, and people love true crime. So you add that whole aspect into it. Very. I think a lot of people will enjoy this book over there at Boom studios too. And boom is killing it too. But honestly, it's funny is I think last year I had so many boom books on my list that I actually have two boom books on my. [00:30:29] Speaker B: Think. [00:30:29] Speaker A: It'S spread out this year. For me, honestly, it's a little spread out, so. Which is pretty cool. But the next boom book that's on my list is, oh, specs by David Boer and Chris Sheehan. This book was absolutely wonderful, in my opinion. I think that David is an excellent storyteller. Chris Sheehan. If anybody doesn't know who Chris is. Chris also did the artwork on the first couple. Alternating arcs of House of slaughter over there for Boom as well. With Tinian and that crew. Yeah, specs. I loved it so much. It's funny because there's two books that were in the popular zeitgeist out there this year. This is one of them dealt with wishes. And this not only had this, you put these glasses on, then they got out of a back of a comic book and it made your wishes come true. And these two guys, these two people had this going on. It deals with sexuality, it deals with this friends who one friend is attracted to the other friend, but doesn't know how to tell them. And the biggest thing to me when this whole book was, what you don't wish for is sometimes way more impactful than what you end up do, wishing for. So what you choose not to wish for could actually be more impact in your life than what you actually choose to wish for. And I think that was the huge thing because you could easily just put the glasses on and wish for something to come true, which would have changed the entire outcome of the comic book. But it was great that they didn't do that, and that's my take on that. And then again, the artwork is great, the whole storyline behind it. And it's one of those things that you had to go into it. It's in the first issue, so I feel like I could spoil it a little bit. But how they get the glasses, they just show up and have to, like, we talk about this in the store a lot about how sometimes just because it's a comic book, you just have to be like, okay, that's just part of the story. We just have to move along. [00:32:13] Speaker B: Let it go. [00:32:14] Speaker A: Let it go. And there's also a Batman diss in the first issue of this comp book, so that may be why it made my top six. There's a disk to Batman in have. You have to do that. So you at least pick up the first issue and have to find that, if you're a Batman fan, to find out where David took a shot at Batman there on that one. But that's specs over at boom studios from David Bower Christian. That's a great book. Awesome. [00:32:36] Speaker B: Yeah, that's actually on my to read list. I haven't had a chance to get that one done yet. My number six goes to. And Garrett that works here will appreciate this. I'm sure it would be very high on his list is once upon a time at the end of the world. It's a Jason Aaron novel by image. Jason. I generally enjoy the stuff I read by Jason Aaron, I think for the most part. So this was kind of an easy pickup. Like, let's give it a try. The artwork is at a first glimpse. So when it starts, I absolutely loved it. And then I kind of like the characters mature, and I was a little weirded on the maturity version of it. But as it goes, I sort of enjoy it. They've got that long, kind of gangly feeling artwork in it, but when it's all post apocalyptic, I still enjoyed that. And the story arc itself is phenomenal. It's Sci-Fi it's action. It's like romance. I don't know. It does a great job of kind of like hitting off every little niche that you could hope for. So that is a still ongoing series coming out, and I feel like I have thoroughly enjoyed the arcs. I can't wait to keep seeing it go. So once upon a time at the end of the world is one of my top books of the year that I feel like it had to go on the list, actually. [00:33:59] Speaker A: Cool thing about that book, too, is it's a 15 issue. It's a maxi series that we would call a 15 issue series, probably maxi series that there's three different volumes in the three different volumes. Jason Aaron writes the whole thing. But volume one, the first five issues had Michael Del Moon do as an artist. And the second volume, this is a suck. I don't remember who the artist is on the second volume, but there's an artist of the second volume and then the third volume, issues ten through eleven through 15 will be a third artist doing it. So there's actually kind of a cool thing because of the way that they deal with time. They actually dealt with the different artists, which I thought was very unique and pretty cool. [00:34:32] Speaker B: Volume one of it is both the beginning and the end at the same time. And then it's cool because you're going to fill in those gaps in between. So I don't know. I think it's an interesting way of telling the story. And I absolutely have loved what's come out so far. And I can't wait to see it keep going and wrap up. And that's my number six. [00:34:51] Speaker A: It's going to be absolutely fun. And before we get into top five, the sponsors are. No kidding. We don't have sponsors. Get in there. It's sponsored by Galactic Comics and collectibles on Hammond street in Bangor, Maine. Number five for me. [00:35:06] Speaker B: Let's get into this iced coffee from my galactic comic cup. [00:35:13] Speaker A: Local man. Image comics. Tony Fleece, Kim Seeley. A superhero story that's really not a superhero story, but it is a superhero story. And it has this 90s feel because of the way that they have a throwback to old school image, early image, days of superheroes, which is pretty badass. The idea that it's a superhero that gets basically, after controversy, sends this guy crawling back to his parents basement to live in his parents basement and then have to deal with the struggles of how to fit in, where to go, how to do. He can't fight crime because his actual suit and his stuff is copywritten by the team that he got kicked out of. It's this whole thing. It's a unique take. Tony and Tim are both excellent storytellers, but they're also excellent artists. And so they take some different sides to things and they do different parts of their books, which is amazing. Tim Seeley is one of the greatest comic book creators, in my opinion, of all time. And Tony Fleece has been killing it, Leslie late with stray dogs and that stuff as well. So this book is amazing. It's an ongoing thing that's happening right now over at image. I'm excited for the second and third volumes to come out so people can read them, but the first trades out now. But it's excellent. I love. It's one of those things that if you want that superhero story, but you're kind of like burnt out from Marvel and DC and you want something different that they're not really telling. I think local man is in that category for sure. [00:36:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that is a super fun pick to get on there and an absolute must have on the list. Fantastic. With local man, I go on to something that is straight out of my childhood, restarting this year. Transformers. [00:36:57] Speaker A: There you go. [00:36:59] Speaker B: Transformers I have absolutely loved. We're on issue three so far in the series. I've loved where it's going. The artwork is beautiful in this book. I've told people it's everything you want as a 40 year old Transformer fan, and it's everything you could still want. If you don't know what the hell the Transformers are and you're picking up today, I think they do a great job of making the story interesting and it gives you enough as a non fan to be able to pick it up and say, okay, that's who these characters are and that's what's going on with them. But it is also the nostalgia vibe is killer of waiting to see your favorite bots, waiting to see how it's going to happen, because it's a new story. But it starts just as the 80s cartoon of the teletrine one has come back on and is trying to bring the Transformers back. It's shaping them in the shape of vehicles here on earth. And instead of the 80s style of like, oh, we wake up and we go our separate ways, and now we start battling this out. This picks right off with, like, wait, we were at war with each other, and the teletran one starts bringing them back and revitalizing them, and the Decepticons get first shot at them and they just start trying to kill as many autobots as they can before the system can even bring them online. And it's great. And it's got that violent side of it that as a kid, you only sort of pretended would happen because, I mean, these are ginormous creatures that could care less about our planet and what's on it. If you're on the Decepticon side of the war and starscream just brutally kills a person in the first issue is just right there. It's exactly what you would get from what these things are and what war on our planet with them would be. So I shout out for image and skybound bringing in Transformers. I have absolutely loved the series so far. I can't wait for more of it to come out. And this is one that I have been on the edge of my seat doing the floppy thing, and I'm like, am I going to finish this or am I going to get the trade? Will I wait for the last two or three before it goes into a trade format? But Transformers has got me on the edge of my seat this year. I love it. [00:39:14] Speaker A: It's what Transformers needed. I think Transformers is an afterthought. Other than diehard people who need transformers in their lives, they don't read it. Other than that, I feel like the fringe Transformers people like myself didn't give two craps about the IDW runs of Transformers. It was like, you see it on the shelf, like, whatever. And then Daniel Warren Johnson getting a hold of it and Skybound and Kirkman having the reins on this thing reinvigorated my side of things being like, okay, I could definitely get this a shot. When I read it, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is amazing. This is exactly what I wanted. And I know I wasn't going to get that from continuing over IDW. Sometimes it just is that it's sometimes just stale. Sometimes you need a new minds. [00:39:54] Speaker B: I think you needed it. And I think the IDW side was written for those that die hard love transformers. That's what it was written for. It was for the people that had just grown up with it. They never stepped away from it. They loved it their whole lives, which is great, but this was the restart it needed. And this is perfect for people like you that are just like, oh, I'll pick it up because it looks interesting. While not being a diehard transformer fan, and then also loving the series. I think every person that's walked in here, I bet we have sold this to more of a spread of people than any other book, realistically. And you have your diehards and you have new people, and people are just picking it up and everyone has loved it. I don't think I've heard a bad review of that book in here. No. [00:40:37] Speaker A: And it doesn't hurt that Daniel Warren Johnson's freaking stellar creator. [00:40:41] Speaker B: Oh, crushing it, crushing it. [00:40:43] Speaker A: That doesn't hurt at all. And I said, we're talking about Gi Joe coming out here pretty soon, or not. GI Joe, Cobra Commander and Duke, two other characters in the Energon universe, is that they're by Joshua Williamson, too. So in that sense too. It's like, okay, you got a great writer on that side, too. So it's exciting to see what they're going to go with this other stuff on it, too. [00:41:04] Speaker B: Love Joshua Williamson stuff. [00:41:06] Speaker A: But I think honestly, starting with the new number one and having the new creator and having the new snoozes up did something for me because like I said, I didn't get as much of a woohoo. Of GI Joe 301. [00:41:15] Speaker B: Right. [00:41:15] Speaker A: That might have been a misstep on their sense, whether or not they just, I understand, continue the story, have it be legacy 301 or something like that, but just make it a new number one. Might have gotten a little bit more, I don't know, push for that issue. I don't know how. Well, it's. [00:41:30] Speaker B: I feel like it was so hard that IDW left 300 on a cliffhanger. [00:41:34] Speaker A: Like I said, you still could continue it. It's not like you can't continue it. I just feel like you switch publishers, that's the biggest thing to me. You switch an entire publisher, I think. [00:41:41] Speaker B: It'S smart that they're going to be like, here's your GI Joe universe, and here's your 302. And your 301. And 302. And 303. And then here's Duke and Cobra Commander. And if you being you, not doing the IDW GI Joe stuff, okay, fine, I'm not going to read those, but all right, Duke number one, I'll pick up. Cobra command number one I'll pick up and let's see. [00:41:58] Speaker A: And I will. And that's the thing. I'm going to be reading those. [00:42:03] Speaker B: I think that was a smart thing that they didn't have to alienate the IDW GI fan base and yet can pick up the new readers and people that want to try something different. [00:42:11] Speaker A: That's a good point. That's a good point. But number four for me is a previously mentioned comic book, beneath the trees where nobody sees jump that far up. I was absolutely outstandingly in love with this book. We talked about the Dexter meets Richard scary. There's imagery in the issue that matches directly with some Dexter episodes, which is kind of funny. There's just some scenes that you see that in there. And again, just almost off the wallness of it is just, I like that idea of comics right now. What I love about independent comics is they can tell stories like this. What my love for comics has shifted from like a big two to an independent thing over the past couple of years is because of these kind of stories, you can't tell the story a Marvel book, not even just because it's murdering, not even just because of that. Just because it's so unique and so off the wall and so different that that alone would make it to the people to make it people that don't scare consumers away, I think. But Patrick Horbeth over there at IDW has been able to do this in its own way. It's beautifully illustrated. It's beautiful written. It's storytelling. I love it. And so I can't wait for this to continue on again. I think IDW sold themselves short on this aspect of issue. Know, a working comic book store there over at the trees that nobody sees number four. [00:43:36] Speaker B: The color palette of that book, too. The color palette of it is phenomenal. It's so good. All right, so you go beneath the trees where nobody sees number four. Number four, for me, is one of my old favorites. I hate Fairyland. I was hesitant with I hate restarting. I was nervous of it. I enjoyed how it ended, so I was a little scared. And then when Scotty came out saying that he was not going to be doing the artwork in it, I was even more hesitant. So I had a hard debate on picking this up. I was putting the floppies away, add them to my Scotty young horde and whatever. I was actually only doing the a covers. And then once I read I hate, I went back and grabbed the b covers from my personal collection, too, because I love them so much. I feel like this is a great restart series. They did a terrific job diving back into I hate Fairyland. It never felt like we left. I loved it and I love it. Every month, seeing a fresh copy out on the shelf, I'm like, get jazzed up for it. I can't wait to see just where it goes. It's fun. It's that light heartedness that you need sometimes. It's a comedy series. It's gory and gross for the fun of it. And the substitution or the tag in for the artwork is killer. It lines up perfectly to the original series. I think the color scheme is great with it. All of it just matches so well. It feels like we just never left Fairyland. And I love the way the story is with Gert being older and going back to Fairyland and that she's just always wanted to go back after wanting to escape for so long, and then she's like, God, like, adult life sucks. Like every kid, right? You're little and you just want to be an adult, and then you grow up and you're going to your job that you don't like. And you're like, man, to be a kid again. And she gets the chance and she dives back into Fairyland. And I mean, dives when. Makes a mess and does all the things that Gert does. Destroys the place. So I hate Fairyland is my number four. I'm so glad to have it back. And I think anybody that is listening to this, if you've never checked it out before and you want a fresh vibe, go grab. I hate Fairyland. [00:46:01] Speaker A: That's one of those ones. That's not the one I was talking about, but it's one of those ones that I feel like because the initial run came out so many years ago, and then there's this second volume that if I was a massive saga fan, and I thought saga was the most amazing thing ever, which I like saga, but it's not like that's not a top ten book for me. It's that I'd forget because it's been on for so long. Same thing with Spawn. Like, spawn stories could be amazing, but they're on 348 this week, right. It's just hard to say that that beats out the books. You have to be unbelievable. And I think that I. Fairland is in that category. It just, honestly, again, slipped my mind. It's one of those ones that I feel like one of the problems I had throughout the year, which I hoped to have changed this year, was if I read a really good book, put it on a list on my iPhone, like on my phone, put on a note saying, oh, my God, I ate Fairland was amazing. So that when I go into doing my end of the year list going, oh, yeah, I remember I ate Fairland. [00:46:53] Speaker B: That's what I've done this year. This year I've had this list going since we did last year's, and everything I read, I write down, I throw it on here, I go back, I reevaluate, and for me, I can't get enough of Iran. It's too much fun. I absolutely love it. I'm so glad to have it back. So I put it on for one of my. Well, that's my number four book of the year. [00:47:14] Speaker A: Yeah, my number four. [00:47:18] Speaker B: Three. [00:47:18] Speaker A: We're going the opposite direction. Now we go back up to five. Three is where monsters lie. From Kyle starks and Peter Kowalski over at Dark Horse, where monsters lie is a book that, if you've ever wondered where your slashers, the monsters, the masked people, the people who kill a bunch of people, unkillable monsters, serial killers, all those people go in between murdering sprees, like where do they live? Well, they live in this community, this gated community. They live together and they share sugar and they pass the salt and they do all that stuff together in this weird community. And I like it a lot just because the horror aspect of it was really fun. Peter Kowalski is one of my favorite artists going right now. Peter did the Carmen line over there at Mad Cave and a bunch of other things that Peter's done with the horror stuff. He did all eight eyes, I believe it was at dark horse as well. A bunch of good books, just horror books. He's got this horror vibe to him that's really cool. But also the idea that, again, this is outside the box thinking this is not just a simple horror book, this is a funny horror book. And Kyle Starks has that because Kyle Starks is a great artist, but also a comedy writer as well, which has been diving a lot more into the horror aspect of it and try to do more serious, but he can't really get away from being comedy. So there's this horror aspect of it, but there's also this comedy aspect to it, which is really cool. And I love that. And again, I think to me, was this year was the year of like, can you be different but not too different that it scares you away but know, I don't know. Something that brought me into going, this is so unique, I want to read this and I want to scream it from a round top. And that's where I got the opportunity to do that here on the podcast. Kyle Starks can write serious stuff. He can draw and he can write comedy. And I think this is what, a little bit of everything all wrapped in one. [00:49:01] Speaker B: It gets you that whole new vibe, that whole. I totally get it. It's that what can we bring fresh to the table? And I think that's going to happen the more and more because you're doing so many reviews and myself having the shop. What can you bring that stands out? What can you bring that's now new and different for us because we read so much of this stuff all year. So no, great shout out for that one. That's actually also in my to read category I haven't picked up yet. I have a whole ongoing list of things I still need to read. [00:49:33] Speaker A: Yes. [00:49:34] Speaker B: While you were chatting, I think the entire storm surge just hit my front windows. I'm sitting beside. That was a lot. [00:49:42] Speaker A: As long as it doesn't go through it, that's what I'm kind of like. [00:49:45] Speaker B: I wonder how old this building is and how much these windows can really take because that was a lot. [00:49:50] Speaker A: So my theory is this is like knock on wood here, is that we're going to get to both of our number ones and we're going to lose power and we're not. [00:49:55] Speaker B: I had the fear of this. Yeah. This morning I was like, man, it's either we lose power, we lose Internet. Like, what is going to happen as we're doing this? Going to get down. [00:50:03] Speaker A: People, like listening. They're like, oh, this is cool. Good thing we didn't do it. Live. Live. Oh, my God. Number one. Oh, shit. What's number one now? We are number three. We still got three. Well, six comments as we're sitting in. [00:50:13] Speaker B: What feels like Hurricane here in December in Maine. Like, so weird. [00:50:18] Speaker A: Exactly. It's like 50 degrees, too. [00:50:20] Speaker B: Yeah, it's warm. Number three. Another ongoing, another all time favorite. Something is killing the children. We got this new arc going that I feel like is wrapping up. Like, this is going to be it for the year. And I think we'll probably, for what I have seen going forward, I think probably we're taking a break and then coming back to a new relaunch again. But Erica has been dealing with being the hunter and the hunted this kind of, like the whole year, and I have still absolutely loved something's killing the children. I always tell everyone it's my favorite ongoing series. I recommend it to anyone that's looking for horror, that's looking for action, that's looking for just something new and different if they're tired of the same old, same old. And I feel like James Tynen can do no wrong. Right. This new arc has kept it fresh because it'd be easy to get stale. Right? I mean, it's big monsters and they're hunting and killing children and the girls hunting them, but instead you're getting into the politics side of it. And there is this girl that has been brought in Qatar that is completely. She. She's a serial killer that they have put a mask on and said, you work for us and we'll clean up the mess that you make and turned her loose. Go get Erica. All while Erica's hunting, we found out that the monsters we've met in the previous series of something skilling the children, there are more versions of. They're different, they are adaptive, they grow, they get more intelligent. They're not just kind of like a wild animal thing, that there's different levels of them. And the one she's been hunting, that is in a small community, is very dangerous because it is like a replicant. [00:52:10] Speaker A: It can change. [00:52:11] Speaker B: It grows and it starts looking more and more like a person. And maybe some of these people out there that do terrible things are these monsters in the real world. You find it's. I don't know. James Tynan is just phenomenal. He just crushes it all the time. Absolutely love it. So while it has been on my list now for God knows how long, something's killing the children is once again on my list for number three. [00:52:34] Speaker A: That's awesome. Yeah, it's definitely one of those things that James and I do think there's a break. There's going to be a breakup because they're also doing. What's the new one coming? The butcher house of Butcher or something like that's coming. [00:52:49] Speaker B: And they did the character we met in the first House of Slaughter series. [00:52:54] Speaker A: And I think they're also, because I think James is also going back into doing department of truth for a little bit too. So there's a little bit of that too, where there's like a. [00:53:03] Speaker B: We still need to read the book club so that we're forced to read. [00:53:05] Speaker A: We do. That sounded bad, Paul. It's probably excellent book, everybody. It's a long story to why it's difficult for us to read. [00:53:15] Speaker B: If you go back and listen to our podcast previously. [00:53:17] Speaker A: Yes, we probably talked about it of. [00:53:19] Speaker B: The artwork challenge we both struggle with on that book, particularly we're both stupid. [00:53:24] Speaker A: And so you need to make it a little bit easier for us to follow. [00:53:29] Speaker B: I'm so confused by this. [00:53:31] Speaker A: We're like first grade education here on this. But no, I officially could not win. [00:53:36] Speaker B: Are you smarter than a fourth grader? My fourth grader need to help with math and I have no idea. [00:53:40] Speaker A: Yeah, only thing I feel like I. [00:53:43] Speaker B: Looked, I held it up and I go ask your mother. [00:53:45] Speaker A: Go find on the, go search, Google, scan that on the Internet. Probably find you find the answer to you. Number two for me is a legacy of violence by Cullen Bond, horror extraordinaire, and Andrea Moody. Second Andrea Moody book on this list right here is legacy of violence. Colin Bond, a great horror writer. I always love anything really that Cullen does, but this book spoke to me in ways that other books haven't for a long time. And that sense of being a horror book, which I'm really into, as well as the sense of realism, it's that push all the way to the edge where it's almost real. Oh, my gosh, this is so real. With a slight twist to it. And that's what this is. I think there's too many people trying to do supernatural horror, Sci-Fi horror with Liana and Sarah's book over at New York Station. But there's this, like, this is just straight ahead horror, slasher type stuff. [00:54:44] Speaker B: It is a good old fashioned slasher. [00:54:46] Speaker A: Book with twists and turns and it's based in Honduras. And there's flashbacks, there's long stories that go into it. I'd say maxi series, twelve issues. So they've done a volume one and volume two have come out. They're currently going into volume three for the last six issues or five issues, whatever it is they're doing. Is there 18 issues? I don't remember. [00:55:10] Speaker B: No. Aren't they four issues? [00:55:12] Speaker A: Four issues. Twelve. [00:55:13] Speaker B: Four issues per trade. [00:55:14] Speaker A: Last twelve, yes. Last four are coming, or the eight just dropped. Nine is coming soon. And that's pretty cool. So yeah, it's an excellent book. Again, if you're into that, some of us use comics for escapism, and this is not as much escapism as you probably would want in the book because it literally goes to the point where this could be real. But one benefit you have is Andrea Moody's coloring in this thing. It's more of a watercolor aspect, which is what he's doing a lot now with what I mentioned, with haunting to the end, this. And actually what came out recently is charred remains. Doing that Watercolor stuff. [00:55:52] Speaker B: Comes out tomorrow, Wednesday. Today's Monday here at Galactic Comics. It will be out on Wednesday. [00:55:58] Speaker A: But yeah, that's this new style he's got going on, which is awesome. Which this alone helps you go, okay. Kind of give you a break from it because it's not so clean and crisp and seeing actually people get murdered. This is like splashes of red paint and things like that. So that's what I like about it too. So it's a really cool book. It is a polarizing book, I think, a little bit. We talked about that art book club. There are some people who just don't like it at all together. And then there's people who are like, this is a really good book. So I am one of the little, obviously number two on my list. It's a really good book. [00:56:26] Speaker B: Totally sucked me in. Totally sucked me in. I loved it. I read the first volume in one sitting, and I agree with you. The artwork in that, I think that might be one of the best matching art to stories. Yes, they go perfectly together. I love the color palette, the watercolors, vibes in all of it, the messiness of it is what I feel like you'd want in this slasher story. And I think the palette is perfect because it's eerie. [00:56:56] Speaker A: It's, like, creepy. Yes. [00:56:57] Speaker B: Great call. Love it. Number two for me, book that released two issues this year to wrap out the rest of the series and then dropped in their big, beautiful, shiny hardcover is 8 billion genies. It is a book that, while doing my holiday shopping this year, I seriously considered buying some people that did not ask for it. And they love comics, but they didn't ask for this book. My uncle's a great one. I said, what do you want for Christmas? He goes, you own a comic store. Figure it out. He's the one who got me into comics. He is the one who has inspired me through all of it to read and develop this passion. But his go to, let me see, was Superman, Batman, and Iron man. He's like, I'm giving you three characters. And I seriously started being like, well, guess what? Here's a feeling, genius, because this is a book that every person should read. My oldest daughter is going to pick it up and read it. She wanted to come to book club. I go, we're adult. Book club. However, I want you to read it, Charlote, and I want you to put down your thoughts, and I will bring your thoughts to our book club, what you think of it. [00:58:12] Speaker A: And then you'll take our thoughts and disseminate them to her in an appropriate way. [00:58:16] Speaker B: Yes. But to me, it is one of the best told stories of the year. I absolutely loved it, and I think it's something that anyone should read. In fact, I have one of our friends of Galactic that's a regular here. I feel like she collects comics more than she reads comics. She tends to be more of, like, I think it's, like, therapeutic. And she likes the artwork on the COVID and she bags them and boards them and alphabetizes them and does all that. And she, because of the amount we've talked about, it picked up 8 billion genies from the shop, and it was our featured book club that we're doing in January. So she picked it up and has been messaging me about how much she's enjoying it. So it is a book that I tell everybody you've got to read. The idea that every single person on earth gets a wish and how it starts affecting everyone. And then Charles Sewell, Ryan Brown, like the Dream team, I love their stuff. So 8 billion genies is another book that I say, you want something. If I only read Marvel, I only read DC. I only do superheroes but, boy, I need something different. 8 billion genies is a must read. [00:59:25] Speaker A: Number one is 8 billion genies for me. [00:59:28] Speaker B: Look at that. [00:59:29] Speaker A: 8 million genies. Number one, Paul had it. Number two, I like this because I think last year, I think it was last year was number one for both of us, honestly, because we had two issues, so we ended up talking about it together. But we've done it before, too. We talk about artists. We did Scotty Young as number one. We just basically go, okay, this is number one. I have my. If you're watching this, I have my genie right there hanging out plush. That came from San Diego Comic Con exclusive. The book. Yes. This is story. The way they tell the story, the way that it's not just the simple of everybody gets a wish, all this shit happens. Let's tell a story. It's literally 8 seconds, eight days or 8 seconds, eight minutes, 8 hours, eight days, eight weeks, eight years. That's how they tell the story. There's eight issues. [01:00:18] Speaker B: Growth of all of it. [01:00:19] Speaker A: There's eight issues in it. And they follow certain people. And the way they use in the first issue, you'll find out this way. They use this one trope to make it so that there's some grounded storytelling, which is if they just made it off the wall, you can kind of get confused. But there is this one hub, which is a bar that has this thing. They tell you in the beginning of the book that you go, oh, this book needed this grounded part. They needed this one thing. [01:00:44] Speaker B: This is your safe space. You can always return to here. [01:00:47] Speaker A: This is where you need it. [01:00:48] Speaker B: You need a chaos there, and then you can get grounded again. [01:00:51] Speaker A: Have conversations with people and so on and so forth. The characters are amazing. Some of the wishes are funny. What they show discussion on that. They had some fun making that stuff as well. Can you imagine? [01:01:03] Speaker B: The artwork of this must have been so much fun because you could do whatever the hell you. [01:01:06] Speaker A: Yeah, and there's some of that back and forth. There was a great. That we were lucky enough to have him on the podcast here. And they did talk about the idea that some of the stuff came from Ryan Brown. I'm going to create this or write this in the story. And some of this was their story. Be, can you create this? So it was kind of a cool team. There are two people, when they get together, strike gold. Honestly, a lot of times, Charles, anything Charles really touches, in my opinion, it strikes gold. But the fact that they both love his writing is amazing. And then curse words is amazing, too. Their other book they have together and they are currently secretly in the background working on another project together, which will obviously probably make our top ten list when it comes out. [01:01:41] Speaker B: I bet it will. [01:01:45] Speaker A: Honestly, to come on the list twice, two years in a row, to be at the number one book says something. So if you haven't taken the opportunity to do this, this book really is for everybody in the sense that there's not a reason why I would think that anybody wouldn't like this unless you have some sort of fear of genies. But that would be a weird thing to have a fear of. [01:02:04] Speaker B: The idea this little guy shows up and gives me anything I want terrifies me. I can't do it. [01:02:08] Speaker A: And that the genies themselves are unique in the sense that they drew a unique genie and the genie looks like you. [01:02:14] Speaker B: I love the artwork. It's still the genie, but it has that little bit. You can see a little piece of the personality in the genie. [01:02:21] Speaker A: Yes. It's awesome. I love that. So it was 8 billion genies by Charles so and Ryan Brown over image comics is my number one pick of the year. It is unbelievable. You can get it in hardcover, a beautiful hardcover collection of it as well. And you can get that at your local comic book shop or anywhere you can buy books, honestly, because it's a hardcover book. So if you don't have a local comic book shop, just look at your local bookstore and say, can you get this for me? And they can get it for you. But it's amazing. It's a wonderful book. So check it out. 8 billion genies number 100%. [01:02:48] Speaker B: Yes. And the only reason it's number two for me is because number one for me is local man. [01:02:54] Speaker A: Okay. [01:02:55] Speaker B: I had local man as my top book. I don't know what it was. Justin, this is another book and I don't tend to do this. I read this from one cover to the other in one sitting. I couldn't stop. I started reading. Think. I'm trying to think. I think Tony fleeks actually sent me the pdf of it. Yep, he did. And I was putting my girls to bed at night, my routine. And I was sitting on my youngest daughter's bed reading this. And my wife's like, are they having a hard time going to sleep tonight? What's up? And I'm like, I am reading a book. I can't stop. And I read local man just straight through in one sitting. I've loved it. I'm excited that the series continues. I think the artwork is beautiful. Tony's done a great job with it. Tim Seeley is just incredible creator. There's a scene in it because as an eighty? S, ninety? S kid and having some of that image comic stuff in the background and running the lcs, I mean, this collection that came in last week had a whole bunch of your 90s image stuff in it. The scene that is everything looks perfectly normal in this hometown. And then the ship lands and bright ridiculous looking characters come wandering out and it is perfect. It is the most perfect thing you could ever see in a call. It's like every day in your comic book mash. And how ridiculous the women are almost naked. [01:04:20] Speaker A: Yes, bound dudes. [01:04:22] Speaker B: And the main character who is kicked off the team is standing there in his grubby clothes in a dark alley. [01:04:29] Speaker A: It's such a love letter to young bloods. It's such a love letter to those early days of image and how they. [01:04:36] Speaker B: All that watching Wildcats on tv when I was like, I must have been like, what, eight, nine years old watching wildcats, Jimmy, wildcats. It's all of that. It does. It's perfect. Everything about this book was just spot on. I just can't get enough. So I can't wait to do this. For book club, we've discussed, I think probably march we're going to read local man and book club. Even though I think probably half of our book clubs already read it because of my recommendations on it, it was my book of the year. I can't get enough of it. I absolutely loved it. I love that there's more of it ongoing and grabbing the floppies. So local man is my book of the year. Thank you so much, Tim Seeley and Tony Fleece, for this incredible creation that's come out this year. Book of the year, local man. [01:05:18] Speaker A: So number one for both of us, 8 billion genies in local man. But out of all the list of ten, I believe there's four out of ten, which is. [01:05:26] Speaker B: We're flickering here at galactic comics. [01:05:29] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to the podcast. It is like flickering. Like flickering. [01:05:33] Speaker B: Yeah, it is like flickering, flickering. [01:05:34] Speaker A: But yeah. So we had four, I believe, local man. 8 billion genies we had. What do I have here? Know your station and beneath the trees where nobody sees. All on the top ten lists that were matching. That's pretty good. So if you ever did this list as a here are ten of my favorite comic books of the year. Here are your ten. And they weren't in order. I think 40% matching is a pretty good thing. We both have slightly different interests in certain times. I did really enjoy a lot of the books so if you add into this list that you just mentioned, I also had on my honorable mentions. Once upon a time at the end of the world, I had on my honorable mention something killing the children. And that's only because I barely read it this year. And that's not because it's not good, it's just because I was like, okay, I'm going to read this all in a lump sum. And I didn't get to it yet. So I read the first couple of issues of the newer stuff this year. I know it probably you've been busy. [01:06:26] Speaker B: Diving into all the new series too, so it makes sense that the ongoing one, you're like, I can get to this when I get time. [01:06:32] Speaker A: And that's the thing. It's gone so long now. I think that's the biggest thing is it's gone so long. James's other book, World Tree, is an honorable mention. That's a pretty good book this year. I loved rumpus room was really good. Antarctica, excellent book over there. Top out image. The other book that kind of, like, slid out one of the two books that slid out of ten when I started adding more books in there, which was night walkers by Colin Bunn. And that book was amazing. I really like that one. And the other one that slid out that I really liked this year was dead mall from Adam Caesar. [01:07:07] Speaker B: Oh my God. That was. I didn't even realize that releases. [01:07:10] Speaker A: Well, it's two and two, basically. Two issues or two and three, whatever. Yeah. The book at the end of the year that didn't make it because I feel like there just wasn't enough of it. I need all of it. I just think the artwork's so amazing is blood commandment from Sismon over there at Image. [01:07:26] Speaker B: Fantastic artist. [01:07:27] Speaker A: And the other book that didn't make the list, Paul. But it had to be mentioned because I needed to put some sort of marvel thing in there. And it's Marvel adjacent. It's dark droids from Star Wars. I think that's really cool. It's really unique with the idea they're telling a story about from the droids point of view, because we all know Star wars is really about the droids. They're the main characters, and this darkness around it was just pretty cool on dark droids. So that was like the fact that I needed a big two book in there. And then I think I dropped off my honorable mentions as peacemaker tries starred also from Kyle Starks, was also fun, but I couldn't put a DC book. I can't have DC on this thing, some people's kids. I had a lot of honorable mentions because I was just like, there's so many good books I read this year. It's hard to put them all in the top ten. We should have just done top 15, top 20. [01:08:11] Speaker B: Yeah, we could have done like top 50, I think, and kept going. So honorable mentions. What was in my top ten and dropped honorable mentions was lost Boy. I enjoyed it. I think it was fun. I would have loved to have had. There's a connection between the main character and the side character is a boy and a deer. There's a connection there and you get it and you understand it. I would have loved a little more. I don't even know how, but a little. Few more panels of their connection, a few more panels of how they're bonded. The fawn losing its mother in the crash, him losing his father in the crash, their connection to this. I would have loved to have seen a little bit more of their struggle to survive and the two of them being together, literally four more panels, I feel like would have just gotten a little bit more of that heart wrench in there. But it was a wonderful book. I really enjoyed lost boy. So that is on my honorable mentions. And it was in my top ten and got pushed out at the last minute, actually. So I find it funny, too. So we go to honorable mentions. I don't have a single Marvel or DC book on my list. Neither did you. So some of that is, in all honesty, folks, while I own a comic book store, I haven't read Marvel or DC this year, really, to speak of. I'm reading amazing Spiderman starting at issue number one, but that's not going to make it because that was in the 60s. So I'm reading some of the older superhero stuff here and there, but as the modern stuff is out, some of it sounded interesting and it's actually why an honorable mentions. I have night terrors by DC. That was the summer arc this year. Joshua Wimpson. I absolutely love as a writer, so I'm excited to read it, but I did not want to chase the floppies of want to. I didn't want to put it on the list and read some of it and that. So honorable mentions of it. I'm waiting for the trades to come out. And honestly, the way this book released, because it's very widespread in the DC universe, I'm probably going to wait for like an absolute and just read the whole thing because I feel like there were so many multi tie ins to it that are probably still revving the story, but it's the first summer arc from DC Comics in a while that I was at least very interested in. I have the poster up on the wall still. I love the concept and idea of it, of seeing what these characters, these larger than life characters biggest fears are and that something can bring it to them. So night terrors is an honorable mentions, and in honorable mentions is ultimate invasion, the Marvel Summer arc, which is once again the first year that the Marvel Summer arc I was interested in, because going back to the Brian Michael Bendis run of the ultimate universe, I love it. And the fact they're bringing it back, even though we've discussed in the shop a few times now, I don't know how the hell they're bringing this thing back. It was destroyed. It's gone. But either way, why not? It's on the honorable mentions. I will inevitably end up buying a book that is way too big for any normal human to try to read and hopefully not be disappointed with it. But either way, it's on my honorable mentions. So that way, Marvel and a DC book in honorable mentions. While my entire top ten list is brought to you by our wonderful independent. [01:11:17] Speaker A: Comic scene, I feel like I would have also put Clementine on there, because I like Clementine volume one from last year a lot. And it actually made my list last year. I just bought it, put it on the shelf, completely forgot that I owned it. And so I never actually got to read it. And so it was like one of those things. Sadly, thankfully for the podcast and for the website, I do get advanced copies of a lot of things that one publisher that has not fallen through with that so far is image. So image books are hard to get. And then digitally, so if it's digitally, it's on my computer, I see it, but I'll buy it. I like it. I file it on my bookshelf, and I just looked over there and I'm like, wow, I didn't read Clementine yet. I should probably read Clementine. That'd be a smart thing to do. But yeah, that's a one that probably would have made it on there. I wasn't too impressed with volume two of last Ronan, which I think last year was on the list. [01:12:12] Speaker B: Yeah, last Ronan was very high in the list last year, and it wasn't. [01:12:16] Speaker A: On that list this year. [01:12:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I actually literally haven't picked up volume two yet. That's on my to read list for the year. But I don't know. I kind of gave it a flip through and saw it was about, and I wasn't super excited, but I'll read volume two now and see how it is. It's nice that the love of volume one that there is at least more. [01:12:38] Speaker A: Yes. And I think it's not bad. I just don't think in the grand scheme of things that right now it. [01:12:43] Speaker B: Didn'T make your top ten. [01:12:44] Speaker A: If it's not nearly not as good as number, like volume one, then it just becomes like, okay, then is it a top ten book? Technically, this is not volume two. This is technically the in between thing. But once volume two comes out, maybe that will be back up there and top books of the year. [01:13:01] Speaker B: I feel like my list of the year involved a lot of books that were catching a new vibe for me. It was something that was different. The devil wears my face is a book that normally I might have not picked up to read until recently. And it's just my thing is, I've gotten more into this. I don't know. I want the horror and I want the different stuff. Maybe next year and I get back into a vibe, my whole list will all be Marvel DC. [01:13:30] Speaker A: No, how about we say to ourselves, now, if someone listens to this episode and they listen to next year, they'll know. But next year I'll just say 2023 comic indie comics of the year. So you don't have to worry about it. Okay. You don't look bad because you don't have any Marvel or DC on here. We just can't put them on because there's just not. [01:13:50] Speaker B: Yeah, we just don't even bother. Gang war that's coming out right now in Marvel seems like. I mean, it's an interesting idea. It feels very familiar to the DC. No man's land that I read. Like, I don't even know what, ten plus years ago now it's just the Marvel side of it. But game war seems fairly interesting. But, yeah, I think the Marvel DC side just. I haven't had anything that's jumped that I'm like, oh, man, I've got to read this. [01:14:20] Speaker A: I feel like when it does happen that I will get a Marvel book back on my list. It's not going to be your Spider Man's or your avengers. It's going to be the one miniseries, one off thing. Like, if damage control was better, then that would. I was going to say that those kind of things would be probably the ones. I just don't see it ever. [01:14:39] Speaker B: You'd have to have Marvel unleashed or one of these weird spinoff ones. [01:14:43] Speaker A: Fendis would have to come back to like, even with Alex Malive and do a run of daredevil again or do some sort of something like that where it's just so far, if Tinian all of a sudden got signed to do some sort of book Marvel, it's something that just absolutely extraordinary thing to do. A Spider man run or issues 40 through 45 of Spiderman. For me to say Spiderman is one of the best comics of the year, it has to be something like that because I just feel like it's just so derivative and there's just so much. Nothing makes it go, this is one of the best books of the book, and they have to beat out the rest of these books on this list. It's not even just saying it's not a good book. I have about 20 books on this list that I like a lot this year with the honorable mentions being like 17 books or whatever, but there has to be better than 17 other books to even be in the honorable mentions. That's hard to say that the number of books that are coming out in a year too, and that's the other difference is, Paul, this list ten years ago, there's not as many new issues coming out, new series coming out. So there's not as many books to pick from. So you think about it. If there's not as many books to pick from, then there's not as many opportunities for a Marvel book or DC book not to make that list even. [01:15:48] Speaker B: Come on. [01:15:48] Speaker A: Yeah, and I mentioned DC Peacemaker was awesome. Peacemaker tries hard by Kyle Starks was an unbelievable book. And it probably is the 18th on this list of 17 books that I did with honorable mentions included. And that's like a one off kind of cool side. [01:16:04] Speaker B: I love you. Still had to mention it like he got there. [01:16:08] Speaker A: But it's not a DC proper book, though. That's the thing. It's like saying how is nice house on the lake was on my list last year. [01:16:14] Speaker B: More DC proper book than nice house. [01:16:16] Speaker A: It is, but it's still a black label book that has no connection to any continuity or anything like that. It's still its own standing alone thing. [01:16:22] Speaker B: For all of us long term capes and tights fans that are out there. Justin is now a DC fan. [01:16:27] Speaker A: I told you this is the year that I have to do. I'm going to have to read King of come. I mean, kingdom come here pretty soon. [01:16:33] Speaker B: And when you're going to read kingdom come, you're going to love it. And when we do next year's, it's not going to review comics, you're going to be wearing a Batman hat. [01:16:41] Speaker A: No, there is not. No such way. [01:16:43] Speaker B: Don't be a Superman person. Okay. [01:16:44] Speaker A: I did watch the Batman Christmas thing, the animated one. Did you watch that yet? [01:16:48] Speaker B: No. The little kid Batman. No, I haven't watched it yet. [01:16:51] Speaker A: It's cute. It's cute. No, it's cute. DC still sucks. No, it's also way too long. That's what I will say. Animated movies for Christmas time should be about 35 to 50 minutes. That's it. When you go in over an hour, hour and 20 minutes for an animated movie, that's not as good as spiderverse or those kind of movies. It's good, but it's like, okay, you're. [01:17:15] Speaker B: Making a Christmas special. Consider it being on tv as a Christmas special. [01:17:18] Speaker A: Yes. 35, 50 minutes. You know what I mean? [01:17:20] Speaker B: The commercial breaks. Going back to your old school stuff and then call it. We're done. [01:17:25] Speaker A: Making a feature length film for animated film about Christmas is just not worth it to me. Also, Alfred looks super freaking creepy in it, so just so you know, super creepy in it. But yeah, other than didn't. I didn't read a lot of old stuff. I read for book club, we read some stuff that was not current this year. I did go back and read mindset again before with the Zach Kaplan interview. I did some of that stuff where I read some older stuff for some people, some guests in the podcast goals for this year. I have ducks. I want to read ducks this year. [01:18:00] Speaker B: So that was last year's honorable mention for me. And it's an interesting read. I could see some people being really fascinated with it. And I remember saying one of the catches was it was a little too what my life was like pre comic book store owning that it didn't do anything for me because of it. I think I lived that life. [01:18:19] Speaker A: That would be one of those ones that I think I want to get in there. I have not yet. I have the omnibus, I have not read God hates astronauts yet from Ryan Brown, who wrote and illustrated that book. So I want to read that. So there's some goals for this year to try to get into some books that I haven't gotten to in the past. Obviously, book club will be helpful in that sense too, because kingdom come here, coming up here pretty soon will be one of those ones. And I'm sure out of the twelve books we'll read this year, four or five of them will. Books that I've never read before, or they're from previous years, not from the current time. So I'm excited. That too. [01:18:52] Speaker B: Right? [01:18:53] Speaker A: And that's why you should join a book club. If your local comic book truck has one, people. And if you don't have one, reach out to galactic comics and join ours. And if you can't make it, obviously, because you don't live in the area, send us a little note saying, these are my thoughts. These are my, send them right to our email. [01:19:09] Speaker B: Send them to our Facebook page, Instagram, whatever you want to do, send them along. Send your thoughts in. We had fun. So last month, Garrett that works here couldn't make it to book club because of his schedule. And I'm like, well, I expect a book report. And half jokingly, but he wrote what was essentially a book report on books, and it was great. We shared that and everyone enjoyed Garrett's thoughts on it. And Garrett's kind of a quiet guy, and I think he shared more of his thoughts at that than he would normally in book club. So it's great. And I think it's an interesting spread of books. We read. We read different stuff and it's fun because the members of book clubs get to choose books. So we all read something a little bit different here and there. But yeah, join a book club. Join our book club. [01:19:52] Speaker A: Join our book club. If we have enough people that want to do it, we'll set up the camera. We'll do some zoom stuff. If you ever don't know how to do it, if enough people do want it, Paul is pretty good about putting now the book itself on the page. [01:20:06] Speaker B: Yeah, it's on galacticcomicscollectibles. Com's website. Also, you can. I'm getting knocked on the door randomly. [01:20:14] Speaker A: Go ahead. [01:20:15] Speaker B: It's a live comic store. [01:20:17] Speaker A: Keep going. Doing that. But the other cool thing about it is that we have a Facebook group that you can actually discuss the book or find out about things and stuff like that on there, too. Check that out, too. If you join, then we invite you to the group and you can have that discussion on there. [01:20:32] Speaker B: Yeah, you get on the private Facebook group for the book club and get on there and share your thoughts and join all of us from what we read. And you can all see how much Justin absolutely loves kingdom come next. [01:20:43] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. [01:20:44] Speaker B: Versus 8 billion genies. We got 8 billion genies. [01:20:46] Speaker A: There's got to be one. There's got to be one. That DC book that I end up liking more than some other stuff. But we've talked about this. We don't have to go into my therapy here on DC comics, but I think part of it is not having any background or any love for the background of it doesn't help me fall in love with it now. I could fall in love with a pseudo bad Marvel comic books. At least have the continuity in the background. Okay, this has been good. [01:21:17] Speaker B: And that was it. I grew up Batman animated series. Man was my life. [01:21:21] Speaker A: I think that's the reason. Mainly why I don't get into a lot. Because, I mean, the Dark Knight is a really good book, and Batman, those books are really good. Long Halloween are good. There's just not enough Batman lore and history for me to love. For me to love extraordinarily amount as you might do it. [01:21:41] Speaker B: Oh, good call. [01:21:44] Speaker A: I don't know why. It's like the heater's on in here. I have a space heater on here, so it's like drying the air out here. [01:21:50] Speaker B: No, big time. [01:21:51] Speaker A: Talking is making my throat itchy. But yeah. So that's the comic books of the year. I guess I'll quickly run down them just in case you didn't catch them. And I'll do mine and then Paul, I'll just do them both. We had ten. We had haunt you to the end for me and devil wears my face for Paul. We had beneath the trees that nobody sees and lost boy. At number nine, we had a haunted girl. [01:22:16] Speaker B: Is my Internet dead or is Justin? [01:22:20] Speaker A: I'm recording. I don't know what you're doing here. So haunted girl number eight, unstable connection here. [01:22:32] Speaker B: Oh, you're back. [01:22:33] Speaker A: Yes, I'm back. [01:22:35] Speaker B: I was just going to message you. I'm like, I think one of us. [01:22:38] Speaker A: Our Internet, just by mine said unstable, but eight is haunted girl in seven years in darkness. Seven is know your station. Both of us specs in. Once upon a time and into the world was number six. Number five is local man and transformers. Number four is beneath the trees and over the seas, and I hate Fairland. Three is where the monsters lie and something's killing the children. Two, a legacy of violence and 8 billion genies. And then number one, 8 billion genies and local man. So that's a great list. [01:23:04] Speaker B: Looking for something to read? We just gave it to you right there. [01:23:07] Speaker A: Do it. Do it all up. If we missed something, tag social media Kate and tights, like message on the YouTube video or tweet at us or Instagram comment on the post for this one. If we missed anything that you really like this year, that was the hope with the live thing at this. [01:23:23] Speaker B: Actually, I had that too. I'm probably not going to find it. I'll have to let you know what it was and we'll get it saved up. But one of our polish people sent back a book that I actually didn't know that came out this year. It was a dark horse book that he loved and I put on order because I now want to read and see what it's about. But I'll shoot that to you and we'll share it off. Yeah. He was the only person that submitted something that I hadn't already read or knew. I was like, oh, all right, I missed that one. [01:23:49] Speaker A: That's cool. That's cool. I'm interested to hear what that is. But yeah, if you don't like the Facebook page or the Instagram, we have the picture of this episode. Just comment on there what you thought we missed on that. That was the live episode we were supposed to do. We were going to ask the crowd what they thought in the future on that, too. So we'll have to do some other top ten lists. Paul, the best thing about these lists is like, these are the ones that could work well for live episodes. And so if we did top ten movies or top ten tv shows or top ten comic book covers or whatever it is, someone's going to be able to come and say, no. My favorite is this. You guys miss this? I think that's pretty cool on that aspect of it, too. So we'll do that in the future. [01:24:25] Speaker B: But yeah, these are always really fun to just go down and say what our favorites are. I'm trying to see if I can find that Booker in here really quick. No, absolutely. [01:24:33] Speaker A: While you're doing that, I will do the little thing. So galactic comics and collectibles on Hammond street in Bangor, Maine, check them out. Galacticcomicsandcollectibles.com, Facebook, Instagram, all those things. Check them out. If you're looking for last minute gifts and you live in the Bangor area, grab gift cards, grab comics, grab all that stuff. But I guess that's coming out after Christmas anyway. So don't do that or still do. [01:24:53] Speaker B: That for your next holiday. [01:24:54] Speaker A: Needs rather be always do this. If someone got cash for Christmas and you're looking to buy a nice comic book, as you can see if you're watching graded comics behind it, special issues and stuff like that behind Paul. But you can also shop at his website, galacticcomicsandcollectibles.com. [01:25:11] Speaker B: Message us anything you're looking for. [01:25:13] Speaker A: Exactly. That's the big one. Paul is very communicative on Facebook, so check that out. Wicked. Had that was the year in comics. Here at the podcast, we had a great thing. If you check out caseandice.com, too, I did a bunch of year end lists, top movies. I like this year, top tv shows, top books. And then we also counted down the top episodes of the year on the podcast, which I'll tell you right now, Paul, I did exclude movie reviews in that thing. Didn't like I wanted to do guests, which the funny thing is the guests still beat out the movie reviews. [01:25:50] Speaker B: Nobody loved my Howard the Duck review. [01:25:53] Speaker A: So, no, I guess I liked it. I just said that people listen to it more. I will say that there is some cool ones on there, some surprise ones on there, as well as obviously some obvious ones on there that make sense. The ones that don't make, you're like, oh, Brian Michael Bendis didn't make the list. His episode was like two weeks ago, three weeks ago. You just can't, it can't be the top episode of the year. If I said, daniel Krause does make the list and he came out in January, so he has an entire year of episodes being able to be listened to. Not the same for Brian Michael Bennett. [01:26:22] Speaker B: If Brian Michael Bennett's made the list after only being released for like two weeks in the year, that is super impressive. [01:26:28] Speaker A: That's where it goes into it. But yes, that is super impressive. But yeah. So check out caseandites.com, galacticcomics and collectibles.com. We'll do this all again. Next, Paul and I are going to discuss Generation X, the movie that no one ever knew existed. [01:26:42] Speaker B: Really, movie no one asked for. [01:26:45] Speaker A: It's technically a pilot episode for tv that didn't end up being a movie that ended up being hard to find a way to watch it. But we're going to watch it the. [01:26:52] Speaker B: Next time my wife wakes up in bed and looks over and I'm watching them and she goes, why does Justin make you watch these things? [01:26:57] Speaker A: Exactly. [01:26:58] Speaker B: Generation X will be it. [01:26:59] Speaker A: Exactly. But cool. Paul, happy New Year. Thanks again for a great year doing this. We're going to get way more. Paul to his face would be on here way more in 2024. If anybody's the matter, if I'm trying to lose, lose viewers and subscribers or, I don't know.