Dear Watchers: an omniversal comic book podcast

Guido: Here we are. We are, uh, here to close the open loop in your mind. Leftover. Let me stop that crowd. That's cheering status from New York Comic Con left over from our first half time update. We know you're dying to know what did we do for the second half of New York Comic Con?
Rob: Well, you mentioned we're closing the loop, and I closed a lot of loops on my Apple Watch over the course.
Guido: Of the last I think you made that joking. Our halftime.
Rob: What we definitely did do is walk a lot like you definitely are appreciating not walking right now.
Guido: Yes. So welcome to our Dear Watchers special reports.
Rob: Yes. So, yeah, what we did definitely do is buy a lot of comics. And today especially, we bought some cool indie, queer and horror titles from the Silver and Bronzing. But that's not all.
Guido: It's true. Some of the highlights we're going to be sharing with you. And if you follow us on Twitter at dear Watchers, you've seen some of the photos are the storytellers and creators that we love spending the time, as is tradition, with my dear friend Elliot. We got to connect with so many legends, and we have some stories to share.
Speaker C: Yes.
Rob: And of course, what's ComicCon without cosplay? Guido, did you have a favorite piece of cosplay that you saw? Any cosplay trends maybe that you observed?
Guido: I didn't really observe any trends. Well, I'd say actually, maybe more Star Wars than usual. So maybe those Disney Plus series are doing something to boost the profile of Star Wars.
Rob: I think more moon night. I saw a lot moon night, too.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Guido: So Disney Plus in general might be having a big impact, but I always just take in the cosplay and love it. Never do it, but always like, seeing it and walking past it. I think today, actually noticing everything everywhere all at once yes. Was really fun because it's a perfectly genre thing to do at a Comic Con. Everyone knows it. It's iconic. Now, we did a special bonus episode on it, but it's also a subtle costume, which I tend to like, and it required a little creativity. One person who did the hot dog fingers, Jamie Lee, also had, like, a postit with the circle drawn stapled to their forehead. And so that was really fun and creative to see. What about you?
Rob: Yeah, I saw a mojo from Xmen that was amazing. And I didn't get a good picture of them, but I reshared on our Twitter someone else who had a video. It was movie quality. It was amazing. And then today I saw someone dressed as the cloud from Nope, which was just a super clever yeah, there was.
Guido: Like, blood coming out of it, right?
Rob: Yeah, there was the blood coming out of it and the string, uh, just really great. I know. Comic book Couple Counseling is a video of it. We put a picture of it on our Twitter. Definitely check that out too. So many good things, though is just fun. Even though, like you said, we don't participate. It's just a great fun, people watching.
Guido: Thing to do for the whole cultural immersive experience.
Speaker C: Mhm.
Rob: But the people, uh, cosplaying as comic creators were real highlights.
Guido: Uh, those were real people, Rob. Those weren't cosplayers.
Rob: Oh my gosh. Those weren't people being famous artists and writers. Those are actually that's why you didn't realize that. And I think some of them were Olivier Copel and Jurgen.
Guido: Jurgens. I mean, to meet the person who was one of the architects of the death of Superman as we approached the 30th anniversary, that was real.
Rob: And we hadn't signed the death of Superman, which I'm sure is a comic he's never signed before. Ryan Paris.
Speaker C: Yes.
Guido: Robe son reedich.
Rob: Yes. Uh, Stephanie Williams.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Guido: Nubia. And some forthcoming wakanda stuff. Stuff that she hasn't even been able to share yet. So that's cool.
Rob: One of our favorites both in the superhero world and the indie superhero world. And not even superhero world. Mark Russell.
Guido: Mhm yeah. So much storytelling coming from Mark Russell that is on our bookshelves in addition to our longboxes and people we just absolutely love.
Rob: But we've got a few more extended connections. So we heard from Kyle Higgins about what inspired Radiant Black, which I know is one of your favorite new comics, and how he learned he could write.
Guido: A comic in 20 minutes. Yeah, it was interesting to hear that. And there was some company micromanaging that led to this, but it was neat to hear some of the inspiration. And of course, pick up the Infinite comic edition of Reading Black and the Blacklight edition.
Speaker C: Cool.
Guido: Exclusive.
Rob: So creative signed his name in a black light pen so you can't actually see his signature when you're just opening. Very cool.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Rob: And Guido, I believe you also got a page of something that you also love.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Guido: From Inferno. So it joins the wall of comic art is primarily no, exclusively Xmen. And in addition to a few key earlier Xmen moments, uh, I have some original art from, of course, House of X and the Kokoa era titles that were huge favorites of mine by some of the artists that were key. And so we discovered at Adriano deb Benedetto's table that he had the original pages where he because RB. Silva does the line work in digital. He had the large paper, uh, the artistproof oversized paper that he did the inking on that then went to Marvel. So it was really cool to get the original art from Inferno by Adriano and RB and add it to the wall. Though there's not any space. That's a problem we'll figure out. We also met Elliot and I spent some time with Philip Kennedy Johnson, who might be the kindest person in comics. I mean, everyone is so yeah, everyone's very remarkably friendly even when they're busy. Even when there's a line, or even when it's clear that they don't want to engage in an extended conversation, people are still just so generous with their positivity and their energy. But Philip Kennedy Johnson just went over the top and really extend a, uh, warm welcome to Elliott and me to talk about Superman and really connect with him in a lot of ways and to follow up with that in the future. So it's neat that he was so kind and generous and interested in maintaining a connection over time with fans. And that was really cool.
Rob: What's another incredible highlight that you had?
Guido: Well, that was a set up question because mark my words, if Jonathan Hickman brings a Malcolm back, you have me to thank. So Elliot and I are waiting for Jonathan Hickman. We're huge fans of everything he's done. He is the architect of the mythology that the MCU is using through his work on Avengers, Fantastic Four, Infinity. And then, as our regular listeners know, his work on House of X. And Xmen is some of my favorite comics there are ever in the world. So we were very eager to talk to him, waited in line, had celebrity encounters in line, which was quite fun. Uh, but when we finally got to Jonathan Hickman, I was wearing my custom deer watchers shirt that I made, which has dark claw, is greater than Wolverine, plus Batman. And the person sitting next to Hickman recognized it, started talking to me about it. And Hickman had never heard of Amalgam. He did not remember any of it happening in the he was really interested in learning from his colleague and Elliot and me about Amalgam and what it was. Was it any good? He said Dr. Strangefate, which we've also covered in an episode, would be the title he probably would have bought. And that sounded really cool. And, uh, he was asking some of the creators involved and really had no idea. His colleague was an assistant editor on some of the Marvel DC crossover books. And it was just really fun to be able to talk to him. Obviously, prior to that, we praised his work and thanked him for his work and talked about the Three Moons, Three Worlds project. But to have this conversation about Amalgam and what it meant in comics and how strange it is and would it ever happen, and of course, they joked that there were two companies who wanted to sue me for my Tshirt, probably. And he was like, wow, this is a really neat idea. And Elliot joked that in a few years, we might see Hickman's unannounced Marvel project being a Marvel DC crossover. And he said he had some ideas going already. So I don't imagine it will ever happen, sadly. But again, it was such a cool moment. And if it happens, it is all thanks to us.
Rob: Yay. And is that shirt in our coffee store? It is dug on it now before the new collaboration comes out, if you.
Guido: Go to Deerwatchers.com on the Join and support tab, uh, button, it'll take you. And you can order that shirt that we had made mainly actually as a thank you gift to make mine Amalgam Ethan for being on the show. But we kept making them and have been working on a few others just to show our love of Amalgam mhm.
Rob: And speaking of Xmen artists, uh, people in the Xmen world, we also met Luciano Vecchio, an artist who is amazing, who was so generous and signed so much stuff for us. But that's not all. We actually commissioned something for our show, for our listeners to enjoy, and especially for those who are turning into our tuning into our bonus podcast, Omniversity. Um, yeah.
Guido: So Omniversity, as our regular listeners know, just started up last week. It is exclusive for our patrons, all of our members at either the Three Dollar Spectator tier or the Six Dollar Watcher tier. There's different benefits to both, but all members at either tier get to listen to our patron only Omniversity podcast, which wanders through the magic of fictional reality. And our first series, if you will, of, um, Omniversity is covering Promethea, another alltime favorite comic of mine, Alan Moore. Some of his best work, funny enough, in the Alan Moore interview out this weekend that everyone is talking about with him, yet again, reaffirming that he is not going to make more comics. The only comic he does actually go on to talk a bit about is Promethea, because he describes it as being representative of his magical interests, of being a good way to learn a little bit about magic, and being an example of art that tries to transform your senses and tries to do something different to sort of replace your sense of reality. And he tried to do that through that comic. Anyway, very cool that they got that mention in the Allan Moore interview, but our Omniversity series on Promethea is available. And of course, Luciano, who does these incredible figures, does lots of women and kick ass characters that we love, had to draw Promethea, and it was so great that he had time and we were able to commission him. So we're going to share images of that, or maybe we already have when this episode has gone live, and we're going to put a higher scan of it up for our coffee members. When you join, it'll be accessible in there because it is so cool looking and it was so great that we were able to do that. And we're hoping one day soon Luciano might be on and we can talk more about Promethia.
Rob: It's just amazing that these artists can create this in a day's time. And I know it's their job, but when you see this sketch and you go, oh my gosh, that person created that in less than a day.
Guido: It was ours. And he thought he'd need until today. This was yesterday. And that was fine because I was coming back every day. But gosh, I want to say it was within 3 hours.
Rob: And there's a text message.
Guido: It's done.
Rob: Having conversations with people.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Guido: And it has some shading. It's not colored, but it's a full body has some shading, uh, of Promethea, the amazing hero of the comic.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Rob: And so we spent a lot of time in artist ally, but we did go to some panels. And you and I aren't big panel people, but we did catch some really fun panels, including today, where we got to go to a panel for the upcoming Disney Plus series, Muppets Mayhem.
Guido: Yeah, it was really fun to go to that. I mean, it makes me want to cry every time I'm in a space. Thinking about the muppets. I think a lot of people who love the Muppets, they sort of just occupy a part of your soul if you had any sort of formative relationship to them. So to have the legend of Bill Baretta on the stage talking about being, uh, Dr. Teeth and creating Pepe the King Prawn, who was on his socks and doing Bobo the Bear, and then have the cast and crew of the show and the creators, who are huge mega fans, talk about working with Muppets and what that was like. It was so cool. We actually took video of the parts that were not clips because those are highly protected but were very fun. We took some video of the discussions, though, and put it on our YouTube channel so people can look at it. And I posted the links on Twitter earlier when we got out of the panel because that show, I hope will be huge. The muppet mayhem. I hope it will be part of a long deserved comeback. But regardless, this was such a neat opportunity to explore the creation of Muppets now.
Speaker C: Yes. Yeah.
Rob: Lily Singh is going to be the star. That andrew's home from workaholics. But the real celebrity up there for us was Bill Barretta because he created Pepe the Prawn. And he's going to be leading this show as not only Dr. Keith, but also as an EP. And he's been with the Muppets for over 30 years.
Guido: He got emotional talking about it and I put that video up of him getting emotional and doing some of the voices. So really neat stuff in the Muppet mayhem. But you also went to a panel on your own last night that was also about legends. Yes.
Rob: Speaking of someone who's been doing something a very long time, I went to a panel with Jamie, uh, Lee Curtis talking about her career through the lens of the Halloween films. And what was really neat was it was moderated by Drew Barrymore. So a fellow scream queen, a fellow person who started very young in her career or even younger than Jamie lee. And it was a really great conversation. The one thing I took away from it, uh, from Jamie Le Curtis as a person is she is a star in the way that not everyone is today. She just has that thing where everything she says is quotable and acerbic and sarcastic and a story that you could see that she's crafted in her head. And it was just the kind of thing that you don't get from all of these. Sometimes people are regurgitating kind of press stuff, but you could see that that was not the case here. And she was very, like, kind of Bill Barretta. She was really emotional and talking about that she would not have a career without Laurie Strode. It was her first ever film. She had done a few TV episodes, like, Of The Loveboat and stuff like that. This was her first film, and it has been such a mainstay throughout her career. And this will be the last time she's playing the role. Coming up in a couple weeks with holiday Halloween, uh, ends. And you mentioned it earlier, of course someone was cosplaying as her from I.
Guido: Wonder if she saw people on the floor as her when she was, uh, going in and outspace a year for.
Rob: An actor who is I believe she said she's 64. Uh, so someone who's in her 60s. She's going to have a number one movie in this big genre. And then she might be nominated for an Academy Award for this amazing performance in this totally original movie. So it's just cool to see that happening to someone like that.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Guido: And it's fun that Drew was the person interacting with her because, like you said, they have horror connections. They have being in the industry for a long time connections. And that's just neat. Because while I appreciate the work that the TV Guide and Variety reporter people do, facilitating panels, it's neat when it's a discussion and a conversation with two people who have a shared experience.
Rob: And it ended with Drew asking her some rapid fire questions, um, not, uh, about Halloween. And they were asking her question about Freaky Friday. And Jamie Lee Curtis was saying that she recently got a text from Lindsay Lohan. But she said, okay, prove you're Lindsay Lohan, because I'm sure she gets a lot of strange texts. So Lindsay had to say, what song were they learning the rap for during, like, a long day on the set? Shooting Freaky Friday. Uh, wow.
Speaker C: Really?
Guido: Don't mess with Jamie Lane.
Rob: No.
Guido: He has, uh, security systems in mind. So, panel wise, Elliot and I tried to make it to the Superman panel. It filled up. But my gosh, those announcements have us very excited for Superman comics next year. If you haven't followed them, go find the announcements for all of the titles and what Clarke's return means and how it's going to be handled and powergirl coming back. We just this morning, heard about the really touching and extraordinary panel m, remembering George Perez from Brad and Lisa at comic book couples counseling. So connect with them to hear more about that panel that we didn't get to attend, but sounds really moving. The doom patrol and titans panel revealed some of the footage. Doom patrol being, I think, just one of the best comic adaptations out there. So.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Guido: Lots of fun filled panels and announcements at.
Speaker C: Uh.
Guido: New York comic Con.
Speaker C: Mhm.
Guido: But on that theme of connections and friendships. I mean. Just thank you to Elliot. One of my favorite people on earth. As he knows very well. But now is public forever and ever and Brad and Lisa getting to spend time together and just do things and move about the space. Go off site and talk and recap the day. And it's just been so incredible to continue those connections.
Rob: Yeah, we were recapping the day and sure enough, we were on our way out and Tom willing from Smallville walked up and Elliott got to speak with him. And those are the kind of cool connections that you can have at something like this. And going back to, I think, where we started this conversation about kindness from people, it's like Tom willing can just, you know, say hello to a fan at a restaurant and something like that, which is just really, you know, that makes you feel good when you know that someone's willing to do that.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Rob: So, yeah. Thank you all for joining us for our recap. If you're coming to New York Comic Con next year, we will be there. Of course, they've already announced the dates, so we will be there probably all four days.
Speaker C: We want to see you.
Guido: So listeners who make it up, please make sure to tell us. And, uh, otherwise you can go to deerwatchers.com to learn how to join and get access to that omniversity and our other updates.
Rob: For patrons, follow us on Twitter because we've shared a lot of photos from this weekend. So you can follow us at deer watchers on twitter to see some recaps.
Guido: And our regular episodes are still coming every Monday. Haven't missed a week.
Speaker C: We won't.
Guido: Even though New York comic con has exhausted us, we have a special episode coming, so goodbye.