Dear Watchers: an omniversal comic book podcast

Rob: Marley was dead to begin with, as dead as a doornail. And yet his ghostly visage appeared on my door knocker instead.
Guido: What show is this?
Rob: Welcome to Dear Watchers, an Omniversal comic book podcast where we do a deep dive into the multiverse.
Guido: We are traveling with you usually through the stories and the worlds that make up an omniverse of fictional reality we all love. Um, loves. And your watchers on this journey are, as always, the gito scrooge edge with.
Rob: My little crutch edge. Tiny rom loud governor.
Guido: Plus, we have two guests. But I'm going to start with the guest that I never thought we would get on our show. This is the best guest get we could ever have imagined because it is our dear friend, the lovely partner spouse of Elliot Comic Art, Nancy. Hello, Nancy.
Nancy: Hi. I'm Water. That's not my usual introduction.
ElliotComicArt: Nancy. I don't like comic art.
Guido: Oh, gosh, that's going to be her new nickname.
ElliotComicArt: Nancy was comic art. I don't get it.
Rob: And of course, that other voice you're hearing is none other than Elliot Comic Art himself, friend of the show, creator of the incredible amalgamini's, uh, line, and the only person we could look back on the year with.
ElliotComicArt: Yes. Thank you. Thanks for having me back. I believe this really seals the record for the most.
Guido: No one's catching up to you again. You're good.
ElliotComicArt: I'm the Lionel messi of Lionel dear.
Guido: What is that?
ElliotComicArt: It's a sports reference.
Guido: Are you showing off for Nancy now?
ElliotComicArt: Come on.
Guido: Um, so we are looking back on the year with a trip through the multiverse. We're exploring the Dickensian Christmas Carol universe.
Rob: Yes, well, actually, sorry, not to be a scrooge gito, but we're not. Although that is definitely a multiverse.
Guido: Do Dickens stories like Coexist? Maybe there is a Dickensian multiverse, but.
Rob: Even Christmas Carol itself is kind of a multiverse story. You've got different possibilities, different timelines going on. So maybe at, uh, one day we're going to talk about that. But for today, we're just going to use the structure of that story.
Guido: Yeah.
Rob: How so? Our focus usually remains on comics, but as a podcast about the Omniverse, we are intentionally pulling in lots more media to wrap up the year with.
Guido: Yes. And create entry points for everyone who listens to us. And this is a good episode to share with friends who don't love comics, because we have someone on here who doesn't love comics. So what better way to wrap up the year?
Rob: That's me.
Nancy: In case anyone's wondering, that is Nancy.
Guido: I don't like comic art.
ElliotComicArt: Or maybe, uh, nancy. I tolerate comic art.
Rob: Yes. So we're going to explore the past, the present, and the future. And of course, first we're going to go back to the past. So everyone grab hold of my rope, uh, my magical robe, and my ropes. Let's travel into the past.
Guido: Okay, so for the past, we're going to start with the favorite thing you reread this year? Because this is about revisiting the past. Not just the past of 2022, but even before that. So what's the favorite thing you reread this year?
Rob: Elliot?
Guido: Uh, why don't you start?
ElliotComicArt: Uh, so, Gito, you and I have been on I'll share with everyone that you and I have kind of picked some things to reread. They're sometimes based on what's coming up in the MCU, and sometimes it's just based on what we're both interested in rereading. And so it was a tough choice between the Jason Aaron Thor reread we did before Thor Levin Thunder, and we just wrapped up our Death of Superman, but I have to go with the Jason Aaron Thor reread I did. I just loved, um, revisiting that I only read it once through, and we started with Gore the God Butcher, went all the way through the Jane Foster Mighty Thor era, and I just really enjoyed it. I love Russell. Dottterman's art. I love the story. We recorded a podcast on it, and, um, it was definitely my favorite book. Reread.
Guido: Yeah. And people can go listen to episode 53 to hear us talk about that reread.
ElliotComicArt: What about you, Rob?
Rob: Yeah, so this was probably the easiest question of all the topics that we're going to discuss right now. And we had a very meaningful interview conversation with Catherine Schuler Gruenwald, the widow and legacy advocate for the writer and editor Mark Gruenwald. And after talking to Kat, it really inspired me to go back and read Mark's twelve issue miniseries of The Squadron Supreme. I had read that in middle school, and I think it really spoiled me because I really thought that's what comic storytelling was, and that storytelling is definitely rare. And it wasn't until years later that I had read Watchmen, and I think reading Squadron Supreme first was one of the reasons why I wasn't even bowled over by Watchmen the first time I read it, because it was like, oh, I've already read kind of a take on this kind of storytelling. So I just reread it. And it is such an amazing twelve issues. It is just phenomenal. And just the depth of the storytelling and how economical it is also over twelve issues, and it's just fantastic. So I really loved rereading this, and I hope to actually read beyond some of the other Mark work on the Squadron. I had read a little bit of the work he had done before that twelve issue series, too, so I want to keep reading and see where his work goes from there. Nancy?
Nancy: Uh, I'm sorry.
Rob: Go ahead.
ElliotComicArt: I'm now really excited. I'm adding it to my 2023 list.
Rob: Yes, definitely. Everyone should definitely read it.
Guido: I see Nancy taking copious notes, too.
Rob: Yeah, definitely read it and then listen to our interview with Kat, because it gives great insight into Mark's take on storytelling. But yeah. Nancy, what about you? As are the person least familiar with comics for once, it's not me on this podcast.
Nancy: Okay. So, um, I'm going to very quickly diverge from all of you in that I don't reread things so many new things out there to read that I was like, just looking through my Kindle and looking at my bedside table and being like, no, it's all new stuff for me. So I really can't even answer that honestly unless it's like books that I've had to read to my children over and over again.
ElliotComicArt: You reread the love letters I wrote you every night before you.
Nancy: HM.
Guido: Have you reread in your life? It's just not a common thing. Is there a book that you've returned to that you love?
Nancy: Um, yes. I haven't read it for ages now. But it's about time. It's called the brother's k um, not kara's mottoff. And it's, um, by David James Duncan. And it's like a sort of epic novel that follows a family over close to 100 years. And I have reread that one a few times. It's about time to bring it back, actually. But it's just so hard when there's so many new things out there to read. Or you can reread your comics.
ElliotComicArt: I will.
Guido: Comics are so much I mean, even though we elliot and I especially tend to reread these really large volumes. But otherwise, comics are generally easier to reread than a novel because you can get through them quite quickly. So makes sense that you wouldn't reread a novel quite as often.
Nancy: Yes. Although the flip side of that is that I find choosing a book to read to be at, uh, one of my least favorite tasks. So at some point it would make sense that I'd return to books I've already read because I get stopped in my tracks when I have to choose up a new book.
Guido: Yeah. Things, you know you like.
Nancy: Yeah.
Guido: Uh, so for me, I am choosing a comic. I do reread books sometimes. Accidentally, I reread a book because I'll start to log it on goodreads and realize, oh, I read that before. Which just shows you I don't pay a lot of attention to the things I read sometimes. Otherwise, comics I always pay a lot of attention to. But I'm going to choose. And it's going to be a little self promoting because I'm going to choose our reread of Promethea Rob that we're doing right now on our spin off podcast. Omniversity. Because I've reread that many times. It came out starting in 99. So over the last 23, four years, I've reread it probably half a dozen times. I hadn't read it in maybe five years until we were rereading it. And this is the most in depth I've ever examined it. And it is so dense that I'm still discovering new things about it. And that is really cool for a work that I love and have revisited so many times to be able to explore it and find new things about it that I appreciate and love. So I'm enjoying it. We're only what are we not even a third of the way through? So we have a ways to go.
Rob: Yeah. Now, what if you want to take in some entertainment? But reading, it's just so much work. Right? So what about watching someone the lazy person's reading? Right. So what is your favorite thing that you've rewatched this year? Nancy, do you want to kick us off?
Nancy: Yes, I do have an answer for this. It's not part of your Marvel, um, or in general comic universe. Um, I do not usually rewatch things either. I watched Richardson twice. I watched the second season, and then I had to go back and watch the first season and then the second season again, which is unheard of. Like, Elliot walked in on me watching. It was like.
ElliotComicArt: No, to be fair, I was doing work and she was down the basement and I could hear Brittany knows Taylor Swift, and people, like, moaning and climaxing.
Nancy: And I was like.
ElliotComicArt: Rewatching. Bridgeton.
Guido: And what prompted rewatching it, since that's so rare for you. And that's the commitment. Because it's more than mhm not a movie. Right. It must be at least 10 hours or something.
Nancy: Okay. In no particular order, one, Jonathan Bailey, star of Bridgerton season two. Um, but number two, I think it's because I loved Pride and Prejudice when I was younger. And what I loved about that, and that Bridgerton does so well, is they build up, uh, they build up the tension of what it's like to fall in love. And as all four of us on this call know well, once you are very happily settled in your love, that's not an experience you get to do over again. So it's like a way to live that while still having the relationships, but to watch others, they do it really brilliantly. And I like the way they mix, um, the time period, but they've made it very multiracial. And they bring in modern music and they're sort of juxtaposing the modern and the old, um, in an interesting way. But for me, it's, like, mostly the building of that tension. And Jonathan Bailey.
ElliotComicArt: That's why we loved Heart Stopper so much. I had to realize why they build up it's like, sorry, this is not a rewatch or anything while you're talking like, that's why Heart Stopper was so good. It was so authentic to what it feels like to follow.
Nancy: I'm sure. Um, you were going to say Bridgerton also.
Guido: I've never watched it, and I do feel like I should, but it's not.
Nancy: Made it yet, uh, on your list. Yeah.
Guido: And it's funny, Ellie. It just reminded me that I rewatched Heart Stoppers three times. So I should have chosen that, but I didn't choose that. I was thinking and actually, mine is not comics related, which Heart Stoppers would have been, and I highly recommend it, but I was thinking about things I re watched that really, on this viewing, my relationship to it changed. And the only thing or one of the things that came to mind was probably toward the beginning of this year, they did a UK limited edition release of the 1991 movie Drop Dead Fret mhm. Anyone other than Rob remember this movie, Elliot? You remember it? With Phoebe? Kate's yeah. So watching it now, and I loved that movie as a child, and I used to rewatch it a lot. Watching it now, it is so adult, and I understand why I loved it because it's about mental illness and it's about depression and it's about growing up, and it's actually pretty dark, and there's things about it that are a little disturbing and they wouldn't find their way into a kids movie today. And I loved it and rewatching it this year. It has surrealism, too, of course, which I really am, um, drawn to stories with surrealism. So rewatching it. And I probably have not seen that in 25 or more years because they never released it on DVD in North America until very recently. I loved watching it. So drop the spread.
Rob: I had never seen it, but I think Gito, I know you're not an only child, but you were a latch key kid, and I was an only child. So I can even then appreciate it as having that imaginary friend and finding something to fill your time when you don't have someone at home as well. So I think that part, even as an adult, really resonated with me. And definitely I wish I had seen it as a kid.
ElliotComicArt: I feel bad about judging it now because I didn't get it and I haven't thought about that movie.
Guido: No. Again, I knew I loved it and I knew it was a little edgy and adult, but I didn't know the depth of the story that was happening and what they were doing with it until this viewing, which is why I chose it for this question, because it really transformed my relationship to it as a story. So that's my favorite rewatch this year. Rob so I have a little cheat.
Rob: Because I don't have a specific one single thing, but I am a big lover of physical media, as is ghetto, I know. And yeah, I just didn't want a lot of I would buy these DVDs and Blurays and things like that, but I wouldn't often take advantage of this special feature. So I really sat down and said, you know what? Some days I'm going to sit and listen to the commentary tracks on some of these things. These are things everyone has these really impressive commentary tracks, but you don't sit and, oh, I've already seen this movie. What, am I going to sit through the whole thing and listen just to the commentary? But that's what I did. So I went and sat through the original 1978 Halloween. I watched it twice with two different commentary tracks. I watched Creep show with George Romero and Tom Savini doing their commentary. There's a British show. I love this horror comedy show, the League of Gentlemen. And all four of the creators of that do commentary. And it's just fun because on all of these, all the ones I listen to is people that worked together. They knew each other really well. On the Creep Show one, you could literally hear George Romero lighting his cigarettes throughout the entire time with his lighter. So it's just like him and Tom Savini in Pittsburgh sitting there watching it. The League of Gentlemen. They went to college together. So you can just hear people who have known each other for decades. And it's just really fun. And it does give you insight into the process. And it's something I just kind of want to continue to do more in 2023, is actually take advantage of taking in these great special features on all of this great physical media. Elliott, uh, what about you? I know you're like, you're constantly rewatching stuff too.
ElliotComicArt: I really struggle with this. I'm looking at my list right now. It's written down. I still haven't decided. I just recently rewatched almost all of phase four, except for, uh, the MCU, except for the television shows. But I did rewatch the Hawkeye show. I really love that. I love Shang Chi again. And I started watching if I had finished Watchmen on HBO, I still haven't rewatched it. And I got like three episodes in and then got distracted by new stuff. That probably would have been it. But I'm going to go with something totally different. I recently I know you guys did. I rewatched Willow preparation for the I hadn't watched it since it originally came out. And I didn't have high hopes for it because I was like, oh, I loved it as like an eight year old. Um, it's probably not going to be that good. And it was really good. I couldn't remember any plot, but every time a new scene came up, I remembered exactly what was going to happen in that scene. And then I would have no idea what was going to happen. And then a character, an event happened. I was like, oh, I know what's going to happen again. So it was the strict definition of nostalgia. I just loved watching it. I remembered how I felt about watching certain scenes. And I remembered my interpretation of those scenes as an, uh, elementary school kid. And so got to experience what that felt like and, uh, seeing it now as a 41 year old with an adult lens. Um, and it was great. It was like a classic George Lucas. It was what I loved about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and Indiana Jones, and everything mashed up into like, George Lucas being like, we should just do like a Lord of the Rings thing. Before Lord of the Rings was even a movie. Uh, so it's recently bias. Um, why do you think you never.
Guido: Revisited it before now?
ElliotComicArt: Because I probably thought like, oh, I loved it as a kid. It's just not going to be good. It's not like people don't talk about it. Like they talk about Star Wars and things like that that I have revisited multiple times. I've rewatched Jurassic Park. But these are franchises that are getting picked up or Back to the Future. I love that movie. And I've rewatched that whole trilogy. Um, again. But yeah, I hadn't thought about it until people started talking about it again because of the TV series. And it was really fun. It was great. Yeah.
Rob: That's amazing. Hold on.
ElliotComicArt: Well, I'm going to see right when we finish recording, I'm going to be like, no, never mind. It was chunky.
Rob: Hold on, guys. Someone's yelling at me from the other room. Bob, I can't put another coal in the furnace. Do you know how much coal costs with inflation right now? Okay. Sorry, Bob. Okay, everyone, let's jump into our giant cornucopia and travel into a new time, into the present.
Guido: Who knew this episode would really demand that, you know, a Christmas Carol.
Rob: Deep cuts. Deep cuts.
Guido: So for the present, we decided to switch media forms. We didn't want to stay in any one format. So let's find out what we are listening to right now. So this isn't a curated answer. This is the true present. Not right now, in this very minute, obviously, but the last thing, therefore, that you listened to. And I'll start we're going to do music and podcasts. And I will start with music and hold on. I looked earlier at what my last played was, and then I forgot. So now I need to look again so I can tell everyone that the last thing I listened to was the in the Heights soundtrack. So I put that on because we had gone to the Museum of Broadway and it made me want to listen to lots of my favorite Broadway shows. And in the Heights is one of those. So I listened to that and loved it.
ElliotComicArt: Trivia, for you.
Guido: Oh, no.
ElliotComicArt: Which in the Heights actor from the movie that they made is in the MCU.
Guido: Well, you mean Red Hood?
ElliotComicArt: No.
Guido: The Hood. No, he's going to be yeah, that, uh, guy. Someone who already is. I don't know. You'll have to tell me.
ElliotComicArt: My four and a half year old wanted to watch Iron Man's Three the other day. And Corey Hawkins is like a military guy.
Guido: Oh, get out.
ElliotComicArt: Get on. And I was like, oh my gosh. He's like some random bit part with probably like 300 people down in the credit. So I was like.
Guido: That'S fun. Well, maybe he'll come back. That would be fun. All right, Elliot, what's the last music you listened to?
ElliotComicArt: Uh, it is definitely from our Christmas pop playlist. Hold on. Um, um, it's the old 97s. Uh oh.
Guido: Get out.
ElliotComicArt: The Guardians of the Galaxy. Uh, do you know it's Christmas time? Oh, I don't know what Christmas time is, but it's oh, no, I'm going to hold on, I'm watching.
Rob: It something about Christmas.
ElliotComicArt: It's something about Christmas. It's I don't know what Christmas is, but Christmas Time is here by the old ninety seven s. And it's probably the most played Christmas song this holiday season. I've been fans for 15 years, Nancy, and I've seen them live twice. M m in Brooklyn, and I've seen them live many times. And now my fandoms are merging with the MCU.
Guido: Ah, who to guess that merge?
ElliotComicArt: It's a really fun song and my kids love it. Our kids love it.
Guido: Are they?
Nancy: Yeah, it was fun. Our ten year old's favorite is the Kevin Bacon song from the Christmas Special.
ElliotComicArt: He's singing it. But that's an old movie.
Rob: Seven.
Nancy: But that's the one you're talking about.
ElliotComicArt: No, I'm talking about the other one. Right.
Nancy: Uh, but it was really fun because prior to the Christmas special, we were like, you need to understand who Kevin Bacon is and you need to have a little bit of footloose. So we pulled out scenes from Footlooses for them to watch so they could appreciate Kevin Bacon.
ElliotComicArt: I just found a drawing of Graham's. It's a little strip of bacon and it's a little bird blue, and it says, Hi, I'm Kevin.
Guido: Oh, my gosh, that's really clever. Nancy, what are you listening to right now? What was the music you asked to listen to?
Nancy: Oh, gosh. Well, um, from the same shared playlist that we have for our family on Spotify, when I drive our four and a half year old to school every morning, he wants on repeat so that I don't have to listen to his songs on repeat. We have a deal where we get his songs on the highway and my songs when we're off the highway. I get more time, he gets less. He wants spidey bells nonstop, which is.
Guido: From oh, that's from the closing credits, right? Of into the spiderverse.
ElliotComicArt: It's not even in the closing credits, I don't think. We just watched into the Spiderverse again. Uh, it's the album that they made that they referenced in the movie as Peter Parker singing all these songs. It's really fun.
Nancy: So that's not by choice. It's entertaining, but it is not what I would have like last played. Honest is better than, like, Kaboomer's kid music version of anything.
ElliotComicArt: Kid kids Bob.
Guido: Kids Bob. Yeah.
Nancy: Party bells over most of the others. Um, and what about you, Rob?
Rob: Of course, it is around Christmas time, so I do like a Christmas song, but I'm I'm kind of selective in that I love the the Monkeys Christmas album. Of course, the Pogues Fairytale of New York is great, but my Go to Christmas album is a Christmas gift for you by Phil Specter from the 60s with the Ronnettes and the crystals and bobby socks and the blue jeans. And darlene love. It has what I definitely consider the greatest Christmas song of all time. Darlene, uh, loves. Now I'm blanking out the title.
Guido: Christmas baby, please come Home. No, that's not it. That's Princeton.
Rob: No.
ElliotComicArt: Christmas. Baby, please come home.
Rob: Yes, because I also had such a big connection to watching the Lake show with David Letterman growing up. And definitely was a thing that I did with my dad all the time. He was no longer here. And every year, Darlene Love was on David Letterman. And she was on Letterman for 25 years. And she did Christmas. Baby, please Come home every year on Letterman. Uh, so that album, that song has such a resonance with me. And even though Phil Specter did murder Someone, I still love that album a lot. It is my go to holiday listen.
Guido: All right, so next up in your ears right now, what podcast are you listening to? Like, are you part way through or did you just finish?
Nancy: Nancy um, so I have two, but Elliot told me one was more interesting than the other, or at least for this purpose. Um, it's called Chris and Dave's Reality Podcast. And I don't know how I found it, but it's these 240 year old something English guys who just, um, destroy. Like, I watched Love Island, um, England and Australia. And they tear it apart. And it's very entertaining. And they love nothing more than when their listeners write into them and tear them down and everything. So, um, it's just funny because they have a little more contextual. It's a huge show in England the way it's not here. Um, so that's kind of fun for me to hear their take on it and, uh, feel a little less alone in my viewing of Love Island.
Guido: Have you written in?
Rob: Yes.
Nancy: What's that?
Guido: Have you written in? You said they accept reader comments.
Nancy: They do, but the problem is, is that they're broadcast, um, on delay here. So by the time I would write three weeks ahead or something. But it is and then I also used it for Love is Blind. So I just enjoy it. They're thoroughly amusing. Um, so that's the one. If I was being serious, I love this news podcast called Mo News. That is great. Um, from Moshe Shannon.
Rob: Get this, Nancy. My podcast is also a British podcast recapping a quote unquote reality show. So we are really in sync here. So one of the biggest things I have discovered this year couldn't fit into one of these questions. But one of my biggest obsessions, one of the things I've fallen the most in love with this year is the British game show Taskmaster. And I love this show. It is just one of those shows that especially in kind of like, dark times and stuff happening, it just makes me feel good to watch it. And it's funny people doing funny things. And it's clever. It's very clever. And you can actually watch them if you're listening in the States on YouTube. And, uh, the last thing I was listening to is the official Taskmaster podcast hosted by the Great British, uh, comedian Ed Gamble. And he has a guest on every episode, and they rewatch an episode of Taskmaster and talk about that episode. He has a lot of former contestants from the show on. So I was just listening to them go through a season two episode, and that was the most recent thing. I feel like this year is the year of recap podcasts. I feel I don't know, maybe it started last year, but all of a sudden, there seems to be so many recap podcasts, and, uh, for the most part, I'm pretty down with it.
Nancy: Wait, Rob. Uh, what is the premise of the game show? Brief.
Rob: So the premise of the game show is that they have a fun, weird task to do. So, for instance, draw a picture of a horse while riding a horse or make this block of ice disappear in the quickest amount of time. What does that mean?
Guido: They're very open ended, and they're pre recorded, and then they get judged on it and ranked and scored.
Rob: Yeah. Try to tell what this pie is without, like, actually looking or tasting what the pie is. And so often, there's some kind of trick to kind of get through it that's something out of the box. And sometimes it's just the most straightforward answer, and it's comedian, so they do it in a very funny way.
Nancy: I can't wait. Thank you.
ElliotComicArt: Rob, I have a task for you. Yes, Mary. Screw kill. Ready. Ask Master. The game show. Uh huh. hashmaster from the MCU. Task master from the.
Rob: Comics. Well, I would, uh, marry the game show because it makes me feel good. It's very comforting.
Guido: And he would probably marry the host of the game show. I think he's an odd straight man. But Rob is really very careful because he's very clever and funny.
Rob: Yes. I would kill, uh, the one from the comic, I think, because that was the most deadly I think I have only read the character in the comic a bit, so I feel like I would want to kill that version. And I guess I would want to romantically, uh, be involved with the one from the MCU, I guess. Yeah. I don't know.
Guido: All right, Elliot, what's your podcast?
ElliotComicArt: Presently, I just did a grocery store pickup, and on the way to the grocery store pickup, I listened to the latest episode of spectales, uh, the M maxwell Prince. What?
Guido: Oh, the other it's the other ice cream man. Half ice cream man.
Rob: Right.
ElliotComicArt: Uh, so, spectales, uh, if you're listening to Dear Watchers A Lot, I'm hoping you're listening to spectales also. Jake and his do a great job. They interview a lot of great celebrity guests and. They have really fun episodes. Um, and I just really enjoy listening to them because they.
Rob: Do parts.
ElliotComicArt: Um, of the podcast are about recent pickups. So, like, what comic books they've recently picked up. And I like the speculation part, but I really like the story, the grail tales about people, like, finding, like, a comic they really wanted or getting a signature they really wanted. I love those fun stories. So I was just listening out in the car. I just started it like, 25 minutes into the.
Rob: Episode.
ElliotComicArt: Um, yes.
Guido: Go for it. I just finished listening to Rob and Me on Comic Bookkeepers and started the latest episode of Ten Cent takes on the DC Holiday Special comics. So I'm straddling two podcasts. I don't usually I was, uh, telling you all before we started. I don't usually listen to us other than when we need to edit. But I really like listening to Comic Bookkeepers and what Lance does over there with comics. And I wanted to hear our conversation again because it was so much fun to have it. So why not listen to it again?
ElliotComicArt: It was a great episode. I loved it. It was great.
Guido: Thank you.
Rob: All right, I hate to interrupt again. Now there's a giant skeleton in a black robe, and he's just pointing at it. Use your words. Use your words. I don't know what he wants. He's just pointing. So I guess he's pointing into the next segment, the Future m. All right.
Guido: So for our final segment of today's year in Review, we're actually going to look ahead into 2023. And we are going to start with we're going to be making predictions or wishes of what we want. So let's start with what we think the most likely thing that will happen in something we're a fan of that we want to happen next year. So I'll kick us off for this one. And, uh, I think two of you are going to laugh at me. I think we will meet an X Men character in the MCU. I'm choosing that for my most likely, and maybe I'll be wrong and we'll a year from now find out. But I think that's the most likely. And that's what I would like to see, how it seems realistic, a character.
Rob: Or you're just going to keep it.
Guido: Then that makes my chances go down. Then I'm getting my odds or whatever gambling speak there is start to decrease. So no, I'm keeping it broad. An X Men character in the MCU. Not a side character, an actual member of the team. A member of the X Men that we know as an X Man will show up in the MCU. That's what I want to happen. That I think is most likely in 2023. Fingers crossed. All right, Elliot, my guess is yours might be MCU too. So let's go to you.
ElliotComicArt: It's not, and I've been a data of yours and all your predictions, but I'm going to support you on this wingito, I do think because we know that Hugh Jackman Wolverine is going to show up in some capacity as Deadpool, but that's not 2023. I think you're going to get it. Mine is DC related. Shockingly. And I am not a huge DC. I'm not a DC movie fan, um, and have not been dabbling in DC comics until very recently. And my most likely this is really vague. It's kind of lame. I want there to be some announcement. The comics are doing really well, so I guess I'm shifting now, now that James Gunn and John Saffron have been announced as is it John Saffron? Is that right?
Guido: Peter Cedar?
Rob: Right, yeah.
ElliotComicArt: I've been announced as, like, taking over and finding a new direction for the DCU. I just saw an announcement that James Gun is writing Superman. No judgments there. I need some other announcement. I want there to be and I think there will be casting a storyline, something that's happening in the Superman world that gets me as excited as I was when other things have been announced. Like, I haven't been really excited by it. Philip Kennedy Johnson is doing an amazing job, and Tom Taylor have been doing an amazing job with the Superman comics. That's got me excited. I want to feel that same excitement in the visual TV movie realm. The Superman Lois TV show.
Guido: I guess it has to be a movie because yeah, Superman and Lois, right?
ElliotComicArt: Superman Lois is doing really well. I need let me try to make a prediction. Yes. I want the movie to be announced. That's what I guess I want.
Rob: Right.
ElliotComicArt: The most likely thing, like, we know the writers attach I want the actor or the date to be announced. And I want the date to act.
Guido: Or a title that gives you a little bit more of a clue.
ElliotComicArt: Yeah. Like Superman birthright.
Guido: That would like right, exactly.
ElliotComicArt: Drive me nuts. Yeah. That would make me go crazy. Yeah.
Guido: All right. I don't know how that I don't know that that's the most likely, but.
ElliotComicArt: Hopefully it's more likely than anything else I'm about to.
Rob: Say.
Guido: All right, Nancy, what is something you want to see happen that you think is likely going to happen in anything you're a fan of?
Nancy: Okay, well, first of all, I love this question or this series of questions because it feels like the conversation I think it is the conversation that we always have when we're, like, driving in our family van with you. Two movie that we all whenever we go see one of the new MCU movies and we're always like, what do we think is going to happen? And you all have your very well researched responses. And I'm like I think I'd like so and.
Guido: So. That inspired this segment.
Nancy: Okay, 100%. I'm sorry that we're not in the van headed to, um, a new release. But it's also funny because for these questions. I do know none of this is founded in any possible knowledge research background. So it's just like, oh, so I can't even remember if I ran this by you. I would really like I don't know if it's the most likely. I want Kate Bishop to show up somewhere. Lord, her character. I want more like I'm all for the strong and funny female characters in the MCU. You know how I feel about my preference for any of the MCU grounded on Earth in reality, not about the multiverse. So I want her somewhere. I don't know if it's likely at all.
ElliotComicArt: Thing is, that answer probably is going to show up this year. I think it's most likely, but I think the most likely place she's going to show up in is in Antman Quantumia. Okay.
Guido: Which you think?
ElliotComicArt: I, um, just think because Cassie Length in it and she says I'm wondering if she's friends with Bishop.
Nancy: I don't know. I would really like, after Rob shares this, too, that of these, we keep track of these. And mine is the most likely that if a m year from now, m.
Guido: Mine is the only one that happens. Yeah, I'd say that's pretty likely.
Rob: Although if a year from now there's not an X Man introduced, I think we'll start to slowly lose his mind. So we'll see. There's only so long he can wait.
Guido: Yes, that's true.
Nancy: So, Rob, what is yours?
Rob: Well, mine is not comic related. Everything I'm going to say for this segment is about a horror franchise. The same franchise, no different horror franchises. And the first is a confirmed return of an old favorite, maybe probably my favorite horror franchise. We know that Friday the 13th will be coming back in the form of a television series this next year that will be called Crystal Lake or something like that. And it's being run by Brian Fuller. And there's been a lot of legal problems, legal hurdles with Friday the 13th and Jason Voorhees and those rights. So finally coming back. And my prediction will seem very specific, but I think it's a pretty good one. So, uh, my prediction is that on this new series, jason is going to be queer. And that seems very specific.
Guido: But that well, with Brian Fuller being the showrunner exactly. It fits in the most likely category.
Rob: Yeah. So Brian Fuller, great queer out show runner. He also created Hannibal in which he made and which Hannibal Lecter became queer over the course of that show. And also, we know from Jason lore that Jason is picked on. And in the past it's because he looked different or he was, uh, or something like that. But I think that's not going to be enough to make a whole TV show. So I think maybe the reason he's picked on is because he is this queer kid. And we also know Jason has a really close relationship with his mother, maybe a little too close in some ways. And there's definitely some clear ramifications there and almost a Norman Bates connection I think, that you can also make as well. And I could definitely see this being kind of fleshed out in the series that they're going to make, especially because we know it's going to be said in the past. It's not adult Jason in the hockey mask, at least just yet. So I think that would be seen. And it would just be cool, like, if Jason becomes canonically, or at least in this universe of the show, uh, a queer.
ElliotComicArt: Character. All right, good moral tale. Don't mess with queer kids.
Rob: Exactly. They'll harpoon Kevin Bacon going back to.
ElliotComicArt: Get a Bacon put on a hockey mask, though.
Rob: They like sports.
Nancy: Too.
Guido: All right, so moving into the moderately likely wishes we have for 2023 elliot oh, man.
ElliotComicArt: I'm sticking with the Superman theme, but not really. I've heard this idea, so it's not my own idea. I did not really like Henry Cavill as Superman. I haven't really seen anything else. I wasn't like a huge I'm like, okay, man of Steel was okay until the third act. But now that he is not coming back as Superman and quit the witcher to presumably play Superman, he's not doing it. I think it would be hilarious and quite reasonable if he played speaking Rob of this Quadrant Supreme, if he got cast as Hyperion in the Squadron Supreme. And, uh, we were talking about this the other day, and they got Gail Gadot and Ben Affleck, or even Leslie.
Guido: Grace was, I thought, the best one.
ElliotComicArt: Play, like, their versions, uh, in the Squadron Supreme, and the MCU hired them. I think it would be perfect casting. It would be hilarious because those characters were created anyways as a mirror to the Justice League. And so they would just take the old Justice League actors and put them in the MCU. I think it'd be really funny. I heard that idea somewhere, and it's been in my head. I can't get out of my head.
Guido: I think it would be totally connected to a rumor and Pi unfounded rumor. So I'm happy to repeat it. But about Loki season two, so we will find out this year if your prediction is correct, because that was where I saw some of the reports that Cavill might be playing Hyperion was connected.
Rob: To Loki season two. Yeah, I think it's definitely going around. So I'd be curious. And we were saying, too, it'd be neat, like, if you change the gender of Nighthawk from a man to a woman, and then you could have Leslie Grace come in and get to play her version of Batman character. We said Grant Gustin couldn't show up. Uh, there's an Archer character, so of course you can borrow someone. It's even a male or someone like that. I think there's a lot of probably hurdles in terms of schedule and money and maybe contracts that people signed. But I would be shocked if someone at Marvel is also not talking about this.
ElliotComicArt: It would be really fun.
Guido: What about moderately likely wish?
Nancy: Right? These could be like just thrown up in the air and one can fall into moderately your roof. But since we just finished watching White Lotus, that's on my.
Rob: Mind. M. Yes.
Nancy: Okay.
Guido: So brilliant. A favorite show ever.
Rob: Yes.
Nancy: Yeah, truly brilliant. And so it's really fun to think about who they might cast for next season. And, um, again, based on absolutely nothing, pure conjecture. So I don't know if it's Moderately or not, but I just feel like John Ham would be perfect in it because all of the characters are entitled, privileged, um, not very appealing characters for the most part. And John Ham just like, has such he nails that role. And, um, I can just he can.
Guido: Also do the comedy that they all.
Rob: Do the comedy, but also the drama.
Nancy: Yeah. So I think he'd be brilliant. Don't know at all likely. I just sort of threw that one against the wall and was like, that's going to be my moderate.
Guido: No, I could you're going to stay on Theme and say Jonathan Bailey because he'd fit in that world quite well too.
Rob: He's shooting Wicked, so he might be.
Nancy: A little bit and that would be perfect.
Rob: Yeah, totally.
Guido: Exactly. They can be some of the gays that we're trying to kill. Jennifer.
Rob: Cool.
Guido: I love it. All right, Rob, what's your wish? That is moderately likely? Is it Friday 13th?
Rob: No, no. But another horror franchise. So we've seen a lot of horror franchises come back. We saw hell razor this year. We saw Candy Man, I think the year before. We know we're getting an exorcist movie. Also coming back, we of course had the big Halloween, but we have not seen a Nightmare on Elm Street series. Also, the rights to Nightmare on Elm Street reverted back to the West Craven estate this past year. So I do think you'll see a Nightmare on Elm Street something, but that would be too simple for this. So I think kind of sticking with how we're seeing everything with Scream and the kind of embrace of legacy and stuff like that. I think you will see my prediction is that Robert England would come back for one final go as Freddie because he's really expressed interest in it. Also because the character is in makeup, age doesn't really necessarily play too much of a factor. And, um, also Nancy, another Nancy I think will come back. I think Heather Langenkamp would come back as kind of her ultimate final girl character, the character Nancy from the original, um, Nightmare on Elm Street. And I just think it was a series that kind of ended. It never kind of got its proper end. I think the new Nightmare, the last movie the two of them were in, was really great. But it then kind of petered off, and the remake never came anywhere. So I think you'll kind of see in the vein of all of these kind of reboots that we've seen, that we will see a return of Robert England and Heather Lang camp in Nightmare on Elm Street.
ElliotComicArt: I got two title pitches for it.
Rob: Drop Dead Freddy because he'll die. Great.
ElliotComicArt: Yeah. And then, um old man Freddie.
Rob: Yeah, totally. Totally. I think that would be really yeah, that would be really great. Exactly. And they both got claws.
Guido: Totally. My moderately likely wish is possibly the likeliest, but I stuck it in moderate. It's comic book based, not film based. And it's that I want Marvel to have a solo title that they're publishing starring a queer character, because they don't they're way behind on DC on this, and they have a good amount of people to choose from. I love the Pride anthologies, but they need to put someone front and center, and they have a lot of people to choose from.
Rob: DC.
Guido: Is doing a killing, uh, with Superman, son of Kal, with poison ivy, with Harley Quinn. They have so many titles that are starring their queer characters, and Marvel needs to catch up.
Rob: Really?
Nancy: They don't have any out right now?
ElliotComicArt: No, they have out, but they're not staring so low.
Nancy: No, sorry. I didn't mean, uh I meant, like, their nose.
Guido: That was my runner.
ElliotComicArt: Uh, up. I stuck with movies, but I wanted Marvel to step up their game a little bit. I've been so excited by DC recently. I agree with you. I just think they can do more with the power that they have. They can do more social commentary and do really powerful stories from their creators and their planet.
Guido: Safe. They surely are, because they're creating new characters. They're bringing back old characters, but they're putting them in ensemble books, or they're putting them in anthology books. And it's time to move someone front and center. So I hope that we see that this year. All right, last but not least, the highly improbable thing that we wish for in 2023. Rob, kick us off.
Rob: Yeah. So I mentioned two really big horror franchises. I'm going to go for a little bit more obscure one, but one of my favorite all time horror franchises is the Fantastic Franchise. So I don't know if other people know the Fantastic Franchise, but started in the they actually ran up into the fifth and final movie, came out just a few years ago. And what's really cool about all the movies is they were all written and directed by the same person. Well, he did not direct the last movie, but he wrote all the movies. They all also star all the same people. And the villain has unfortunately passed away Angus Grimm as the Tall Man. So I think that's a really great end to that series. But then I think there's a lot of richness to that world. That could be explored in a television series. And so it takes place. There's aliens, there's other dimensions, there's all this kind of stuff. And I would love to see it explored as a television series with, like, a new cast with the creator, Don Coscarelli, involved in some way. Why I think it would be improbable is it's definitely not a big name one. The last movie took years to make because they were scrounging up money. And if you are doing certain production things, I think you would need a decent amount of money. But it's a franchise with a lot of passionate fans like myself. So I would love to see something else happen with that. I would love it not just to end and not to have a remake, but to have a continuation of the story in some way. Yeah. So I don't know.
Guido: Probably not likely. Uh, yeah, that's a zero on the probability scale.
Rob: Well, Nancy, what's yours on the probability scale?
Nancy: I'll meet you with your zero on the probability scale. Um, and I don't even know if there's a place where this person could show up. This is what's so funny. Um, you might be able to guess what this one is from our various conversations. I want Chris Evans back as captain. I haven't even asked Elliott if there's, like, even a movie where it would make sense for Cap.
Guido: I think there are at least two movies this year where it would make sense. So you might not be the most improbable.
Nancy: Come.
Guido: On. I think I'd put that in moderate.
ElliotComicArt: Which movies are you talking about?
Guido: Quantumania is an easy one, without a doubt. And we know nothing about the Marvels, so I'd say that's another possibility.
ElliotComicArt: Lockey season two is more likely if they're doing M multiple.
Guido: Yeah. Loki, season two. I agree. I don't know if TV is the best place for that huge an event, but Quantumania, I think, is a pretty strong contender.
Nancy: Well, this is how the MCU can pull me into believing in the multi brace.
Guido: All right, we'll let Kevin know when we see him next. That's what he needs to do. I love that. That is perfect. Um, all right. My improbable is really improbable. I tried to not pick just total, utter fantasy. I tried to stay maybe realistic. So this answers your question on my first one, which is the X Men character. So I kept myself safe in the most likely by saying an X Men character. Now I'm going to say what two characters I want to see, and it's not going to happen this year, but it is going to happen in the next few years. And that is I want a true to comic Rogue and Gambit on screen. And I will be just, uh, die. I will die. And it's not going to happen this year, I don't think. But I think it will happen eventually. They need to be true to comics anna Pacquin did not do Rogue justice. Uh, we don't even talk about the gambit in X Men origins. Wolverine so I want Rogan Gambit from the comic page in my face.
ElliotComicArt: Rogue. I mean, she could be in the Marvels. They could do that. Carol Danvers.
Guido: Yeah.
Rob: Totally.
Guido: I do hope that's my number one and number three fused together and that happens. Even I think I joked to you both that the Stinger could be Carol flying near the bridge in San Francisco and suddenly she gets her power sucked and drops into the bay. And that's the thing. So I would love that so much. But yeah, I want Rogan Gabbitt. And Elliot, where do you wish we would go this year?
ElliotComicArt: Uh, it's never going to happen. And it's something I wish for with everything, and I think you guys will agree with me, is that we live now in a culture where there are very few surprises. Like Spiderman. No Way Home was not a great movie for me. I think it would have been ten times better if there was just no inkling that Toby McGuire and Andrew Garfield were going to be in it. It would have just been surprising. So I'm so tired of being able to, like just with everything. There's solicits, there's ads for things, trailers, as we all know. And I would love in any fan, but I'm going to stick with the MCU because it's my love comics. I love comics, but the MCU gets me very excited. I want there to be a surprise movie. And so here's what I think is.
Rob: Going to be the Beyonce of films, the Beyonce album.
ElliotComicArt: Let me explain in detail. What's not going to happen is that the Secret Invasion television series on Disney Plus will be announced for like, March and the week before it's supposed to premiere. Our final trailer will be an ad for the movie that's going to come out the following month. And because Secret Invasion is a huge story, it's grounded Winter Soldiers, one of my favorite solo films that has the potential to do this. The teaser trailer was there. And I would go out of my mind if Secret Invasion was all of a sudden this tentpole film crossover with people in it that we have no idea in. And it was a surprise thing, this movie that would come out. I would love it. And it's not going to happen.
Nancy: No. If you want a true surprise, you just do what I do. You don't.
Rob: Listen.
Nancy: You don't read anything about it. And then you walk into the movies and put in the van with Gito and Rob and you, you'd know, nothing.
Guido: We could even make an agreement where we won't even tell you what movie we're driving.
ElliotComicArt: To. Nancy. We're going to see Wakanda forever. What's, uh, what's that? Oh, it's a sequel to Black Panther. Like a.
Nancy: Week more of a neophyte than I am.
Guido: Well, I do think, sadly, I think it's really only because the behemoth nature of the industry that I think that won't happen. I think that Marvel is the kind of company, Marvel Studios, where they would try to do something like that. I think that's my guess. I don't have a lot of evidence, of course, but I just think sadly, because of the way distribution and movie theaters still work and though just archaic behemoth of an industry, it still is. I sadly think that won't happen. But it happened in the music industry and it really only did because of streaming, right? It couldn't have happened if we lived in the world of production and manufacturing and all of that, but thanks to streaming, it happened in music.
ElliotComicArt: The other big difference with Werewolf by Night, they tried with wear off by night. People knew about it, but it wasn't really announced until like a month, a few weeks.
Rob: The other big difference, though, is maybe you have, what, 50 people maybe work on an album, like an album that size, and you have hundreds and hundreds of people, maybe even 1000 people really working on a movie. And if one person lets it slip, right, then the whole project is ruined. So it comes down to one or two jerks really ruining it for everyone. Maybe they could just fit it into the schedule, their suiting, secret invasion of TV show and in between, I know they're all in these big bunkers in Georgia anyway, so that's maybe how they can kind of get it done. But yeah, it's really hard. Loose Lips would definitely sink that ship. Yeah.
Guido: Well, I hope that all of our most likely things happen. I hope that all of our moderate things happen, and I hope at least one of our highly improbable things happen. But I'm not sure we got it. I think actually Nancy is the closest I'm going to say with our improbable predictions, I think Nancy is the only one that I could actually see happening in 2023.
Nancy: Wow.
ElliotComicArt: I agree. But I don't know what fantasm is, so I got to go.
Guido: I think that should be all you need to know. You don't know what it is, so it's not going to become a TV show. Right, there you have it.
Rob: JJ. Abrams did do the remaster of the original movie. So JJ is a fan. He's got this whole do you all feel, like, changed? Do you feel new people? Do you feel redeemed? Do you have the holiday spirit going into 2023? Did the ghosts change your life? The ghosts of Christmas, past, present and yet to come?
ElliotComicArt: No, but I have some things to add to my 2023 read and watch list. Everyone does after listening to this.
Guido: Yeah. And Rob, I'm sure you're going to tell us the last line of Christmas Carol or something now. It's coming.
Rob: It's coming.
Guido: Um, well then please don't turn off your podcasting machines, whatever you're listening to us on, though. We are wrapping up, and before we do that fully, elliott and Nancy, thank you for joining us on this double date as we wrap up 2022 and look ahead to 2023.
Nancy: Thanks for having me. Um, and us. And I love double dating with you guys. Just feel really lucky that you are uncles to our children and the family that we get to choose to spend time with. So thanks for letting me tag along for this episode.
Guido: It was a joy, as usual.
ElliotComicArt: I can't go after Nancy because she has been so much more beautifully than me on a multiverseal podcast. I think this is the ultimate crossover, was we pulled someone from Earth, like, negative 200 exactly.
Guido: Whatever the blackout, Earth is where they don't see anything else from.
ElliotComicArt: Whatever the prejudice, Earth is, like, wherever that open a portal, hold her in, and it's really fun to cross, um.
Guido: Worlds. Yes. So, uh, thank you for listening, and leave a review, please, wherever you're listening.
Rob: And speaking of scrooges, who knows what social media accounts will exist in the future or that will even want to be on. But you can follow us on all social media platforms at Deer Watchers, and.
Nancy: Everyone should keep pondering the possibilities.
Rob: And uwatu says uwatu. Bless us.