Dear Watchers: an omniversal comic book podcast

>> Rob: Coming to you from ringside, it's Dear Watchers, an omniversal comic book podcast where we do a deep dive into the multiverse.

>> Guido: We are traveling with you through the rings that make up the omniverse of fictional realities we all love. And your watchers on this journey are. Me, Guido. And I didn't come up with a good wrestling name for this. I don't know, I'm thinking, like, Mucha Lucha. I don't know. But I don't know those names either. So I don't know Keto the Great. No. What about, Gold Dust? Gold. Gold Dust Guido. There you go. Gold Dust.

>> Rob: Say, like, Guido Insane Chess.

>> Guido: No, I'm Gold Dust Guido. What are you.

>> Rob: Oh, gosh, I don't know. oh. oh.

>> Guido: Got the rebar in your name.

>> Rob: I could be.

>> Guido: Could be like Steel Rebar.

>> Rob: I could just be. Yeah, like, yeah, Rob Rebar. But I have come out with a real rebar that, like, your nickname needs

>> Guido: to be Steel Rob. Steel Steal Rebar.

>> Rob: Okay, okay. The debt doesn't have the, alliteration.

>> Guido: It needs another arm. That's true. We'll workshop it.

>> Rob: Yeah, see we will. Yes. Before we begin our trip into the multiverse, Geeta, what's new in our little section of Comic Dom?

>> Guido: Well, recently, Superman, Spider man came out, and we want to know what our listeners think. We covered the Batman Deadpool. Deadpool Batman series last year. Year. This is the latest version of Marvel's DC. Marvel, and DC's Team up books. And so we'll cover. There's the second part of it. They alternate publishers, as everyone well knows. So the Marvel version of the book will be out in a few weeks from when we're recording. So we'll cover both of them when that comes out. You haven't even read it yet, so you're going to have to read them together. And otherwise, just a reminder that we have another podcast. So go check out the Sleepover Retro Countdown show audio wherever you're listening to us right now. Or for that one, we even have video if you really want to see us really badly.

>> Rob: We just did movie intros on a recent episode, and you, in your brilliant editing, actually got the intros into the video so you can see our faces and see the intros at the same time.

>> Guido: It was a fun use of our video format, and yeah, we hope you go check it out and enjoy that.

>> Rob: But if you're checking out this podcast for the first time, we have three parts of our journey through the multiverse today. Origins of the story exploring multiversity and pondering possibilities. So thanks for coming along and remember,

>> Guido: even though we're five years old, I think our anniversary is like, it's very soon. We still want no June or July, but regardless, we still want your 5 star reviews. We still want you to follow us on social media. We still want you to spread the word. So thank you for your 5 star reviews wherever you're listening.

>> Rob: And with that, dear watchers, welcome to episode 178. And let's check out what's happening in the Omniverse. with our travel today's alternate universe. Today we are entering the steel cage death match.

>> Guido: Texas Death Match. It's a Texas death match.

>> Rob: Yes.

>> Guido: Use the lingo of the people we're talking about. I haven't. We haven't seen a steel cage yet. I don't know if that exists. That's out of date.

>> Rob: Anyway, we're answering the question, what if the wrestlers of AEW All Elite Wrestling. Teamed up with dc? That's Detective Comics Heroes for the alt.

>> Guido: Direct currents is what they're. Later then.

>> Rob: Okay. Anyway, for the Ultimate Championship Brawl.

>> Guido: Yes. This is, an Elseworlds, I guess, could be canonical. We could let it be Earth Prime. We'll see this so far a single appearance. It's never been repeated, but I bet we're gonna see it again and we'll talk all about that. In terms of our discussions of these earths past, we have never discussed a wrestling Earth before or a wrestling property. So that's going to be new. We have discussed DC endlessly and there's a lot of DC in this book, needless to say. So you can always go to dear watchers.com and click episodes and search through our, evergreen back catalog to find other DC episodes for your favorite characters.

>> Rob: But today we're talking wrestling. And I want to know, Guido, what's your background with wrestling? Because we both kind of grew up in what I'd say, and we're not wrestling experts by any means, but I would say probably the golden age of wrestling or when wrestling really became.

>> Guido: Well, I don't know if it was golden. It might have been the Renaissance.

>> Rob: The Renaissance.

>> Guido: I feel like golden was like the 40s and 50s, but this guy really

>> Rob: got into pop culture.

>> Guido: Became. Yeah, became a phenomenon.

>> Rob: They were movie stars, they had toys.

>> Guido: Yeah. Ah, regular people knew everyone's names.

>> Rob: Exactly.

>> Guido: Yeah. Well, we mentioned this on our last episode very briefly that we're starting to get into wrestling. And I think we'll talk More about that as we dive into aew. But background wise, I never liked it ever. I was, like you said, around it. One of my best comic book friends growing up in elementary and middle school, he really loved wrestling, but it was like, where we diverged, so we overlapped on comics. And then he would go off and like wrestling, and I didn't care. And I didn't want the trading cards. I didn't want to watch it on tv. But I think because there weren't a critical mass of people around me that liked it, it just never permeated me. So other than the stuff like Hulk Hogan or. I don't Even know if Mr. T was a wrestler, but Mr. T, I

>> Rob: don't think he was really.

>> Guido: But then even like, deeper cuts like a Sergeant Slaughter, like. And then certainly when I was in high school was like the. The new era. I think it was called the New Order.

>> Rob: And, nwo.

>> Guido: New World Order. Yeah. So when I was in high school, that was big and that was popular stylistically. So people loved, like, Stone Cold Steve Austin and like, his. I don't even know if he had catchphrases. I have no idea. But that, like, started to permeate culture again. But at that point, I was a. In high school, I was a teenager, so it was around me. I knew these people's names. I knew they were merchandised. I did not know anything else about it. Fast forward to my 45th year of life, and that's when I started to get into it for the first time ever, which is this year with you. We've been watching aew and we'll talk a lot about why that is, something we took up. But that's my background is. Is going 44 years with never having any exposure, direct exposure to wrestling, and then suddenly becoming a fan. what about you?

>> Rob: Yeah, it's pretty similar to your story. I also had a really good friend that I was really. Who was really into GI Joes and who we. I played with all the time, who was a big wrestling fan. So I got a lot of the wrestling characters through osmosis with him. And I'm sure we watched it together, but I never went back and would watch it on my own or really become obsessed with those characters. I think at the time they were in such pop culture that even ones that aren't like giant stars like Jake the Snake, Robert or someone like that, like, you knew who that was because.

>> Guido: Yeah, well, and commercials like Macho Man, Randy Savage did all the commercial. So, yeah, they were just everywhere.

>> Rob: Yeah, yeah.

>> Guido: But did you have toys?

>> Rob: I never had any of the toys.

>> Guido: No, I didn't.

>> Rob: Again, my friend did, and he also had the wrestling buddies. That's what I really are. And if anyone doesn't know what these are, they're like. What would you say? Like, they're three, two feet tall and they're.

>> Guido: Yeah. Foot and a half pillows. And they're meant that you can sort of wrestle them in the bed, I guess. I don't know. It was a weird conceit, but it was really fun. And then, of course, they made like Teenage Mutant Turtles ones, which are the ones I had. But.

>> Rob: And then, like you said, I think it was kind of something that was super in the mainstream. And then it became kind of almost like, I don't know, weirder. Kids at middle school who were still into it then. And then maybe it had a renaissance again where I remember so many people on the playground or whatever saying, like, do you smell what the rock is cooking? Like, that was, On such a thing.

>> Guido: That sounds like he's like, making drugs. Is that. Was that his catchphrase?

>> Rob: That was his catchphrase.

>> Guido: You cook crack rocks. Right. Like.

>> Rob: And he had like the, like the m expletive.

>> Guido: You, like, do the X's over his crotch.

>> Rob: Crotch. Yeah, yeah. So people would do that and get in trouble for doing that. I remember. And then it felt like it fell into the background again. I didn't really follow it at all until you and I just got into AEW recently.

>> Guido: Yeah, yeah. And I think. Why do you think you didn't get into it?

>> Rob: I don't know, because it had all the elements of things that I should get into. The storyline, superhero stuff. And then obviously, like, you know, little gay boy not knowing that, obviously. But all the homoeroticism of. Of wrestling. So I don't know. And then there's certainly, like. Even with. Even if you take some of that out, there's just a flamboyance to so many of the characters as. So I'm surprised as someone who was super into musical theater, even at that age, that superheroes and musical theater, like, if you put those two together, you kind of get wrestling. And yet I don't know why I didn't get into it more.

>> Guido: Well, I think on the surface it is very masculine, heteronormative, even probably misogynistic and homophobic. And so I'm sure for me, I'm sure that was a turn off. I didn't like a lot of man things. I still to this day don't and so I think that's probably a part of it. But, yeah, you don't need to scratch very deep to get. To get past that. I remember the other big thing that I never understood or couldn't really reconcile, I guess, because it's been branded a sport, and of course, it is a sport. It requires so much athleticism, but. But the fakeness of it was something I never, got. I was like, why do people like this? It's fake. Like, you. They're not getting hurt, and they're you, and the outcome is predetermined. Why is there enjoyment here? And I think I just didn't get that and sort of wrote it off. And now, of course, I do get that and appreciate that. And we'll get into.

>> Rob: I think that's a big part of it is, is I remember there were so many debates at the time or my parents or whoever saying, like, how can you. Like that? It's. It's fake. And I think that stigma stood with them. And even this is a weird tangent, but, one of my favorite bands and one of our friend Lisa Gullickson's favorite bands is the Monkees. And it was the same, like, people always said, like, oh, the monkeys don't write their own songs or play their own instruments. Well, for the most part, they did, but he didn't at the beginning. And still to this day, that stigma is with them. And I think it's the same thing with wrestling. It's like, okay, maybe obviously who wins the match is rigged, but you're watching it, and, like, these people are doing these amazing flips and they're getting hit. Like, all of that is real. Like, even if part of it was art.

>> Guido: Yeah, even if they're not getting beat up. Like, it's not UFC or mixed martial arts, and. But, I mean, you know, that person to die doing it like, it is. It is a feat of athleticism, and people can get hurt. So, yeah, a whole lot of interesting layers that we've started to peel back that I'm sure many of our listeners had already dealt with, because we have a lot of listeners that are fans. So.

>> Rob: Well, it's just coming in right now that Tony Khan has approved our first story of the day. And, it is time for Origins of the Story. Right now, on this very show, you're gonna get the answer to all your questions. Our amazing story begins a few years ago. So first up, it is AEW Origins special edition number one from DC Comics. This came out in January 2025, this

>> Guido: is written by Steve Orlando with a whole batch of pencilers and inkers because it's a series of stories introducing the AW characters. So we have Edwin Gallman, Laura Blaga, Leonardo Rodriguez, Serge Acuna and Papman on penciling and the same group doing their own inks. Colored by hi Fi design lettered by Josh Reed. Edited by Michael Miscalister. This was kind of a promo book. It was actually released digitally free a few months prior. Warner Brothers has a large stake in all elite wrestling. They don't own them outright, but they have a large stake. I don't know if this was. I don't know when that happened. Our listeners should take note that we don't know a lot of the history nor do we claim to. So I don't know when the Warner Brothers stake happened and if this followed that or if this was years later. But on tv, I really have no idea.

>> Rob: The AEW airs on Warner Brothers own next.

>> Guido: Yes.

>> Rob: So there was always that synergy.

>> Guido: Warner has a stake in it. So this comic again was meant to be a promo. So who do we get to meet in this?

>> Rob: Yeah, so we get to meet a number of wrestlers, a couple of which we don't really know. But some of the other ones are super big names within AEW that now we've become super familiar with. And that is Swerve Strickland, Timeless Toni storm, Will Ospreay, Dr. Britt Baker, DMD M. No idea. Orange Cassidy and Darby Allen.

>> Guido: Yeah. So this is a, it's, it's a fine book. It's strictly. I mean each character has two pages probably, right. Two pages to introduce some concept of them. They're, they're not Steve Orlando, who is a huge wrestling fan, I've known that ah. As someone who's followed his work for years. So it wasn't a surprise that he stepped into this. But he's not trying to tell any stories or anything. He's trying to just introduce these characters.

>> Rob: Yeah. And what you and I don't know, and again, maybe huge fans of this will know is what part of these backstories are things that they've already built up. So for example, for folks who don't know, Timeless Tony Storm, who's one of our all time favorites in the age

>> Guido: of my all time favorite.

>> Rob: Your all time favorite.

>> Guido: That was easy.

>> Rob: So her, her gimmick is that she's obsessed with old Hollywood. She's almost shown in black and white. She's speaks like an old timey Hollywood Norma Desmond kind of starlet and here that her backstory is that she grew up left to her own devices and watching classic Hollywood on tv and then she kind of became obsessed with it. So I don't know if that. No.

>> Guido: I don't know.

>> Rob: Timeless Toni Storm, the actual wrestling character's backstory, or if that's something that's Steve Orlando added for here. But it does give that classic superhero backstory of little girl left alone watching old Hollywood movies, becomes obsessed with wanting to be a. Ah, old Hollywood star.

>> Guido: Yeah. And so I guess that's what he's doing. He's giving an origin story to the fictional character, I guess. Zooming out. Assuming there might be someone listening who doesn't like wrestling. Like you and I didn't as of five months ago. Like, what's so fascinating is these are fake characters built by real people. And in that way, you and I have compared this show a lot to Drag Race. It's very Drag Queen. It's very similar to Drag Queens in that this is someone who's developed a Persona and it might have something to do with who they are as a person, but you don't know it's a fictional character layered on top of that person. In some cases, people are using their real name and in some cases they're using fake names, which is, also again, the same as Drag Queen. Some drag queens make a name based on their real name and some make up completely other names and you don't even really know who their real name is without investigating it. So it's just so interesting sometimes it's

>> Rob: funny too, because, Will Ospreay, that is his real name, so he goes by his real name. But other people might have, like Jon Moxley, who's not in this but will be in our other issue. Like Jon Moxley, that sounds like a real. Like a regular, you know, could be his name, but that's not his day.

>> Guido: Totally made up.

>> Rob: So they have these names that even sounds like they're real, but they're not actually their real name. And then other people with a completely made up name, obviously, like Orange Cassidy, like. Or Darby Allen, which is two punk rockers names that have been put together. So like those are completely made up. And then other ones that are real and then other ones that sound like they're real, but they're not real.

>> Guido: So yeah, it's such an interesting idea to like, turn these characters into characters with backstories, because otherwise I don't even know where you get their backstories. I mean, this is part of why I Think it also took us so long to enter into the. Enter into the ring, which is. I mean, for me, what I've loved about wrestling now is it is drag queens plus comic books plus soap operas. And it's those three things. And in both the comic book and the soap opera side of it, it feels impenetrable because it's like, how do I get into this? Like, how am I going to know who these people are? So I think this issue is trying to develop that a little.

>> Rob: Yeah. And that's with Wikipedia now. I mean, if you think when we were growing up and that wasn't even

>> Guido: start watching, you just had to start

>> Rob: watching it and hope that osmosis and things kind of came through. Now at least you can look this up. And even then it's still very difficult. So I can see that being a big hurdle and definitely, probably why D.C. and AEW decided to start with this kind of issue, to introduce these characters.

>> Guido: Yeah. So it's fun. It's a fun origin. I wouldn't recommend it. I don't think anyone's going to read this issue and be like, oh, I want to be a fan of these people. Like, it's too brief and it's. It's also, again, because it's promo, like, you know, the art isn't amazing. Like, it's rushed. It. It. So I, I think this is a fine origin issue, but I think it's for existing fans to meet their characters in comics. It's not for someone to become a fan of these characters.

>> Rob: Yeah. And I think m the one that stood out to me, and I think this character also stood out to me in the next two issues that we're going to read is Orange Cassidy. And because so for folks who don't

>> Guido: know Orange Cassidy, my second favorite character.

>> Rob: Yeah. He dresses in. He. He fights in jeans and has like a jean jacket and aviator sunglasses and like, slick back hair.

>> Guido: He's like, like a California bro. California. yeah, like, Like a Ryan Gosling.

>> Rob: Yeah, very much that kind of. Yeah.

>> Guido: But I don't know what that you call that. So let's go with a lot of

>> Rob: these other stories in here where they were beaten up as a kid. They started to learn how to fight, like, stuff that we've probably seen before. But Orange Cassidy is like, he's walking along and he finds a pair of aviator sunglasses somewhere and like, it like, makes him. Transforms him like, into the Orange Cassidy that. The fighter that we then know. So, like, that one stood out as opposed to like, some of the Other ones where it's like he's a street kid and he learns how to fight. It's like, that is not too dissimilar from, DC regular character, but his was definitely much more fantastical in that way.

>> Guido: Well, this is where I think having Steve Orlando write this is a good thing, because as a fan, it totally fits for Orange Cassidy's cool guy character to not have some overcomplicated origin. Right. Like, he's a cool guy. It's like he. There's not a lot to say about him. He just is cool. That's his thing. So everything is at ease. And, you know, he does this thing where he fights with his hands in his pockets. And it's actually quite cool choreographically. But, yeah, I think it fits that he has this origin that's like completely a non event because he is that kind of character. So, yeah, that's where it's fun that they had a fan doing this.

>> Rob: Well, let's move on to round two. It's exploring multiversity.

>> Guido: I am your guide through these vast new realities. Follow me and ponder the question, what if.

>> Rob: So this is exploring multiversity with DC X E W DC by like, X?

>> Guido: Like, yeah, I don't know. DC by AEW or dc.

>> Rob: I don't know how you say. Yes. Sure. Well, issues one and two. This is the Forbidden Door saga. That's random. Having. Having read this and had not seen that title. I don't know where that's coming from. Anyway, as you already know, it's from DC Comics. And this came out very recently, April and May 2026.

>> Guido: And both issues are written by Steve Orlando. Both issues have art, pencils and inks by Travis Mercer, though he gets some support on inks by John LiveSay in the second issue. Both issues are colored by Andrew Dollhouse, lettered by Josh Reed, and edited again by Mike McAllister. So let's give a little breakdown of how this plays out for our listeners.

>> Rob: Yes, so there is a. We're kind of just thrown right into the action. Right here we have Excalibur, who is a AEW announcer and for, like, a former wrestler, too. Former wrestler. He wears, like, a lucha libre mask. And Booster Gold. They're hosting the match and a match has already been won. But then the belt breaks because the championship belt. Championship sounds like every loser, like a

>> Guido: championship getting passed around.

>> Rob: And in this world, the belt is made out of Element X. And that actually must be tracked down because it's thrown all over the universe.

>> Guido: Yeah. So this leads to the Justice League or some version of it. And Elite, well, that becomes teaming up. So it is Nightwing with Will Ospreay fighting the League of Assassins. It's Guy Gardner. Green Lantern with Jon Moxley fighting the Mutant Gang. Hawkgirl with Hangman. Adam Page fighting evil Puritans from Limbo. Yes, it's Green Lantern. John Stewart with Swerve Strickland fighting Deimos Orange Cassidy with Harley Quinn fighting the Royal Flush Gang. Zatanna and Timeless. Toni Storm fighting Johnny Sorrow. Willow Nightingale and Wonder Woman fighting Echidna. M. Echidna? I don't know whatever that snakey name is. Batman and Darby Allin fighting Joker. Kenny Omega fighting Bane, and Aquaman and Mercedes Monet fighting the Trench and then ultimately encountering Lex. But then. And spoiler alert, big twist.

>> Rob: Mercedes actually turns on Aquaman and partners with Lex Luthor.

>> Guido: And I think it's something that happens in the aew. We don't know Mercedes very well, but I think she's known to be sort of, A, do anything for money is what I understand when I looked her up. And B, turn even though she's a hero, if you will.

>> Rob: Yes. So now we have to, in basically the second issue, wrap up those fights, bring all of our characters back together. We also get an appearance from Sting. Every

>> Guido: not the police singer, not the police thing.

>> Rob: That was. So Sting goes way back to wwe. He was a character I knew when I was growing up.

>> Guido: His face looked familiar to me, but I didn't know him by name. When I, called Stingray, I was like, I don't know. Yeah, maybe that's why he seemed familiar to me. Yeah.

>> Rob: Well, he shows up, he's Darby Allen's mentor, and he helps stop the Joker. And then kind of in our big climax, Kenny, or Mega, becomes the God of wrestling thanks to the mother box and some other mumbo jumbo in there. And they defeat Lex and, Mercedes. But in like this art, in this

>> Guido: restoring the belt or whatever, restoring the

>> Rob: belt, Kenny actually gives up all that power and everything's resolved and the Justice League go off their merry way. But maybe they'll come back together again in the future.

>> Guido: So I loved this. I really liked these two issues. I thought they were fun. I thought they had a good pace. I thought as, someone who's getting into these characters. There was more than enough in those brief moments where I saw the characters. I know. And it made me want more. What did you think?

>> Rob: Yeah, I agree. I think it's, it's. These are jam packed because as you heard from Guido, reading all those names, there's a lot of characters in here. So they basically kind of like the Origins issue. They get two pages per issue, basically. Not a whole lot. Maybe someone like Batman gets a little bit more, but you get who they are in those, and they have good pairings. Sometimes it's a, pairing that goes together well, like Willow Nightingale, who's one of, like, the good guys in AEW with Wonder Woman. Like, they're both very righteous, so that makes sense. And then other times, you get a little bit of a tension in some of the other characters in. In a fun way. So I think that was all designed super smartly.

>> Guido: Yeah. Yeah. I think the pairings. I mean, some of them. It's funny because watching the, I don't know, 200 hours of wrestling we've watched so far, just from trying to catch up 20, 26, there are many matches that are boring to us and clearly meant to be boring. Like, they're meant to almost be breaks in the more dynamic characters. So this has some of that, I think, like, I'm sure someone really liked reading the Guy Gardner, Jon Moxley stuff, but, like, it's not very exciting. It's really. I think when you get into, the. Well, Batman and Darby Allin are really fun, just because I'm enjoying Darby Allin, but Orange Cassidy and Harley Quinn was probably my favorite here.

>> Rob: That's definitely really good.

>> Guido: And again, so much character.

>> Rob: They have a lot, the two of them, definitely. And I could see that Steve Orlando invested a lot because both of them have really funny lines. And. And Harley keeps calling him something else with his name, like she calls him Clementine or something all along those lines to make fun of the Orange Nest. So that one. The other one, I think that stood out to me a lot was Hawkgirl and Hangman Adam Page. And in part there, because Hangman is skeptical of Hawkgirl's backstory that she's actually lived all these lives. And so I kind of liked that idea as well, of put someone. I was like, wait, you? And, she gives him these guns that were from, like, Butch Cassidy or something like that. Right. And he's like, no, you didn't really get these from Billy the Kid or whoever it is. So I thought that was really fun.

>> Guido: Well, it's fun again, because even though he's not one of my favorite characters in aew, it really speaks to who he is. He's supposed to be, like this grounded sort of everyman who looks at things with, With. I Don't know. With a sense of certainty. In reality, he's a less flamboyant character. He's grounded in reality. So, like, him doing that with Hawkgirl speaks to who he is as a character. Because then you have like, Toni Storm and Zatanna, which was my other favorite, of course, but that one is really fun too, because she is a bisexual wrestler. And I love that she's just constantly flirting with Zatanna, like, cannot stop herself from flir up to the very end.

>> Rob: And there's a few lots of entendres that are thrown in there as well, which.

>> Guido: Yeah. Which also fits with how she speaks as you described. So, again, I just think having Steve Orlando do this gets each of these characters to have some personality, even for someone like Will Ospreay, who is just, I think, starting to return. And we're a little few weeks behind now, so we haven't even met him. But I got a sense a little bit of who he is already from reading this, and that's really fun that that was able to translate. Same thing with Mercedes. Mercedes and Will are the two that you and I really don't know well here. The rest I felt pretty confident in my knowledge of so far.

>> Rob: Yes. No, I definitely agree. And I think the Batman to Arby Allan, as you said, is great because you can see shades of that with Batman with other characters, because Darby Allin is. He's a good guy, but he's kind of like dark and had, you know, his face is like half a skull and. And he wields a, skateboard as his weapon. That you can kind of see that character being some of the Robins as well. Like this.

>> Guido: Yeah, Joker says that a lot and Joker teases them. so I think that's a really fun dynamic too. Yeah. And the villains are interesting. I'm curious if this was an editorial decision or if this was a Steve Orlando decision. Like he chose extremely unknown villains with the exception of Joker and Lex. Of course you have.

>> Rob: I was surprised when I saw Joker because everyone else were these third tier.

>> Guido: Not even third tier. I mean, the. The limbo puritans, like, we had to look up. And he created this character out of a story from a, ah, Grant Morrison

>> Rob: run, who also is one of the coolest looking ones.

>> Guido: He was very cool. I agree.

>> Rob: He's basically like an evil, semi zombie puritan, like witch finder kind of character. Like, I want to see more of that character because he just looked cool.

>> Guido: And then Echidna, like, debuted in one of those giant. Which I think was like a walmart exclusive like 10 years ago in a Wonder Woman story. But like has never been used since, so.

>> Rob: And you didn't even know who Johnny Sorrow was, who actually I love. He's got a really cool design and he does. Was a big character in the Geoff Johns JSA storyline there. But. But yeah, again, I don't know why

>> Guido: he's pulling so deep off the bench here. I don't know if it's a decision or editorial. It would work if it's a narrative decision because what it does is it foregrounds the AEW DC team up and backgrounds the villain. I think if you had more jokers, you couldn't really do that on a two page. story which these are like two page stories with the exception of Batman. Perhaps in part because of Joker and then of course because of Sting showing up. You get it. It stretches a little more. So maybe he felt like he needed these sort of generic background villains because he didn't want to take away from what was happening.

>> Rob: And Bane makes sense obviously because he's basically a wrestler like wearing a lucha libre mask. But yeah, even that character who's such a icon, it gets a pretty small. Actually smaller screen time than even some of these other characters as well.

>> Guido: Yeah. What I love too, we only just encountered this in what were we watching? But speaking of Bane and Kenny Omega, I love that Kenny Omega becomes the God because that's what he calls himself. Like again, Steve Orlando is drawing upon so much knowledge that he has clearly of all of these people that it's just funny because we just heard Kenny Omega having this fight with. I don't know who it was at that point, but that he is the God of wrestling. And now he's washed up because of course he's in his 60s and a much older wrestler.

>> Rob: He's not in his 60s. He did like his 40s.

>> Guido: No, maybe it's so hard to tell.

>> Rob: Age wise it is very hard to tell. But no, he's not in his 60s.

>> Guido: He's been.

>> Rob: Is like in his 60s. You know, we haven't seen Sting on the show yet. But yeah. Now the one thing I kept hoping for, and maybe they're saving this for the sequel because I figured maybe they wanted Again we don't really know Mercedes and they wanted maybe a female villain here. But if anyone knows aew, there is a, the, the main villain I'd say of AEW basically looks exactly like Lex Luthor. So his, his name's Don Callis and he's like this bald villain who wears suits and he's kind of controlling a lot of the things.

>> Guido: He's one of the managers. So I guess it was hard to get the managers into this story.

>> Rob: But, but he's very Luther like. So I was like, well maybe for a sequel if we get Luther and Don Callis together and kind of have. There's a lot of humor I think that could be had from like these two bald manipulators that are running everything.

>> Guido: Yeah, yeah, I agree. And part of me thinks this has to have been a proving ground. I think the promo issue was probably a bit of a proving ground at the first, in the first place. And then I think doing this two issue, they're seeing how it does now. I don't know how it did, honestly. I do know what's cool is AEW actually released this in a treasury sized edition that you could only get through aew. So it's. They clearly leaned into this partnership. They did a bunch of variant covers. We got some of them like with Wonder Woman and Toni Storm and stuff like that of the regular issues last month when this all was coming out. So I think if it does well, they'll keep going.

>> Rob: And I'd say like Travis Mercer's art, it's got like almost a simplicity to it. Like there's something about it that I feel like is kid friendly.

>> Guido: Yeah, it's clean and cartoonish. yeah, I don't like who everyone is.

>> Rob: Like, there's good details, especially knowing who some of these, the real people are. So they have those likenesses but at the same time it's not overly detailed. There's. Yeah, there is that cartoonish element to it.

>> Guido: You can tell that it was. The second issue was rushed to press. That's probably why they brought the other anchor in. And I think that that does take away from his art, quite honestly. But it, it's fine. It's just, it's like there's, it's almost like every other page. You can tell there's less definition and less less sharpness with the inks, but it doesn't take away too much from it. So I think this is a great issue. Do you think someone who has never watched AEW could pick this up and read it and it might make them curious?

>> Rob: I don't really think so. I think this is something that needs to be watched now. Maybe the, the, the previous issue we discussed, I think that that could be that and I'm sure that was their purpose. But no This. I think you really do have to know who the characters are. At least most of them. Like, you know.

>> Guido: Yeah, I guess because you're not spending so much time. There's not a lot of character development here. So you really don't think you need

>> Rob: to be a massive fan like you and I who are still kind of getting into this world. So it's not like you need to be. This is just for the hardcore people. Definitely not that. But I don't think you can go having at least some knowledge of aew.

>> Guido: Yeah, probably true.

>> Rob: Okay, well we're. Before we get our three count, we're gonna wrap up with m. Some pondering possibilities. Will the future you describe be averted? Averted. Averted. So, Guido, what are we talking about for pondering possibilities?

>> Guido: I don't know. Let's just speculate. There is no future issue. This is hot off the presses. So what would we want from another DCW series? Do we think this kind of team up matchup makes sense? Should. Should AEW have its own line of comics? Just do these characters? Can they carry stories on their own? Do they need to be teamed up with dc? Let's just talk about some possibilities we might want to ponder.

>> Rob: Yeah, I think, I definitely think it can sustain its own now whether they can do that without these other characters. I do think there needs to be an elevated superhero element to it.

>> Guido: Right. You have to give them powers or you have to add some fantastical element. That's exactly.

>> Rob: Yeah. Or you know, even if they don't have powers, some kind of, you know, they're trying to save the world, there's going to be a, you know, life threatening experience, explosion, something like that. That adds it more than just the wrestling. But I think the good thing is like I was just reading this going, oh, there's all these other characters that I like that I haven't even seen in here. So like superhero comics. The good thing is you have all this time to keep adding in other ones. We didn't really most. They really leans into the faces or the good guys here on the in this two issues. So we didn't even get to see a lot of like the heels the villains of aew. So that's a whole nother thing. Right. There is introducing a lot of the more villainous characters.

>> Guido: Yeah, yeah. And I think you're right to think about people like Don Callis who could team up with Lex. Lex Luthor. And there are these certain pairings that they could keep doing to build out the world. I don't think every series needs to have the earth shattering, Deux Machina or red herring or MacGuffin or whichever thing it is that this is where like the belt is Element X and they're gonna reshape reality with it. It's like, okay, you don't need every story to have that. You can just find almost like the Superman, Spider man or Batman Deadpool 1 shots. Like just find little ways to tell these stories. No explanation needed.

>> Guido: Because they are such good characters to incorporate.

>> Rob: And I also wonder if what are your thoughts on seeing this almost the other way around? Do you think there could be some D.C. elements that go into AEW?

>> Guido: What does that mean?

>> Rob: So, well, I'm thinking the most obvious one then I thought is like, is there a way that you could actually incorporate Jason Momoa, Ah. In or out of Lobo costume into like an AEW storyline?

>> Guido: Because oh my God.

>> Rob: So wrestler like Lobo is such an also AEW kind of wrestling character. So. And then kind of go that way where there's some kind of tie in there and maybe. Well, maybe he's not Lobo. Maybe just Jason Momoa, like because everyone knows who he is. But like I wonder if they would. They'd be into doing something that. In that direction.

>> Guido: I'll be curious. I think, I think it's a good time to tell because AEW is on the rise. I mean as a company that's only, I think seven years old, they. They're doing great and becoming a huge, probably multi billion dollar franchise. And we have Supergirl coming out this summer with Lobo and then we'll have another Superman next year. And so there's all these promotional opportunities, like these moments. It's clear that their relationship to Warner Brothers runs really deep also. So I wouldn't be surprised if they did some promotional thing. I don't know that like Jason Momoa is gonna step into the ring. But no, I don't think. I wouldn't be surprised.

>> Rob: He couldn't do that. But he could be, he could be part of a storyline regardless.

>> Guido: Or on an episode of Dynamite or Collision, which are the two weekly shows for aew, if on an episode of that there's like a little video interstitial that has like

>> Rob: Exactly.

>> Guido: Millie Aycock or whatever her name is. Supergirl like has her, you know, talking to Marina Shafir or something like that.

>> Rob: Totally that too.

>> Guido: Yeah.

>> Rob: And Jason Momoa specifically like feels so well primed to do something that. And I think Supergirl also, because it's a bit More of an offshoot. Like maybe you want to test it with a Supergirl before you go to a Superman as well. Like, and I could totally see that playing out there. Maybe even if that's successful, like once the Green Lanterns Guardians show like gets into to roll out something there also.

>> Guido: but yeah, you also have John Cena. You seem to be forgetting the biggest, the biggest one. When Piece comes out, he probably, I

>> Rob: don't know, he might still be on. I know he fought his last match with wwe, but he might have like a lifelong contract. Like I can't go on any other wrestling.

>> Guido: Yeah, maybe. Although, I mean, AEW more closely aligns with his. His principles too. Part of why we watched it is there's out queer wrestlers where that's not their storyline and there's women winning titles and there's trans people winning titles. And, John Cena is very, very queer ally and so WWE's not the place for him in spite of that evil gay recently winning. But yeah, so yeah, I think there's a lot of fun future and I think if anyone's listened to this episode who like us was not watching wrestling, I'd say do it. Go, go do it. If you like comics, you're gonna like wrestling. And it's perfect background tv, which you and I are not big background TV watchers we like to be engrossed in, which is part of why we don't watch a lot of reality TV outside of Drag Race and such. And so. But this is perfect for someone who wants to like, put something on while you're doing something. You can follow these cool characters.

>> Rob: Well, that is a wrap. Ding, ding, ding, ding. Dear Watchers, thank you so much for listening.

>> Guido: Yes, I have been, Goldust Guido. That's a reference, by the way, to an old, possibly homophobic, possibly not character. Go watch out in the Ring, the documentary about queer wrestling. Because that was really fun and I

>> Rob: have been the riveting Rob Rebar.

>> Guido: And now you got rivets and rebar.

>> Rob: That's true. Yeah, I would have to be. I'd have to have a little construction. Yeah. Yes, I'd be, basically the Village People.

>> Guido: The reading list is in the show notes. You can follow us on all social media at Dear Watchers and leave us

>> Rob: a five star review wherever you listen. We will be back soon with another

>> Guido: trip through the multiverse in the words goatu. Keep pondering the possibilities.