 This is the SF Productions podcast network Wednesday the 10th Thursday at three that Darren Pamela Fertin not another Burgess Meredith show Welcome to vast wasteland the video journal of popular culture. I'm Mark Schmidbauer And tonight darn it we're gonna finish this darn Marvel Comics thing come That's right. I'm hella high water and there's been a lot of high water lately, but I'm hella high water We're gonna finish it tonight tonight This show this one right you can bank on it. That's Cindy But before we finish up Marvel Comics, we got to tell you that we're on Tuesdays at six No, we're not on Tuesday six. I did do it at my habit darn it. We're on Wednesdays at ten Thursdays at three and Saturdays whenever the engineer feels like it usually around 430 or so Tuesday at six is out of there. Yeah, that's right. It's done. It's a ghost. It's a vapor Okay, all right, and also if you want to write into bass wasteland you want to write into box 1514 11 3215 that's right So Marvel Comics when we last left we were talking about those darn mutants. That's true We were talking about the mutants and You know before I gotta say I received an interesting comment from somebody a lot of people talk about how comics are such a I don't know a waste of time or things like that. Well, I had a guy actually stopped me yesterday I was going to the bank. He stopped me and said, you know, it was um, I was watching the There was the week of the basketball playoffs and yet I turned and I saw that you were talking about comics I said hey, I gotta watch that my wife came in, you know, she had this stuff And she said it down the basketball player, so you're gonna watch this it's comics, honey Priorities in play, that's right. I'll find out what happened on the basketball playing anytime. That's right. It's comics, honey Okay Let's see here Basically, you just can't tell your mutants without your scorecards there if you don't have your scorecards You just don't know you who the mutants are Let's see. Let's see when we when we left off. We were still talking about the darn X men. I'm pretty sure That's true Are pretty much the staple Well, probably the grandfathers of the Marvel mutant community by now pretty much Let's see just here recently. They've divided themselves up into Teams they all got together from there divided into teams So we've got The blue team The blue team the blue team the gold team And I guess one of them pretty much hangs around in the other one pretty much goes places. Who does what I don't know There's just two different teams And they divide up all of them all controlled once again by the amazing Professor X that's right. That's a Rex. He's still the guy in charge of the mutants Even though they have their field commanders. They have their team commanders their commanders that'll take them out on Professor X is still a guy in charge old baldy back at the mansion Which has been through several incarnations itself that mansion gets torn up more than well, you know If you pick a house for a superhero team, you know, there's gonna be a lot of damage This is the place with very high insurance rates True true, but it has a lot of sub basements That's usually where they go and the danger room doesn't have a danger room or whatever The danger room is the room where they actually act out different scenarios they can program things in using the computer and Act out Dangerous things that could possibly happen. What do you do when there's muscles flying at you from all around and Giant walls are falling. What are you gonna do? Who's gonna do what and where and there's there's tidal waves coming in The wind oh, there's lasers zapping at you. There's spikes. There's chains There's who knows what all flying at you. What you gonna do? So they take them to the danger room there and they act about and say well this meeting could do this this meeting Could do that and if they find out that somebody can't do something. Well, then they create a new Yeah, I'm fine. Yeah, but anyway, we got a problem. We've heard a new member to solve it Basically, you just you just can't tell your mutants without a scorecard because now there are so darn many mutants in the Marvel continuity and they they they they do things like they go Into the future and they'll bring somebody back from the future and it looks just like somebody who's here now yet It's the one from the future and so they might be good They might be bad because it might be an alternate future. That's right Who knows what's happening here and then they'll send somebody back from the future to the past because Something's gonna happen in the future and they say well if we come back And we get rid of this person that I'll keep it from happening But then everybody else says oh wait a minute. How do you know which one is gonna? Is it the good one? Is it somebody just pretending to be this one? Who is it? So you just they just never know and it just creates the whole big conflict again And then you've got your things. Well By golly there was this whole Dark Phoenix saga thing going on here. This is Marvel girl or So from the original X-men the original being the first the original four X-men five X-men excuse me four X-men and one X woman and she Developed this power That was like the most incredible power on earth and the universe itself where she could Conjure up this Phoenix force which could just come in and just Obliterate whatever was the problem and the problem was this Phoenix force itself became the problem and it made her Evil because it was just so powerful. She couldn't handle it and it worked her mind They had to use it what happens when you get too much power Boom you're done. It's like power corrupts and ultimate power corrupts ultimately Yeah, so she just this thing just took her over and they had to Take her I guess to the dark side of the moon to zapper and and get rid of the whole thing and so then Well, there was no more Marvel girl, and then the next time you turn around They got this from the ashes thing. She's back and you find out. Well, it wasn't Marvel girl at all It was a cyborg rum of Marvel girl who went ahead and got all this power and see that's another Come in with these Simo crumbs and who knows where they come from and somebody just creates them and they take over the person's personality And they take the original person they'll put them all in a basement or oh, they'll shoot about the space or in this case She was underwater in a cocoon thing It's just it's just darn funny Seems like any any more there are just so many superheroes that you and this is true Almost all the companies there are so many superheroes that you really don't really have to have the supervillains anymore You know they've kind of gone out of vogue the whole supervillain concept I mean there there are there's still the big ones, but you don't see at least that that often anymore the idea Well, here's the the team of supervillains versus the team of superheroes It's always well one supervillain has tricked a certain team of good guys in dividing another team of good guys And they fight and they figure out and then they beat up the bad guy But that's about it or by the time they figure out that it is the bad guy to be because Always get away. I mean there's everything in the marble can there is the vault But still there's only so many of these criminals that actually get caught There's still the ones that get away to plot again another day And so well, you've I guess this was an example of that the X-Men versus the Avengers Where um one group um Well, they Magneto who is like the the big up mutant bad guy or was at the time at least He was Helping the X-Men at this point, but yet he was still wanted for World terrorism and so the Avengers were sent in to find him and the X-Men were Housing him because he was trying to help things and so they started fighting and then you get the soviet super soldiers who come in Because they want Magneto too, so they're fighting and they're everybody's fighting against each other And it's just a great big mess, but What makes this one interesting though is that both the X-Men and the Avengers this year are going up for their 30th anniversary Yes, this year this summer is the big 30th anniversary for the X-Men and the Avengers now Look out for those speaking of the X-Men one of our technical people has told us that That we don't have the details about it. Somebody has bought the movie rights to some sort of X-Men possibly live movie now this may not be any big deal because It's based on Marvel's track record of just picking just horrible projects I mean the characters are great, but they just don't do anything right with them They they screw around with them. They say well, you know like the Captain America movie Well, that's Red Skull is Italian. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Red Skull is not Italian. He's German, please I think it's the idea that they just get a hold of the the name and The rights to the character somewhat and then they just do what they want to they never come back to the people who Created them and say well, what should this character do what should happen here? They've never done that which is Well, they've got the X-Men cartoon which is good, right because they're pretty much sticking to What the characters can do even though they're going a little bit out of the continuity and things right not having the team together as such they're still They're holding it together real and it's doing well. It's actually doing real well and That's the another another movie the the fantastic form right yep I heard that one unfortunately has just pretty much gone straight to video because All together it just like the Captain America movie. It just was not good enough It wasn't even good enough to get there. So right unfortunately It's just going straight to video and I guess that what'll be coming up here So we certainly wish the the X-Men people if they are indeed doing some sort of live film We certainly wish them the best but I but it's probably Based on the track record good luck guys. That's all I gotta tell you Stay in point. I've got the the first appearance of Wolverine that was He was fighting the Hulk actually and well he Showed up there and they He was just pretty much a minor character. He just came in to stop the hook from fighting the evil Quote-unquote character that he was fighting at the time and because they were up in Canada and which was Which is Wolverine's home stomping ground right and he just came in to stop them because he thought they were just hearing things up So you've got that we've got The death of Captain Marvel Captain Marvel who was well now this isn't the Shazam Captain Marvel this is right Captain Marvel from Captain Marvel actually from another planet. He was a Creep, but anyway, he was Given the power to pretty much Monitor things going on in the universe and stop anything terrible from happening unfortunately once when he was um battling one evil guy who was working with nerve gas or something the Canister erupted and he was given a lethal dose or lethal inhalation of this gas it was worse than nerve gas and He developed cancer. That's what this book is all about the was the first this was the first time that a major Superhero was actually died right and this is prior to 85 This is like early early early 82 82. Yeah, this is the first Marvel graphic novel and since then graphic novels have just taken off and gotten real big and everybody does all the companies do Now, but this was the first Marvel graphic novel. I Have here the the new mutants which was the first Other mutant team other than the original X-Men right and Dr. Charles Xavier decided to take under his wing and Take to the school there and nurture their mutant powers and all and they have since gone on to bigger and better things They're now parts of whichever X-Force is out there now the caliber Excalibur X-Force X-Men team. This is that or the other There's two darn many and then this the crash which was the first computer had generated Graphic novel and dealt with Iron Man and this was an interesting one also and then Yes, it's true the DC does have a computer generated that digital justice Batman now Now I don't know why because I thought I thought all on that this was the first one Okay digital justice was the first one apparently there's some sort of differentiation. We're not sure what it is I think that it's the idea that that one was the first completely computer generated Well, I could be I think this one had partially it was the all the animal all the pictures were computer generated, but the The words all the scripting was put in later. Ah, it was written in I believe I see this one But they had a distinction as being the first computer generated Novel there, okay now Marvel does a thing called masterworks where they go back and they reprint early issues of Different characters and there's a masterwork of spider-man there and one here for the X-Men early Early X-Men things there and they'll do oh, maybe four or five different issues in there to show you how they got off the ground They're early nemesis and everything like that and early problems. They went through which pretty much the same problems are going through now But hey, well, right another thing on again Here we have X-Men days of future past which was one of those interesting trips to the future things and then coming back to find out that things aren't necessarily the way they were but it And and and then oh if that one wasn't enough they get days of future present Brought somebody back from the future to the present and it just kind of messed with things here too and by God And you've got your X-Men Extinction agenda. Yes the X distinction X-Men Extinction agenda and the whole thing where they were trying to get rid of all of the mutants and Problems on the island of Genosha a well-known mutant hating island and yet mutants always go there try to figure that one out And then also Historically here. I have some things that are real hard to find kind of things um The amazing Alice Cooper comic Which is based on the Alice Cooper from the inside album And it's it's just an interesting adaptation. It looks at the Stongs of the album, but it doesn't mean in comic form And it's just it's an interesting thing an incredible interesting thing Well now there's a whole company that does nothing, but it's it's called rock and roll comics. Well, yes They're part of the revolutionary. Yeah, and they just keep every month. Here's the story of you know name of band You have a lovely rock group and this one of the amazing kiss comics the first amazing kiss comic And we'll see this this is like a kind of a full circle thing for them because when kiss started off they Wanted to do something big and flashy and so they did the makeup They did costumes and it was like they were thought of as pretty much looking like Comic characters, right and so they said what the heck we might as well go all the way it will do a comic book and The amazing distinction of this one is that they went through and the members of kiss Actually, they gave blood and put their blood into the ink for the comic Very smart thing concerning concerning what's happened in the last few years, but And then of course the first one was so good. They did another one another kiss comic And they're just fun things And moving right along see Marvel doesn't like to just sit still and just be a comic group necessarily Oh, no, they like to do parody other people's So we have Marvel of the year in review And they've just done several of these Hey, let me see 89 90 91 92 Yes, and each year they have a man of the year this year it was Spider-Man and the next year it was Captain America the next year. Oh, what was professor actually x-man fancy that And then the next year it was the punisher They have those and then they do a Marvel Illustrated swimsuit issue All the Marvel characters and put them in swimsuits male and female alike And well those weren't enough no they came up with a Marvel swimsuit special Oh And they like that And then they like to take their own they like to pat themselves on the back quite a lot All right, now this is a big to me. This is a big distinction between Marvel and DC is that DC doesn't do nearly as much self-promotion as Marvel does I'm sorry. They'll take their incredible panels or covers or things and I'll put them in a poster book Yes, you've got a poster book of Marvel things there the Marvel poster books and they'll do them for their different a Lot of their different titles or just different characters Whatever Anything they can They're all over the place and then along with poster magazines The idea of trading cards, right? Well, they'll do trading card. I mean DC's done some too. So Marvel has their own different trading card thing Trading card market has absolutely exploded. It has skyrocketed. It truly has trying to remember the name of this This is actually a new area of collecting and I can't remember what it's called the milk caps Spog Spoozer Spog This is this is the new hot thing for collecting and most people haven't heard about it because it's so darn new Apparently if you remember and they had these when I was when I was a kid I don't know you may not have these well 60s right When when you went to lunch at it's your it's your school They had the milk bottles with these little cap things in them and you pull them out little cardboard cardboard deals Well over in Hawaii. This has become a big thing apparently I'm not sure what the reasoning is but some companies that hey, we could use these and put like little characters on all this Well now everybody's doing them Everybody's putting out these and they're called spogs And this is the big new hot collecting deal So be looking for spogs at your neighborhood newsstand or bookstore place Along with the the trading card idea they went in and they do the different trading cards And then they got an idea I said well, let's make a special set of trading cards Let's make trading cards with great paintings on them great paintings of our different characters So okay, we'll do that and we'll have these out there. Well, hey Some people might not want to collect trading cards So we'll take those great paintings and we'll put them back into the comic book You've got your Marvel masterpiece you've got your merchandising circle Incredible it's amazing. Yes. I went out and bought to myself and Not to lose out in any angle at all right my goodness earlier this year well late last year and fallen up through this year Marvel well, they've got a subsidiary company called epic right and epic is Released from the the the comic code and they're able to do things right that Marvel wouldn't ordinarily do in their regular newsstand comics right so They they went out and they did a thing on Dinosaurs which are just really big now with the whole Jurassic thing going on right they and this is really an informative Collection here of things on dinosaurs. They there's mentioned a lot of dinosaurs in here I'd never even heard of but yet you look at the Jurassic Park thing By golly who heard of a lasso raptor before yeah before and they're in there a lot with all the other ones It's amazing. It's incredible. And then there's also the great Brontosaurus a patosaurus thing, you know, they may mention of it in there, too And all the stuff that happened there. It's just incredible So Marvel comics and there's still other things, but we'll we'll mention those in in in future shows. That's right Well, while we still have time on the show we wanted to start into our big study of independent comics This is an area that when you go back to the very beginning of the industry There really wasn't an independent market for say there were other companies that now are considered quote unquote independent But not really Back then there weren't really Major companies it was just companies doing comics right and there wasn't any real big ones that absolutely controlled the market Right at least not like there are now right So as you moved into the 50s you started to see companies that were you know for all intents and purposes I really don't want to call them second-rate because some of them did some really good work But because of bad management or or just because DC and Marvel just did such a huge job of putting them out of business They never really made the status of of the big two and so you're so you're talking about Well the first company that's I Suppose still called an independent although they've been around since pretty much the beginning of the industry is MLJ comics Now you probably never heard of MLJ But you have heard of Archie comics. That's them MLJ and the amazing thing is this is one of the few companies that has actually owned by the exact same people that it was owned by When it first started None of the other companies that started back then They've been owned by everybody and their brother So basically the same owners are still turning out the Archie comics They've been turning them out for years and years and years and years and why because they don't change right And see now Archie comics did it did it well or MLJ Archie comics is either way really did something that You saw a lot of companies lose their shirts when they did superhero comics because if superheroes didn't happen to be the thing at the time They'd die they'd be gone right but well MLJ did was they'd say well well We'll bring out. We'll see you know when superheroes are hot We'll bring them out and as soon as they start dying out We'll just rip the comics right off the off the film and kill that comic But we'll keep the character rights and we'll bring them back again For another round next time it becomes popular and actually finally Archie said well, we've made enough money off of these we're gonna sell to somebody so they sold them to DC and So they DC came out with a independent well a secondary line called impact comics Which did not do very well in my opinion mostly due to the fact that they had at the beginning Very good artists and writers and then they moved them out and put really fourth-rate people in And they were really dopey stories and you know, although right now they're doing this thing called crucible Which is pretty pretty good at least much better than than they were but anyways That's uh, that's that's one of the many companies that we'll be talking about next time As we go into our into our big Extravagance of we're independent comics. We don't know how long this is gonna go, but I'm sure we'll I Don't know if it'll go as long as the Marvel saga. It was but So we'll get we'll just try to try to hit the highlights of all the all the various independent comics out there We will try that's right and next time on vast wasteland. What are we talking about? What are you guys talking about? You know, I just you and Marty Well, it's it's their show and we'll find out and then we'll make something up, right? And then next time when the three of us are together, we'll be talking about Ted Turner The Ted Turner empire old cable. Okay, so for all of us here at vast wasteland or at least the two of us here That's right. We'll see you next time. Good on our mother Excessive So be it