Speaker 1: An Englishman, an Irishman, and an American walk into a
Speaker 1: comic shop to buy the latest issue of the Twilight
Speaker 1: Zone comic by id W. Now that might sound like
Speaker 1: the start of a joke, but tonight it is a
Speaker 1: cold hard fact, because I'm joined by not one, but
Speaker 1: two guests to discuss issue three of the new Twilight
Speaker 1: Zone comics run. So, first of all, let me welcome
Speaker 1: back my old friend and host I've always hold on
Speaker 1: to small mister Zach Moore. Zach, welcome back.
Speaker 2: Well, they're happy to be back from the comic shop.
Speaker 2: At you, Tom.
Speaker 1: It was a good trip, good trip, very fruitful. But
Speaker 1: we were joined by a first time guest on the
Speaker 1: twilight Zone Podcast, but a gentlemen who I've had many
Speaker 1: chats with behind the scenes, and I'm glad to finally
Speaker 1: get him on. He's the host of the All Star
Speaker 1: super Fan podcast, one of the hosts of that, and
Speaker 1: it is my friend Alan Beck. Alan, Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Twilight Zone Podcast.
Speaker 3: Hi Tom, it's such a privilege to be here. I
Speaker 3: am over the moon. Thank you so much for having
Speaker 3: me on.
Speaker 1: So before we get into the comic tonight, let's speak
Speaker 1: a bit about you and your podcast, Alan tell tell
Speaker 1: us a bit about it, because it's one that I've
Speaker 1: come to really quite enjoy over the past couple of years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we myself and Rab, Rob and I have
Speaker 3: the All Star super Fan podcast, which is a podcast
Speaker 3: that explores the full tapestry, if you will, of the
Speaker 3: Man of Steel's history and legacy. So we speak to
Speaker 3: everything from the comic books to the movies, to the
Speaker 3: old time serials, current TV shows, past TV shows. We
Speaker 3: interview actors from the movies, directors, animators, comic book writers,
Speaker 3: and we've been going there for just touching on five
Speaker 3: years now and we're having an absolute blast with absolutely
Speaker 3: loved run a little bit of a high. Issis at
Speaker 3: the moment. I'm quite busy with work and Rob is
Speaker 3: headlining a musical Believe it or Not, Wow, and he's
Speaker 3: getting married shortly, so we're taking a little bit of
Speaker 3: a break, but we have quite an extensive catalog there
Speaker 3: and we'll be back recording pretty soon, so I'm looking
Speaker 3: forward to that.
Speaker 1: I can sympathize completely, you know, listening to the Twilight
Speaker 1: Zone podcast. Now, how spotty my schedule is on this,
Speaker 1: but you know, you've got to live your life having
Speaker 1: you allegedly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would just like to point out that all
Speaker 2: my favorite episodes of the All Star super Fan podcast
Speaker 2: I'm on, so make sure that you go check those
Speaker 2: out first.
Speaker 3: Do you have to check out our Twilight On special
Speaker 3: in which Tom featured there last October? That was That
Speaker 3: was That was a lot of fun. It was definitely
Speaker 3: my book list for a long time to do a
Speaker 3: Serling esque intro.
Speaker 1: So that was great, Greg, Yeah, it was good fun.
Speaker 1: Before we carry on, let's just name drop a couple
Speaker 1: of names that you've had on there, because I've really
Speaker 1: been impressed by the roster of Superman guests that you've
Speaker 1: had on over the years. So just tell us a
Speaker 1: couple of people.
Speaker 4: Oh, we've had who have we had?
Speaker 5: Zach?
Speaker 3: We've had iliasal Kind, the producer of the original Superman movies.
Speaker 3: We've had Jack O'Halleran, who played non and Superman the
Speaker 3: Movie and Superman two. We've had Mark Millow who played
Speaker 3: nuclear Man, Gerard Christopher and John Newton, both who played
Speaker 3: super Boys in the old Superboy TV series. We've had
Speaker 3: writers like Dan Jurgens, Mark Wade. We've had Marv Wolfman
Speaker 3: was a great one we got on a few years
Speaker 3: ago to talk about the Ruby Spears Superman. So, yeah,
Speaker 3: we've we have some heavy hitters there, and it's it's
Speaker 3: to be honest, it was really surreal. I appeared many
Speaker 3: years ago on Zach and Night's mutual Friend Matt Truix's
Speaker 3: Lois and Clark podcast, and I enjoyed the experience so
Speaker 3: much that I contacted Robin said maybe we should give
Speaker 3: this a shot. I was primarily a kind of a
Speaker 3: fan of the movies and the TV shows. Rob had
Speaker 3: had much more extensive comic book knowledge than I did,
Speaker 3: and I thought that would be a great kind of
Speaker 3: a balance on the show. And I had met Rob
Speaker 3: previously through the convention scene and stuff, the Dublin Comic
Speaker 3: con convention and that, and it was just a great
Speaker 3: way to be honest, from a selfish point of view,
Speaker 3: it was a great way to fill in those kind
Speaker 3: of fandom blanks that I had. I was always kind
Speaker 3: of a may A fair Weather Superman fan, as you said,
Speaker 3: like I had read the old kind of John Byrne
Speaker 3: post crisis Superman comics from the late ladies and early nineties,
Speaker 3: but I had more so read a lot of the
Speaker 3: Batman comics through throughout the decades, I hadn't really kept
Speaker 3: up with any of the Sinkle issues or the monthly
Speaker 3: releases of Superman and stuff, so I wanted to fill
Speaker 3: in in those blanks. And it's just it's been. It's
Speaker 3: just been fantastic. It's it really has been. It's been
Speaker 3: a really fun adventure. Met great friends like Zach and
Speaker 3: Matt and so many other people in the community, and
Speaker 3: we do lots of crossovers with other people and stuff,
Speaker 3: and the community is so supportive and it really has
Speaker 3: been an absolute glass I have to say.
Speaker 1: So let's pivot to the Twilight Zone because I know,
Speaker 1: Zach over there you are a wash with Twilight Zone
Speaker 1: in America. You know, every public holiday you got a
Speaker 1: marathon going on. Yeah, it is, It's the Promised Land.
Speaker 1: But alan, I know over here in England it's it's
Speaker 1: very hard for people to discover the Twilight Zone by accident.
Speaker 1: What's it like over there in Ireland and how did
Speaker 1: you discover it?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's it's pretty much the same here. It's
Speaker 3: pretty much the same here in Ireland. It's it's kind
Speaker 3: of of a non entity really. I think most people
Speaker 3: here would probably remember the eighties show more than the
Speaker 3: original Rod Serling show Wow, because that was repeated for
Speaker 3: years on different British channels and stuff that you could watch,
Speaker 3: you know, the Horror Channel and all Sci Fi Time
Speaker 3: and all that kind of stuff, and that we that
Speaker 3: we'd get here if you had cable and sky and
Speaker 3: that kind of thing. I actually discovered it years ago
Speaker 3: as a child, back in maybe ninety five ninety six.
Speaker 3: I was on holiday with my parents. We were staying
Speaker 3: with some family friends in France, and I remember staying
Speaker 3: up one night. They were all drinking wine and having
Speaker 3: fun and having you know that the French have these
Speaker 3: late night kind of meals that go on for six
Speaker 3: and seven hours, and I got bored and I went
Speaker 3: inside and they were showing it on the TV. And
Speaker 3: I wasn't really playing attention straight away, but I to
Speaker 3: this day, I guess, thirty years later, I still remember
Speaker 3: the episode. And it was season three's The Hunt, the
Speaker 3: one with the old man and the dog and he
Speaker 3: passes away and he tried to get the dog into
Speaker 3: heaven and there's a big twist at the end, and
Speaker 3: I had never encountered a twist before, and I was hooked.
Speaker 3: And while we stayed there on vacation on holiday. I
Speaker 3: watched it every single night, and my parents were like,
Speaker 3: why is like this old black and white TV show?
Speaker 5: What you know? Why is he so fascinated with it?
Speaker 3: And I just absolutely loved it and it stuck with
Speaker 3: me for years. And then years later I caught one night,
Speaker 3: late at night, I caught the Twilight Zone movie and
Speaker 3: that kind of look, we can all debate about how
Speaker 3: good or bad the movie is. I love the book
Speaker 3: ends to the film. I love that opening scene with
Speaker 3: dan Aykroyd, and that stuck with me in a similar way.
Speaker 3: I was like, jeez, that's that was really great, and
Speaker 3: that kind of those were that was in the era
Speaker 3: of eBay and stuff and Amazon back say maybe twenty ten,
Speaker 3: twenty eleven, when they were really kicking off, and I
Speaker 3: ordered the DVDs and then I just I watched the
Speaker 3: show and I've I've stuck with it ever since. Absolutely
Speaker 3: absolutely love it. I think it's one of the greatest
Speaker 3: TV shows ever made. I think it's fantastic.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's pivot to the reason why we here tonight.
Speaker 1: The new IDW Twilight Zone comic joining us here on
Speaker 1: issue three, which is called The Relic, and Zach and
Speaker 1: I were talking in the last episode about how this one, well,
Speaker 1: the last issue and this issue, same artist, same writer,
Speaker 1: and you know, we both kind of liked this idea
Speaker 1: of someone just taking the Twilight Zone and doing their
Speaker 1: thing with it. So you know, I'm quite looking forward
Speaker 1: to hearing what you guys think of this one as well,
Speaker 1: so if we get into it. I mentioned at the
Speaker 1: end of the last episode that I wasn't sure about
Speaker 1: this one from the first image that we saw of it,
Speaker 1: and the first image was like a night. Now we
Speaker 1: did have an American flag on them, so it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: what's that about. But I think even before that, I'd
Speaker 1: seen sort of promo images of nights and things, and
Speaker 1: I don't know. To me, the Twilight Zone is it's American,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And I wouldn't want it
Speaker 1: to be very far from that. You know, I love Australia,
Speaker 1: but I wouldn't want to see the Twilight doing in Australia,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's kind of American folklore
Speaker 1: to me, and I don't like to see it via
Speaker 1: too far from that. That said, the way this story
Speaker 1: goes it sort of circles back, so it's like, oh, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: fine then so it kind of works. But I mean,
Speaker 1: going into this, what were your gentlemen's YouTube gentlemen's thoughts
Speaker 1: on what we're presented with for these first few pages.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll just mention the intro real quick and then
Speaker 2: i'll toss to you out out of that's all right.
Speaker 2: I did like specifically on this issue an issue three. Uh,
Speaker 2: there's the again presumably the Rod Sterling narrator giving us
Speaker 2: the introduction, and then we see a little cigarette in
Speaker 2: a little last tray at the bottom, like a little
Speaker 2: hint of Sterling. Because we had that an issue one,
Speaker 2: we didn't have it an issue too. Now it's back
Speaker 2: an issue three, and I've just responded well to that,
Speaker 2: so I already were off to a good start there
Speaker 2: for me.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And think that's a really nice way to handle it.
Speaker 3: I think it's really kind of an artistic way to
Speaker 3: do it. If you can't maybe put his likely Obviously
Speaker 3: we'd all like to see Rod in it, or we'd
Speaker 3: like to see his his likeness and that, but if
Speaker 3: that's not something that's achievable, I think this kind of
Speaker 3: subtle nod to.
Speaker 5: His presence in the book. Is it is just really nice.
Speaker 5: I really enjoyed it. I really like that.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at these first few pages now and I've
Speaker 1: got to say, and I've got to say, of the
Speaker 1: issues that we've done so far, I think this is
Speaker 1: the best art work we've had so far. There's some
Speaker 1: very kind of detailed line work here, still very stylized
Speaker 1: in terms of the people it depicts. Yes, even slightly
Speaker 1: reminiscent of that first issue in a way, isn't it, Zach?
Speaker 2: It is? It is so I was like, oh, we
Speaker 2: drifted into that territory. But I agree with you. I
Speaker 2: think of the three so far, this is the best artwork.
Speaker 2: And you know, we get some great like just these
Speaker 2: opening pages, A hold, this whole battle going on, and
Speaker 2: then and then you know, to mention the intro again,
Speaker 2: it ends with because today the siege Lions pass through
Speaker 2: the twilight Zone. Thank you. This is this is how
Speaker 2: all these intros are done. You say, you say the
Speaker 2: twilight Zone and the intros. I understand, like for a
Speaker 2: dozen episodes of the geinning of the show, before they
Speaker 2: figured it out, they didn't say that. It's totally fine, right,
Speaker 2: but like, this is what we do now. If we
Speaker 2: don't do this, then why do a twilight Zone intro
Speaker 2: and out shro If you don't say the twilight Zone
Speaker 2: in the name, so I will die on the hill.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I have to say I was very
Speaker 3: impressed with the artwork. I did read Blanks issue one
Speaker 3: for this, and I didn't like that artwork as.
Speaker 5: Much as I like this.
Speaker 3: But I thought this was, like you said, very stylized.
Speaker 3: The artist like he has he has a great he
Speaker 3: has a great talent for depicting the crowd scenes, the
Speaker 3: battle like that's that's not an easy thing to draw.
Speaker 3: It's very clean, the lines, very clean, and I loved
Speaker 3: the fact that they're continuing in the black and white.
Speaker 3: I really thought I think that really suits this art especially.
Speaker 3: I think it really works well for.
Speaker 1: So as our story begins, we've got two warring factions.
Speaker 1: I don't think we really know who they are or
Speaker 1: why they're fighting that much, but I don't think we
Speaker 1: really need to. But we we find that one of
Speaker 1: the factions have captured a member of the other one,
Speaker 1: and this guy says this captured one says okay, sorry,
Speaker 1: So the one who has captured them, because again, not
Speaker 1: one for names in these these nuds.
Speaker 2: You don't know when this is or who this is
Speaker 2: or anything really which which will become a reveal at
Speaker 2: the end.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because I was going to ask you that when
Speaker 3: you when you when you first kind of opened the
Speaker 3: first page, the first two pages, what you think it's
Speaker 3: like medieval times even pre medieval times?
Speaker 4: Maybe?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was like did the Knights go try to
Speaker 2: invade China or something like, Yeah, it's some kind of
Speaker 2: culture clash. You're not really sure.
Speaker 4: It's kind of gang as can area in something. Yeah,
Speaker 4: that kind of era.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that that was it. That was exactly why
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know, this is an American
Speaker 1: enough form, you know, because that you know, like I've
Speaker 1: mentioned that many times, but that is really part of
Speaker 1: the twilight zone for me, and I'm not sure it
Speaker 1: really works when you take it out. But we have
Speaker 1: this meeting where you know, this guy is captured from
Speaker 1: one side, it's really difficult to talk about it when
Speaker 1: you're saying this guy has captured this guy and he
Speaker 1: says to the prisoners, so long as you have high
Speaker 1: walls to do all of the fighting for you, that
Speaker 1: is and the prisoner says, it isn't our walls that
Speaker 1: give us strength, but what we hold within them. We
Speaker 1: are the keepers of the Word. We hold the voice
Speaker 1: of God. So again things are kind of ramped up
Speaker 1: here a little bit.
Speaker 4: I like the fact that the I'll call him the
Speaker 4: Gingers can.
Speaker 5: Character the capital.
Speaker 3: This guy, he seems very jealous or very put out
Speaker 3: by the fact that the opposing faction live in storm
Speaker 3: buildings behind stone walls and that they're almost looked down
Speaker 3: upon because they don't. But he's determined to to breach
Speaker 3: those walls and find out what they have. And he
Speaker 3: makes this he makes this fantastic point about you know,
Speaker 3: I think he says, there's eighty tribes or eighty factions
Speaker 3: across the land, and they all have their individual gods,
Speaker 3: so what's one more?
Speaker 5: And I really, I really thought that was great.
Speaker 2: Coming off Issue Too, I was like, Oh, finally, something
Speaker 2: is not completely a Star Trek episode that I've seen before.
Speaker 2: We're kind of unscharted territory, Like it's even it's even
Speaker 2: less fiamiliar two because Issue Too was like, hey, the
Speaker 2: astronauts they go over to a place and land on
Speaker 2: a planet, like we've seen that a lot. This is
Speaker 2: a very wide scale thing that you haven't seen in
Speaker 2: a Twilid Zone episode. And I guess getting back to
Speaker 2: the point I'll make on all these when we cover them, like,
Speaker 2: could this have been an episode of the original twild
Speaker 2: Zone Maybe, I mean, but the only like they would
Speaker 2: have to show like stock footage for some old movie.
Speaker 2: And then yeah, did two guys talking at a tent?
Speaker 2: You know, like they could? I think they could have
Speaker 2: achieved It wouldn't have looked anything like this, right, but
Speaker 2: they could have maybe done the same points they were
Speaker 2: trying to make, just on a very extreme budget.
Speaker 3: That was something that I was hung up on because
Speaker 3: going into this, I hadn't read besides blanks, I haven't
Speaker 3: read any of the old Twilight Zone comics or anything.
Speaker 3: And I went look walking into this, I'm looking for
Speaker 3: from a Twilight Zone comic, a comic that could be
Speaker 3: a continuation of the show, or could have been an
Speaker 3: episode of the show. It's like when say, Zach and
Speaker 3: Mass do a hypothetical second season of Flash ninety on
Speaker 3: their show, or of the Aquaman show. You know, we
Speaker 3: could all write stories where John Wesley Ship meets Christopher Reeve,
Speaker 3: but you know that, but can that couldn't have happened
Speaker 3: in the show. But so that kind of pulled me
Speaker 3: out of it initially. But then when I read it
Speaker 3: a second time and I kind of stopped and I
Speaker 3: kind of thought about it, and I think, if you
Speaker 3: were smart, you really could almost almost stage this like
Speaker 3: a play where you have the two guys in the tent,
Speaker 3: you hear the fighting outside maybe, and then you switch
Speaker 3: to you know, the battle is over, you have some
Speaker 3: smoke and some dead guys on the ground, and you're
Speaker 3: walking into the temple. I think, if you really wanted
Speaker 3: to get it across, you could, And that kind of
Speaker 3: saved it for me when I when when when that
Speaker 3: realization came to me, I think.
Speaker 2: No, same exact thought, alan, same exact thought here.
Speaker 1: Okay, I did not have that sauce, but you've both
Speaker 1: convinced me.
Speaker 2: They did, like Civil war battles and stuff, just like
Speaker 2: off screen or just again like stock footage from some
Speaker 2: all the movie they could have afforded like thirty seconds
Speaker 2: of it, wouldn't have it would have been green all over,
Speaker 2: It wouldn't fit it all the rest of the footage.
Speaker 4: But they're great at that, even even in episodes like
Speaker 4: the Passerby, where you know, you have that that line
Speaker 4: of soldiers coming back.
Speaker 3: It feels like there's a whole army back there, when
Speaker 3: really there's just another ten guys. So I think they
Speaker 3: could have done this.
Speaker 1: That said though, and we've we've all alluded to it
Speaker 1: so far. This artist does scale beautifully. Yeah, and there's
Speaker 1: a shot here. It's at the White House. Sac I
Speaker 1: don't know the page number because I'm looking at it digitally.
Speaker 1: He's got sort of like walls and like fortress built
Speaker 1: around it, but there's a very I don't know.
Speaker 2: Pillars and stuff, and I well, because because of what
Speaker 2: we're about to get into, uh, it's just a it's
Speaker 2: a museum, right, so this is like the you know,
Speaker 2: American Museum of Natural History, Yeah, for example.
Speaker 1: Okay, so it's not the White House itself. So the
Speaker 1: Genghis Khan guy, thank you, Alan has is now doing
Speaker 1: a full on assault of this building, this museum type building,
Speaker 1: which again just really nicely rendered scenes here of the battles.
Speaker 2: You think, beat the heat, he says, and you're like,
Speaker 2: what does that mean?
Speaker 1: So they get in and they breach the walls and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, they are confronted by this
Speaker 1: really kind of badass looking night.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, he's the guy that says, yeah, excuse me,
Speaker 2: yeah yeah, stay.
Speaker 1: Cool this summer, and when the night turns round, he
Speaker 1: has the American flag on his back. He was also
Speaker 1: all thinking within you know, Genghis Khan times or whatever,
Speaker 1: but there's an American flag there, So what is going
Speaker 1: on here?
Speaker 3: I didn't actually notice the American flag on the night
Speaker 3: on the on the cover image, so this was the
Speaker 3: first time that I noticed the American flag and I
Speaker 3: stopped my tracks that point. I was like, where is
Speaker 3: this going?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 3: What is the lesson of this episode going to be,
Speaker 3: of this issue going to be? So I thought it
Speaker 3: was I thought it was a cool kind of mid episode,
Speaker 3: mid issue twist.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, they do these covers right in their
Speaker 2: styleized sometimes they could mean anything, right, and I didn't.
Speaker 2: I didn't expect to see this actual guy in a
Speaker 2: night cossume with an American flag cape, but that's what
Speaker 2: he ended up having.
Speaker 1: And then story, so they breach the walls and as
Speaker 1: they go in, they follow this night in and there's
Speaker 1: another bunch of knights there and they are all armed
Speaker 1: with automatic weapons, and they kind of just wipe out
Speaker 1: the sea of invading soldiers. But as this doing it,
Speaker 1: there's saying, all of these strange lines open their souls
Speaker 1: to refreshment. Let me see if you can find another one.
Speaker 1: Like you mentioned there was beat the heat and stuff
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 2: My long summer has ended. My thirst is quenched, so.
Speaker 4: Speaks the word of God.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, there's a bit of an odd turnaround, really, because
Speaker 1: you have all of these Nights armed to the teeth
Speaker 1: with automatic weapons, just mowing down these soldiers. But Genghis
Speaker 1: Khan manages to pick up like a gun. He kills
Speaker 1: the main Night with the gun, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the battle is won. I was that a bit of
Speaker 1: a strange turnaround for you guys.
Speaker 2: I was a little confused about exactly kind of what
Speaker 2: occurred here, because because then it becomes the two guys again,
Speaker 2: Genghis Khan, and then they they're gonna keep calling you that.
Speaker 4: Where all the guys with the automatic weapons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like they all kind of dispersed. But you know,
Speaker 2: we're on a budget here, you know, we can't afford
Speaker 2: all these extras. So this is an episode of the Twilight,
Speaker 2: so we got to get it back down. But it's
Speaker 2: basically like I guess he went in to explore, like,
Speaker 2: go ahead and explore the inner you know, rooms and
Speaker 2: chambers of this fortress.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So he ends up with the other guy again and
Speaker 4: he's transfixed. Genghis Khan is then transfixed. He wants to
Speaker 4: know because you know, this this captured prisoner has been
Speaker 4: alluding to the fact that they have this power, that
Speaker 4: they have the word of God, and Genghis Khan acts like,
Speaker 4: and I keep calling him Genghis Kan, but the Genghis
Speaker 4: Khan character acts like, well, this is something he's heard
Speaker 4: a million times. He's heard about all these false idols.
Speaker 4: But then he actually sees this real power and he
Speaker 4: becomes fixated with it and he wants to know, you know,
Speaker 4: teach me, teach me where this power came from, Teach
Speaker 4: me how to yield his power. And I thought that
Speaker 4: was really, really, really strong.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's when they break off from the group
Speaker 2: because the other guy's like, let me lead you to
Speaker 2: the true power to God, and he's like, okay, so
Speaker 2: he's gonna follow him. And I think that's how they
Speaker 2: split off at the end. But then I got as
Speaker 2: you know, Alan, I don't know how big of a
Speaker 2: Planet of the Apes fan you are.
Speaker 4: I'd be a die.
Speaker 3: Like I've seen the original two or three movies. I
Speaker 3: haven't seen every one of them.
Speaker 2: Have the original two or three movies? Incredible, there's five
Speaker 2: original movies.
Speaker 4: I've seen the first three of the original movies.
Speaker 5: I'm aware there's more.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, obviously that's the end because they blow
Speaker 2: the earth and the killer about it, So there's obviously
Speaker 2: nothing else after that. Okay, But but even more specific,
Speaker 2: even more granular here, even more in the weeds, Tom,
Speaker 2: you remember that like Tales from the Forbidden's Own book,
Speaker 2: they came out a few years back with all these
Speaker 2: short stories. There is a short story in there where
Speaker 2: like doctor Zayas and some other people they they they
Speaker 2: discover the Museum of American Natural History or something with
Speaker 2: all these dinosaur bones and stuff. I was like, Oh,
Speaker 2: that's really cool. And I'm not saying that saying this
Speaker 2: ripped that off. I'm saying like, I really like that
Speaker 2: concept of like post apocalypse just wandering into these museums
Speaker 2: and they're like yeah, and the knowledge is lost and
Speaker 2: they're like what even is this? You know, like I
Speaker 2: find that's so interesting. Yeah, because the guy's like, what
Speaker 2: is this, Like it's a dragon, you know, because it's
Speaker 2: a t Rex skeleton, And I don't know that that's
Speaker 2: such a cool just environment to have in the post apocalypse.
Speaker 1: I couldn't remember that story, but once we got to
Speaker 1: this point, I was thinking, beneath the Planets of the Apes, where.
Speaker 2: It's the subway, it's the library.
Speaker 1: Yeah, to kind of reveal the ends of this comic
Speaker 1: book story. Basically, the guy who is captured by Genghis
Speaker 1: Khan says, Okay, look, you know, we guard this place
Speaker 1: and it's sort of like a museum, it's a chamber
Speaker 1: of the Holy. He's using all this kind of language.
Speaker 1: There's weapons there, there's tanks there, even planes, And so
Speaker 1: I am getting strong beneath the Planet of the Apes
Speaker 1: vibes where something that was, you know, not like we
Speaker 1: all have nuclear bombs in our back guards, but we
Speaker 1: all know what a clear missile is.
Speaker 2: No, but no, as we get to the actual reveal,
Speaker 2: one hundred percent beneath the Planet of the Apes, but
Speaker 2: even like more absurd, which honestly makes it even better,
Speaker 2: I think, and that's how I feel about it. But yeah,
Speaker 2: take it away.
Speaker 1: But it is that thing that you talked about where
Speaker 1: if you take things slightly out of context, where it's
Speaker 1: like you haven't grown up knowing what this thing is.
Speaker 1: So there's been this break in society for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: and then when you go back to it, you're like, wow,
Speaker 1: what is this thing?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 1: So they end up worshiping the bomb in planets of
Speaker 1: the Apes, and these guys just come across this thing,
Speaker 1: and there's power here, there's weapons here, there is what
Speaker 1: should we call this a kind of I.
Speaker 3: Think it's a drive through speaker.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it kind of looks like that, and
Speaker 1: it gives them, I suppose, a scripture of sorts this
Speaker 1: speaker once the guy winds it up and says, hey, children,
Speaker 1: when you're sweating and a thret and you've got to
Speaker 1: beat the heat, when you're needing that sweet healing. You've
Speaker 1: got to stay cool, you know, stay cool this summer,
Speaker 1: live a life of refreshment. So this really inanimate thing
Speaker 1: that we would just you know, not pay a mind to,
Speaker 1: has become, you know, the focus of the kind of
Speaker 1: religious favor.
Speaker 2: It's this gigantic like like bottle, like a soft drink
Speaker 2: bottle spokesperson slogan mascot, and it's you know, it's who knows,
Speaker 2: it's like maybe fifty feet tall or so. There's obviously
Speaker 2: some big display they had there. And yeah, it's it's
Speaker 2: it's exactly the It's just like the bomb from Belneath
Speaker 2: the Penalty Apes, but it's a soda pop advertisement and
Speaker 2: it's so upset. I've found it kind of incredible.
Speaker 4: And like that that but that that is a classic
Speaker 4: Serling trope. I mean it's kind of you know, humanity's
Speaker 4: tendency to kind of worship the very things that led
Speaker 4: to its downfall, you know, like it's it's that kind
Speaker 4: of jab at consumerism and stuff like it's it's right
Speaker 4: there you speak of, you spoke to the planet of
Speaker 4: the Apes. What it reminded me of was the Old
Speaker 4: Man in the Cave. Yeah, this whole issue reminded me
Speaker 4: of the Old Man in the Cave. I think that's
Speaker 4: season five, is that where you know, like that it's
Speaker 4: it's this old man turns out it's a computer.
Speaker 3: It's not what they thought it was at all. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I thought it really had Old Man in the Cave vibes.
Speaker 3: And I appreciate it for that. That's a great episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well then but then they don't all go like
Speaker 2: destroy the computer. I really liked that episode, and I think,
Speaker 2: but the build up is like very interesting, and then
Speaker 2: it's like it's a computer that's helping us, let's destroy it.
Speaker 2: I'm like, wait a minute, I don't understand. Good, good
Speaker 2: call there, Alan.
Speaker 1: There's a lot you know, this one really kind of
Speaker 1: made me think, yes, just to kind of ruin the
Speaker 1: issue for anyone who hasn't ready yet, I am one
Speaker 1: hundred percent saying, you know, go out and buy it
Speaker 1: and read it for yourself. This is a spoiler filled review.
Speaker 1: It says, in the centuries after the bomb's fall, when
Speaker 1: human progress hasn't just been taken down the rung, but
Speaker 1: thrown violently off the whole ladder, what treasures of our
Speaker 1: age might survive for those ignorant souls that follow. Will
Speaker 1: they be drawn to a piece of exquisite art to
Speaker 1: fully encapsulates the cultural footprint of our time, Maybe some
Speaker 1: fragments of wisdom from one of the greatest thinkers that
Speaker 1: lights them a path out of squalor and darkness, Or
Speaker 1: maybe something more common, a throwaway gag of consumerism dreamed
Speaker 1: up in a boardroom to catch as many thirsty eyes
Speaker 1: as possible, misremembered dayified and mistakenly placed on the highest
Speaker 1: plint amid the ruins of mankind's greater histories. A kitchy
Speaker 1: advertisement for the world that was here in the Twilight Zone.
Speaker 1: And we have another really nice rendered page to end
Speaker 1: that with. And I kind of I kind of love
Speaker 1: this end. And because you can, you know, I'm obviously
Speaker 1: going to be careful. I don't want to offend anyone.
Speaker 1: If you want to talk, if you want to take
Speaker 1: it as religion, a comment on that, it's there, if
Speaker 1: you want to have that in a much broader sense,
Speaker 1: you can. You can pretty much put anything on it
Speaker 1: in terms of how humans have a kind of need
Speaker 1: and a history of latching on to someone or something
Speaker 1: or some ideology or or wherever it might be. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, we we can't exist without that that figure
Speaker 1: to to kind of worship or follow. And in this case,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a giant soda bottle with a speaker
Speaker 1: on it. And I think that's what makes a great
Speaker 1: Twilight Zone end. And where maybe it's not about one thing,
Speaker 1: maybe it's a so all of these things you can
Speaker 1: really kind of sit down and think about what it's
Speaker 1: about for you. So this one really wicked for me
Speaker 1: in that regards what about you guys?
Speaker 2: I totally agree. And you know, I was calling back
Speaker 2: to the Jordan Peele Twilight Zone, uh in our conversations here,
Speaker 2: and I think and I and we like that show, right,
Speaker 2: I think, But sometimes like the the subtext became text.
Speaker 2: I believe you used that exact phrase, and I think
Speaker 2: at that point, like, oh, you got a lot. This
Speaker 2: is exactly about this. I'm like, okay, yeah, I got it. Like,
Speaker 2: but but but these more kind of universal like it
Speaker 2: creates conversation, makes you think like different aspects of life,
Speaker 2: like what does this apply to? Like what are you
Speaker 2: doing in your own life? Like it's it's it's very
Speaker 2: interesting and kind of all encompassing, and it sits with
Speaker 2: you because you're like, yeah, like I could see us
Speaker 2: doing this like in a thousand years from now. Uh,
Speaker 2: but there's no context for anything. And and you find
Speaker 2: this this giant sculpture of a thing that talks, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean that's the fact that like it's able to
Speaker 2: you know, it doesn't interact, but it has words that it's.
Speaker 2: It's words that it says that the people internalize and
Speaker 2: then recite their cite them themselves. Like, that's so interesting.
Speaker 2: That is that is this weird inappropriate blurring of technology
Speaker 2: and history and ignorance. It's just so fat I don't know,
Speaker 2: and I love that it's something as absurd again as
Speaker 2: I've said already as this soda pop advertisement. You know,
Speaker 2: it's just the absurdity just makes it more, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't know, it's just hit you harder when it's
Speaker 2: something like, wow, that is ridiculous. But hey, you know,
Speaker 2: when you look at it from that perspective, some other
Speaker 2: things might seem ridiculous too.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 3: It's it's a real Serling esque reminder that the real
Speaker 3: monsters maybe aren't in the shadows there. You know, ow
Speaker 3: need to turn absolute garbage into things.
Speaker 4: To be deified and worship, you know, yeah.
Speaker 3: Like it's it's and I love the way it wrap
Speaker 3: around because we didn't really speak to it too much
Speaker 3: at the start, where the narrator is speaking to the pot.
Speaker 3: You know, you can have this, you have this priceless
Speaker 3: pot in a museum that's that's cherished by so many
Speaker 3: and you know, but we don't know that pot story.
Speaker 3: It might have been one of fifty pots that were
Speaker 3: made that week by a very low end sculptor who
Speaker 3: forgot about it the following day, and it meant nothing
Speaker 3: to anybody. And now now it's priceless. And like you
Speaker 3: said earlier on Zact like that, that is fascinating. You know,
Speaker 3: that is fascinating.
Speaker 4: And who am I?
Speaker 3: Who am I to I'm sitting in a room surrounded
Speaker 3: with Superman and Batman memorabilia. Who am I to comment
Speaker 3: about worshiping things I don't know.
Speaker 2: Worship this Superman figures, figure of great power importance in
Speaker 2: the twenty first century.
Speaker 4: But it is a fascinating question. You know, two thousand
Speaker 4: years from now, when we're all long gone, what will
Speaker 4: you know what will be discovered buried in the ground
Speaker 4: that will become some day fied object. It's a fascinating question.
Speaker 4: And it's only from our perspective where we see it,
Speaker 4: where we see it and view it as being silly
Speaker 4: because we know what that thing is. Yeah, but it's yeah,
Speaker 4: it's I really enjoyed this, guys.
Speaker 5: I thought it was I thought it was really good.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what they're going to find in two
Speaker 1: thousand years, Alan, I'm going to be burying recordings of
Speaker 1: the Twilight Zone podcast and they'll dig it up and
Speaker 1: they'll be like, what's he talking about? And I'm like,
Speaker 1: we don't know, but it's amazing.
Speaker 4: We have we have we have the DVDs, but no
Speaker 4: player to play them on.
Speaker 2: Sacred texts.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So I think this has been the best one
Speaker 1: so far personally. I know you haven't read the second
Speaker 1: one yet, Alan, but I think I would probably rank
Speaker 1: this one first, then blanks and then.
Speaker 2: A big app and then the second one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, I mean got to be sad.
Speaker 2: I suppose No, I agree. I think once like I
Speaker 2: kind of like wrapped my head around like the artwork again,
Speaker 2: because it was it was it was, you know, drifting
Speaker 2: towards the the kind of same artwork as the first issue,
Speaker 2: like you mentioned that Alan earlier. Yeah, and uh and
Speaker 2: The'm like, okay, okay, could this be an episode? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Then we kind of like justified it. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: glad we will, Mitch you Tom that this could have
Speaker 2: been an episode of They if they shoot it just
Speaker 2: the right way and take it just the right approach
Speaker 2: to it and I think ultimately into the wrapper of
Speaker 2: the setup and payoff of like, because sometimes these intros
Speaker 2: can be lazy and it's like, oh, oh, we gotta
Speaker 2: I guess we gotta say like an intro because that's
Speaker 2: what they did on the Twilight Zone, right, Okay, here
Speaker 2: it is you know issue too, I was very critical of,
Speaker 2: like those don't connect at all. This is like a
Speaker 2: perfect like the wrapping back around Alan. You were talking
Speaker 2: about the pot, like one man's trash as another man's,
Speaker 2: you know, deity apparently. Yeah, and those are just interesting concepts.
Speaker 2: And I really enjoyed this one, and it had, you know,
Speaker 2: it had something to say. And I think the key
Speaker 2: is is with all this stuff, right, these are these
Speaker 2: are parables, right, They're they're anecdotes. So I had I
Speaker 2: don't know exactly what it was saying. It probably doesn't
Speaker 2: even have an exact message per se, but it had
Speaker 2: something to say and then you yourself kind of find
Speaker 2: the meaning in that, and I think that's a good storytelling.
Speaker 3: Even though I thought this was good, I did, like
Speaker 3: I said, it did remind me of the old man
Speaker 3: in the Cave. And I'm kind of hoping that what
Speaker 3: is it? Is it a six issue run five, six
Speaker 3: issue run five, so it's only two left. I'm hoping
Speaker 3: that as the issues progress that we see kind of
Speaker 3: you know, I just want them to kind of replay
Speaker 3: the hits. I'd like to see something a little bit,
Speaker 3: a little bit further out there and stuff.
Speaker 2: But you don't like a story on an airplane. All.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but yeah, it's I have to say I enjoyed Blanks,
Speaker 3: but I thought this was This was definitely the best
Speaker 3: of the two anyway that I've read so far.
Speaker 1: And despite my initial reservations, this isn't America. What are
Speaker 1: they doing? It all comes around if they can tell
Speaker 1: a story on such a different canvas but it's still
Speaker 1: in America.
Speaker 3: Well, it's it's it's very strange because I think I
Speaker 3: think that what the Twilight Zone really needs, you know,
Speaker 3: forget about Jordan Peel and stuff, forget about the eight show,
Speaker 3: forget about the Tales and show Forrest Whitaker. What it
Speaker 3: needs is like the CSI treatment. You need Twilight Twilight Zone, UK.
Speaker 4: Twilight z on London, Twilights and Texas special Victims the
Speaker 4: Twilight Zone.
Speaker 2: Do it just have fun? Run with the concept right
Speaker 2: Because of the more of this stuffy. I think that's,
Speaker 2: you know, to get into the deeper discussion about or
Speaker 2: wider discussion about the Twilight Zone. I think part of
Speaker 2: why everybody is Tom knows more than anyone. People are
Speaker 2: so precious, so precious about the Twilight Zone, what it
Speaker 2: is and when it isn't. It's like, you know, if
Speaker 2: they just made a whole lot of it, you'd probably
Speaker 2: like accept maybe more than you than you would otherwise
Speaker 2: I don't or maybe not.
Speaker 4: It's not really working for Star Treks ex.
Speaker 5: So I.
Speaker 2: Am one of those people when it comes to Star Treks.
Speaker 1: Okay, so this has been a lot of fun. I'm
Speaker 1: so glad we could do this, and I'm so glad
Speaker 1: we had an issue that we all agreed on. So gentlemen,
Speaker 1: I would love to have you back for issue four
Speaker 1: and five if we can figure that out.
Speaker 5: Oh absolutely, that'd be fantastic. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Be great, so Alan, thank you for joining us. And
Speaker 1: where can we find your podcast again?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're we're available All Stars super Fan podcast. It's
Speaker 3: available on all good podcasting platforms and we're also on
Speaker 3: Instagram at all Stars super Fan. On Facebook, we're in
Speaker 3: the inside All Stars Super Fun Facebook group. It's great,
Speaker 3: a little community. There have bout two hundred people there
Speaker 3: where we chat about, you know, all the kind of
Speaker 3: latest news and topics in relation to Superman and the
Speaker 3: Man of Steel and comic books in general and stuff.
Speaker 3: But yeah, we're available on all good podcasting platforms and
Speaker 3: we'll have some new episodes coming down in the next one.
Speaker 1: Great stuff, Zach, what about you?
Speaker 5: You mine?
Speaker 2: Well? Always one Smallville. We finished our episode by episode coverage,
Speaker 2: but we're curling in a project I'm calling Smallville the
Speaker 2: Ultimate Season. We're going through every episode number of every
Speaker 2: season and determining the ultimate season of Smallville. We talk
Speaker 2: about all the episode ones across the ten seasons, all
Speaker 2: the episode twos across the ten seasons, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2: It's a fun way to kind of look back at
Speaker 2: the show. We have a lot of voices you've heard
Speaker 2: before and new voices and panels and having a good
Speaker 2: time just determining the ultimate season of Smallville. If you
Speaker 2: were gonna watch, you know, twenty two episodes, these are
Speaker 2: the twenty two to watch, so stay tune of that.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I just got to say it's been great.
Speaker 2: Oh always Mallville with one s on social media. Everybody
Speaker 2: and no Tom, thanks for having me back on the
Speaker 2: talking more comics, and so great to talk to Alan
Speaker 2: on here as well. We're big fans of your show
Speaker 2: and how I've been We've been on each other's show.
Speaker 2: I've been on all of you guys shows separately and
Speaker 2: together now It's it's really fun. And to Allen's point
Speaker 2: earlier about the community of these podcasters, like to me,
Speaker 2: that's part of the fun of it. To us, you know,
Speaker 2: we listen to our other shows and our own shows
Speaker 2: and they were able to cross over and sometimes our
Speaker 2: fandoms you know, have this Vinn diagram and for us
Speaker 2: three year you know, we love the Twilight Zone. So
Speaker 2: really fun to talk to both of you guys about
Speaker 2: this together.
Speaker 3: And I just want to say before I finish up,
Speaker 3: thanks to Zach, because it wasn't for Zach, I wouldn't
Speaker 3: have found the Twilight on podcast. It was Zach who
Speaker 3: recommended it to me about five years ago, and I
Speaker 3: listened to like fifteen years worth in about three weeks.
Speaker 3: So thank you very much, Zach, and I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: Be absolutely I love bringing people together. I'm Jesse Eisenberg's
Speaker 2: lex luthor Allen you know this, so.
Speaker 5: There you go.
Speaker 1: Well, gentlemen, it's been a pleasure, and we will country
Speaker 1: that on in the next two episodes, where we look
Speaker 1: at issues four and five off the IDW comic Now
Speaker 1: people are thinking, Tom when you're getting back to the
Speaker 1: Twilight Zone Podcast proper about the episode, and it's common, folks,
Speaker 1: it's coming. It's been a busy time. I'm currently working
Speaker 1: on the audio book of the Twilight Rounds, which is
Speaker 1: Christopher Benedict's walk about Rod Saling and his boxing stories
Speaker 1: and his boxing experience, and I'm really enjoying that process,
Speaker 1: and once that is finished, we will get back to
Speaker 1: the Twilight Zone proper, so that won't be too long
Speaker 1: in the future. But in the meantime, I think these
Speaker 1: comic book issues are a nicer little way of just
Speaker 1: keeping things ticking over and seeing what else is going
Speaker 1: on in Twilight Zone media. So we will catch you
Speaker 1: next time here on the Twilight Zone Podcast. By for
Speaker 1: Now