The Letters Page

POSTED BY Alex Zalben, 15 January 2008

As we've mentioned before, there's way too much mail for us to answer in the shows, so we'll be answering some of it right here on the blog. As always, thanks for sending in your questions, and please keep shooting them over to tips@pulpsecret.com, call them in to 888-841-7549, or post a video response on YouTube!

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Pernille asks:

My name is Pia, I'm having a difficult time getting into X-Men, and I was just wondering which series I should start reeding first. I love your site. Thank you very much!

Actually, this is a terrible time to start getting into X-Men... They're in the middle of a giant cross-over, so every book is currently telling the same story. However, you can check out the excellent, relatively out of continuity X-Men: First Class. Also, I'd recommend picking up the trades of Astonishing X-Men, and the Kyle/Yost collections of New X-Men, all great reads that are a little more modern, and will help you hop on board when they launch with all new series in a few months.

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Jake sez:

Hello, just got interested in your show and I have to say that your reviews are a good guide to what to read and what not to even bother with. Getting straight to the point, my question is: DC and Marvel seem to compete with similar plots, such as Infinite Crisis and Civil War or World War III and World War Hulk. I often found it troublesome when trying to catch myself up with Marvel story lines, being a DC man myself. What are your feelings on the situation between the two publishers?

For every Yin, there is a Yang. For every... Never mind, I made myself bored already. Although I don't think the one's you mentioned are exact opposites, there are often competition points between the two publishers, and more than anything, they try to trump each other's events. The escalation is something that leads to comic book crashes, when the focus is on trumping, and not story. However, I think the publishers are, if not already savvy, getting savvier about making sure the cross-overs are good on their own, and actually mean something. And, that they aren't a repeat of what has come before. In particular, I think Marvel has been doing a great job of having unique cross-overs, each with a very different feel, different story-line, etc. Whether you like them or not, that's up to you, but I do think the fact that they have been successful with this strategy is forcing DC to re-evaluate theirs.

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Ian raves:

Hey guys, just started watching your show at the end of December (when you were first advertised on Newsarama). I can't believe I haven't been watching longer!! You each have distinct personalities and opinions on books which leads to quick fun reviews. While I would love a long show, I think the short content is perfect. Many of the short, dailyish podcasts I watch I barely enjoy. But every time I see your podcast come up on itunes, I can't wait to download it and get to a place where I can watch it. Well I'm going to stop here because it already sounds like I want to date your show, but I just wanted to shoot you guys a quick email to tell you that you've made a new fan for life.

Look, Ian... If you would like to go out on a date with us, all you have to do is ask. We like movies and Italian food, FYI. Seriously, thanks for watching and writing in! It means a lot to us.

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Ben from Philly offers:

Hi! I'm from Philly, and living in New Zealand. They have loads of beaches and mountains, but they are surely lacking in the comic book department. I love your show. Really awesome and useful information. The first episode I saw was when Pete was on vacation and I was afraid he was gonna be the grumpy one of the trio. Trio's almost always have one surly character! But i was pleased to see he's a cool guy. My point for writing in was to question the review of Thor #5's ending. The series is f-ing tops and the art is awesome (despite that one weird shot of Thor's head.) But as for the ending giving you an icky feeling, I have to disagree. I was all excited from the Iron Man beating, and then when seeing Loki was working for or with someone i was pissed. No one could be that big of a character. But then blam. Doom. Hes just the right person to be the antagonist. what with megalomania and occult shit. Oh and thanks for the Red Ball recommendation. I'll keep watching.

Oh, no worries, the new Thor series is great. But the fact that Loki is now a total hottie makes me feel very weird... I mean, am I now retroactively attracted to Loki before he was a woman? Is he now a total lesbian goddess? How often will he be playing with his boobs? These are the important questions that need to be asked.

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Omar from the Philippines wonders:

I have been following your show for about 2-3 months now.... And it's been great. Question, who buys the comics on your table during the show? Who gets to keep them? More shows! Best of luck.

Do you know Ben? He's from Philly. Or, is Philly different from the... Never mind. Anyway, we all pick up comics, and throw 'em on the table. Pete, a little more reluctantly, as he's a bag and board kind of guy. We also get some comp copies for review (though those are usually pdfs e-mailed to us). Basically, beyond reviewing comics, we also like collecting comics, so we make sure to pick up anything we might want to keep!

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