Archives - The Incredible Life of Herb Trimpe

Introduction to Herb Trimpe

0:00Security program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling up, and audit dread? It's time for Vanta. Vanta automates security and compliance, brings evidence into one place, and cuts audit prep by 82%. Less manual work, clearer visibility, faster deals. Zero chaos. Call it compliance, or call it compliance. Get it? Join the 15,000 companies using Vanta to prove trust. Go to vanta.com slash com.

0:30At Vrbo, we understand that even the best of plans sometimes need a little support, so we plan for the plot twists. Every booking is automatically backed by our Vrbo Care Guarantee, giving you confidence from the very start. Whenever you need help, it's ready, before your stay, through the moments in between, and after your trip. Because a great trip starts with peace of mind, and maybe a good playlist. But we've got the peace of mind part covered.

Herb Trimpe's Life

0:56Hello, your friend in the neighborhood host, J.T. Wheatley here again, back for another episode of the History of Comics podcast. This time, with the incredible life of Herb Trimpe. Throughout the silver-edged comic books in America, and the revival of Marvel Comics, the company benefited from many talented writers and artists who helped create their many characters and stories. Some were superstars who helped shape the whole Marvel Universe, such as Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. Others, though, were stalwart professionals whose long runs in comics helped establish both those comics and their reputations.

1:29One of those was Herb Trimpe, who became a star at Marvel thanks to his celebrated run in The Incredible Hulk, helping elevate both himself and the character as well in the comic book history. It wasn't just the Hulk, however, as Trimpe would have a long and accomplished career at Marvel, helping shape the success of the company we do today.

Early Career

1:47Herbert Herb William Trimpe was born on May 26, 1939, in Peekskill, New York, the son of Anna and Herbert Trimpe. His father worked various jobs, such as a cheap metal worker and high school janitor, for which he would retire, while raising Herbert as younger brother Mike, who would later ink a story Herb Trimpe penciled in Marvel Features No. 6 in November of 1972 about the Ant-Man. The family would constantly move around due to his father constantly looking for work, but Trimpe eventually graduated from Lakeland High School in Shrub Oak, New York. He grew up reading and loving comics, especially loving EC, but also Disney and the funny animal genre.

2:23Of interesting note, he was interested in Marvel books at the time, having never read one. Originally, he was more interested in becoming a comic strip artist over working in comic books as well, so Trimpe commuted to the School of Visual Arts, SVWA, in New York City for three years. There, he started working with Tom Gill, one of the school's long-time instructors, and celebrated artists on Dell's Lone Ranger comics. Trimpe would start on inky backgrounds, and through Gill, it led him to working at Dell and Gold Key Publications, such comic book adaptations as The 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,

2:54and Journey to the Center of the Earth, which he did for about a year. However, this was interrupted when Trimpe's draft number came up, and he chose to enlist in the Air Force for four years, as opposed to two years in the Army. While in the Air Force, Trimpe was trained to be a weatherman and served in the central highlands of South Vietnam with the 1st Air Cavalry Division, where he provided weather information to helicopter pilots. It was during his military service that Trimpe read his first Marvel comic at 26, when a friend lent him a copy of Thor, penciled by Jack Kirby and inked by Vinnie Coletta.

3:25He loved the comic and immediately wanted to work for Marvel after completing his Air Force commitment. Thankfully, Trimpe had a friend and fellow SVA classmate in John Verputin, who took over inking for Tom Gill when Trimpe left for the Air Force.

Working at Marvel

3:39He was now working on Marvel's production staff and was able to get him an interview with Sal Brodsky, who was a Marvel's production chief and Stan Lee's right-hand man at the time. Brodsky got Trimpe to work on Western books, inking for Warner Rarfe and Larry Lieber, Stan Lee's brother, but also tasked Trimpe with operating Marvel's first photostat machine, which they first acquired in 1967. The photostat machine was essentially a copier made by a commercial camera company and used to photocopy, copy of, photographic copy of documents.

4:09For all this, Trimpe started out at $135 a week, which seems low, but in 1966 was pretty good money at the time. Herb Trimpe's first full-length story would be Shootout at Hooker Flat by Gary Friedrich in Western comic Kid Outlaw No. 134-135 on May-July of 1967. Trimpe would work with Gary Friedrich again on The Phantom Eagle in Marvel Superheroes No. 16 on September of 1968. The Phantom Eagle was originally a World War II flyer who first appeared in WoW Comics No. 6 on July of 1942,

4:42published by Fawcett Comics, that has since had his copyright lapse. Friedrich reimagined him as a World War I pilot and used Trimpe as a penciler because he knew of his interest in flying. Trimpe would later admit the Phantom Eagle was more superhero than pilot, with a made-up plane he designed himself. The character has made sporadic appearances in Marvel ever since, most recently in All New Invaders No. 12 in 2014, where it's revealed he died at the end of World War I as a member of the superhero team, the Freedom Five. Trimpe's fascination with flying continued as he moved to England at one point,

5:13and during that time he acquired his pilot's license, which he was able to transfer back to America when he moved back. With his new skill, Trimpe bought a PT-17 plane, which he would take his Marvel colleagues on flights with, such as Jim Shooter and Bob Layden. It was during this time that Trimpe divorced his first wife and married Linda Fitney, a writer and editor at Marvel who wrote the entire run of The Cat in 1972. With Linda, Trimpe would have four children, and their son Alex would co-pencil with Trimpe on such works as RoboCop No. 11 on January of 1991,

5:45and Fantastic Four Unlimited No. 3 on September of 1993.

5:50It wasn't at his wife's eye that Trimpe caught, apparently, as at Marvel, the female staffers reportedly had a crush on him, with Marie Severin making a cartoon of all of them fawning over Trimpe. He claimed they must have seen something he didn't. Trimpe especially liked working with Stan Lee, whom he called a brilliant storyteller, especially in letting artists visualize their own work with the Marvel method of writing, essentially making Trimpe a co-plotter. For Trimpe, comic writers needed to understand the visuals, otherwise scripts are a nightmare for pencilers to analyze. He singled out Larry Hammer as a number master of visual storytelling.

6:23Trimpe especially loved working in the Marvel both in the time as well, under Stan Lee and Martin Goodman, as according to him, they took care of their employees with good benefits and pay. While at Marvel, Trimpe also did illustrations, and photos for Martin Goodman's other magazines outside the company, in which several Marvel staffers would actually pose for, including being an axe killer, a cop, or a victim in a pose.

6:45Eventually, Marvel started to give their artists their original art back, but the only problem now was how to divide it between the pencillers and the inkers. Originally, it was done by percentage of pages, but Trimpe decided just to alternate whole books instead, since it made more sense. Soon, Trimpe was receiving praise from his fellow artists, John Romita Sr. for his ability to be on time, to Joe Sinnott for his cartooning style. It wouldn't be long before Trimpe received praise from a fan as well, as he was about to start work on the comic book series that will define his career,

The Incredible Hulk

7:13The Incredible Hulk. Herb Trimpe first started on The Incredible Hulk, inking the five issues of Tales to Astonish, beginning back in 1994 by Marie Severin, before he took over pencilling with issue number 106, volume 2, on August of 1968. And we penciled unbroken until issue number 142, on August of 1971. Trimpe then picked up from the issues number 145 to 193, from November of 1971 to November of 1975, along with covers for five of the annuals,

7:451969, 1971, and 72, 1976, and 77. Along with penciling and inking The Incredible Hulk annual number 12, on August of 1983. After Severin Ruff, Stan Lee offered Herb Trimpe the job, though Frank DiCaro did layouts for him at first, and went also up to ink issue number 109. Trimpe needed help early on, resulting in Lee jokingly asking when he was going to learn to draw. It was good work at the time, as Trimpe was making $200 a week, plus $50 per page. Before he got the Hulk, Trimpe worked in the Marvel offices six months out of the year,

8:17before he realized that he'd just work at home, as many artists actually did. When Trimpe got the Hulk, he first tried to imitate Marie Severin's style, for the first year and a half, before finally developing his own.

8:29Soon, his Hulk became more photorealistic and down-to-earth, such as giving him imperfect teeth, as Trimpe wanted to show the Hulk's humanity. Trimpe also based the Hulk's transformation on keeping his human side, and thus more sympathetic, while starting to provide covers to the series. He especially liked working with John Severin, Marie Severin's brother who did his inking, but Trimpe also made him prefer to ink himself. Of Hulk's villains, he especially liked to draw the leader and the abomination. However, there was one character that appeared during Trimpe's run on Incredible Hulk they would be forever linked with,

9:00though he didn't actually create him. Wolverine. Wolverine's first appearance was at the last page of The Incredible Hulk, number 180, in October of 1974, before making his first full appearance in issues number 181 and 182, which Herb Trimpe penciled, in a story in which he is dispatched by the Canadian government to break up a fight between the Hulk and the Wendigo. He was originally created by writer Lynn Wein, based on a suggestion by Roy Thomas, who liked the idea of a Canadian superhero, and even gave him his name, Wolverine. He suggested it to Wein due to his ability to give characters accents in comics,

9:34most recently with Brother Brudu, a Caribbean voodoo priestess. Wein researched the Wolverine animals, and after realizing they were short, had razor-sharp claws, and no fear, that gave him the character. He also made Wolverine a mutant, because he heard talk of rebooting the X-Men into an international team, thus he prepared the way for him to be a Canadian of the group. Sure enough, it would be Lynn Wein who would write giant-sized X-Men number one on May of 1975, adding him to the team. John Ramirez Sr. designed this costume, as he was then Marvel's art director,

10:06leaving only Herb Trimpe to pencil him in Incredible Hulk. According to Trimpe, Thomas conceived him, Wein fleshed him out, Ramirez designed him, and I shocked him to life. Thus, that is Trimpe's part in bringing one of comics' most popular characters to the pages, even if he doesn't get creation character credit. Personally, I'd give Trimpe a significant part. Trimpe ironically didn't even benefit from his original art, as he gave away the final page of Incredible Hulk number 180, which featured Wolverine's first appearance, to a teenage fan in 1983,

10:38who kept it for 30 years, before finally auctioning off at the Heritage Auction on May 16, 2014, for $657,250. Keep in mind, this was before Wolverine became one of the most popular characters in comics history, thus Trimpe thought nothing of giving his art away to a fan. Soon, Herb Trimpe's run on the Incredible Hulk was becoming popular in his own right, as New York University student John Reilly made a 26-minute short film about him, Herb Trimpe, We Love You, due to his covers and the legendary run on the Incredible Hulk,

11:09which he started back on April 1, 1968. Trimpe narrated the features, showing him commuting to the train to work the Marvel, interacting with other Marvel staffers like Marie Severn and Paul Cooperberg, and even shows his daughter, Melissa, who was six at the time. It also featured an animation sequence by Trimpe of Bruce Banner turning into the Hulk, along with his favorite song at the time, Jackson, by Jerry Lee Lewis. It would later be featured in the 2003 on the Today Show, and as part of a 2013 PBS documentary, Superheroes, A Never-Ending Battle. Trimpe did have other characters he helped create,

11:42like Doc Samson with Roy Thomas in The Incredible Hulk, No. 142, in August of 1971. Originally, he was Dr. Leonard Skazowski, Jr., a Jewish psychiatrist who worked with Bruce Banner, the Hulk, only to be exposed to the same gamma radiation that created the Hulk, thus gaining super strength along with long green hair. Adopting the name Doc Samson as a Jewish biblical hero, originally, like Samson, his strength was related to the length of his hair. However, he would become a stalwart friend of Banner the Hulk and supporting fixture in the Marvel Universe in general. Samson's original costume was inspired by a Tootsie Roll ad character, Captain Tootsie.

12:18Reportedly, Thomas is still upset Marvel doesn't use that anymore.

12:22Trimpe also came up with the concept of the Hulk Busters, the military unit that the Hulk's longtime enemy, General Thunderbolt Ross, creates to take him down. According to Trimpe, their symbol, an H, shattered by a Thunderbolt, was inspired by juxtaposing against the peace symbol of the 1960s and 70s, imagining what a military unit would be like with a blustery general in command.

12:44Trimpe would pencil the Incredible Hulk for eight years, setting a standard on the character that has rarely been eclipsed. He would be replaced by Shao Bishima after he left, while Trimpe went on to other projects, though he had always called the Hulk Incredible Hulk his favorite title he ever worked on. While at Marvel, Trimpe also worked on Nick Fury, Iron Man, Captain Britain, which he did while living in England, The Defenders, Shogun Warriors, and Godzilla. He would help design Son of Satan with Gary Friedrich, who first appeared in Ghost Rider No. 1 in September 1973.

13:15According to Trimpe, Friedrich did the design, and he just had to pencil the character, similar to what happened with Wolverine. Trimpe also worked on Big Apple Comics with Flo Steinberg in 1975, dabbling in the Underground Comics. One job he did turn down was Little Annie Fanny, though, for Playboy, which he was offered between 1990 and 1995. However, as Herb Trimpe was a deacon at his Episcopal church, he figured that would be frowned upon by his congregation.

13:41Herb Trimpe worked on Ant-Man in Marvel Features No. 4, where he redesigned his costume as the character was stuck in his shrunken state. Thus, he had to use a nail for a weapon while crafting his own costume. However, Trimpe left the series after just three issues, with Craig Russell taking over issue No. 7. Herb Trimpe co-created Captain Britain with Chris Claremont, penciling the first 23 issues of the series. He was meant to be a British counterpart to Captain America, his alter ego being Brian Braddock, who transforms into Captain Britain thanks to the Amulet of Might, given him by the Wizard Merlin and his daughter,

14:12along with a multifunctional staff. In the early issues, Captain Britain faced off against UK villains like Hurricane and Dr. Sin. His sister, Betsy Braddock, was later revealed to be a mutant and joined the X-Men as Psylocke. By issue No. 16, Captain Britain teamed with Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. Claremont left the series after issue No. 10, with Gary Friedrich taking over, riding with Trimpe leaving Ashes No. 23. Captain Britain went on to lead the superhero team Excalibur.

14:40Herb Trimpe then teamed with Lindwein and Iron Man No. 82-85 in 1976, giving his armor and nose due to Stainley's mandate, though everyone else thought it was us stupid. Ironically, Leigh would forget the mandate years later, and when he noticed that Iron Man's armor had a nose on it, he ordered them to get rid of it, to many's frustration. Leigh would later claim that he only wanted the helmet to be adjusted to make room for a nose, not actually having a nose itself. Trimpe would have a longer-lasting contribution to Iron Man on his brief frame when he changed the way Tony Stark put on his armor with magnets,

15:12which is now used in the movies. On The Defenders, Herb Trimpe unofficially drew the team's first appearance in The Incredible Hulk No. 126, which featured the Hulk teaming with the future Defenders, Doctor Strange, and the Valkyrie. It would later draw the comic itself from issues No. 68 to 81, from February of 1971 to March of 1980. Being a veteran on The Hulk, Trimpe was an ideal choice for the comic, which was created by Rory Thomas as being a super-team with issues, such as personality classes and their bases constantly being destroyed,

15:43all while the team has since made sprig appearances in Marvel Comics ever since.

15:49Herb Trimpe threw Spider-Man and Marvel team-up No. 106 to 118 in the annuals No. 3 and No. 4. Of interesting note during this run, issue No. 117 featured Spider-Man teaming with Wolverine, with Trimpe getting a chance to pencil the character he helped bring to life years ago, now one of Marvel's most popular characters. Trimpe's further work on Everyone's Favorite Webhead was in Marvel Trivia No. 25 and a spectacular Spider-Man No. 97 and 99.

16:15Trimpe penciled the supervillain team-up with Steve Englehart and created the Shroud in issue No. 5 on April of 1976, intended to be a mash-up of Batman and the Shadow. He was Maximilian Quincy Coleridge, who as a child joined the Cote de Cali, where he obtained mystical powers and eventually became a hero. He remained a regular character of the Marvel Universe ever since, most recently appearing in Shadowland crossover in 2010.

16:41Herb Trimpe did Nick Fury as well, but amends to not remembering much due to his enormous amount of works he was producing at the time. However, the comics he penciled were Nick Fury No. 8, 13, and 15, along with the covers for 13, 15, and 18. Other Marvel books Trimpe worked on were Machine Man, Spoof, and Crazy, along with their black-and-white magazines like The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, Rampaging Hulk, and Marvel Preview. Among these was a feature of Sky Warriors and Savage Tales in 1985,

17:11a post-apocalyptic tale in which modern technology is destroyed and vintage airplanes are used by a tyrannical dictator. Considering Trimpe's aviation background, he was an ideal choice for this story. In the 1990s, Herb Trimpe became Marvel's go-to artist for meeting their licensed property, such as Godzilla, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Shogun Warriors. The most difficult part for Trimpe was the multiple characters, something many artists have problems with even today. But he loved working with Doug Monick on Godzilla, which they did for two years from August of 1977 to July of 1979.

17:45Due to a strange contractual hiccup, or someone just narrating the fine print, when Marvel got the license to Godzilla, it was only for Godzilla, not Mafra, Rodan, or any of the other monsters or supporting characters from the Toho movies. Monick had an innovative way around that, though, as he just wrote Godzilla like he was part of the Marvel Universe, with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four appearing in the comic. Like the movies, Godzilla was depicted as a sympathetic, and the early comics introduced a trio of Japanese characters who studied and understood him, though their roles waned over the course of the series.

18:18Monick and Trimpe also created an adversary for Godzilla in Red Ronin, a giant mech who first appeared in issue number 6 in January of 1978 that has made sporadic appearances in Marvel ever since. In Loners number 5, on October of 2007, C.B. Sobeski and Carl Moline reimagined Red Lonin as Naimi. Trimpe would draw all but two of Godzilla's 24-issue run. Of his other licensed work, Trimpe preferred Shogun Warriors over Transformers, as they were controlled by humans, thus he found them more relatable.

18:49Though he did get original Japanese toy models to use for reference. According to Trimpe, they were 3 feet high and couldn't be sold in the United States because they were considered a hazard to small children. The Shogun Warriors comic was written by Doug Monick with a Herb Trimpe pencil in the 20 issues from February of 1979 to September of 1980. Following a trio of heroes, was chosen by the mysterious followers of light tasked to battle the evil and giant mechs. Like Godzilla, they would interact with the rest of the Marvel Universe despite Marvel eventually losing their license after the 20 issue ended.

19:21Ironically, Shogun Warriors and Transformers would get confused at times as Shogun Warriors number 18 featured a character called Megatron who, of course, is the main villain in Transformers.

19:32Her Trimpe would team with Larry Hama for G.I. Joe penciling the first issue of G.I. Joe The Real American Hero No. 1 on June of 1982 and several other issues afterwards while also drawing every airy issue of the spinoff G.I. Joe Special Missions. Trimpe worked with Larry Hama in helping design the characters as his hawk in Duke. Hama, of course, was the creator of the modern G.I. Joe that we know today having been hired by Hasbro to come up with their character bios. Hama being an army veteran made him an ideal choice for the job. When Marvel got the license for the comic book

20:02Hama, of course, was a natural choice to be the writer as well. With the series becoming one of the most popular and successful of the 1980s. Trimpe even scripted a few and would return to the comic when IDW brought the license decades later of which he provided the covers. In 1986, Trimpe also painted Order for Battle for G.I. Joe as well. He even kept some of the models of the characters they were given by Hasbro as it helped make the art more realistic.

20:28One licensed property, though, that Trimpe is not so proud of is the infamous NFL Super Pro, a short-lived series about Phil Grayfield, a former National Football League player who survives a freak accident and now wears a near-instructible football uniform. I'm not joking. Made in collaboration with the NFL, it started appearing in 1991 but lasted only 12 issues. Herb Trimpe pins to edition number 8 that featured a guest appearance by Captain America as they took on the villain, Crossbones. Overall, the series is considered one of the worst comics ever created,

21:00and Ryan Fabian DeCeza admitted to taking the job just to score free NFL tickets. No word if Trimpe got any as well. Previously, Trimpe penciled another strange-licensed property with Marvel with US-1, a trucker comic about a cybernetically-enhanced trucker meant to be a tie-in with the Tyco toys. The series launched in May of 1983 with writer Al Milgram and, like NFL Super Pro, is considered one of the worst and strangest comics ever created. Throughout his Marvel career,

21:30her tribute was what was called a quota artist, meaning he worked on a salary but was paid extra for an additional work over his art quota along with benefits. Best of all, he got to work at home. As comics changed in the 1990s, Trimpe changed his style as well with the times, studying anatomy to give a more detailed look. Trimpe wouldn't joke he was trying to do Rob Liefeld if he did anatomy right. Of note, Liefeld is a great camaraderie of Trimpe's art and one of his inspirations for becoming an artist himself. While this change in style probably kept him going for a few more years at Marvel,

22:00he would leave the company after 1996 on June 8th when he found out via FedEx on May 13th. Marvel was in decline at the time, which Trimpe blamed on the new owner Ron Perlman, an investor who didn't understand the comic book industry. Reportedly, he once asked why there was an X on every Marvel title as the X-Men book sold the best. With two of his children still in college, Trimpe went to look for work the first time he ever had to since leaving the Air Force 34 years ago. He would eventually start working as a 7th grade teacher, ironically a career

22:31his father once suggested to him as being more stable, while also doing advertising including Legends of the NASCAR. Trimpe would go on to get his Bachelor's of Arts degree at Empire State College in 1997 and his Master's degree in Education and Studying New Plots. Starting September 8th, 1999, Trimpe would teach for two years at Eldridge Central School District and sell it in New York. He would leave teaching when his commission work picked up along with convention appearances while also working on licensed property, especially when properties like G.I. Joe or Godzilla got a new movie,

23:02collectors came calling for his past work in original art. In 2000, Trimpe wrote an editorial for the New York Times about ageism in the comic industry, detailing his abrupt firing and having to move on to teaching. Despite everything, Trimpe looks back on his time at Marvel fondly, calling himself a lucky man to be able to work in a bullpen with the likes of Stan Lee, Marie Severn, and Roy Thomas. Plus, he did receive his bright spot in a few years later when he won the Ink Pot Award in 2002.

23:29Trimpe worked in advertising while working at Marvel, such as a Fritos ad that paid unheard of $750 in the 1960s. At the time, he was paid $25 a page at Marvel. Trimpe also worked in animation with the famous Crest Commercial Animation and Post Honeycomb Hulk, working with Bill Peckman, who famously also worked in the classic Schoolhouse Rock cartoons. The Crest Commercials depicted the Crest team battling the Cavalty Creeps, and he created the Crest Fighter and the Crest Submarine, which were featured in 10 commercials

24:00that aired from 1970s to 1980s. Trimpe also did try his end in new paper strips, his original goal as a child, working for Newsday called The Eternal Soldier back in the 1970s, along with doing Chicken Strax and the Firehawk on the internet in 2012. Being in the New Yorker, 9-11 would personally affect Herb Trimpe, and he wrote The Power of Angels, published a Big Apple Vision book in 2004, which was inspired by his work at Ground Zero as a chaplain. Trimpe served as deacon of his church in 2004 and helped design

24:30a special bumper sticker for the American Red Cross. In his book, Trimpe would dedicate to the first responders while attacking calling the site Ground Zero, as that implies the place devoid of life, with Trimpe arguing it is not. For his service, he was awarded the Bob Clampard Award for 2002.

24:49It helped that Trimpe could speak Spanish with a working women's first responders since his current wife, Patricia, he has since divorced from the FET, was from Colombia. Throughout it all, Trimpe continued to freelance and make regular convention appearances, meeting with his old comic book colleagues. He would joke that Stanley hated he still looked better looking than him, apparently still the ladies' man that Marie Slaverin claimed he was back in the Marvel bullpen days. Sadly, Herb Trimpe's last conviction would be in East Coast Comic Con in Securius, New Jersey in 2015

25:20as he passed away at the age of 75 on April 13th of that year. He left behind the legacy of one of the great working men in comic books, never a superstar but a dedicated worker that brought a level of professionalism to the medium that he helped to find. While he could rest on his laurels of his epic Incredible Hulk run, he also influenced Marvels and advertising as well. He was a true professional who made the comic medium better for his time he put into it.

25:46I would like to thank the chief source for this episode, The Incredible Herb Trimpe by Dewey Castle and Aaron Sultan in which they interviewed the legendary artists along about his life and his career complete with interviews of his colleagues like Roy Thomas and Doug Monach along with great reprints of many of his classic art pieces. Pick it up wherever books are sold.

26:09And now it is March 19th, 2026, time for the favorite comic of the week. Absolute Batman number 16 by Scott Snyder and Nick Grigota which finds Batman teaming up with Wonder Woman to find a way to cure his friend Waylon who's been turned into the killer croc and it involves him having to go into the underworld. This is a great

26:39issue that shows Snyder doing a great job bringing the Wonder Woman as a guest star and having seen Batman operate in a room that's kind of outside of them with magic and the underworld and so forth. And Grigota matches beautifully with the art as usual. I had some fantastic moments especially once I go in the underworld battling monsters. It's like there's an epicness to it that I would love to see Grigota do more of a style like this. I mean his work on Absolute Batman has been fantastic so far. I want to keep up with that. But if he ever wants to do a more mystical series or maybe even jump over to Wonder Woman I think they'll be a fan. He would do a great run on there

27:10too. And also the story even though it does deal with some wittier stuff like Bruce is just trying to find a way to help his friends after what Bane did to them. There's also some nice funny moments too especially with Wonder Woman and Batman playing off each other real funny and nice bits and overall just a great pairing and you definitely want to see more of the Absolute Universe starting to cross over together especially the trinity of Batman Superman and Wonder Woman. This is a great example right here and as usual Absolute Batman is a prime example of why this is one of the best things DC's put out in a long while

27:41and by the way if you're wondering yes I know this book came out a few months ago but I'm old school I still get the hard copies instead of doing digital and well I had to get the second printing on this one because it sold out of my comic book store which is a good thing because Doug can't blame you. In fact my comic book store has actually put a sign up sign you only buy one Absolute Batman at a time and they still sell out so that's pretty awesome and it's great that what DC's doing they're making these great big swings of Absolute Batman kind of the opposite

28:12of what Marvel's doing I don't know what's going on with them I mean we recently saw Dan Slott begging people to order his upcoming Spider-Man book which that's just sad. Yep and it's strange enough I noticed my pull list the only thing I only had one Marvel book that was Planet She-Hulk and that's about to be cancelled too so shoot. Thankfully we got DC and of course the other great comic publishers especially image in the Energon universe have been going great but yeah that's the kind of state of my pull list right now not a lot of Marvel but DC and everything else is

28:43doing pretty good so with that little rant that will conclude this episode of the archives

Comic Book Review

28:49join me again next week for likely another episode of the archives until then go ahead enjoy some good comic book and like I just pointed out check out the Absolute universe and especially Absolute Batman one of the best Batman comic books in the stands right now. If you love podcasts you already know how to fit great stories into your busy day so why not do the

29:19same thing with books? Everand is an affordable audiobook and ebook subscription that goes wherever you go your commute your workout your grocery run no rearranging your schedule no carving out reading time just hit play for a limited time new members get two free books when they start a free trial go to everand.com slash listen to claim yours that's everand.com slash listen and I'll see you next time. I'll see you next time. I'll see you next

29:49time.