Hyperspecific Things About Comic Books That We Love with David Harper & Brad Gullickson

April 22, 2026

Episode Transcript

Brad Gullickson (Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast) and David Harper (SKTCHD, Off-Panel Podcast) join me for the second annual "Hyperspecific Comic Book Fantasy Draft", a celebration about the niche and esoteric things in comics and comic culture that we can't get enough of (like Dollar-Bin competition, themed sketchbooks, and Marvel Superhero Island) . We also chat about comic journalism's print resurgence, CBCC's new YT series: The Stacks (aka the Criterion Collection for comics), and David's new SKTCHD Book 2025

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Badr Milligan 0:09

The Short Box Podcast is recorded live from Jacksonville, Florida. Yo, the Short Box Nation. Yo, Short Box Nation, hello again. Welcome back and thanks for pressing play today. If you're brand new, welcome to the show. I'm your host, Badr Milligan, and this is the Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show, where we bridge the gap between the panels of your favorite comics and the people who put their blood, sweat, and tears into making them. Or in today's case, with the people who put their blood, sweat, and tears into pushing comic culture forward. This is episode 496. And today's guests are two fellow comic podcasters.

*sound effect/ audio drop 0:57

Podcasts used to be for nerds.

Badr Milligan 0:59

And they still are, but they're filled with some great nerds, alright? In a few, I'll be joined by David Harper, founder of the award-winning. Of the award-nominated winning, I don't know. At this point, it's really great. It's a great comic site. It's called SKTCHD. He also hosts the equally popular comic podcast Off-Panel. And we'll also be joined by Brad Gullikson.

*sound effect/ audio drop 1:18

Now get this. He reads comic books.

Badr Milligan 1:20

And a whole lot of them, alright, as one half of the world famous Comic Couples Counseling podcast. Today we're playing a game of comic fantasy draft. It's just like regular fantasy draft, but obviously with a comic book twist. And not just like an easy comic book twist. We're not just talking about comic creators and characters. We're doing a draft about hyper-specific comic things. And I'm gonna explain exactly what that means here in a sec. But first I want to give a special recognition, a special shout-out to our amazing sponsors who help us keep the lights on. Big shout outs to our sponsors, including Gotham City Limit Comic Shop, the best comic shop in Northeast Florida. Check it out for yourself if you're local to Jacks or visit their online store at GothamCityLimit.com. And last but not least, big shout outs to IDW Publishing, the company that publishes great comics like TMT, Beneath the Trees, and Godzilla. Go find their amazing books at your local comic shop or shop straight from the source at IDWpublishing.com. That's right, you can buy comics directly from a publisher. The things you learn. Anyways, I couldn't do this without them, so big shout outs to Gotham See the Limit and IDW. Now, without further ado, let's get this show officially started. Short Bax Nation, let's welcome our guests. All right, plural of honor today. Let's welcome to the show, David Harper and Brad Gullikson.

David Harper 2:37

Hello, hello.

Badr Milligan 2:41

Yeah. It feels like this took years to bring us together. I'm not even sure if it's still coming together.

David Harper 2:50

You're jinxing us. Don't jinx us.

Badr Milligan 2:52

It's happening. It's happening today's the day, okay? Um, for our listeners out there, this is literally an episode uh a week and a half in the making, all right? Uh we've come to learn the the all humbling powers that be of technical difficulties, but we're here today to do this comic fantasy draft. Before we get into all the nerdy stuff, I do want to ask, how's everyone doing? Uh, how is 2026 treating you? What's been the best thing about the year so far that doesn't involve comics or podcasting?

David Harper 3:22

Brad, you go first.

Brad Gullickson 3:23

That's such a huge question. And I, you know, like how is 2026 treating anybody? Uh so good. So good. Um, you know, you you it's been a weird year for Lisa and myself. Uh we're going through a lot of like family transition stuff, a lot of health issues uh on a lot of fronts. But you know, comics are always there to uh keep me company, to keep us company, to get us through those dark times. So comics have been great. Uh the podcast has been great. Um what's the best thing that has happened this year? That's too big a question. We're in like April, Bonner. We're like halfway through April. I can't I can't remember back to January. So I'm gonna say uh I just saw Mickey Dolans with Lisa last night uh in concert uh at the Barnes at Wolf Trap in uh Vienna, Virginia, and that was beautiful. Mickey Dolans, 80 years old, celebrating 60 years of the monkeys. Uh incredible to see that man on that stage with his sister Coco. It was fantastic.

Badr Milligan 4:34

See, Brad, look, if someone's gotta ask, who asked the podcasters, how are you doing today? And that's what I want to hear. I'm glad to hear that, man. David, what about you, man? How you been?

David Harper 4:43

Uh good. I mean, it's my first calendar year doing full-time sketch and off panel. That's going well so far. I mean, if I if I could say there's what been one really good thing of the year so far, I am now able to run five miles at a good speed post-heart attack, which is really great. So uh the fact that I continue to make like gains, it I'm a really avid runner, and it really sucked not being able to run for like three months after that. And so, like, to be able to like slowly but surely see myself get back into where I was, and now I'm running a 6k next month as like my first step into my new new healthy life, I'll call that a big win. So that's a personal, very small medical thing, but I like it.

Brad Gullickson 5:25

It's a pretty big medical thing. I think it's awesome.

Badr Milligan 5:28

Yeah. Not only is David uh the Walter Cronkite of comic podcasters, but now he's the forrest gump of comic podcasters.

David Harper 5:36

That's right. Hey, it's five miles, it's not the entire country back and forth.

Badr Milligan 5:40

David, I was in the military and I find myself I I think of myself as a pretty fit guy. I could not run no five miles without ending up with a heart attack. So you've got me uh beat for sure. That's that's one hell of a uh that's that's impressive as hell, David.

David Harper 5:55

Can I tell you a really crazy thing really quick that's gonna sidetrack the podcast probably? When I had a heart attack, I didn't know what was happening to me. So I went to the gym and ran four miles while having a heart attack. So my doctor told me later that that was a bad idea. So you learn something new every day. So uh yeah, anyways, don't do that.

Badr Milligan 6:15

Hey, look, that's what that's what we pay doctors uh this absorbent amount of money to tell you don't run on a treadmill while you're having a heart attack.

David Harper 6:23

I just thought I was feeling weird. It turns out there was something cataclysmic happening inside my body.

Badr Milligan 6:27

So it wasn't the Taco Bell from last night, it was my heart.

David Harper 6:32

My time was really down, and I was like, man, this sucks. What is going on with me? Turns out there was something major going on. Anyways, sorry for the sidetracking.

Badr Milligan 6:38

No, all good. All right. Well, actually, uh, want to take one more sidetrack. All right, before we begin the hyper-specific comic book draft, I want to know what's going on in your worlds in terms of your respective platforms. I know personally both of you are doing some great things, uh, but maybe the audience doesn't know. So uh, Brad, how about you kick us off? What's going on in the world of comic book couples counseling podcast?

Brad Gullickson 6:59

Well, we are an audio-only podcast, uh uh which has been one of the reasons why it's been so hard to get this episode with you guys going because I don't deal with video and I uh what's Riverside? Riverside, no, thank you. Uh and uh I'm proud to be an audio-only podcast. But in the last year, we have ventured into some form of video on our YouTube show. Uh, we're calling it the Stacks. It's where we find comic book creators, usually at Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, Maryland, and uh we ask them to pull books off of the shelf and uh celebrate those comics. So it's creators not necessarily talking about their own work, but talking about some of their favorite comics and the comics that influence them. And that's been like really fun. Um, it's been very challenging. A lot of new skills have to be learned. Um, I'm happy to throw myself into failure. Uh, so it's it's you know, that's how you learn is by dropping the ball a lot. But I feel like the stacks has been like really solid so far. We've recorded 20 episodes already, published 17 episodes. Uh the latest episode is with Tony Fleece, the writer of Feral and Deathstroke The Terminator, talking about Gen 13 and Beautiful Darkness. And uh I'm really proud of the stacks, and I just want more people to be aware of it.

David Harper 8:21

I didn't expect Tony Fleece to wreck uh Kara Scoett, so I was very happy about that because they are amazing. Uh absolutely amazing comic makers.

Badr Milligan 8:30

Yeah. And to piggyback what David said, the the guest list that you guys have had on stacks, I'm just gonna read just a couple: Frank Barberi, Rodney Barnes, Tyler Boss, Jorge Corona, Nick Dragata, Justin Jordan, Jim Rugg, which was a fantastic episode. Brad, I think the only the only uh uh criticism I have about the Stacks series is they're too short. Some of these, like the rabbit holes that you could go down, like just the Jim Rugg episode alone, it's like let him talk for another two hours. Let the man cook. Uh, yeah, you guys have had some amazing uh um uh guests show up on the stacks. Is there, do you have any one or two favorites so far that have that like that went like particularly really well?

Brad Gullickson 9:10

Oh, I mean, like the Jim Rugg episode is a lot of fun because it's such an eclectic collection of comics that he's talking about. Uh Nick Dragata, you know, getting to talk about uh Banana Soul and and uh things like that and celebrate Alex Toath. You know, as a big time Alex Toath fanatic myself, it's just nice to see somebody else like revel in his genius. Um I I like what's so surprising is that each episode brings something unique uh to the conversation. Uh, you know, some books do get mentioned quite a bit, like Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips get brought up a lot on the stacks. Those are clearly two creators that are beloved within the industry. Um, but it's hard to pick a favorite because I really like all of them. We've gone international last week with Christian Ward. He actually recorded an episode at Secret Identity Comics in Chester, England. Awesome. We're gonna have an episode with Kurt Pierce next week, uh, recording at Red Skull Comics in Calgary, Canada. And we just booked Matt Fraction. And, you know, when Nick Dragada was on the show, he came to the store and he was expecting to find certain comic books. And for whatever reason, Third Eye didn't have them on that day. And Nick Dragada was like a little frustrated. So I thought when I'm booking guests, maybe I should also ask them, like, hey, are there particular comics you really want to talk about? Because I want to make sure they're actually there on the shelf. So I asked Matt that and uh he came back with this list of like 30 comics. And I was like, okay, I'll make sure that we have most of those, if not all of those, uh, on the shelf. But it got me thinking about doing like extensive Stax episodes, which would be podcast episodes like the Stax Presents, and then you'd have like Matt Fraction really talk about that in a huge list. Like, let's really dig into it. So that's something I've been thinking about too, Bodder.

Badr Milligan 11:02

Brad, I think I'll say one more thing about this, is that I think you know, you're bringing up like, hey, I'm audio, I consider myself an audio first podcast. I'm venturing into video of this series, which I think is a great way to like test the waters, like get a feel for video, see what you like about it, what you don't. But I think what what is very transparent, evident in watching the series and and the creators talk about these books, is that I think there's something that lends itself to the visual nature of a video, but also them be physically being there and physically touching the books and like talking about. I think it adds to like the reverence, how hype they get. I think there's something great about, I think it was Matthew Rosenberg that mentioned like anything Brew Baker and Phillips by Brew Baker and Phillips, I buy. So to hear like them speak about fellow peers and creators in the same way that like I've uttered that same phrase more times than I can count. So I think there's something about seeing them, like the spotlight, you know, like like recording an audio podcast, you can ask someone, hey, what are some of your favorite books? and they could tell you about it. But seeing them hold the book, flip through it, the smile they'll have, or like pick out a certain page, I think you guys have really struck gold with the stacks.

Brad Gullickson 12:10

Yeah, I agree. I mean, obviously we're inspired by the Criterion Closet, like that is the inspiration, and the whole reason we started the stacks is because I kind of find it weird that we don't have something like this already within the market. Um, and I'm just really happy that nobody had, because now we can do it. Uh so yeah, uh I I have like big dreams for the stacks. I uh my philosophy, Lisa's philosophy, has always been like just go and do it. Like, don't worry about being perfect from the jump. Um you know, I knew nothing about podcasting before we started podcasting. And actually, like one of the vulnerable things about recording a podcast with other podcasters is so good, especially on the production side, Bonner, uh, is that like now you're listening to me through my iPhone because that's all I could get up and running. And I feel like super vulnerable being the person who's like, my laptop is. Look at this basic bitch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're a podcast. You're gonna mock me. But I I always tell people like, don't worry about having the best mic or the best camera or whatever. Just go and do it. Uh you know, so many of the Stax episodes don't even look as good as I'd like them to because I couldn't shoot at four at 4K on the day because I didn't have storage in my phone that I brought with me because I didn't bring my camera and my camera crew. I have Prince George's community television shooting a lot of these episodes too, like real pros. Um, but sometimes, like, you know, when Tony Fleece is there, he's like, I gotta go now. Uh all I've got at my for my recording equipment is my phone. I don't have enough storage to record 4K. Screw it, we're doing with it. Let's go.

Badr Milligan 13:55

Check out the stacks short box nation. Link in the show notes. Let's pass it to David real quick before we start our comic draft. All right, David, it's your turn. What you got going on? What's going on with Sketch? What's going on with off-panel?

David Harper 14:06

So I will say I'm an award losing site. Uh, award winning, award nominated is what most people insist. People, I you know, it's funny. I I've joked before that like I was award losing. People are like, don't say that, just say nominated. It's it says the same thing, it's more positive. And then Tim Leong, uh, I think that for Comic Foundry, the magazine he did with Laura Hudson, it said like award losing. And I was like, finally, Tim gets me. Tim gets me. But um, anyways, yeah, so uh my big thing right now is I have sketched my subscription comic site, doing my thing, regular stuff coming up. I mean, when is this going up next week, Bodder?

Badr Milligan 14:40

For you, David, I'm butting it up on Wednesday. Yes, next Wednesday.

David Harper 14:44

Okay, so next Wednesday, I have uh uh I mean I have a big chat with uh with Rom V coming up with uh where we're talking about Deusidium. Uh he's got the the first kind of section of that book is coming out on free comic book day. And so we're we're gonna be diving into that. And it's a really great conversation. I just did that earlier today, and that'll just be text. So you actually have to read with your eyes, no listening or watching. Um and then, oh my God, I cannot believe I'm spacing out with the other thing. Oh, next week is Absolute Green Arrow Week on Sketch. And so I have a podcast with Pornsac Bisha Show, and then I also have a design of Absolute DC where I dive into the art and design of that book with Raphael Albuquerque and some insight from Pornsac. And then the following week I have Raphael Albuquerque. But this stuff, everything I do on there feeds into my print annuals. I currently have my print annual sketchbook 2025 that is up for sale until April 30th. It is a 152-page print annual where you get to read uh pieces on that time where Bone ended up in Disney Adventures magazine. It features Jeff Smith and Heidi McDonald and Marv Wolfman and Cliff Chang. I have uh a giant interview with Grant Morrison. The whole thing has a forward written by Kieran Gillen introducing it. Uh, it actually includes art from Bone, and it also has art from Beetle Moses and False Knees and Sarah Scribbles and a number of other comic strips allowed with permission from them because I have a piece about the comic strip boom of 2025. So it goes in there's five total pieces plus a bonus feature by me and that forward by Kieran, and it's just basically a dive into my favorite pieces that I do every year. And my wife and I do it together. It's our seventh print annual. We self-publish it, and they do kind of shockingly well, and they're very cool. So if you want to read stuff, if you want to read a book about comics written by me, this is a good place to do it. So check it out. I've ordered one. There we go. Sketch.bigcartel.com. Go there.

Badr Milligan 16:37

Look, I am a sketched book truther. I think I almost own all the sketched books. But David, I I hear all these great things. It sounds like this year's uh sketched book, print sketchbook is is gonna be one for the history books, but I have a very uh important question to ask you, okay? In my hands, I have I hold the stilt man zine that you put out, yep, the stilt zine that you put out last year. I have three copies of previous year's sketchman. Sketchbook 2024, 2023, 2022. I'm also holding uh this month's Comics the Magazine, issue two. And then I'm also holding a oversized magazine called Blitz, which is all about indie comic creators. I got this from uh Sean Crystal at uh original art expo. It's amazing. But David, my question to you is is print comic journalism having a resurgence? And I haven't even listed, I forgot to totally mention uh somewhere in this room. I also have Tiffany Babbs, uh, the comic courier, and I just backed the uh Kickstarter for the comic staple. Is print comic journalism having a resurgence?

David Harper 17:47

I mean, kinda. I the thing is, is like I think it's just a resurgence of people doing cool things that uh are underrepresented currently. Uh there's definitely a thirst for something real and tangible, and like there's a lot of I don't know, articles out there about how Gen Z doesn't want just like streaming services and they don't want just digital stuff. They want to have things that they own, they want CDs, they want Blu-rays, they want all these physical things that they can own. And so I think it's kind of an extension of that. I don't know if it's necessarily a resurgence, so much like a resurgence in the sense that like it was something that was never there. I think it's just people are kind of pushing back on everything being digital and wanting physical things again. And so people who are making stuff are doing that. And so I think it's great. I think it's really cool that there's all the the print stuff. Uh, you should get is it the next issue that Lisa's in, Brad? Yes. Yeah, the uh Lisa Gullickson, Brad's co-I'm sorry, introducing your stuff is uh co-host and wife, is uh doing an article in Comics Magazine number three. So we got connections everywhere in the print world. I will be in the comics staple. Brad and I have both been in the comics courier, so uh there's uh there's a whole world out there, but I just think it's kind of the world catching up with what people really wanted. And I don't think that all of a sudden everyone's gonna be doing like wizard numbers back in the 90s, but I still think that there's a lot of opportunity out there.

Badr Milligan 19:09

So it's cool. Can I say how awesome it is that I can go into my comic shop once a month and get a magazine like Comics the Magazine? And my and Ben, the the owner of my shop, was excited about carrying it. I mean, he's got like he's ordering like a hefty amount because people are excited and have been asking to put it on their pull list. So I think this is really dope that I own one, that I own so many like print comic journalism that looks good. I mean, all of these are like super high quality. David, your sketchbooks are always super great quality. And as a fellow comic podcaster, I look at these as an interesting way of being able to because I mean you you'll even transcribe. I think you said the the new one that's coming out this year, you're transcribing your Grant Morrison interview, which I think is such a dope way of bringing, you know, like this audio medium into a print format. It's got me, you know, it's it's got some wheels turning in my own head, but um, yeah, I I always look forward to what you drop in your sketchbooks.

David Harper 20:06

Well, it's like Brad was saying with like how I think the interesting thing is when you create things, you you do the first version of it, but then you can actually like put it into different permutations. So like Brad was talking about like doing like a brewbaker highlight reel or like a stray bullet's highlight reel or something like that. Everyone who's talked up those things, those books on the stacks. But like one of the things I've been thinking about and TBD if I end up doing is like I've been thinking about doing a sketched history book where I just collect my role histories and retrospectives and do it as a Kickstarter, or doing like one that's just big interviews, like the sketched interview book, and it just collects off-panel interviews, like my favorite ones over the years. Because I've been doing this for a long time, not bodder long time, but I've been doing it for a long time.

Badr Milligan 20:45

But David, you actually looked at your history like I can I can do something with this. Me, the closest I've gotten to doing something like that, at one point we wanted to do a documentary about the short box. We even filmed a bunch of interviews with all of our past co-hosts. We even dropped a trailer for it, uh, and then life ended up happening to all of my co-hosts. Uh, so marriage, babies, uh, all of that stuff. Um, and the documentary never came to be. But like I said, looking at your sketchbook, for especially for this year, has got my wheels turning about doing some cool stuff, uh, repurposing short box content. Both of you guys are doing amazing stuff, so more power to you. We're just trying to keep up with you, botter. All right, look, I think with that being said, that is enough of our prideful plugs this episode. Um I got another five hours. Uh, just I can keep going.

David Harper 21:33

I can keep going.

Badr Milligan 21:33

Listeners, check out the stacks on YouTube and go ahead and pre-order uh David's uh new sketchbook 2025. I'll have a link to that in the show notes. If you're a fan of fine comic journalism, you'll want to check it out. With that being said, let's get into our main event, which is the second ever hyper specific comic book draft. All right, this is a draft about very niche things that we love in comic books. Um I say it's the second. Second ever because technically I'm carrying the baton that David started last year when he did the first draft on off panel, uh, which I was a part of. All right. It was myself, David, and Chris Hacker for the Oblivion Bar podcast. We went on off-panel to talk about hyper-specific things that we love in comic book culture.

David Harper 22:19

I just think it's really funny that when you initially came on, you're like, I don't know if I totally get this, but I'm gonna try my best. And now you're like, I need to host my own. And I'm like, yes.

Badr Milligan 22:28

Now let me define what I mean when I say hyper-specific things in comic books. All right, we're not allowed to pick something general like Tom King's writing or Daniel Simpera's art or Batman. It's gotta be something. It can't just be a general idea. It's gotta be a specific aspect of each of those things or something similar. So, for example, last year, uh I picked the self-adhesive bags and boards. That was one of my draft picks. Uh, I think David's one of David's picks last year was panels or pages used specifically to show every item a character has in their pockets or bags.

David Harper 23:03

Inventory pages, baby.

Badr Milligan 23:05

Inventory pages, thank you. So that is what we're talking about, right? It can be a comic or a creator or a character or a story or whatever, but it's gotta be hyper-specific.

David Harper 23:13

And we have to love them. I want to note that it shouldn't be like hyper-specific, like I really hate Rob Granito's art or something like that.

Badr Milligan 23:19

Yeah. Only positive things around here. Uh, that's a different draft. All right. We'll we'll we'll see how this one goes, and maybe next year we'll do hyper-specific things about comics we don't like. But for this year, for this instance, it'll be things we do love. We're each gonna get five picks for this draft. We're also gonna do snake-style drafts. So that means um one of you will go first. In this case, David's gonna go first since he's the one that originated this whole idea. And then uh, Brad, you'll go second, and then I'll go third, I'll go twice, and then back and forth, yada yada yada. Uh, but yeah, five rounds overall.

Brad Gullickson 23:50

I have a question though, Botter.

Badr Milligan 23:52

Yeah, hit it.

Brad Gullickson 23:53

How does this person win at this?

Badr Milligan 23:56

I had a mystery judge in mind. I had him lined up, but it kind of fell through. And I think this year, and uh uh last year, David surprised us with some mystery guests as well. It was uh David help me out. Who are you? David S.

David Harper 24:11

Parker and Griffin Sheridan. There we go. The supple boys. Sorry, guys.

Badr Milligan 24:15

He called them in last minute at the very tail end. We had no idea who the judges were, and they voted, and I think they crowned David the winner.

David Harper 24:22

They one gave Chris and one gave me, and no one gave Butter, though. So they agree that Potter was the worst.

Badr Milligan 24:29

So this year, um uh because my uh both and my backup guest uh fell through. I think this year we'll let the audience decide who won this one. Okay, so I will accept bribery, donations, and anything to make sure I come out on top. But no, uh, I'll let the audience decide, and and hopefully I can uh next time get a judge. So, with that being said, how about we get this comic draft started? David, you got first round. Hit it.

David Harper 24:54

So mine is kind of a cheat because it's a combination and it's also not necessarily specific comics. But last year, Chris was throwing out things like Midnight Walks during San Diego Comic-Con. So I feel like that opens the door to anything. So my pick will be uh theme sketchbooks in general. I love the different ideas that people come up with. Like mine is superheroes doing ordinary things. Here's a sketch uh or a piece by Benjamin Dewey of Mohawk Storm playing an electric guitar as she's using her powers, and it's just totally awesome. Uh, like here's another one of Zealot and um and Grifter look shopping for melons and discussing whether or not you're supposed to thump it to know that it's uh that it's ripe. And so I love them sketchbooks because two things. One, it lets you see really cool art in a very specific way that you wouldn't necessarily see it from a regular artist. But also, I love that it reflects the person who owns the sketchbook. It's a like dual narrative where you get to see something cool from the person who owns it and from the person who's creating it. And I think that's amazing. Hybrid second point that's within it, also the moment when you see your commission for the first time. Oh my god. Like when I went up and I saw that like that's what Ben Dewey did, or that's what you know, um, Dustin Weaver did with the the Wildcats one. Like when you see a commission that you're like, here's an idea, and this artist does something that is just like far beyond anything you ever could have expected. I always describe artists as wizards. That is the peak of their magic, and I just think it's awesome. And yeah, that's my pick.

Badr Milligan 26:28

David, you cheating son of a gun. How many two picks off the first round? It was like 1.5 phenomenal picks, though. I will give you that, and something that that uh that hits close to home, okay? Because I I I've shared with you guys. Uh this year is the year that I honed in on my themed comic sketchbook, which is comic artists doing portraits of rappers. And uh at CollectiveCon, I was able to get Andrew Robinson to do a Jay-Z sketch and Dave Johnson to do a um oh my god, why am I drawing a blank? Oh. To the hump de hump. Yes. He why am I drawing a blank?

David Harper 27:05

Oh my god, I'm completely spacing it too now.

Badr Milligan 27:07

Shock G. There you go. Shock G.

David Harper 27:09

Shock G, that's it, yeah.

Badr Milligan 27:10

Yeah, so my rap that my rap sketchbook project is underway, and yes, I do feel you because I had no idea Dave Johnson was going to do Shock G. It came at a as a at a as a complete surprise. And you're right, that moment that you see your commission, especially when it's a surprise, because he didn't tell me what rapper he was gonna do. He took my sketchbook and was like, I already have someone in mind. Before I could even give him any ideas, he took it, ran with it. An hour later, I come back, and I and you're right. When they open your little sketchbook to show you your piece of art, the only sound that comes after that is heavenly uh choir.

David Harper 27:47

Brad, do you have a themed sketchbook? I'm surprised you don't if you don't.

Brad Gullickson 27:50

I don't have a lot of original art. Uh I'm really cautious about starting an original art collection. I have some original art pages from books I love. Um, but the idea of starting a themed sketchbook is extremely appealing, but I'd I'm afraid I'd be so poor so quickly.

David Harper 28:12

It's so cheap. It's so cheap. Just just get on. I'm just kidding, it is not cheap. You do it for the love.

Brad Gullickson 28:19

How you make it cheap.

Badr Milligan 28:21

The sketch money, the sketchbook money hits a little different, Brad. That's right.

Brad Gullickson 28:24

That's right.

Badr Milligan 28:25

All right, that was a great opening first round. Uh, and I'm I'm taking note of everyone's picks. So David kicked us off with themed comic sketchbookslash the moment when you see your commission. Brad, what are you drafting?

Brad Gullickson 28:37

Yeah, so I loved your episode uh last year. Uh I I was also deeply inspired by becoming more and more esoteric with my picks. Um and I don't know if I'm starting super esoteric or if it's gonna get even more so as we go. Uh, but for my first draft pick, I'm gonna go with when you're looking through the bins of back issues and you pull out an issue and it has children's writing on the cover. Like I love like silver age comics that say like this is Brian's comic, you know, or just like weird squiggles or what have you. Like, I love seeing comics that were not um treated as treasure, right? And have become treasure in the process. And I like having some sort of vague notion of who owned this book before me or who was the original owner of this comic. And I love the fact that Michael Allred is one of those guys. When he was a boy reading these comics, he signed all his comics with his signature. And apparently you can find these in the bins somewhere. And at one point, someone brought original child-signed Michael Allred comics to Michael Alred at a con. And uh I I'm on the hunt for Mike Allred but age 10 signatures.

David Harper 30:17

I once got a comic, it was like an old Marvel comic, and somebody had like drawn mustaches on every character's face with like a pen. And I was like, I kind of want this just because the mustaches.

Brad Gullickson 30:27

Yeah, that counts. I love when you open up a comic and there's like a word search or a maze of some kind, and somebody has gone through and done it. Uh like I just love seeing the presence of those that came before you when you bought the when you're buying the comic now.

David Harper 30:43

Yeah, it's almost like a pick that's very close to this. I'm excited to yeah, uh, I love that. That's great.

Badr Milligan 30:49

I I laughed earlier because now my brain went to what does it look like when you have a bunch of when this gets like this this this these Mike Alred childhood signed comics becomes like a serious thing among collectors uh that are like seeking them out and you find one and you're like this is when he was 11 years old. You know, like sub-10 years old is the prime years, you know, like how the price. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, the price fluctuates.

Brad Gullickson 31:17

I mean, I could definitely see the CGC card saying like this is an original Mike Allred signed uh copy of Silver Surfer or whatever.

Badr Milligan 31:25

Age nine and a half.

Brad Gullickson 31:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Badr Milligan 31:28

My turn. And I get two picks since it's my turn. First and foremost, all my Floridians listening will appreciate this. The nostalgia that you get going to Marvel Superhero Island at Universal is a different kind of nostalgia and feeling as a comic, like as a comic head. Going there and seeing legit comic book art from the likes of, I think for the most part, it's like largely Andy Kubert, but I think it's also you might see like some Sal Bishima art. I mean, it's like a plethora of different artist uh interpretation of these Marvel characters, and that's because Marvel Superhero Island has not been updated like since the 90s. So you see all this great 90s X-Men art and Spider-Man art all over the place, and you're like, this is like a time capsule from my childhood, and I never want it to change. And I learned that it can't legally change because Universal has some sort of like super retroactive deal with uh the Marvel properties that they own, that's like pre-Disney owning them. And uh what do I got here? It says Disney really wants Marvel back, but the contract Universal has basically has no expiration, and if they add anything new or update it in a way that uh and they can't even update it to new, then Disney has to sign off. So if Universal's like, hey, I want we want to update this Spider-Man ride to something completely new or bring in a new ride, Disney has to sign off on that. Obviously, Disney is not going to do that because they want the proper rights back. And should Universal even do any of these things, they lose those rights, which is why Marvel Superhero Island has been stuck in the 90s since then. Um I guess I should have asked because I I got a little ahead of myself. Have either when's the last time either of you have gone to Marvel Superhero Island? I've never been there.

David Harper 33:16

Never. Whoa! So I live in Alaska, man. But I thought you've made trips to Florida before.

Badr Milligan 33:23

When I was like 12. You guys, okay. Maybe the next time we do this draft we'll be live at Marvel Superhero Island. The destination the land where time doesn't touch. Then that one was a really niche pick, and I'm very proud about that. All right. As a Floridian, that's an advantage of living in this uh fucking crazy ass state, is that we have Marvel Superhero Island, and that kind of makes up for all the bullshit that comes out of Florida.

Brad Gullickson 33:48

Uh but I mean, are you guys aware of like they have nothing but the whole nostalgia thing, you know? Obviously, like Walt Disneyland has changed since construction. But what I love about Main Street when you go to Disneyland in California is it really still feels like the 50s-era Disneyland, and therefore the Disneyland of my youth of the 1990s. Uh uh and and when I when I go back to Disneyland, there is like a special sensation that I don't really have anywhere else.

Badr Milligan 34:23

Yeah. Well, Brad, I'm telling you, get ready for nostalgia overload when you get to finally go to Marvel Superhero Island because it's amazing to see all this like Andy Cubert like artwork everywhere. It is amaz I mean, even the the um uh the actors are in like the old suits. So Captain America is in like his comic book accurate suit, and that's because Universal cannot fuck up the theme park rights that they have retroactively had for all these years, and I love it. So yeah.

Brad Gullickson 34:52

So you mean like Chris Evans's head is on like that, Captain America?

Badr Milligan 34:58

Or is it like the like uh it's just like an actor wearing like Cap's comic book accurate suit, you know?

David Harper 35:04

Like it's and it's not Thorett's Thunder Strike. You gotta hope it's like really specific and weird 90s stuff. Oh man.

Badr Milligan 35:11

Oh, God. That's my first pick. And then my second pick is a little bit of a brown nose to our very own David Harper that's on the show. And my second hyper specific comic book draft pick, the three dots that David uses in his sketched articles to annotate an editor note. I can't tell you how fucking much I love that you have those footnotes built into all your articles. I look forward to those almost as much as I do like the rest of the article.

David Harper 35:39

Yeah, that's great. I really appreciate that. Footnotes, when I was doing uh an update on the site, I was like, I just want to find a way to do footnotes. Uh, a site I really love loved called Grantland, which was uh ESPN spin-off that had like really great writers and c are in pop culture and sports and stuff. They use footnotes and I just loved it so much. And it's just like it's great. You can use it for anything. You can use it to expand on a thought, you can do meta commentary. It's a blast. It's like my it's my favorite thing to write, which is weird because it's a very small portion of the actual articles.

Badr Milligan 36:07

Yeah, I'm telling you, I am always looking forward for those three dots in your articles just to see what off like offside commentary you have about it. And it it always lands. So that one's for you, David. That's the last, that's the only one, though. All right, that's the only one I'm giving you.

David Harper 36:21

All right, those are included in the books, too, by the way. I I like including the footnotes in there just because uh can't do it in the same way, but it's still fun.

Badr Milligan 36:28

That's cool. All right, let's start uh round. Oh, so I guess I kicked off round two. Uh David, you're up next. What else are you drafting?

David Harper 36:34

I think Brad's up next.

Badr Milligan 36:35

Oh, I apologize.

Brad Gullickson 36:36

What's the snake style, right? I had to look this up. I'm not a sports guy. I had to go to Google and be like, what is snake style? And then you're gonna skip me.

Badr Milligan 36:45

He's he's messing with you. Brad, I'm a new sports fan, so I still fuck up the very obvious. Okay, okay, okay.

Brad Gullickson 36:51

My next draft pick, I like saying my next draft pick because again, I'm not a sports person. And so I feel very good, right? Like I feel like I'm cosplaying uh with this fantasy draft. Uh so my next draft pick is when the carpet matches the drapes on a comic. And by that I mean the cover art and the interior art are the same. Ever since I was a kid, I couldn't stand it when I would buy a comic and I would like open up the book and be like, what that's that doesn't match. I want the art on the cover on the inside. So when we now get comics where the cover artist and the interior artist are the same, I'm really, really delighted. And I know that's actually not that uncommon now that we're in the world of crazy variants. You know, every comic has 26 variants and they usually throw a bone to the interior artist to do uh a cover. Um, but and and those are always the issues I get. Like if Jorge Corona is doing the interior art of Transformers, I want the Jorge Corona cover.

David Harper 37:50

I get A covers only.

Brad Gullickson 37:52

But sometimes the A cover is not the interior artist, like in the Transformers.

David Harper 37:57

Yeah, yeah.

Brad Gullickson 37:57

It's really frustrating.

David Harper 37:59

It is really funny, yeah.

Badr Milligan 38:00

You're an A-cover snob like that? Like you won't even bother for B cover.

David Harper 38:04

I have on my poll list A covers only.

Brad Gullickson 38:06

Uh as do I, actually. Yeah. But I will buy variants.

David Harper 38:10

The way I look at it is it's like it's the cover that was most intended to be with the comic itself. But I totally get with Brad. I personally also believe the A-cover should be done by the interior artist, but that's another story for another time. Every once in a while you have one that's like an exception to that rule, like uh Ventures Armageddon's coming out, and like I'm not gonna be mad at DK Ruan doing like incredible like Marvel versus Capcom style Wolverines on the cover. Like, I'm I'm not mad at that. But it would be cool to see Delio Diaz and Frank Alpazar do the covers for that still. But take what you can get. Take what you get.

Brad Gullickson 38:40

But when I do buy a variant, because you know, like, oh, DWJ's doing some kind of like AEW uh DCKO variant or whatever, like I feel shameful, you know, and I and I do go and put my knees on glass when I get home. I I I I gotta make penance.

David Harper 38:57

I mean, he his first one was like the reverse CGC, so he counterbalances it by by doing defaced comics.

Badr Milligan 39:04

How about this? How about this scenario right here? Okay, because I would love your opinion. I'm also the same kind of way. If it's if I can't get the A cover, then more than likely I probably won't pick up the book. Unless there's like a really badass variant. What about a second printing of an A cover? Same thing, same rules apply?

David Harper 39:19

I don't care. That's fine. That's fine, yeah. Yeah, I I I don't really care about printings, period. I just like I want to read the comic.

Badr Milligan 39:25

At CollectiveCon a couple weeks ago, Mike Spicer was there. He had a bunch of uh, you know, comics that he's colored and worked on. One of those being Wolverine 400, and I got so and Mike Spicer is such a solid dude, man. Such a good dude. He does not overcharge what he really could for some of these Daniel Warren Johnson. I mean, he had like the Transformers basketball variant there at a reasonable price, you know, like um, and he had this uh the the Wolverine cover, and I'm like, holy shit, he's got it for 10 bucks. I don't know if you know this, but on eBay, that book fetches still a pretty penny. So I'm like, yes, let me get one of these uh these Wolverines. He's nice enough to sign it, and I walk away from his booth, I'm looking at this thing, I'm like, fuck yes. And then I look at the little box and it says second printing, won't lie to you, kind of took the win out of my sales. I was like, all right, you can't win them all.

Brad Gullickson 40:11

I once was screwed over buying uh Yusagi Ujimbo number one, and I bought it and they sold it to me at the first printing price, and then I get home and I open it up and it was second printing. So I paid $100 for the second printing. And uh that was a that that made me bad.

David Harper 40:31

Yeah, that's misrepresenting product at that point.

Badr Milligan 40:33

Yeah, I think so. Add that to the uh next year's list of hyper-specific comic things I hate. Buying a second printing at it at $100, outrageous. All right, Brad, that was a damn good pick. Uh, when the cover matches the interior art, or as you lovingly put it, when the drapes match the carpet. Love that one. All right, David. Uh what about you? What's your second pick?

David Harper 40:51

Uh so I'm gonna build off of Brad's first pick, which was the going through the long box or the long boxes and finding um, you know, the face comics. One of my picks, and this is something I'm like, I really weirdly love, and you guys probably do it too, but it's like when you go through a collection, specifically one that is like owned by a single person, and you can actually start forming a narrative about that person and the story it tells about them, like I can look through a collection and I can know which ones they've held back for themselves because there's a gap in them. If like you can go through it and you're like, this person should have this comic. I guarantee you they did have it, but they they're not selling it because they want to keep it for themselves. And it's like, it's really interesting. Like, I think you could look through any comic fan's collection and you could learn a lot about that person by digging through those boxes. And I have like 39 long boxes right to my right. And you could learn a lot about me, and it's probably a really, really weird story, but it's probably an accurate story too. And I think that that's really fun. I think comics, anything that we love tells a story about us, and I think comics they do too, even though some of the stuff is about like stilt man or whatever.

Badr Milligan 41:56

They're like, Man, this guy, this David guy really loves melons and baseball.

David Harper 42:00

That's I mean, I have the first appearance of Stiltman in four languages now. This anybody who like went through my spinner rack would think I'm a psychopath, basically.

Brad Gullickson 42:09

Uh, I have like a little bit of a serious question, though. Let's hear it. What are you gonna do with your collections as you approach an end? Donate it. Donate. Donate to who?

David Harper 42:22

Uh just uh probably some sort of children's nonprofit. Uh like I will make sure that the stuff that is like children specific would go to a children's nonprofit.

Brad Gullickson 42:31

Yeah, but what about your themed art books?

David Harper 42:34

Oh, I don't really know. I mean, honestly, are you getting at something, Brad? Are you getting at something? No, you're killing me? Are you gonna do that?

Brad Gullickson 42:40

No, no, no, no, no. It's just somebody asked me that recently, and I had not really considered it. And then I started considering it, and you know, I I don't want to die in my apartment uh after Lisa's already died. I imagine Lisa goes first, even though she's younger, right? Uh that's the ego of it. Uh when I die in my apartment, I want to make sure that the person who comes in to clean up isn't just like throwing it into the garbage. Oh yeah. Sure. So you really do have to come up with a plan. And I would like this to go to people who would appreciate it.

David Harper 43:19

I mean, I think that like the bulk of like the the comics themselves would go to some sort of group that would like be able to go to people who would enjoy reading it. I don't want to, I don't want to sell it off in advance to just like make myself wealthier at the end. Uh, as far as like the art stuff, I mean, honestly, I have like a commission of the flash eating at a uh conveyor belt sushi place by Jonathan Case. Like, who the hell am I gonna give that to?

Brad Gullickson 43:44

Like, dude, who I would gladly take it off your hands. I'm sure there's lots of people. Yeah, I think I think people would want it.

David Harper 43:51

I'm gonna have a very detailed will then, because it's like this piece will go to the biggest sushi slash the flash fan in my life. This piece will go, I have the one. That I called Images Animal Collective, that's all of the uh animal characters from 2010's image comics. It's got Goose, and it's got the uh God, I forgot the big uh walrus dude is what his name is in saga, and it's got Alarm Cat and it's got uh from Shudder and like a Poyo from Chew, and it was done by Layla Del Duca, and it's really, really it's an amazing piece. And I just like I don't know who to donate that to. That's a a problem for future David. I'll figure that out later.

Badr Milligan 44:26

Brad, I I don't know how to feel. I bet you bringing up that existential question that I have like I have definitely had nights where I've stayed up thinking about that exact thing as I sit in my office that is jam-packed with some amazingly cool shit, as well as a storage unit that is double-filled with just as much cool uh stuff, which I think is why lately I have made uh a concentrated effort to like start cataloging my stuff and getting an understanding of what is in here, and hopefully that I can get rid of like things I can get rid of now versus like I want to hold on to this a little longer. Um, good food for thought, Brad, but I don't want to think about that right now. That's that's that's like David said, that's future botter's problem. And God bless you.

David Harper 45:09

I'm gonna need to put into my will that everything has to be auctioned off and everything will go to a charity for cats. That like I don't have kids, it's gonna go to the future of the cat community. Terrible answers. What if I answer and stuff? All right. David, that was I'm up again. Yeah, yeah.

Badr Milligan 45:23

Uh it's back to you for a second. Pick, what you got?

David Harper 45:26

Okay, should I go with something actually comic-based or should I go with something uh kind of more in this line of thinking? We've been going in this direction. I'm gonna take a vote.

Badr Milligan 45:34

I think when Brad called it, I think Brad, you might have helped uh rename this draft, the esoteric comic book draft. I'd say let's keep it going.

David Harper 45:42

Okay. So uh I think that one of the things this is a funny thing to say. I think that we know too much about comics. I think that there's uh something lost in the world that we people go in on Wednesday and they only look at the things that they know that they want because there are so many comics and so many people just skip over things because it wasn't in their app or it wasn't on their list or they didn't already know about it. So my pick is finding something very unexpected on a Wednesday and realizing it's one of your favorite comics. Uh, my favorite example of that is Xander Cannon's Kaiju Max. I picked it up because it seemed crazy. I didn't know anything about it. It is one of my favorite comics of all time, to the point where Xander Cannon, I'm pretty sure, has a restraining order against me. Um and so, like, that is a comic that I picked up purely on a whim. Another example, uh, it was mentioned earlier, Banana Soul. Banana Soul is a comic that Nick Dragado recommended on the stacks. And like that comic rules. It is uh by Michael Saint Leville, and it's a uh French comic about a real sport played in a very fictional way. Uh and it's crazy and awesome, and the art is amazing. And like, I think that there is an art of the surprise in comics that is somewhat lost in modern times in this hyper information world. And I I want to be surprised. So going in on Wednesday with your eyes open and finding something that changes the way you see comics, that I love.

Brad Gullickson 47:05

Don't you think that is just freeing yourself from the prison of your own taste? Like you spend so much time growing up, sharpening what you like and what you don't like, and suddenly you find yourself in a box of like, well, I just read superhero comics. And at some point you have to like chisel out of that box and discover like manga, discover romance comics, discover sports comics.

David Harper 47:31

I I do. I mean, I will say, and this is probably overstating myself and also probably being extremely not humble. I don't think I have a box, and I don't think I've ever had a box.

Brad Gullickson 47:41

But then what do you so what are you saying exactly when you say like we know too much? By we, you mean you?

David Harper 47:49

Everybody. I I think that like people go in with expectations that this comic isn't for them, and they don't look at like, okay, so recently we were we were chatting in a text thread about like, you know, if it like you know, art, like if art pops and it alone is really good, is that enough to make that comic good? Sometimes maybe not, in my opinion, but I do think that if you go and you see an artist you'd never seen, here's another example. Luigi Formasano does nights with Wyatt Kennedy. That's a comic that I didn't know anything about. And I saw the cover and the design and Luigi's art, and I was like, I have to pick it up. I had a preconceived notion that I didn't care because I didn't know about it. But when I saw it, I let it speak to me and I accepted it. And I think that people go in with preconceived notions. Like I saw a YouTuber not that long ago say something along the lines of like people shouldn't make cold purchases of comics. They should know if they would like it ahead of time. And I think that is insane. I think you should just accept what speaks to you when you walk through the stands, and you might like find something you love that you wouldn't have accepted otherwise.

Brad Gullickson 48:52

Yeah, I think embracing the unknowing is good, right? Yes.

Badr Milligan 48:55

And I think that's like half the fun of going into a comic shop, especially like on a Wednesday. This makes me think about the last comic that I went into the shop and picked up just off the strength of the cover. I don't know if this is exactly what you're talking about when you do your pick, but Death Fight Forever. Have you guys read it? Oh, yeah.

David Harper 49:12

Yeah.

Badr Milligan 49:13

That cover, uh, I mean, I had no idea what the hell it was about, but the cover looked rad. It gave me like a vintage, like old school. Beat em up video game. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, uh, and I think that's half the fun of like going into a comic shop is just feels like even more so than ever that there is a comic about any kind of genre, any kind of story. And if you box yourself in, then you're missing like half the fun. You're missing all the fun.

Brad Gullickson 49:36

I wonder if the destruction of like Diamond and Previews catalog is going to actually help in this endeavor. Because we know very little. It's like it's hard to like get all the solicits in one place these days.

David Harper 49:49

That's a good thing. Yeah. Well, and and like the problem is is like the the actual direct market runs in conflict of this very idea because shops aren't going to order it unless somebody pre-orders it, and then they're not gonna have anything for the stands, so you can't discover it on the stands. And so there's fine there, there's like fundamentally a conflict at the core of this idea. I guess my thing is I I just love finding things that are unexpected on a Wednesday. And I just think that people should be more open to things that they don't think will be for them. Because, like, one of my favorite comics this year is an autobiographical comic about a woman having a baby during a pandemic. And I have never been a parent and I don't know anything about it, and it's amazing. That's Julie Wirtz's Bury Me Already. Uh, it's nice down here. You should read it. It's great. Uh so yeah, don't put yourself in a box. Engage the world.

Badr Milligan 50:32

All right. Brad, it's you, good sir. What's your third draft pick?

Brad Gullickson 50:36

My third draft pick is that moment when you're in the dollar bins, and we're blessed to have a lot of dollar bins around uh our neighborhood. Uh you're in the dollar bins, you're hunting on your own for your own stuff, and somebody else approaches the dollar bins and starts flipping through. And suddenly you have like dollar bin competition, right? And there's like two ways this can go. Okay. Either I murder him or Well, sometimes I'm like, I'm feeling um generous of spirit, and I want to communicate, and I go, Oh, what are you looking for? What's your jam? And I'm like, oh man, I'm like digging through. I'm trying to find Avengers issues from the 90s. And you're like, okay, if I find any Avengers issues from the 90s, great. But sometimes you get a somebody and they start pulling things out, and this is this just happened. And I wasn't feeling generous of spirit. I was feeling insular. And as he pulled the comics up, he saw me looking at his comics and he started to put them face down.

Badr Milligan 51:42

Whoa.

Brad Gullickson 51:43

So I couldn't see what comics he was picking. And I could have been just engaged, but I chose not to. And so now I felt like we were in a race. And I just assumed he was looking for tyrant issues too. He was looking for Warlock 5 too. Like, uh, and like that sensation, you know, like of like, I gotta get to my books before this guy gets to my books. Uh it's groblin mode. It's you know, you're being that's a gremlin and a goblin, by the way. Lisa and I call it groblin mode. Um, you're you're being a total groblin. Uh it's it's not how you should behave in the world. And yet I kind of like that feeling too.

Badr Milligan 52:23

You know, if if that sounds like a competition I can get behind. No one's getting really hurt, you know?

Brad Gullickson 52:30

Um a little toxic.

Badr Milligan 52:32

Come on. Uh you know, a little toxic. Um I don't think I've ever had anyone turn their books face down. I don't know how I'd react to that. I think I'm the type that probably would have awkwardly tried to break the ice and say, what you got there?

Brad Gullickson 52:47

Yeah, I I I thought about it. I thought about it, but I again I was feeling insular in the moment, and I didn't want I had just gotten like um uh flipped off uh double fingers by a guy as I was driving. And like that was in my opinion, I was doing nothing. I was just driving along normal, and I guess he wanted to come out in front of me, and he started to go out in front of me and then stopped and then gave me double fingers. I was like, whoa. And he was so mad. So I was a little insular when I was going through those.

David Harper 53:16

It was actually the guy that was in the box next to you. This is gonna be the third season of Netflix's beef. It's gonna be Brad and that guy. Yeah, yeah. Just like the the dollar bin beef. Uh I I love that. I mean, my my I don't, I'm not blessed with any dollar bins in a literally thousands of miles radius because I live in Alaska and we don't have dollar bins, but we do have an August sale each year where they basically each week the prices drop in the books that are in there, and it's got everything. Like you can find like really valuable first appearances, but you can also find like uh Punisher War Journal number two, written by or right, number four, written by Matt Fraction and with art by Ariel Olivetti, whereas Stiltman has his funeral or his wake in the the bar with no name, which ends with the Punisher blowing up the whole thing. Um, but anyways, and like it's funny, I've I've been going to it for so many years. Like people there just know that I'm looking for uncanny X-Men issues to fill in my run. And so I like I like what you're talking about, but I also like when there's the the collaborative community spirit looking through that stuff where every once in a while they'll be like, Oh man, I just found this uncanny issue. Do you do you need this one? I'm like, no, but I appreciate it. Keep looking.

Badr Milligan 54:23

I think next time that happens to you, Brad, you gotta assert your dominance in in either uh in either two ways. One, you start grunting. No, that, or you take the entire short and or long box and you move it to a different location, and then you're going through it in private.

David Harper 54:41

Go and grab his long box and move it away.

Badr Milligan 54:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or you throw them off your your trail and you start making like you start hyping up bullshit comics. You're like, oh yeah, I hit the jacket.

Brad Gullickson 54:54

That's what I would be doing. Like, like intentionally. That is what I'm looking for. You know, Charleston and Chew comics.

Badr Milligan 55:02

You're right, you're right. Okay, well, then do the do the former, all right? You gotta search your dominance, you gotta own the long box, take it. You know what? You take the entire long box of this dollar bin comic, you take it to the front, and you're like, I'll take all of them.

David Harper 55:13

So what you're telling is Brad needs to be the dollar bin alpha.

Badr Milligan 55:17

Yes, the dollar bin alpha all day. All right, that was a good one. All right, I'm gonna kick us off for uh I think this is a round those you're finishing three. So I'm gonna finish round three and kick us off for round four. I apologize. Okay, with that being said, uh, my two picks, my first of two picks to round uh finish out round three. Um we talked a little bit about uh apps or something like that. So I'm gonna pick the League of Comic Geeks new release calendar. Okay, I feel like it is it has been a heaven scent since I've been using it and came across it years ago. Uh I think it's also really cool when I see other people at the shop pull out their phone and I know they're using the Comic League calendar, new release app. I just, you know, it is a perfect intersection of accuracy and popularity, you know, like when it's when it's time to when you're at the shop and you're not quite sure all the different books that came out, and you're like, man, I know there was something else I was meaning to pick up. And I'm obviously I'm speaking for myself. This is me every Wednesday. Man, wasn't there another book I was gonna pick up? Open up the app, check out the calendar release, and it's usually on there. Sometimes I just like scrolling through the uh calendar, the calendar view, even if I'm not going to the shop, just so I know what I'm missing out on. I don't know. Do you guys use the the League of Comic Geeks app at all or the release calendar?

Brad Gullickson 56:37

The only time I go to it is when I'm trying to figure out an FOC date.

David Harper 56:41

I I use it for some work stuff where I do like an email newsletter for a uh a couple comic shops, and then I also do it for my the poll column. Hilariously, I actually use my own the poll column. I bring up my Patreon and I just look at the article as I'm walking around.

Badr Milligan 56:56

Okay. Badass. Yeah. I I live and breathe by the League of Comic Geeks new comics calendar release. And to David's point, I use it so much for just podcast planning and show notes and preps. I really don't know where I would be without, and this is not, you know, I'm not sponsored by them, but I truly don't know where I would be dead without without the League of Comic Geeks, man. It has been a life changer since they came on the scene. Um and they're doing a damn fine job. Uh and to kick off round four of this, I'm gonna draft corner boxes on Marvel Comics. Oh, yeah. I'm talking about the vintage corner boxes, uh Marvel comics from like the 80s. There might be an additional box where the barcode is at, or it might be a picture of Spider-Man in that little box. Um, ended up learning that if it's got the barcode, then it's uh what is it, direct edition. That means it was sold directly to a comic shop and they weren't gonna uh accept. No, it's the opposite. You're right, you're right, you're right. If it's got a barcode, it was a new stand edition. If it had a piece of artwork like a Spider-Man head or a Fantastic Ford little sketch, it was direct market and they weren't gonna take it back for returns. And I just love those little boxes. And when I close my eyes and think about it, it's always that image of Spider-Man in the symbiote suit, just the floating head in the white box all day.

David Harper 58:11

So good. Big fame. Yeah.

Badr Milligan 58:14

Okay. Um, I guess get back to you, uh Brad.

Brad Gullickson 58:18

Yes. Uh so my next pick is uh self-portraits, artist self-portraits. Uh I freaking love seeing how Mobius, you know, Jean Girard sees himself. Uh, you know, the few times Jack Kirby would do a self-portrait. Um, you know, one of my favorites is uh John Ramita on the cover of Ooh, Marvel Age something, where he has all the women that he has drawn floating around his head, spawning after a sleeping John Ramita. Um, I freaking love self-portraits. And then, like an asterisk or a bonus, maybe anytime an artist draws themselves into a comic or draws their friends into a comic, that Silver Surfer issue where it's in the stands of a ball game of some sort, and it's Norn Rad and Don Greenwood, and then like the entire Marvel bullpen is in the bleachers with them. I just freaking love that.

David Harper 59:13

I was gonna say one of my favorites of that is uh the sex criminals issue where there's an entire interlude where it's Chip Zadarski and Matt Fraction talking as uh Matt Fraction falls into depression and Chip Zadarsky just basically falls into a pit of money.

Brad Gullickson 59:24

Yeah, it's okay.

Badr Milligan 59:26

Actually, David, uh the one that came to mind for me, the Stan and Jimmy Jack. No, the Stan and Jack Kirby cameo, and I think an issue of like uncanny X-Men, right? Like they bump, I think it's like Storm, they're like uh walking down like New York on the sidewalk, they bump into Stan and Jack, and Stan like says something like that. That's like the one that immediately comes to mind. I think it might have been the issue where it's Doctor Doom on the cover holding Storm. Like she's like sprawled out on his arms. Oh, okay.

David Harper 59:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brad Gullickson 59:53

I think it's that issue specifically, but there's that what if issue where the Marvel Bulblin becomes the Fantastic Four and Jack.

Badr Milligan 1:00:00

Yeah, that's a good one.

Brad Gullickson 1:00:01

Like that's a good one. There's also the Jim Opero Brave in the Bold cover, where a guy is threatening to shoot him if he doesn't draw Batman's death.

David Harper 1:00:13

Wait, wait, one more. I just gotta say, a recent one, I it's not a self-portrait, but it includes a self-portrait. I love the uh the Jimmy Olsen uh Superman's pal Jimmy Olson for Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber is the hardcore hardcover collection where it has like a million people watching Jimmy Olson box like a demon or whatever. And it's got like it's got Steve Lieber and Matt Fraction on there, but it's also got like everybody in comics and a whole bunch of other people are not in comics, and it's pretty spectacular.

Brad Gullickson 1:00:39

Yeah, like the entire uh how did this get made podcast group is in there.

Badr Milligan 1:00:44

Is that supposed to be like an homage to the the the Superman and Mohammed Ali cover? Oh, that's cool. Yeah, all right. Badass. All right, uh David, take us away.

David Harper 1:00:52

Okay, so fourth pick. Uh I'm going to pick something very specific in comics themselves. I really love expansive looks at locations in comics. This is also from this is from Julia Words' bury me already. It's nice down here. She walks people through what her new house looked like, and she does. She is really good at drawing spaces, and that's something that she's actually done in previous books where she actually did like detailed looks at like New York tenements and things like that. But anytime that she all of her covers are spaces, it's like it's her in a space that's always messy, but it just feels like it's really filled with life. I love when spaces are brought to life in comics. Uh, another really good example is uh there's a a world where the nice house by the lake, wait, kind of nice house by the sea, a nice house, whatever. The the first one by the lake. Yeah. By the lake. By the lake. Okay, I always make I I know it's the lake, but I couldn't remember if it was by the or whatever. Nice house by the lake. Uh that doesn't feel right. Anyways, whatever. The lake one. Uh I love that Alvaro Martinez Bueno didn't just like draw these spaces as if like they were just like temporary locations. He built it out like a character, and like there's entire like sections of the book where you can actually see like the entire living room in this gorgeous house. So, like eventually, when you get to more specific scenes, you actually know the layouts and everything like that. And I think that stuff is really cool. It adds to like the realism of it. And also, it's just like some people are really good at drawing that stuff. Julia's really good at drawing it, Alvaro is really good at drawing it. Completely different artists with one hyper specific skill set that overlaps. And I think that's great.

Badr Milligan 1:02:25

Yeah, that's a solid one. And for the record, it is Nice House by the Lake and Nice House by the Sea was the follow-up. And it says here that the the trilogy will end with nice timeshare property by the Adriatic Ocean.

David Harper 1:02:39

Ooh, Adriatic Ocean. Something has really gone wrong in this future. Uh all right, my final pick. Oh, what do I want to choose? Um, I'm gonna continue with the theme that we've been going on, which is like kind of the engagement side and also like interacting with other people. One of the things so I have a comic book garage sale every other summer where I dig through all of like my 39 long boxes and sell stuff that I'm willing to get rid of, just so I can clear space for all of my new stuff that we'll eventually get rid of, probably also. The cycle. But um when I do that, there's always kind of like the usual suspects that come. And they're also some of the people that I'll see on Wednesday. But one of the things I really love is that like you meet somebody, and this can happen at cons, this can happen anywhere, where you discover you speak the same language as like another comic fan, and you realize immediately that, like, hey, we just talked for the last five hours about Gambit. Was that an advisable way to spend your time? Probably not. But it but I mean, it's it's really amazing because it's like comics as an art form is a language unto itself, but also speaking with other comic fans is like speaking a different language. My wife could listen and she's like, I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about. But like me and this, there's this one guy that comes to my comic book garage sales. I always forget his name, and I know it's Mike, but I always call him Mike Wazowski, like uh Monsters Incorporated, because that's for some reason where my mind goes. And Mike Wazowski, I will talk to him on Wednesdays, and like we can talk for an hour about just like random comics or just whatever we have in our piles, and it's because we speak the same language. And I love that. Like comics, like when you find that connection, it isn't always there, but when it hits, it's so amazing.

Badr Milligan 1:04:13

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. And and I think that's the beauty of just the comic shop, man. Like it's cool to meet other people that can speak about this as if it's like a sports talk show, you know, or they know the inside baseball, the references. Uh, you could say things like floppy, and it's like, wait, what does that mean again?

Brad Gullickson 1:04:30

You know, some people do not like that term, Bodder.

Badr Milligan 1:04:32

Yeah. I what's the what's the other preferred term?

Brad Gullickson 1:04:35

Because floppy is uh don't say pamphlet. Don't say pamphlet.

David Harper 1:04:39

Fuck I just say comic. I mean, I just say comic.

Brad Gullickson 1:04:42

I like floppy, I like single.

David Harper 1:04:44

I don't whatever you want to call it, is as long as I know what you're talking about. I don't really care. You can only re no, I only refer to comics by their full formal name. Peter Parker, the spectacular Spider-Man 310, volume two.

Badr Milligan 1:04:55

David, real quick, that this Mike guy that you taught, do you Mike Wazowski, yes. Mike, Mike Wazowski. Does he know anything? Uh does he know you from the podcast or website?

David Harper 1:05:04

Do you guys I think he eventually figured out that I had stuff and he was just started on YouTube? But yeah, it is funny. I mean, like, I'm not gonna act like I'm any great shakes, but it is funny because like some of my people in the or some of the people in the comic shop, I think, have slowly but surely started realizing that like You're that guy. I kind of am out there. And it's been really funny to see. Like, I had a number of people be like, Oh, I saw Kieran Gillen write about you in the back of the Power Fantasy 13. And I was like, Oh yeah, that was really nice. And it was funny because they were just like, Who are you and why is this happening? This is so confusing. Um, but God, I was gonna add something and I completely spaced it. Oh, I do want to note I do this isn't I think a really important note. You can do this with other things. Like I can, I I had one of my favorite parts of Comics Pro is I spent like an hour and a half talking to Tucker Stone from Phantographics about basketball. That dude knew it was hoops. He's amazing. Um, anyways, and maybe not an hour and a half, but it felt like forever in a glorious way. I love you, Tucker Stone. Um Uh, but the thing is, is like I feel like basketball is like Spanish in terms of languages where a lot of people know that language, versus like speaking comics is like speaking Sanskrit. Like and when you find somebody like or or like Latin. It's like when you find somebody that's conversant on it, it's so much more rare that it's extra delicious.

Brad Gullickson 1:06:21

Anyway, that's true. That's true.

David Harper 1:06:23

That's my final pick. Brad, what you got? Yeah, Brad, what you got?

Brad Gullickson 1:06:26

Uh, I'm gonna go with the Four Color Fantasies annual charity sketch cover auction. Uh, this is a comic book store in Winchester, Virginia, that uh partners with the literacy volunteers of the Winchester area. And they have this auction, it goes for usually about a month. Uh, it ends every year on free comic book day. And what you can do is bid on original art pieces from people like Becky Clunen and Jeffrey Allen Love and uh David Mack. And all the money that they gather from this auction gets donated to the literacy volunteers of the Winchester area.

Badr Milligan 1:07:08

Wow.

Brad Gullickson 1:07:09

And they've been doing this for several years now. I want to say six years, maybe seven years, they've raised over $50,000 for their neighborhood. And this year, they're halfway through it right now. They've already raised another $8,000. Um, and you can go to their website, uh, you can look at all the art. You have to call the shop, though, or message them on Facebook or Blue Sky or whatever to put your bid in. But the pieces are incredible and right now, really low on the dollar figure. And in the past, I've won original Jeff Lemire art for $30. I've won original Brian Steffre's art for like $40. Um, Daniel Warren Johnson was like the biggest score I didn't make, but somebody else did. They did a beta ray bill uh wraparound cover, and I think that went for 600 bucks. The Jeffrey Allen love piece right now is already up to $300. Tyler Crook has a wraparound two-faced cover that's at $90 right now. I highly recommend going and taking a look. You can get art for a relatively good price, usually if you bid strategically, uh, and you're helping out like a great cause.

Badr Milligan 1:08:23

Brad, this is what I love the most about you is that you are one of the least gatekeepy people I've ever met. Because if I knew all of this, how cheap I can get some of this art, I would never share this with anyone. But you are such a kind, giving soul.

Brad Gullickson 1:08:39

I had a run at it, Bodder. Like I said, I've got some really nice original art pieces when this thing just started going. Um, but then when Lisa and I had this podcast and we were like, well, we should really platform what they're doing.

Badr Milligan 1:08:52

And yeah, no, it's a good cause.

Brad Gullickson 1:08:53

It just feels great to see how much money they can build for this like really worthy charity. You know, Virginia has a real literacy problem. Many states have a real literacy problem. And I think like growing up, I thought we had conquered literacy. You know, I was like, oh no, everybody can read. But that's definitely not true. And having literate neighbors actually helps you. Uh like let's not just think about you know the little things, but like let's think about like how they can participate in elections and local government. Like, you know, let's if if you're not literate, you're usually denied from a lot of spaces. So helping literacy helps them, it helps you, it helps everybody. And the fact that Eric Jones, the four color fantasy, started this auction through comics, like using comics to help his neighborhood. I mean, like, that's the greatest thing ever.

Badr Milligan 1:09:46

Damn, that's awesome. That is fucking awesome.

David Harper 1:09:48

Good luck following that one, Potter.

Badr Milligan 1:09:50

I know, I'm like, uh great.

David Harper 1:09:52

Whatever you say is gonna make you seem like a selfish jerk.

Brad Gullickson 1:09:56

But like right now, there's a Matt Bohr's spawn. He did an original spawn, Matt Bohr's a great cartoonist, and it's also illustrat uh it's also autographed by original spawn letterer Tom Orzikowski, and there are no bids on it. None. So it's at $20 level right now.

Badr Milligan 1:10:13

Brad, uh, when you get a chance, send me a link to this and I'll I'll put it in the show notes. Um, now I gotta totally revise my last pick, which was uh sniping that random eBay user on a great lot last minute. For the cheapest price possible. Okay, for my absolute last pick of the second ever hyper-specific comic book draft is when you have this moment coming across, whether you you find it in the dollar bin or find uh, you know, this uh among a graphic novel, but it's that wait, is there a sketch in here moment that you get from pulling a random comic off of a out of a box, out of a shelf, whatever it may be? When you buy a used trade or back issue and you realize that the creator, the artist, whatever it may be, did a small little remark, a little doodle on the front page, no better feeling. No better fucking feeling. And I had an opportunity to experience that at CollectiveCon. I went up to Dave Johnson. I had I had one of his like early sketchbooks. I'm talking like from years ago. I've got it here somewhere. My buddy Drew gave it to me as a gift, and this is before I even really realized who Dave Johnson was. He was like, hey, this is one of my favorite artists. Here's the sketchbook. Enjoy. I've had it for years, so I've been like, oh, cool, I'm gonna get this signed by him here and maybe even give it back to my buddy Drew as like a thank you gift. So I go up to Dave Johnson, I'm like, hey, I would love a sketch or something. And he opens it, he's like, I already did one. Right there, smack dab in the first page. Uh I don't recognize the character, I think it's from one of his uh other stories, but he did a little sketch, man. And even though that's not quite the exact moment I'm talking about or championing, that moment was awesome to know, like, oh, it's already got a little sketch. But when you come across just a random comic that has a little sketch, no better feeling. Anything uh stand out in mind? Have you guys ever had experienced that?

David Harper 1:12:07

I live in Anchorage, Alaska. I've never experienced this.

Brad Gullickson 1:12:11

Uh I went to a Los Angeles used bookstore next to the UCB theater, and I walked in and they had an autograph section. So I knew I was gonna get an autograph book, but I saw Harlan Ellison Edgeworks Volume 2 there, and I pulled it off and I opened it up, and it was Harlan Ellison signing the copy to Stan Lee. It was like to Stan the core of the plan, Lee, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Uh, Harlan Ellison. And, you know, again, it's not like your story because they were selling it signed. But just seeing that this was not only a signed Ellison book, but it was signed to another one of my heroes, like a hero meeting a hero. I was like, Well, I gotta buy this book. So I did buy the book. I think I I think I paid $60 for it.

Badr Milligan 1:12:58

That's crazy. Oh, yeah. I think I one time found a Bernie Wrightson like little swamp thing doodle in a random I think like in just a random issue. It might have been like a random issue, a swamp thing. But I just love that moment of being like, wait, this is not part of the book. This was add it on later.

Brad Gullickson 1:13:14

Yes. There's those stories that I've heard of collectors buying like Jack Kirby back issues and buying it for a regular price, and then they open it up and then Jack Kirby signs on the first page. He, you know, they wouldn't sign it on the cover. And I've always fantasized about that happening to me.

David Harper 1:13:31

I was gonna say the only the only version of this I've ever seen is when the kids that would draw on the covers that that Brad was talking about earlier draw on the inside also. And so no famous people, just a lot of children.

Badr Milligan 1:13:42

Okay, with that being said, that brings our draft to an end. I want to recap uh everyone's picks really quick. Uh, and like I said, this will be an episode, this will uh uh the the winner of this will be crowned by the listeners, by the audience. Um, David, for you, I had uh themed comic book sketches slash the moment when you see your commission for the first time, when a collection tells you the person's life story, finding some unexpected wait, finding all right, finding something unexpected and falling in love with it at the shop, finding some unexpected comic books, falling in love with it. Uh, and then uh pick number four was expansive looks of spaces and places in comic book form. And uh last but not least, your last pick was speaking the same comic uh uh speaking the same comic language with a fellow comic collector slash fan. All right, and then David, your picks were lovingly I'm sorry my name's Brad. Brad, my apologies. The double David. Brad, your pick, your picks were uh lovingly the face comics, usually comics signed by uh toddlers, uh when the cover matches the interior art, dollar bin competition. Uh pick number four was artist self-portraits, love that one, and then pick number five, the very altruistic pick, um, was the four-color fantasy Winchester Auction. And uh just to recap from my picks, my picks were the nostalgia you get going to Marvel Superhero Island, the League of Comic Geeks New Comic Release Calendar, the three dots that David uses in his sketch articles, aka the footnotes, corner boxes on old Marvel Marvel comics, and last but not least, the wait, is that a sketch moment? And those are the picks. All right, those are the total picks for the second ever hyper-specific comic book fantasy draft. Gentlemen, thank you so much for playing this game. This was a lot of fun. Like I said, I'm gonna let the audience, the listeners, chime in with their favorite pick. Uh, and I would also love if we missed anything, because this it I think at some point these drafts are going to become uh exceptionally difficult as we start going through all of the possible esoteric picks. Um, so I think they're either going to be very difficult or get really weird in future uh instances.

Brad Gullickson 1:15:49

Yeah. Honorable mention, Kirby Crackle.

Badr Milligan 1:15:53

There we go. There we go. Great way to end it. All right. Uh one last thing. Um uh any parting word before we wrap up? Uh uh Brad, David, where can we find you guys what you got going on? Just one more time. David, hit it.

David Harper 1:16:05

Uh, you can find me on sketch sketch.com, that is my Eisner nominated subscription comic book site. Uh, you can find me on off-panel, it's my weekly comics interview podcast. And you can find me on the sketch YouTube, which has off-panel episodes and random things like my chip chat series where I'm interviewing Chip Zadarski every single month and assorted other things on there. So uh and sketchbook 2025. You can find that on at sketch.bigcartel.com.

Badr Milligan 1:16:29

There we go. Brad, what about you?

Brad Gullickson 1:16:31

Uh, you can find our podcast, Comic Book Couples Counseling, wherever podcasts can be found. It is audio only. We're talking to rad comic book creators every week, sometimes twice a week. Uh, our latest episode is with Kurt Pierce and Franklin Jonas talking about Fireborn. And of course, head on over to YouTube and find Comic Book Couples Counseling and watch some of those stacks videos. Uh Tony Fleece is the latest episode. And uh yeah, uh hit subscribe. Don't just watch.

David Harper 1:16:58

Hashtag like and subscribe. Is that what the kids say anymore? I'm about to kidnap. Yeah, hit the bell icon. That's right.

Badr Milligan 1:17:05

All right. With that being said, ladies and gents, this is the short box podcast. We just finished talking to David Harper and Brad Gullikson about hyper-specific slash esoteric things and comic books that we love. Uh, I'll have links to their social media, to their website, to their podcast, all the great things that we talked about in the episode description and show notes. Do yourselves a favor, do them a favor, check it all out, man. We got some great comic book content being put out in the world by these two, and I think you'll appreciate it. If you like the short box, you'll definitely like comic book couples counseling and off panel. Make sure you give them a follow, keep an eye out for future announcements and projects, and that's all I got for you. Here's my outro coming in. You guys have been great. Love ya and peace.

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