First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast Ep.20: New Guardians #6

Bass and Siskoid cover New Guardians #6, in which the team that was meant to usher in the new Millennium takes the fight to China where the Warlords of Okaara have landed, and we get another casualty! Plus, just who are the New Guardians?!

Listen to Episode 20 below (the usual filthy filthy language warnings may apply), or subscribe to First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast on iTunes!

Relevant images and further credits at: First Strike ep.20 Supplemental

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24 responses to “First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast Ep.20: New Guardians #6

  1. When referring to a character (Snowflame? Who the hell is that?) doing cocaine, Siskoid said it was a bit “on the nose.”

    Also, in an issue where The New Guardians sit down to watch RED HEAT, Siskoid later says the characters “got a RAW DEAL.”

    Are these Easter eggs? If so, it’s very meta, considering the Millennium references in this episode.

    And while i think Staton’s work on this series was among his weakest, I really like this cover. Something about the design and colors make it look old school propaganda poster-y to me. I dig it.

    Thanks for helping me get through my morning work routine fellas!

    1. Considering he missed my Chris Deburgh reference in our Trek episode, you may be giving Siskoid too much credit.

  2. I came into this episode feeling bad for you guys for having to cover this. Who knew it wouldn’t be all that bad?

    Sounds like the “relevance” was very ham-fisted indeed, but as you pointed out, they should get SOME points for trying. Hemogoblin the AIDS Vampire was a bit much, though.

    I quickly dismissed this comic following the end of Millennium and the rather lackluster characters that were the end result of that drawn-out event. Who knew there was some good content in there after all?

    Oh, and Gerry Conway was the co-creator of Firestorm, not Cary Bates. I thought I’d put that out there before Shag stops by. Network demerits!

    Seriously, great show guys. Thanks for taking one for the team… even if it wasn’t as bad as everyone imagined.

    Chris

    1. You know when I just told Rob I chose my words very carefully? I lied!

      Yeah misspoke on that one, and I have a long history of mistaking Cary Bates for Gerry Conway. I don’t know why.

      1. They both started out in comics at a very young age. Bates was a pre-teen sending in cover ideas to Mort Weisinger, and was writing scripts for him by the time he was actually in his teens. I think Conway was 18 when he started selling scripts.

        Chris

  3. I have found memories of The New Gaurdians I had the full run but soon afterwards our basement flooded and they were a casualty so I never revisted them. I was in middle school at the time so the issues bieng so hand fisted was not a issue for me. I liked the character designs especially Jets green electric head fins. Think the main reason I liked it was bieng a 13 year old going through puberty and dealing with the fact that I am gay it was really one of the 1st times that I saw something relevant to what I was going through in a comic. Well that’s my two cents on the comics just want to thank you guys for the podcasts and all the great memories it brings back.

    1. Equitable representation being what it was (and sadly, still is), I can easily believe readers were just happy to see themselves in such a diverse comic. Glad we could stir those memories for you.

  4. Guys, a confession. I almost tried to convince my mother to get me a subscription to the New Guardians when I saw the DC ad for their book after Milliennium. Not that Millennium was really worth following, but I was intrigued by this team of non-heroes drawn together from different corners of the globe, etc. I wanted to be at the beginning of something new and exciting – and on Baxter paper – and something not available on a newsstand.

    I’m glad I never got suckered into it. It could be worse. It could be Outsiders.

    1. I’m glad I never got suckered into it. It could be worse. It could be Outsiders.

      That’s it. POD DYLAN, TREASURYCAST, and FILM AND WATER are cancelled so I can concentrate on IN THROUGH THE OUTSIDERS DOOR: A BATO PODCAST.

          1. Excerpt from Pile of Steam: The Fall of Fire & Water: “If you want to put a date on when it all fell apart, it was when Rob thought that ‘Batman and the Outsiders’ was something he thought people gave a shit about. All his efforts and money went into this futile enterprise. My amazing husband, David Ace, tried to talk Rob down, but you know how Rob gets.” – Gal Gadot-Gutiérrez

  5. I looked at the subject for this episode and the running time and thought, “Wow, 50 minutes of feedback. That’s amazing.”

    In all seriousness New Guardians was a book I bought in the fifty cent bins because at one point the idea of having every mainstream DC book from Crisis to Zero Hour was a good idea and not a horrible life decision. I guess my interest in the series can be summed up in the fact that I have never read these issues, not even this one. At the same time I can’t be too hard on the series. I’d rather see a noble failure than a successful pile of crap. Relevance can be hamfisted and sometimes it can detract from the story but most of the time I can appreciate the fact that they were trying to say something and maybe it gets someone thinking.

    One final note before I’m out unless someone makes an interesting comment that I feel the need to add to; this episode is a good example of why I like this show. The hosts took a book I had never read and made me interested in their commentary. Plus I appreciate not skipping over the morts in favor of the better books.

  6. Another great episode! You did the unthinkable, you held an interesting and non-slanderous conversation about The New Guardians! Impressive!

    Interesting that “New Guardians” was relevant and tackled the AIDS issue. Across town at Marvel, Bill Mantlo attempted to do the same thing with Northstar in Alpha Flight. He built a story for months with Northstar getting sicker and sicker. The big reveal was going to be that he contracted AIDS (tying into the worst-kept-comic-secret that Northstar was gay). Once Marvel figured out what Mantlo was doing, they pulled the plug. Mantlo had to patch the story with some nonsense about Northstar and Aurora being of fairy descent.

    Kind of Chris Franklin to try and stop the bleeding about the Cary Bates/Gerry Conway mix-up, but I will not be held in check!! Seriously?!?! This network was founded on Firestorm and Aquaman! It’s in the By-Laws to give “Godfather” Conway credit as often as possible! You’re on warning, Captain Cannck! One more demerit like this and the United States will release it’s hold on Canada as a colony.

    However, you did include my late Captain Atom Invasion feedback, so I guess I might cut you some slack. … might …

  7. From jump, before I forget, thanks for running the DC Bloodlines ad. I seem to be fond of hiatuses, so it was nice that this one ran while I was still putting out episodes of this particular show and it’s the first run it’s had in many a moon. I swear that I wasn’t ripping off Ryan Daly’s second Secret Origins promo, and in fact initially thought he’d swiped me until I checked the dates on his receipts. I guess it is the closest thing I’m aware of to a podcast centering on international/non-white DC heroes. Which reminds me, I’m in the market for someone joining me for an episode of, i don’t know, Under Guides or something to discuss the oldest and newest Captain Canuck series.

    Anywho, gah, New Guardians? Millennium is over-hated, and I could easily name half a dozed DC crossovers that were worse , but I’d have a tough time coming up with a bigger D.O.A. spin-off than New Guardians. I want to give Steve Englehart points for trying, but then I think of Extraño or read some of Jet’s dialogue and it’s just like “some representation is worse than none at all.” New Guardians is the type of book that gives white supremacists ammunition against diversity in comics.

    Confusing Cary Bates with Gerry Conway is an easy mistake since they were two of DC’s best Bronze Age scripters who could successfully evoke the Marvel style of writing.

    After First Strike! is over, I’d like to hear Siskoid and Bass do a BATO mini-series. Only from Siskoid’s shop, and only a mini-series. Anything otherwise wouldn’t be prudent.

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