[HEROIC MUSIC]
Hello, people of Earth, and welcome to Episode 2
of The World's Greatest Book Club.
I am Paul Scheer, and every week on this show,
we are highlighting Marvel books, Marvel books
that you might not have read, you might have forgotten about,
or maybe you just want to revisit.
We also are shining a light on local comic book shops.
They are a small business that need our attention
more than ever right now.
So every episode, we're going to be highlighting one
specific shop, and we'll show you
how to support a local shop in your area in just a little bit.
But joining me on this journey into the back catalog of Marvel
is my friend, a former editor at Marvel Steve, Wacker.
How are you, Steve?
[OPERA MUSIC]
Steve, how are you?
Oh, hello, Paul.
I was just here in the library reading The Fantastic Four
by John Byrne.
That-- first of all, that looks totally fake.
You knew we were recording.
We're shooting a show.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I've been asleep reading.
I've never seen you wear glasses.
I guarantee those glasses are fake.
Steve, the reactions from the first episode are in
and people are loving it.
People are loving our episode.
They feel like we're in the same room together.
This kind of rapport, you don't get on every show.
Let's virtually high five.
Is it this way?
Or maybe-- maybe it's that way?
Well, all right, either way.
Be that as it may, we were able to join up here
and talk about Marvel.
And I know, Steve, you're a connoisseur
of interesting Marvel books, things that
are kind of out of the bigger characters or the bigger story
arcs.
What is a hidden gem that you have in your collection
from the world of Marvel?
The one I pulled out this time is a fun
one, Marvel Fun and Games.
It's filled with mazes and word puzzles and--
Draw the goatee on Doctor Strange.
Obscure characters like Stingray.
I mean, I don't even think we'd publish
a story with Stingray now.
There was this Canadian cartoonist named Owen McCarron
who I guess met Stan at some point,
or Jim Shooter or something, and pitched this book.
And you'd get 32 pages of puzzles instead of stories.
I feel like the puzzles there can't be that hard,
but I bet you they're very fulfilling.
Like, what's a three-letter word for something
that Spider-Man shoots?
Don't underestimate what's hard for me.
This Texas twister maze from 1980,
I'm still trying to figure it out.
I get lost right around here.
That's the obscure Marvel treat.
All right, so we have a great guest today.
She is someone kind of new to the world of Marvel,
but you know her as an actress.
She's been in shows like Community, also movies
like Ibiza and Don't Think.
Please welcome Gillian Jacobs.
Gillian, how are you?
Thank you for being here.
How's your quarantine been?
You know, I'm very privileged and lucky,
so I really don't have a lot to complain about.
And I'm really happy to be talking to both of you.
Talk to me a little bit about how you got into comics.
I know you got into comics a little bit later.
So I actually started reading comic books because I was
directing a documentary for Marvel Comics and Disney+,
their new series, 616.
So it was kind of a strange way into reading comics,
but I fell in love.
You know, I got a subscription to Marvel Unlimited
and just dove right in and discovered
so many comics along the way.
What did you hit first?
I think Power Pack was the first one that I read in depth.
And it made me sad that I didn't know
about it when I was a kid, because I
know I would have loved it.
And it was so nostalgic and sweet and fun, and kind of
different tonally from what I thought Super
Hero comic books were like.
So that was sort of also my intro to the fact
that there were all these different subgenres
of comic books and I wasn't really aware of before.
You know, I didn't really know that much about Power Pack,
and I was kind of blown away by this world.
This is about kids who have superpowers.
Their parents are alive.
They're not orphaned.
They are able to be Super Heroes,
but their parents don't know.
And they're keeping it away from the parents,
and they're dealing with issues that are important to kids.
And it's a very, lack of a better term, a very happy book.
Yeah.
So Louise Simonson, who created the comic with June Bregman,
the artist, she is a mother, and so I think she wanted to write
something that her daughter and her daughter's friends
would want to read.
And I think she was very conscious about trying
to integrate issues that you know kids were going through
and making that relatable in the book.
And also, I liked the older sibling relationship
with other Super Heroes who come in and out of the comic book.
Oh wait, Louise Simonson.
We were talking about her last week
when we were talking about New Mutants, because she
was an editor over at X-Men.
So this is her first book, Steve?
Louise is a legendary Marvel editor.
She did amazing work in turning the X-Men into the book
that everybody remembers.
She helped build that world out in a huge way.
And this is her--
I think you're right, one of her first attempts
at creating and writing her own book.
All right, so let's talk Power Pack.
We're actually going to talk about this Thanksgiving issue,
right, issue Number 19, which is pretty
amazing for a lot of reasons.
But basically, the kids are inviting their Super Hero
allies over for Thanksgiving.
That's kind of the premise of the mom is in the hospital
and the dad is visiting the mom, so the kids
are alone for Thanksgiving.
I love that issue, I think in part,
because I used to live in New York.
And I remember going the night before Thanksgiving
and watching them blow up the balloons.
I mean, it's broadcast around the world,
but it feels like this uniquely New York event.
And it was kind of an introduction
to some other Super Heroes in the Marvel Universe.
So I just love that they're trying
to recreate family, and probably some themes from Home Alone.
Yes.
I mean, the final act, they basically
are having a fight on a Thanksgiving
Day parade balloon.
And by the way, we're talking about crossover, because Kermit
the Frog is in this book.
And now I know that Kermit is a part of Disney
and Marvel and Disney, it's all together
synergy on the earliest level.
That's when that all started.
The deal started back in 1986.
Steve, talk to me, though.
This seems to be rooted a little bit
in the world of Fantastic Four.
I mean, it is another family with superpowers.
Space is involved, to a certain extent.
At the time, the FF was going through a lot of change
in the book, and some of the family aspect
had been carved out a little bit.
And I think Power Pack sort of filled
a little bit of that hole.
And you hit on one of the best issues of the book, I think,
because it does that thing that Marvel does so well when they
slow the action down for a minute,
just to get a little bit of who these characters are behind
the costumes, behind the masks.
All right, so then can we talk about this weirdo in this book,
which is this little monster that
also has his own separate Thanksgiving
adventure in this book?
He has an abusive parent who's putting him in a box.
What is up with Leech?
Paul, don't call him a monster.
Mutants--
He's a mutant.
Yeah.
Mutants have every right to existence, Paul.
We know which side Paul's on.
[LAUGHTER]
I think that once again, I feel really bad for Leech,
but he's also dangerous because he's sapped your powers.
Right.
So he's not great to have around,
but he just wants to be loved.
Yeah, it's a real heartfelt B or C story in this book.
Did it change your feelings about mutants, Paul?
I guess.
Yeah, I guess they're people, too.
Now, we know Spider-Man didn't come to Thanksgiving,
but he does actually have a really interesting relationship
with the Power Pack.
They actually did a handful of special episodes,
or special issues, where like Spider-Man and the Power Pack
kind of confronted bigger topics,
like even child abuse, right, Steve?
Yeah, there was a series of these done
to teach kids through the Super Heroes
about how to handle these situations.
The Power Pack one specifically was about child abuse,
but it's also the kind of writer Louise is.
Her always felt very placed in the real world.
Now, Gillian, do you know anything about Louise?
Is she still writing books, or--
Yes, she's still active, as is June Bregman, who
is the artist on that series.
And I think they're meeting a lot of people in their 30s
now who read it as kids, and are introducing
the series to their children.
So I think they're excited that Power Pack is living on.
Well, as someone in my 30s, I can
tell you would be very exciting to see them back on the book
again.
Ooh, Steve, is that a scoop?
- No. - Did you just give us a scoop?
No.
I think we scooped you.
- This is not a news show. - Or you scooped us.
We scooped. - There is no scoop.
No, we scooped.
This is a scoop.
I'm just saying this--
Ga-ga-ga-ga-gong!
As someone in their late 20s, it
would be fun to read a new story by the original creative team.
All right, so maybe there is some hope for the Power
Pack in Marvel's future.
Before we let you go, Gillian, I want
to talk to you also about another book
that you really kind of fell in love with, which is Ms Marvel.
I think I see her right behind you, Paul.
That's her right there.
And you know, the big thing for me, anyway,
in seeing Ms Marvel and the power of this character
is the representation, too.
You know, this is not just a white superhero face.
This is somebody with a very specific background.
And Steve, when you were helping develop this idea,
how much did that play a role in the creation of this character?
Well, as a young Muslim girl, Paul, I always felt--
so it was Sana Amanat and I in the office,
and she was telling me about herself as a kid
and and loving comics, and not seeing herself in the books.
And so I came in the next day with the thought, of could
we create a hero for that kid?
And in that sense, it was intentionally
meant to be a young Muslim girl in New Jersey.
I wanted to Hero for for that kid.
Actually, this is actually a really good point.
Because Steve, you worked with her to create Ms Marvel,
but how do you work with writers to bring
a character to life like this?
I mean, every book has a different alchemy.
It's dependent on the writer, on the artist, on the editor,
on the whole creative team.
But one tactic that I went to a lot
was challenge the writers to put themselves into the Marvel
Universe, sort of find the aspects of the character
that resonate to themselves and and let
that be the launch point.
And I think that's what is so engaging to me about Ms Marvel.
I don't know for you, Gillian, I think
this book grounds it in a world that we recognize very easily.
I think they're all kind of the younger siblings
of Spider-Man, in a way.
It feels like a continuation of these younger characters
who are struggling to balance school
and being a Super Hero, family, and their newfound powers.
And I think those kinds of stories
really do resonate, because you can draw very
easy lines to your own life.
Gillian hit it on the head.
Like all of Marvel's best characters,
they sort of go through that Spider-Man prism.
Yeah.
We call the first couple of years of Spider,
and we call that the Bible.
Like, that's how to make a Marvel character.
And then Willow and Sana and Adrian
sort of took Kamala and put her through that prism of
Spider-Man for the modern day.
Gillian, this is great.
You recommended two amazing books.
I'm so excited to see your doc on Disney+, Marvel 616.
I also have one.
We can't talk about it because of legal reasons, but--
Gillian's is way better.
Aw, jeez.
Come on, man.
All right well, no big deal.
You know, now I'm really in my head about it.
Jeez, I don't know how I can do the show.
Have you ever considered naming this the Wack Pack?
Oh, Gillian, Gillian.
The one thing we can talk about, though, is Gillian,
the first time you went to a comic book shop
was here in Los Angeles.
Can you just talk to me about what
was it like, because I've kind of grown up with it
and felt in that world.
So what was it like to go there a little bit as an adult?
Well, the library was my favorite place as a child.
So I felt right at home in a comic book store.
And you just feel the love from the people
who run these stores, the passion that they have.
And I really do hope that people find a way to support
them during this time, because I think
they're invaluable places.
And for all the kids and adults who love comics,
it's a place where you feel right at home.
And though I want to make sure that they're still around.
Actually, Gillian, we found a comic book shop
in your hometown, which is Pittsburgh.
And it's called Phantom of the Attic.
And they are not open right now, obviously,
but they are taking mail orders.
And that's actually a great way to engage
with your local comic book shop.
You can find them online at POTAOakland,
and that is Phantom of the Attic.
And that is in Pittsburgh.
And if you want to find out how support
your own local comic book shops, just
follow this link right here--
bam, there it is.
And they will show you how to find a local comic book
shop in your area, which I probably
guess you already know, because you're
going there all the time.
But they'll tell you how they're kind of staying open
during this pandemic, whether it's
mail orders or curbside pickup.
A lot of different places are doing a lot of different stuff
Gillian, thank you so much for spending time with us.
Steve, not so much to you.
And we will see you all soon.
Thanks so much for watching.
Good to see you guys.
If you want to read the books that we
just talked about today, head on over to Marvel Unlimited.
There are thousands of issues easily organized.
You can find them all right on this app.
I love this app.
And make sure you support your comic book
shop so they will be there for us when this is all over.
And we will see you for our next episode.