Produced in association with the SomaCow Media Network (see 
Prime Time Geek Episode 25 is brought to you by Bad Apple Comics. Vote for Bad Apple Comics as “Best Comic Store” in this year’s Orlando Weekly “Best Of Orlando 2009″ poll by clicking HERE. They’ll be your best friend, and so will PTG. (Okay, so maybe not your BEST friend, but we’ll both like you a whole lot.)
Lots of time in this episode is spent talking comics – special guest co-host Matthew Ruele spent some time before (and during) the show getting caught up on Marvel’s meltdown of the Ultimates universe, Ultimatum, which could carry the alternate title of “So You Think That’s a Gruesome Death?” Later in the episode, Bad Apple Comics General Manager Shawn Schinault calls in to talk further about Ultimatum, as well as the amazingly well done Old Man Logan story in Wolverine, the aftermath of Batman: Battle for the Cowl, and the new Batman and Robin #1. Shawn gives some interesting insights on the reasoning behind Ultimatum’s brutality, Old Man Logan’s brilliance, Batman: BFTC’s blunders, and Batman and Robin’s bright future. If you’re over at the Bad Apple store on OBT and you need a recommendation on something great to read, you could a lot worse than to ask Shawn to recommend something for you. The man simply KNOWS what’s good in a comic book.
Truthfully, as Matthew pointed out, it is quite sad that so many of Marvel’s heroes in this world have fallen, if for no other reason that these often-brilliant new takes on classic characters were once celebrated as much-needed revitalizing energy for a company that needed a shot in the arm. As Ultimatum rumbles to its final, body-count raising conclusion next month, I can’t escape the growing perception that writer Jeph Loeb’s blood-soaked opus is growing into an exercise in seediness, something akin to Hostel-like torture porn, where we as readers get to see characters we’ve come to care about sacrificed on the altar of crossover-event sensationalism. It’s simply not possible for issue #5 to not kill half the remaining cast, because to do anything less would be a letdown in comparison to what’s come before. We’ve come this far, Jeph–why not simply blow up the entire Ultimates Earth and be done with it?
Stumble It!
