By Dustin Cabeal

I fucking hate hero versus hero titles. The one and only time that it was enjoyable was DC vs Marvel (flip it, I don’t care), and even then, it was a mess of shit. That’s what made it charming – seeing the rage of the fanbases and concessions that each company had to make to keep certain characters powerful and protected. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same dumb storyline of one or both sides of heroes being mistaken as villains and fighting each other, meanwhile the actual villains are agreeable, cordial, and already working with each other. I’ve lost track of how many of these franchises versus franchises IDW has made, but they're just to sell covers. Go ahead, ask how many covers they have for this first issue.

Thirty-one.

They cutely put “Collect them all” at the back of the issue before showing you thirty-one covers. Kudos to all the artists who got paid for the covers – get that money – but to the poor soul who felt they needed all the covers and spent God knows how many hundreds of dollars to get all the store exclusives… I wish you wouldn’t have. That purchase behavior is irresponsible and damaging to the industry as they focus on sales of covers rather than telling a story worth reading.

By Dustin Cabeal

"Venba" is perhaps one of the simplest games that I have ever played. Its controls and directions are so straightforward that anyone could pick up the controller and easily finish the short two-to-three-hour game. By no means is that a negative aspect of the game; there is an intentional reason for the straightforward controls and simplicity. That’s because it’s an equal part video game and interactive story. It’s just that both of those things are viewed as dirty words. “Interactive story” is not a game, some would say, while book enthusiasts would similarly say “Moving pictures” are not a book. I’m of the mindset that a good story is a good story, and I love to see new and interesting ways for stories to be told. At the end of the day, all forms of media are just stories being told, and the one that "Venba" is telling resonated with me long after I finished playing it.

I played it twice, and I won’t sugarcoat it; it was to unlock all the achievements. Frankly, it’s an easy 1,000 if you’re looking for them. But on that journey to complete it, I discovered that by selecting the opposite answers than I had picked the first time, I got a very different story. It was a better story than my first playthrough, which caught me off guard. I tend to pick the answers that align with my view of the world. So, to have these alternative answers presented and to answer "what if I had chosen differently," well, it was a marvelous discovery that made the replay feel fresh and different. Again, it was very unexpected and left me delighted.

By Dustin Cabeal

As a lifelong fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, most people expect me to be tired of the franchise or, worse yet, hate every new iteration of the franchise. And while I have been that person for other franchises, I have found it to be a waste of energy and passion. There is, in fact, only one iteration of the TMNT that I have not enjoyed or consumed, and that was the terrible Michael Bay live-action films. There was no greater joy for me than the sequel succeeding in ending the live-action reboot. The one lasting effect that the Bay live-action films have had is the infusion of hip-hop into the franchise, or rather, a more mainstream approach to hip-hop/rap, having moved away from songs about the Turtles or Ninjas… for the most part.

To get it out of the way, I just love the Ninja Turtles. I love seeing what they’ll do with them, how they’ll tweak them and change them, and for some reason, it doesn't corrupt my childhood memories of the animated series and pretending to be Donatello with my three friends making out the rest of the Turtles. It was an amazing feeling to watch this new version with my sons and see them enjoy what’s already their second Ninja Turtle franchise.

195 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! This week we're covering a movie and it's Suzume. It's about a chair and a cat... I think a girl is involved and doors. Doors to the heart, the head, the motherfucking afterlife, or some shit. Anyway, we've been jamming out episodes during the summer, but we'll be going back to our actual schedule of bi-weekly going forward. Anyway, hope you watched the movie because we're going to spoil the hell out of it.

By Dustin Cabeal

If you've been on any kind of social media or meme factory, then you've likely seen Nathan Pyle's relatable webcomic featuring blue Allenesque beings that overly explain and yet simplify all the same things we humans do.

The first episode's title and storyline highlight this contradiction: "The Flying Machine." Of course, it's an airplane, but that is Pyle's brilliance – he takes something like alcohol and refers to it as a "Mild Poison." He's factually correct, but does anyone want to call it that while consuming it? No, but it's hilarious in this setting. And I don't really know what to call that overly complicated explanation that's somehow more direct and simplified than the word itself. I'm sure there's a simpler term for it, but I'm going to have to stick with the longer explanation that my rambling self has created.

133 - Welcome, welcome to the return of Let's Movie! Join hosts Justin and Dustin as they put too much "ustin" into the movie Bullet Train! Is it new? No, did you already watch it on your Red Eye flight? Probably. But did you read the 500-page book right before watching the movie like Justin did? I doubt it. Let's set off some fireworks and howl like a wolf for the newest episode of Let's Movie!

194 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! We actually had so much fun last week that we recorded two episodes and delayed one for you today. Dustin tells a story that will make him look like a monster so just brace for that. As for shows and movies we cover Rent-A-Girl Friend, Teasing Master Takagi-san The Movie, My Happy Marriage, Helck and Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence.

193 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! We have a jammed packed episode for you. We were so caught up we didn't know how much to cover and what to save. Lindsay has a great story about Anime in the wild, while Dustin bores you with some behind the scenes podcast talk. As for shows, we cover The Gene of AI, Sugar Apple Fairy, AYAKA and Masamune-kun's Revenge R.

By Dustin Cabeal

You might be wondering why I'm reviewing a three-month-old comic... maybe four months, I can never tell. Well, recently, Xbox gave away a subscription to the poorly named DC Infinite, and I decided to see what DC was up to. First and foremost, there is nothing "infinite" about the app. If you want to read new books, you'll need the Ultra upgrade, which allows you to read the digital version a month after its release. So, why am I reading the first issue of a comic that's likely already on its fourth issue? That's why, that's why.

Cyborg #1 follows a familiar formula for first-issue superhero comics starring long-established supporting characters now focused on as main characters. Don't get me wrong; I like Cyborg, and I understand that he's someone's favorite superhero, and that's great. Every character is someone's favorite, but not every character is meant to be a main character. It's something that's often forgotten in comics. Editors, I assume, or even corporate overlords, decide to highlight a character and try to "make them a star," I can imagine some suit saying. Will it work? I kind of doubt it with this iteration of Cyborg. He's a great supporting character, but when you move a supporting character to the main role, you open the question of "who supports the supporting character?"

By Dustin Cabeal and Lindsay Mallard

192 - Youkoso, Youkoso!! Again, we recorded for five hours. Your guess is as good as mine on what ended up covered on this episode, but it was a lot of first episodes! What made your cut? What do you agree or disagree with us on this season? Did you watch the seven or so episodes we didn't watch? Also follow us on Threads because that's a thing no one can stop talking about.