by Joe Maybe always an episode behind? Word Press was giving me issues earlier in the week whenever I’d type a single quote or a right parenthesis. No clue, Anywho, check out this episode here and away we go! the Rob starts this episode by recapping his origin and what he’s covered on podcast up to this point, I actually like when he does thisWhile Marvel were trying to sell gimmick covers, the Rob figured out he, Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane WERE the gimmickIn the past, if you left Marvel, you’d see diminished returns, no matter where you went or what you did. The Rob, Jim and Todd broke the “Marvel Zomble” mold, that had not been penetrated in 15 yearsThe Rob came up with the name Image Comics and the logo, Todd wanted to call it ‘King Comics’ but the Rob felt it too close to infringing in Jack KirbyTodd and Jim were the last two to sign on with Imagethe brothers who wrote the first American Pie movie wrote a great script for Badrock, but because it was 1996/1997, Hollywood wouldn’t touch comic propertiesthe Rob has lost a few of his properties from bad deals, but has SO many more still, he can’t prioritize the ones he’s lostthe Rob decided to use Malibu as their publisher instead of Dark Horse because 1) Dark Horse already had name properties and creators and 2) they could push Malibu aroundthe Rob states he made $1.2 million off Youngblood #1in the Rob’s mind, he would do Youngblood at Image and still do breakdowns on X-Force at MarvelTodd called the Rob a bucking bronco and would the editors at Marvel “you have to let the bronco buck!” it really works when you hear the Rob do...

by Joe A busy weekend means I’m behind on Robservations, so lets dive right into Friday’s episode: the Rob starts out talking about the passing of Eddie Van Halen, likening it to how he felt when George Michael, David Bowie and Tom Petty passed as wellSays a piece of his masculinity was ripped out with Eddie’s passing, no one is gonna call Taylor Swifts music “macho”the Rob worries about a new Deadpool movie being at least four years away would mean Ryan Reynolds may age out of the rolethe Rob kinda oversells the popularity of Shatterstar in 1991/1992/todaythe Rob WANTED to write/draw Fantastic Four, but there was too much demand from retailers for his new characters and ideasa lot of comparing the Fantastic Four universe to the Youngblood/Prophet universethe Rob affectionately calls letterers “balloon stuffers”the big X-Summit was coming up and the Rob was leery as he didn’t want to share his best ideas with everyone else, saw it as sharing or conceding control to othersWith Front Row trading cards not getting off the ground, Todd McFarlane has un-retired from comicsRoyalties from a book reaches a creator in 10 months, while the money is sitting in escrow, with Marvel making interest on it, if the Rob had gotten that X-Force #1 money sooner, he would have left Marvel soonerthe Rob was not contracted with Marvel at this time, still getting freelancer creator royalty ratethe Rob’s dad advised him not to leave Marvel, but the Rob had to bet on himself, was only getting five to thirty cents an issue at Marvel, where a creator owned book would net him a dollar to a dollar twenty five an issue, but states it was never about the money, it was about controlMcFarlane was afraid to go...

by Joe With the recent announcement of several theater chains closing down during the pandemic, this week’s Robsevations has pivoted from the planned origin of Image Comics, so let’s see where this takes us! The Rob plugs Snake Eyes Dead Game #2 out this week, I liked the first issue, check it out!The Rob reminisces about old John Romita GI Joe ads that predated the 80’s revivalWhile the Rob enjoyed the 1977 Star Wars movie, it was the expanded comic book series that he fell in love withThe Rob states after the Joel Schumacher “Batman & Robin” movie (released in 1997) Hollywood stopped making comic book movies, which I don’t think is true Men in Black, Spawn and Steel came out in 1997 as well.the Rob hand waves Blade citing it wasn’t a comic book movie, but a cool vampire flick that did nothing for comic book movies, again, agree to disagreeMarvel not having a movie in theaters for two years is going to have a huge effectThe Rob was meeting with company executives from Legendary Pictures and Apple when the word came down that the Infinity War movie budgets would be over $200 million each, thinking they would make a billion each of themThe Rob likins the look to movie Optimus Prime, Iron Man and the JJ Abrams Enterprise to something that came from the Apple Store (in a good way) the focus on white, and blue light and smooth edges, which I don’t recall Iron Man looking that wayThe Rob felt the early Marvel movies (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor) ‘ran out of money’ by the third actsAs a child, the Rob would hide his comic books from ‘Karate Kid or Can’t Buy Me Love’ style bullies at school, now the entire...

by Joe The Rob has tasted success at Marvel with the launch of X-Force #1 and this episode, the Rob promises the secrets behind the start of Image Comics. As always, I recommend checking out the podcast for yourself, and away we go! The Rob promises things, quotes, alliances, etc. you’ve never heard before about the formation of Imagethe Rob’s first published work was in the Marvel Handbook Book of the Dead, drawing all the members of the Zodiac. My friend Kevin recently got that issue in a blind pack he bought from Five Belowthe Rob heaps praise on Mark Millar, sites Wanted as his favorite work by MillarMarvel thought by adding cel sheets to Cage #1 or claw marks on random Wolverine issues would make them million issue sellers, but it was the connection the fans had with creatorsThe Rob mentions all the characters he created in his time on New Mutants/X-Force, including Feral, but also states he would be told if a certain character was too close to another existing characterSadly, the Rob mentions he’s not feeling his Todd McFarlane impression todayI must have missed ‘Peel the Face Away Cable’ on the toy shelvesthe Rob remembers the call from Bob Harris (who would call the Rob ‘RobBob’) telling him that wave two of the X-Men ToyBiz line was going to be X-Force centricthe Rob laments that his creation Gideon has been killed out of spite more often than good storytelling, but he always comes backthe Rob also hates most Deadpool and Cable storylines, cites a Cable two issue mini series from a plot the Rob pitched and someone else did, being the last Cable storyline the Rob enjoyedIn the summer of 1990, the Rob, Erik Larsen and Jim Valentino went to Dave...

by Joe This was prime time for the start of my die hard comic fandom that would continue to this very day. I’m sure the Rob will get into it as this issue of Spider-Man was Todd McFarlane’s last before the start of Image Comics. As always, be sure to check out the episode for yourself! Also, I would be remiss to mention here, last week broke the seven episode streak of the Rob brining up the construction paper covers for Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1. Have we moved on completely? Let’s find out together! the Rob feels Marvel didn’t go with ‘Summer of X’ because it sounds too much like ‘SEX’the Rob beat boxes the opening to the Beastie Boys’ Sabotagethe competitiveness between the Rob and Todd McFarlane fueled the comics industry for over ten yearsthe Rob draws a FINE line between polybagged, polybagged with cards and multiple covers (good) and cover gimmicks like thermal ink, holograms *bad)the story of how Sabotage lines up with Mutant Genesis is full of “Kicks & Giggles”It is harder than you think to get the number one comic on the charts and the big two have their favorites they’ll spend two million dollars up front to make it happenThe Rob tells a story about a conversation he had with an unnamed executive two years ago who wouldn’t take credit for a certain hire. This specific hire, also not named, was tired, was no longer doing peak sales, etc. Based on the impression, I’d guess it was Dan Didiothe Rob’s royalty check off X-Force #1 was $900,000, it would have been more if he did the word balloonsWhenever Todd ask you a question, he already knows the answerthe impetuous for the Spider-Man/X-Force crossover was to take...

by Joe The shortest episode in a while, just under 50 minutes, this episode covering ‘Mutant Genesis’ a crossover post X-Force but pre-Jim Lee X-Men, as always, give the episode a listen. the Rob is hung up on the crossover being called ‘Mutant Genesis’ claims it’s a mouthful, so he’s gonna call it Summer of Xthe Rob HATES talking about his impact on the industry, he’d much rather be talking about Frank Miller and John ByrneBob Harris, the editor of the X-books is the one to credit for assembling the creative teams that made the books what they areA lot of time is spent on the DC/Marvel ‘cheat code’ that also Marvel to ape the Legion of Super-Heroes with the Imperial Guard, also how Marvel’s Fantomex is just Storm Shadowthe Rob is a hoarder of Uncanny X-Men #141, talks about meeting a retailer who has 222 copies of New Mutants #98. It has crossed the Rob’s mind to ‘hit that guy in the head with a hammer and take them’Gets into a lot of the philosophy of the X-Men and why Magneto as a good guy/head of Xavier’s school doesn’t workthe Rob pitched to Bob Harris a story where Cable traveled back to Uncanny X-Men #1 to make him the one who designed the Danger Room, but Harris never went for itEquates the X-books to the NBC Thursday Night line ups for the 80’s and 90’s, gets really tripped up trying to remember ‘Family Ties’the Rob talks about eh “777” method where the first third of your book needs to be action, the next third character development and the last third, MORE ACTION!Mentioned again that after his first appearance in New Mutants #98, Marvel got more fan mail about Deadpool than any character in...

by Joe A scatter shot episode with a variety of topics, but the Rob promises he’ll talk about the famous 501 Jeans commercial. Give it a listen here. The Rob starts off by saying he’s talking comics with us, we’re talking comics with him. Was not aware podcasts were a two way streetSince we’re still in 1990/1991, we’re not going to get to DC yet, as they were reactionary to what Marvel would be doing and once Image becomes the number 2 company in August of 1992We are at seven episodes in a row bringing up the Batman Legends of the Dark Knight #1 construction paper covers, take a shotthe Rob loves Neal Adam and John Bryne, but to him Kirby is Kingthe Rob cites the upcoming Wanda/Vision show very much like the original miniseries from the 70’s, actually 1983 (passing mention of the recent Tom King run) which was “kinda kinky” because it was about a girl who fell in love with a pile of wiresMarvel/Disney keeps all the good stuff from the comics out of the movies/TV shows, mentions the ‘Demon in a Bottle’ storyline which was in Iron Man 2, IIRCthe Rob is excited about the casting of She-Hulk but can’t remember the actress’s name, knows she was in Orphan Blackthe Rob, in talking about the She-Hulk comic from 1979, does an Austin Powers impression which is delightfully on brand. Also says the original She-Hulk looked like ‘Red Sonja with green paint’Talks about the Six Million Dollar Man and how the Bionic Woman died in her introduction episode, but a letter writing campaign brought her back in her show that was more popular than the Six Million Dollar ManSince the Bionic Woman was now owned by the studio, this caused Stan...

by Joe Getting into the 90’s, which for the Rob, which is gonna cover from 1989 to 1996, maybe? The Rob is being joined by Jimmy Jay who runs Frank and Sons, a pop culture marketplace, less a comic store, so it’s a roundtable of two. Be sure to listen for yourself! Jimmy leans into being a guy who pushes and likes 90’s comicsTalks about the Deadpool figures being hot right now, the Rob likes the melding of Deadpool and Venom as the build a figureJimmy Jay says the Rob created an ‘arms race’ of new characters, with both Bishop (who the Rob thinks is cool) and Maverick being ‘Cable knock offs’Jimmy claims that every few years when Marvel rolls out their ‘Young Guns’ it’s a bunch of old dudesthe Rob says the X-Men needed a HARD reboot to become successful because the original line up were ‘impotent and boring’Before Mark Silvestri drew her, Rogue was an ‘ugly, wrong side of the tracks girl’the Rob’s page rate in 1989-1990 was $200 a pageTodd McFarlane broke down royalty and creator royalties to himJimmy states Venom is currently the ‘biggest book in the business’ and the center of the MCU, which I don’t think is trueThere is a lot of discussion/double speak regarding who is the ‘creator’ of a character, citing David Michelinie saying he should be ‘co-creator of Venom’ but since HIS Venom looks nothing like current Venom, he has no stake in this characterThat being said, because Jason Aaron and Donny Cates have changed so much about Venom, are they NOW the creators of Venom? But at what point to you add so much onto a character it is no longer that character?the Rob mentions people of his scripter Chad Bowers era love Darkhawk...

by Joe The preview on thisone seems to be more about Cable in other media, toys, movies, etc. but let see where this journey takes us. Be sure to give the episode a listen yourself: claims to be working on Snake Eyes (issue two is about 5-6 weeks late) and another secret project, based on recent news, not New Mutantsthe Rob really loves the points of articulation and packaging of toystalks about Marvel not working with Fox about the toy licenses in the last five years, citing the Deadpool 2 movie figures just making it to store shelves nowTim Miller (director of Deadpool) wanted to cast an unknown as Cable, but people like Dolph Lundgren, Russell Crowe and Ron Perlman were auditioning for the role“Tickled you with mystery” is how the Rob handled the Cable early appearancesThe Rob fought to get Wolverine in New Mutants to help build Cable’s backstory, but only got one line “You’re moves have improved since the last time we met”the Rob has good advice for up and coming creator types in sometimes you have to say no to an assignment when it doesn’t feel right (last episode’s Doctor Strange as Kolchack the Night Stalker) or following someone like Walt Simonson on X-FactorStates Jim Lee felt that scar and cybernetic implant should have been on the same eye, the Rob wanted each eye to tell a different storyFeels the new villain Ahab created by Chris Claremont for the Days of Future Present event was a rip off of Cable and an attempt by Claremont to take Cable for himselfThings get a bit muddy here as the Rob calls ‘Spider-Man #1’ ‘Spawn #1’ a few times, but he’s talking about Spider-Man #1Shortly after Spider-Man #1 comes out, Jim Lee calls the...

by Joe This one is gonna be a bit longer as I did a more ‘stream of consciousness’ notes as I listened live, took time to rewind back to make sure I heard what I heard. But don’t let me skew you, go listen to Friday’s episode and hear for your self! – I do like that the Rob resets the premise of the show every week– there are people who hate 90’s comics and you can spot them by talking about ‘the crash’ which is much more complicated than you imagine– The Rob does an impression of Jim Salicrup (who he likes!) that is very sleepy/Droopy Dog like, was actively trying to recruit him to be on Spectacular Spider-Man– the Rob states Wolverine was given to John Buscema as a reward for years of good service but the Rob and his peer group wanted on the book– He also states that Conan and Wolverine have many similarities, “berserker rage, lot of fantasy settings, gangsters, pirates, mysticism”– The Rob was bouncing around X-Titles, Bob Harris had promised him New Mutants, but the Rob, admittedly, was playing hardball– The Rob was also offered Doctor Strange, Marvel wanted Strange to be more like Kolchack the Night Stalker and the Rob did not – we’re 15 minutes in and a lot of this episode is the Rob naming people in Spider-Man books– Ralph Macchio (the editor) said to the Rob when he turned down Doctor Strange “who do you think you are, we’re offering you regular work!”– Bobbie Chase offered him Incredible Hulk, turned it down as he didn’t want to follow Todd, which he also says is the reason he didn’t go to Spider-Man– The Rob befriends Jim Valentino, they shared their love of Jack Kirby. At...

by Joe Let me start this off by saying I love the Rob. He is our generation’s Stan Lee. No one is more a hype machine for his own product, and thus, no one is more polarizing. Do I try every new project from the Rob, Yes. Do I love every new project from the Rob? No. So I’ve been listening to the Rob’s podcast since day one and what started as a narrative of his journey into comics has been less than linear, and maybe sometimes that quest needs some guide posts and that’s where I come in. Now, this won’t be a blow by blow account of each episode, just the notable moments. Also, the post image is inspired by the Rob’s handling of said infamous depiction of Captain America from episode 29 of his podcast. And PLEASE do not take this a burial of the Rob, I really enjoy his podcast and will link you to the latest episode every time I post one of these, so here’s my notes on episode 31, the 90’s!– the first 30 minutes or so is on the fallout of the 1989 Batman movie, MUCH of this time discussion what colors and what card stock was used on the four ‘variant’ covers of Legends of the Dark Knight #1– Minute 36 brings his Todd McFarlane “impression” which kills me every time, saying Todd borrowed his Spider-Man style from Michael Golden and Art Adams– Claims Todd made the choice to take Amazing Spider-Man bi-weekly, which I think Marvel was already doing with their bigger selling titles during the summer since at least 1986– John Byrne was ‘past his prime’ at this point, doing c-list titles like Namor and West Coast Avengers, Frank Miller was retired in...