A Comic Conversation Ep 44 - Real Talk Russ - Los Angeles Comic Con 24

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[00:00:26] Okay nerds, here's the last interview from LA Comic Con 2024 and boy was this a fun one. Here on...

[00:00:32] A Comic Conversation!

[00:00:37] We spent some time with fellow podcaster Russ Martini from Real Talk Russ and essentially cross-interviewed each other. So turn off those filters, nerd out a bit, and hold your ground on your position. It's time for...

[00:00:48] A Comic Conversation!

[00:00:53] Yeah, it's recording now, Jackass.

[00:00:54] It's recording now?

[00:00:55] Yeah.

[00:00:55] So now I shouldn't be talking crap about Tyler.

[00:00:57] Yes.

[00:00:58] And his beautiful hair.

[00:00:59] Absolutely.

[00:00:59] He missed everything that we were saying.

[00:01:01] Exactly.

[00:01:01] It's fine.

[00:01:02] Everything.

[00:01:03] It's fine.

[00:01:03] As he is right now as it is.

[00:01:05] Yeah.

[00:01:05] Tyler misses out.

[00:01:06] By the time he hears it's too late.

[00:01:07] It's too late.

[00:01:08] Doesn't matter.

[00:01:09] Doesn't matter.

[00:01:10] Alright guys, well, thanks for having me on.

[00:01:12] Absolutely.

[00:01:13] Thanks for having me on.

[00:01:13] We appreciate it.

[00:01:13] Thank you man, it was so great meeting you and your whole crew.

[00:01:16] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:01:17] You came so deep with so many people in your crew.

[00:01:19] I'm like, where did we get a production like Russ?

[00:01:21] That was amazing.

[00:01:22] He's got like 73 people walking into the press room.

[00:01:24] Right.

[00:01:26] So good.

[00:01:27] He's got a whole, and then it's just like the entourage and then the entire crew.

[00:01:31] Yeah, exactly.

[00:01:32] So he's like, yeah, I have a, you know, I've got my producer here with me.

[00:01:35] I've got a, you know, production team.

[00:01:37] Yeah.

[00:01:37] You know, this is my photographer.

[00:01:39] I'm like, we don't get any of that.

[00:01:40] Well, let's set the stage because we're here.

[00:01:43] LA Comic Con.

[00:01:44] Amazing LA Comic Con.

[00:01:45] Yeah.

[00:01:45] Such a great time.

[00:01:46] So many A-listers.

[00:01:47] Yeah.

[00:01:47] Here are so many amazing panels.

[00:01:49] Yep.

[00:01:49] We're here in the press room where we met like yesterday.

[00:01:53] Where we met.

[00:01:53] Yeah.

[00:01:53] And to be honest, I was like, I'm intimidated.

[00:01:56] There are so many people coming with this Real Talk Russ.

[00:01:59] Yeah.

[00:02:00] Everybody's been so cool.

[00:02:01] Yeah.

[00:02:01] I appreciate it.

[00:02:02] It's been awesome.

[00:02:03] I appreciate it.

[00:02:03] Yeah.

[00:02:03] So let's get a little bit of a backstory on Real Talk Russ.

[00:02:07] We have a segment on our show on Distance Nerding called Growing Up Geeky.

[00:02:11] Yeah.

[00:02:11] So we like to ask, we like to start out with like, what did you geek out on when you were

[00:02:15] a kid?

[00:02:15] Yeah.

[00:02:15] No, no.

[00:02:16] I appreciate it.

[00:02:17] Star Wars.

[00:02:18] There it is.

[00:02:18] Like a hundred percent.

[00:02:20] And I see it.

[00:02:20] Yeah.

[00:02:20] We can see it.

[00:02:21] This is for, we're doing like a joint for everyone who's watching or listening.

[00:02:25] We are doing like a joint podcast here where we're doing video audio.

[00:02:28] Your guys' show, my show.

[00:02:29] Yeah.

[00:02:30] So yeah, I appreciate it again.

[00:02:31] Thank you for having me on.

[00:02:32] Absolutely.

[00:02:33] Yeah.

[00:02:34] Star Wars.

[00:02:34] Star Wars is where it started for me.

[00:02:35] You know, obviously we Saturday morning cartoons who didn't.

[00:02:38] Right.

[00:02:38] I think we all can say we geeked out on that, but a star Wars for sure.

[00:02:42] That was the heart and soul for, you know, it really was.

[00:02:46] It really was growing up.

[00:02:47] It was always star Wars.

[00:02:48] Yeah.

[00:02:49] Movie wise.

[00:02:49] Of the theory of the three original trilogy movies.

[00:02:52] What was your favorite?

[00:02:53] Empire Strikes Back.

[00:02:54] Yep.

[00:02:54] Empire's the best.

[00:02:55] Empire Strikes Back.

[00:02:56] Hands down the best movie.

[00:02:57] Yeah.

[00:02:57] Come on.

[00:02:58] No.

[00:02:58] New Hope.

[00:02:59] What?

[00:03:00] What?

[00:03:00] Game changer.

[00:03:01] It started it all.

[00:03:02] Right.

[00:03:03] It started at all.

[00:03:04] I mean, we're debating things.

[00:03:05] This is debating.

[00:03:06] Yeah.

[00:03:06] You know, I don't know.

[00:03:08] Dr. J or Michael Jordan or LeBron James.

[00:03:10] They're all.

[00:03:11] What's the best sushi role?

[00:03:12] You know what I'm saying?

[00:03:13] Like you'd be here for hours and we really could be.

[00:03:15] We really could.

[00:03:15] I don't doubt that.

[00:03:17] Um, but yeah, you know, I mean, I think we could all say the original trilogy is fantastic

[00:03:20] and we all love it, have respect for it.

[00:03:22] But yeah, me personally, I think, especially as the years kind of grew on Empire Strikes

[00:03:26] Back just holds.

[00:03:27] That's the one for you.

[00:03:28] Yeah.

[00:03:28] It just holds all the weight for me.

[00:03:30] You know, it really does.

[00:03:30] Yeah.

[00:03:31] I mean, Empire's the best because it's the first time you get a story that doesn't have

[00:03:35] a conclusion.

[00:03:36] So you know you're going into another movie.

[00:03:38] Yep.

[00:03:38] You have all the reveals.

[00:03:40] You have the familiar reveal that's going on there.

[00:03:44] Yeah.

[00:03:44] You have probably one of the best opening scenes in all of Star Wars.

[00:03:48] Right.

[00:03:48] You know what I mean?

[00:03:49] So it's just like Empire is easily the best in my opinion.

[00:03:52] And obviously you hold the same opinion as I do.

[00:03:55] It's the first time like you have a story that ends but doesn't end.

[00:03:58] Right.

[00:03:58] Like the movie ended, you're like, isn't there more to this?

[00:04:00] Yeah.

[00:04:01] Right, right, yeah.

[00:04:02] You're left hanging.

[00:04:03] You're left hanging.

[00:04:03] And by the way, the good guys lost?

[00:04:06] Yeah.

[00:04:06] What?

[00:04:07] What's happening?

[00:04:08] But I love this movie.

[00:04:09] What's happening?

[00:04:09] So it's cool.

[00:04:10] Agreed.

[00:04:10] That makes it more compelling.

[00:04:12] Yeah.

[00:04:12] Because it's like, oh, the bad guys lost.

[00:04:13] Then you know that the hero's journey is going to end and we have to get all the

[00:04:17] way over there.

[00:04:18] Yeah.

[00:04:18] I think that's why we loved it so much.

[00:04:20] Right.

[00:04:21] You know, because you literally see like bad guys are just losing nonstop.

[00:04:25] Luke loses his hand.

[00:04:26] Yeah.

[00:04:27] I mean.

[00:04:27] Yeah, exactly.

[00:04:28] We're being funny, of course.

[00:04:29] Yeah.

[00:04:29] But he loses it.

[00:04:30] But then also like the rebels, they lose.

[00:04:33] Yeah.

[00:04:35] But they lose, you know, essentially, and they have to regroup, come back.

[00:04:38] And that's what made it a compelling story.

[00:04:40] Yeah.

[00:04:40] Of course, my opinion.

[00:04:41] Exactly.

[00:04:41] But on top of that, the hero of the story finds out the baddest of the bad guys is his

[00:04:47] dad.

[00:04:48] His dad.

[00:04:48] Yeah.

[00:04:48] You know, you're like, what?

[00:04:49] It turned into like a telenovela.

[00:04:51] Right.

[00:04:52] And then you eventually find out that there's like weird incest that happens by the end of

[00:04:56] the story.

[00:04:56] So I mean, like, you know, like, that's borderline.

[00:04:59] Yeah.

[00:05:00] Luke and Leia are brother and sister.

[00:05:03] Spoiler alert.

[00:05:03] Yeah.

[00:05:04] Yeah.

[00:05:04] So I had the hots for my sister.

[00:05:07] Yeah.

[00:05:07] Which they don't really talk about.

[00:05:08] But they're like, hey, you know, we're going to move past.

[00:05:10] It's back to the future.

[00:05:11] Weirder or Star Wars.

[00:05:13] Move along.

[00:05:13] Yeah.

[00:05:14] Wait a minute.

[00:05:15] I have that too.

[00:05:15] Oh, geez.

[00:05:16] This guy.

[00:05:18] There you go.

[00:05:20] All right.

[00:05:21] So Star Wars was your jam back in the day.

[00:05:24] Star Wars was it.

[00:05:24] How now how old were you?

[00:05:26] Young.

[00:05:27] I mean, honestly, I had we had the VHS tape.

[00:05:29] So for me, it wasn't I didn't see it in theater.

[00:05:31] I still have the VHS tapes.

[00:05:33] Yeah.

[00:05:33] Absolutely.

[00:05:34] The original.

[00:05:35] Yep.

[00:05:35] Hundred percent.

[00:05:36] I played those things out.

[00:05:37] They are worn out.

[00:05:38] I honestly think if we found a VHS player wouldn't work.

[00:05:41] Yeah, probably.

[00:05:42] Was it a VCR?

[00:05:44] That's what it was called, right?

[00:05:45] VCR.

[00:05:46] Popped it in.

[00:05:46] Wouldn't work.

[00:05:47] It's dead.

[00:05:47] I mean, those things are they are worn out.

[00:05:50] But yeah.

[00:05:50] And then, you know, we obviously saw the re-release in the late 90s.

[00:05:53] Went to theater, saw those.

[00:05:55] Just mind blowing.

[00:05:56] Right.

[00:05:56] But I kind of felt even at that age, a little mixed on it.

[00:05:59] I'm like, wait, they changed it.

[00:06:01] You know, they changed it.

[00:06:02] Something's different.

[00:06:02] But it still was good.

[00:06:03] It was still was good.

[00:06:04] You know, loved it.

[00:06:05] They came out.

[00:06:06] I remember I went to Costco and got the special edition VHS.

[00:06:09] Yeah.

[00:06:10] Yeah.

[00:06:10] Wide screen.

[00:06:11] Of course, you want to see more.

[00:06:12] The one that had like a C-3PO on one of the covers.

[00:06:15] It.

[00:06:15] Yeah.

[00:06:16] It was C-3PO and then Darth Vader.

[00:06:18] Vader was like a pullout cover.

[00:06:19] Right.

[00:06:20] Yeah.

[00:06:20] We had that.

[00:06:21] Yep.

[00:06:22] And then those those probably still work.

[00:06:23] That version still works.

[00:06:25] If you were to pop that in a VCR, that's going to work.

[00:06:26] Yeah.

[00:06:27] But yeah.

[00:06:28] So Star Wars really had it.

[00:06:29] And then, of course, comics.

[00:06:30] So, you know, and I talked about this on my podcast.

[00:06:32] Comics really is what brought me into, you know, the the initial, I guess you can call

[00:06:37] a comic world.

[00:06:38] Right.

[00:06:38] It really did.

[00:06:39] So starting with Iron Man, you know, I had old Iron Man comics.

[00:06:42] So you were an Iron Man fan like pre movie.

[00:06:45] You're an Iron Man fan.

[00:06:46] Yeah.

[00:06:46] So that's rare because most people didn't care about Iron Man.

[00:06:49] No, they hated it.

[00:06:49] Yeah.

[00:06:49] Only reason why is because I didn't grow up with a whole lot of money.

[00:06:53] So, you know, we'd go to the store.

[00:06:55] My mom would buy me.

[00:06:56] My mom would buy me a little, you know, a little comic here and there.

[00:06:58] And it was entertaining.

[00:06:59] And I had no idea what these characters were.

[00:07:01] Right.

[00:07:01] And she was buying them random.

[00:07:02] She didn't have like, you know, any idea what she was getting.

[00:07:05] Just grab that.

[00:07:06] So one of the first books ended up opening up was Iron Man with War Machine in it.

[00:07:10] Yes.

[00:07:10] War Machine was my dude, bro.

[00:07:12] Yeah.

[00:07:12] So James Rhodes.

[00:07:13] So growing up, my dad was in the Marines.

[00:07:15] So seeing this, I'm like, oh, this guy's a Marine.

[00:07:17] Now, of course.

[00:07:18] He was a Marine right away.

[00:07:18] Yeah.

[00:07:19] Which I mean, they retconned it and made him Air Force.

[00:07:21] But I mean, still.

[00:07:22] Yeah, in the movies?

[00:07:22] Oh, 100%.

[00:07:23] Yeah.

[00:07:24] In the original books, he was a Marine.

[00:07:25] So I thought it was really cool.

[00:07:26] Of course, it's so like not realistic.

[00:07:28] He's sitting there smoking a blunt, you know.

[00:07:30] And you're just like, it's like not even kid appropriate when you really break it down.

[00:07:33] He's trying to keep it real.

[00:07:34] Right.

[00:07:34] But at the time, I'm like, dude, this is the greatest thing ever.

[00:07:37] So I was a fan of War Machine.

[00:07:39] Not really so much the Iron Man character, but for sure War Machine.

[00:07:42] Yeah.

[00:07:48] War Machine was the greatest character.

[00:07:49] Yeah.

[00:07:50] And going into the movies, I was like, oh man, they're doing James Rhodes no justice in this.

[00:07:55] Yeah.

[00:07:55] Now he's getting a little bit more, like especially with Armor Wars coming, he's going to be like

[00:07:59] one of the mains on there.

[00:08:00] But I mean, like, yeah, we never got like, so far we haven't gotten like that true kind

[00:08:04] of brutalness that War Machine had in the comics.

[00:08:06] Yeah.

[00:08:07] Yeah.

[00:08:07] I kind of agree.

[00:08:08] I kind of agree.

[00:08:09] He didn't get justice.

[00:08:10] But I still love his character, right?

[00:08:12] Yeah.

[00:08:12] I still absolutely love him.

[00:08:13] So that's really what did it for me, you know.

[00:08:15] And then, so I had, you know, the love of comics, the love of the cartoons that we all

[00:08:19] watched, you know, X-Men, all that stuff growing up.

[00:08:21] That's awesome.

[00:08:22] I always say that if you didn't watch that, you weren't a friend of mine.

[00:08:25] You know, like honestly, like you had to have loved that stuff growing up.

[00:08:28] Yeah.

[00:08:28] So you were more of a Marvel guy than DC?

[00:08:30] Well, I can't even say that truthfully because what kid really was, I think at that time it

[00:08:34] wasn't split.

[00:08:35] They were just comics.

[00:08:36] No, they were just comics.

[00:08:37] Like I honestly didn't really pay attention to that because we had Batman who didn't

[00:08:41] love the Batman series from the nineties.

[00:08:43] Right.

[00:08:44] So I can't say it was either or.

[00:08:46] It was just, it was just both.

[00:08:48] Yeah.

[00:08:48] I went to the comic book store, not just for the Marvel stuff, but for whatever's new,

[00:08:53] whatever's cool.

[00:08:54] And to be a hundred percent, honestly, I never paid attention to it.

[00:08:56] I never really, until I was getting to be an adult that I realized, oh, that's Marvel.

[00:09:01] That's DC.

[00:09:01] For me, it was all the same.

[00:09:02] You just liked the characters.

[00:09:03] I liked the characters.

[00:09:04] It was good.

[00:09:05] You know, it was good.

[00:09:06] And I think that's the innocence about being a kid.

[00:09:07] Right.

[00:09:08] That we sometimes miss as adults.

[00:09:10] Yeah.

[00:09:10] Cause I was a big Spider-Man guy too.

[00:09:11] Yeah.

[00:09:12] And, and I remember in the mid nineties, me and my mom went on a, like, like a search

[00:09:17] tirade to get all of the maximum carnage books.

[00:09:21] Okay.

[00:09:21] And that was it.

[00:09:22] And my mom didn't know what she was looking for.

[00:09:23] I was just like maximum carnage.

[00:09:24] We have this number through this number and there's 14 total.

[00:09:27] We need to get them all.

[00:09:28] Yeah.

[00:09:28] There's like collecting Pokemon cards, right?

[00:09:29] I'm just like looking for all 14 of the maximum carnage books because they were so great.

[00:09:34] Yeah.

[00:09:35] You know?

[00:09:35] Yeah.

[00:09:35] So let's fast forward.

[00:09:36] So, uh, Star Wars comic books.

[00:09:39] Yep.

[00:09:39] Um, how did we get into the real talk Russ podcast?

[00:09:43] What, what was the, uh, catalyst that got you to be like, you know what, I need to talk

[00:09:47] about all this stuff.

[00:09:48] Yeah.

[00:09:48] So initially, um, and it's kind of funny you even bring that up.

[00:09:51] So, um, I've always been one to like talk, right?

[00:09:54] Like not, I'm not blabber mouth.

[00:09:56] Like we're running, you know, running the guy, Hey, shut up.

[00:09:57] Not like that kind of guy, but to the point where, um, at work we would have these real

[00:10:02] conversations and everyone, every friend I had would always come to me and be like, Hey,

[00:10:05] like, you know, they talk about a problem and I would always give them like the best advice I could.

[00:10:09] And after going through school and everything, I got, you know, degree in, in, um, sociology,

[00:10:14] psychology, all that kind of stuff.

[00:10:15] So after that people, you know, when I'd have these conversations, it came from a place of, um, understanding

[00:10:20] and then also a little bit of education behind it.

[00:10:22] So when I would talk to people, it really came from just trying to help people out.

[00:10:26] You know, I want to help you out.

[00:10:27] I want to make you feel good.

[00:10:28] And, um, you know, give you the best advice that you, you're turning to a friend.

[00:10:31] Let's give you that advice.

[00:10:32] And then it turned into something more than everyone kept telling me.

[00:10:35] You need to make, you need to like do something.

[00:10:37] You need to like record these conversations, make a podcast out of this.

[00:10:40] And I'm like, nah, nah, nah, who wants to do that?

[00:10:42] Right.

[00:10:42] More and more and more.

[00:10:43] I started being told that.

[00:10:44] And then I'm like, hold on a second.

[00:10:45] So Tyler, this is where Tyler comes in.

[00:10:47] He and I used to work together.

[00:10:49] And, uh, eventually he's like, Hey, like, he's like, we're going to have a real talk,

[00:10:52] Russ moment.

[00:10:52] And I'm like a real talk.

[00:10:54] Russ.

[00:10:54] He's like, no, this is like a heavy, heavy conversation.

[00:10:56] Like we need to have a real talk.

[00:10:57] Russ.

[00:10:58] So he actually came up with that.

[00:10:59] That wasn't me.

[00:11:00] And, uh, so the, the name of that podcast and the company is real talk Russ, but that's

[00:11:05] an homage to Tyler because he, he started it.

[00:11:07] He started the whole thing.

[00:11:08] Oh, that's cool.

[00:11:09] So yeah, that, that was kind of him.

[00:11:11] And so naturally when we start making this a podcast, we start recording these things.

[00:11:14] I'm like, well, we're, we're calling it what you called it.

[00:11:17] Cause that's what this is.

[00:11:18] So the idea and the basis behind the show is when we have people come on, we want to

[00:11:23] know the real side, the real talk, maybe, maybe something that, you know, you say we

[00:11:28] have a celebrity on, right?

[00:11:29] And everyone's going to want to know, Hey, tell me about, you know, what got you into acting?

[00:11:32] What got you, what was your favorite movie?

[00:11:33] We can go onto IMDB and find that we can go to Wikipedia and find that information.

[00:11:38] We want to know what was like growing up.

[00:11:39] You know, what was a hardship you dealt with early in your teens?

[00:11:42] You know, like what, what, what can you relate to something that as you're listening

[00:11:46] or watching, you're going to be like, I didn't know that.

[00:11:48] And that's what we're looking at.

[00:11:49] That's what we're shooting for.

[00:11:50] That's the real talk.

[00:11:51] That's a real aspect of something.

[00:11:52] It might not be popular.

[00:11:54] You know, it might be an unpopular opinion.

[00:11:56] Um, but I think, and we talked about this earlier when we met, that's the beauty of being able

[00:12:01] to talk to someone and say, Hey, you and I can disagree.

[00:12:04] We can see things on a different level and still be cool.

[00:12:08] Yeah. You know, we don't have to be divisive and have to fight over something or argue

[00:12:11] or we can have different opinions and that's the beauty of the world.

[00:12:14] Right.

[00:12:15] Everybody has a different opinion.

[00:12:17] Um, and that's the other thing here.

[00:12:18] Like we can have similar podcasts.

[00:12:20] We can cover this nerd topics, right?

[00:12:22] There's the pop culture topics, but guess what?

[00:12:24] Your guys' opinions might be different than ours, but at the end of the day, Hey, we're

[00:12:27] still here at Comic-Con.

[00:12:28] We're still having a good time.

[00:12:29] Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

[00:12:30] You know, and that's all these people that are, that's what I love about Comic-Con.

[00:12:33] Yeah.

[00:12:33] You have everybody from all over the world, essentially coming down to one place saying,

[00:12:38] Hey, we have a love for one thing.

[00:12:39] That's the pop culture of comics, movies, entertainment, all that.

[00:12:43] Right. Right.

[00:12:43] And here we are.

[00:12:52] You have a lot of opinions, unless you know both sides.

[00:12:54] Yes. Right.

[00:12:55] So it's just kind of like, you know, whether it is, uh, something that is controversial,

[00:13:00] political, religious, anything, you cannot form an opinion if you don't know where everybody's

[00:13:05] coming from in, in the opinion itself.

[00:13:08] So you tend to get a lot of people who are like single minded and it's like, no, my position

[00:13:12] is the only thing that's correct, but you don't know what the other person's position

[00:13:15] is and why they carry that position.

[00:13:17] Yeah. Yeah. Right.

[00:13:17] So how are you an informed person if you're not informed on what everybody believes?

[00:13:22] Right. Yeah. No, you guys are a hundred percent right. I agree.

[00:13:25] You can have it. Like what you're saying, you can have an opinion, but unless you hear

[00:13:28] both sides and being empathetic to the side that's not yours, then your opinion may be

[00:13:33] a little jaded.

[00:13:34] Yeah, exactly.

[00:13:35] Yeah. Yeah. No, you guys are a hundred percent right.

[00:13:37] Real talk Russ.

[00:13:38] I'm telling you, it is.

[00:13:39] But that, yeah, that, that a hundred percent is what we're about, you know?

[00:13:42] And it's good to see that you guys, it's refreshing to see you guys are like that

[00:13:45] as well.

[00:13:46] We want to know, like, and I, I'm sure you guys have guests on your podcast that you might not

[00:13:50] see eye to eye. You might not agree with what they're saying.

[00:13:52] We don't agree with each other half the time.

[00:13:53] Oh, me and Tyler. A hundred percent. Which we're going to give him shit because he's

[00:13:56] not here today. So we're going to give him shit for that. But, um,

[00:13:59] Except he has really good hair.

[00:14:01] That Tyler.

[00:14:01] Hold on. Who has better hair? Him or me?

[00:14:03] Well, do you really want me to answer that?

[00:14:04] Yes. A hundred percent. Real talk.

[00:14:06] Oh, he's saying Tyler. He said he didn't say it, but he's saying it.

[00:14:09] He's a Tyler fan. He's a Tyler fan.

[00:14:11] No, you and I more have the pullback. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You definitely. He, he,

[00:14:16] he, he definitely likes the guy who's not in the room right now.

[00:14:18] Yeah. Oh yeah. A hundred percent. Tyler wins everybody over until you hear him talking.

[00:14:23] You're like, Oh my God, this guy, he's like the most, he's like the grumpy old man.

[00:14:26] We joke about this on the podcast. He's the get off my lawn kind of guy. That's all.

[00:14:30] That's Tyler. He's like unpopular opinion. This is what makes the podcast fun.

[00:14:34] Cause we don't agree. Yeah. Like him and I will go back and forth and it's the funniest thing

[00:14:38] ever, man. It is great. Just hanging out in the Sergeant Major's grass.

[00:14:41] It's like, get off now. Yes. Yes. A hundred percent. That guy. Yeah.

[00:14:45] He's a hundred percent. That guy. So what are some of the, uh, I guess,

[00:14:48] episode topics or guests or like stuff you've, you've talked about that, you know,

[00:14:53] that people were going to be like, you know what? I relate to that. I want to jump in and listen to that.

[00:14:56] Yeah. So we've, we've covered, um, uh, a lot, but yeah, we've, we started with introductions, right?

[00:15:01] We like focus on, on ourselves, who we are. And we kind of progress into like, um, MCU.

[00:15:05] So we talked about the, you know, the Marvel cinematic universe and, uh, what people's are,

[00:15:10] you know, what their opinions are on that. And then really Tyler kind of talks about his opinion,

[00:15:13] which could be unfavorable to some. Yeah. Um, but we would still say entertaining to most.

[00:15:18] So yeah, we, we've delved into that. Uh, we've had guests on that are like from the walking dead.

[00:15:23] Awesome. Again, people that you find sometimes unrecognized or, um, just typically that you wouldn't

[00:15:29] normally come across and be like, Hey, what's that person's story? So we focus in on a lot of that.

[00:15:33] We do have a lot of upcoming guests too, that we will have joining us. Um, so that'll be fun.

[00:15:38] We're looking forward to that. Um, and then of course, just being here, we have a ton of

[00:15:42] guests that we have, you know, on the episode that we're all going to be releasing and you,

[00:15:45] I'm sure you guys as well. So we're looking forward to that. Um, but yeah, a lot of actors,

[00:15:49] a lot of, um, people in the comic book industry. Um, there's not an industry that we won't touch

[00:15:55] or go into. So we, you know, I have friends and that's the other part of that.

[00:15:58] I think you were telling me yesterday, like porn. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I forgot.

[00:16:02] You guys are a little unfiltered too. So yeah, a hundred percent in the adult and retain

[00:16:05] adult entertainment industry. Sorry. Can't talk. And that's what we do for a living. Um,

[00:16:09] yeah, we, we have plenty of friends in that industry. Matter of fact, one of my friends down

[00:16:12] is downstairs, Abigail, Abigail Morris is downstairs. She has a booth and there, and we lost James.

[00:16:20] James is gone. I'm with Tyler. See ya. So we'll continue the show. Yeah. So in she's,

[00:16:25] she's, she's wonderful. So we, we, you know, we go to, uh, the cons, we go to AVN X3. Okay.

[00:16:31] Um, you know, all, all that kind of stuff. So we'll attend everything, right? Comic cons. We,

[00:16:35] we love them. Uh, you guys torpedo con you've heard of that. It's another thing we have here

[00:16:38] in LA. You guys should go next year. We'll make it a point to go next year. It'll be fun.

[00:16:42] Is it down here in LA? Uh, yeah. Glendale, I think is where they have it. So, um, yeah. Right.

[00:16:47] And then, you know, San Diego comic con as well. So these are all the things that we like to do and

[00:16:51] we like to cover it and have fun, but yeah, we like, there's nothing we won't talk about. And

[00:16:54] you know, I do avoid politics for certain reasons just because I find it's triggering. That gets

[00:17:00] that it's the controversy is one thing that just it's like, it's, it's, you get into politics and

[00:17:06] people will 100% be like, I'm not listening to them anymore. No, regardless of what size it is.

[00:17:11] It's, it's eating the poison apple and that's why I avoid it. Right. So, you know,

[00:17:14] there's, there's two things I just don't talk about. And I've always told this, you know,

[00:17:18] my mom would say this, it makes for good, um, good manners is don't talk about religion and

[00:17:22] politics and public, you know, keep those are those opinions. Just keep to yourself. So I do.

[00:17:26] Sometimes it slips, but we'll be like, you know, yeah. And you can kind of usually figure who's on

[00:17:30] the same page with those things anyway. So we don't need to bring those up, especially for the wide

[00:17:34] platform, you know, where people are just listening. They don't want to necessarily hear that.

[00:17:38] So we want to keep people entertained. And the real aspect where some, some opinions on something

[00:17:42] might be unpopular. Like was, was, uh, the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, the best

[00:17:45] movies ever made as far as Batman goes, honest opinion. What's your answer? James, let's hear

[00:17:49] your answer. I'm going to say out of all of that, like it, it almost comes down to like,

[00:17:53] who's your favorite Batman or your favorite version of Batman in that world. Right.

[00:17:59] Cause I'm going to say Michael Keaton and they will chase you with the pitchfork if you say this.

[00:18:02] Oh, absolutely. I've, I've had people who get mad at me when I, when I express my opinion

[00:18:06] on Batman, but like, I'm a massive Batman fan. I'm one of these kids where, uh, on our very first

[00:18:12] episode, when we came up with growing up geeky, uh, I talk about like Batman was my big thing,

[00:18:17] right? 89 Batman came out. My brother bought a rubber mask. I used to steal it from him and wear it.

[00:18:22] Uh, I got into 66 Batman. So, you know, I started reading the comic books and everything like that.

[00:18:26] So I'm very opinionated when it comes to Batman, right? Yeah.

[00:18:29] People will talk about Michael Keaton. I say Keaton's middle of the road. And it's because

[00:18:34] there are certain things that Michael Keaton does that don't fit for Batman for me. His,

[00:18:38] his Bruce Wayne is too over the top. Right. And his, uh, his Batman's good. Right. But then there are

[00:18:43] things that he does literally in the first movie, he blows up ACE chemicals and that's not necessarily

[00:18:48] something Batman would do in his younger career. Right. Old Batman probably. Right. But like young

[00:18:53] Batman wouldn't do something like that. Right. Uh, going into Christopher Nolan again,

[00:18:57] Christopher Nolan, probably one of my favorite depictions of Batman. I wouldn't say is the best depiction,

[00:19:02] but is one of my favorite ones because again, there are certain things that that version of

[00:19:06] Batman does that are very on the mark. But again, would Bruce Wayne disappear for set for,

[00:19:11] for 10 years and then decide that, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm sad. So I'm not going to be Batman

[00:19:16] anymore. Like Batman would keep on fighting. Yeah. Right. Uh, so like, like I, I, that's,

[00:19:21] that's, there are aspects of Christopher Nolan's Batman that I don't like as well. Right. Yeah.

[00:19:25] Uh, his fighting is a little too rigid, right? Yeah. Uh, boxing. Yeah. Like it's very boxy. Uh,

[00:19:31] he does move better than Keaton because of the suit and everything, but like there's that,

[00:19:34] right? I love the origin story. I love the way that they redid the origin story and begins,

[00:19:39] but things like that. And then obviously the best Joker out of all the Jokers, uh,

[00:19:42] live action Jokers in my opinion, Hamill's the best Joker, but, um, all that. And then, uh,

[00:19:47] my opinion of the best onscreen Batman is Batfleck and everybody hates that opinion,

[00:19:53] right? Everyone hates that opinion, but Ben Affleck had the best Bruce Wayne. It was the most

[00:19:57] nuanced Bruce Wayne. He also fought like Batman in the comics. He also looks like Batman in the

[00:20:02] comics, right? Everything about it. They may not be the best movies, right? But Ben Affleck's

[00:20:08] Batman is by far and away the best version of Batman outside of him doing the whole Martha thing.

[00:20:14] Cause that, this pissed me off, but you know, what did you say that name? Right? Like,

[00:20:19] but I like, again, you know, when I give my opinion on that, people get pissed until I explain

[00:20:24] as a Batman fan, right? Right. He is stealthy as hell, right? They show that first scene and

[00:20:29] he's like crawling in the rafters and, you know, jumping down and beating people up again. There

[00:20:33] is one scene, uh, in Batman v Superman when he like blows up the house with everybody in it.

[00:20:38] Right. Right. It's a little weird. It's not necessarily something that I, that I agree with,

[00:20:42] um, on Batman, right? Yeah. Unless they were rubber bullets, but like that,

[00:20:46] but the way he approaches things, the way he thinks about things, uh, you can very much tell that

[00:20:50] he's only comfortable when he's in the Batman form and he's very uncomfortable when he's Bruce Wayne.

[00:20:55] Right. And that's what you need to do. Ben Affleck is also the only person who played

[00:21:00] Batman that was a fan of Batman before playing the character. It's true. Right. Everybody else,

[00:21:05] even the great late great Kevin Conroy was not a fan of Batman before he became Batman. Right. Right.

[00:21:10] Again, if I'm adding animated series, Hamill and Conroy are the best Batman and Joker hands down.

[00:21:16] Again, we grew up with it though, right? Right.

[00:21:18] But it's because again, depictions, it's the way that they played the characters. It's, uh,

[00:21:22] uh, Kevin Conroy specifically said, uh, he, he, he was the, again, the only person who changed his

[00:21:28] voice as Bruce Wayne because Bruce Wayne was the mask and Batman was, was the true person.

[00:21:33] See, and I would argue to that point that maybe the cartoons took over what Batman really was even

[00:21:38] versus more than the comics. Yeah.

[00:21:40] Because we got to think about everything you get when you watch a movie, right? You have the audio,

[00:21:45] you have the visual, um, the feelings you get from that. When you read a comic, yeah,

[00:21:49] there's visual there. There's no audio. So what does Batman sound like? Who knows? You know what

[00:21:53] I'm saying? But when we break it down like that, there's so many different aspects, but you kind

[00:21:57] of just made my point with what's real talk. That's real talk right there. Yeah.

[00:22:00] You know what I'm saying? It could be unpopular and you're a lot of your opinions,

[00:22:03] you said were unpopular, but that's the beauty of it. Right. And at the end of the day,

[00:22:06] we all respect it and love it. That's a, that's a good point. Like when you read a comic,

[00:22:09] the voices are in your head or a book, the voices are in your head. So it's yours. But when you see it

[00:22:14] on screen or on, on, on, on a TV, all of a sudden it's like a shared experience with everybody else

[00:22:19] where it becomes like, this is how Batman's supposed to sound or supposed to look. Yeah.

[00:22:23] By the way, thank you for asking the question. Um, that is very rude of you young Phil to answer the

[00:22:27] question because Russ asked me and real talk, no one cares about you jumped on my question. No one

[00:22:33] cares about your opinion, James. So rude. So rude. Just to answer Russ's questions because he was so nice to

[00:22:39] ask it and you were so unfriendly to, to answer it. Uh, I agree with a lot of what, what young Phil

[00:22:45] said, but there we go. I have, I have a love for the Adam West version because that was part of my

[00:22:51] childhood, you know, as much as like Batman, the animated series was, you know, seeing the reruns

[00:22:55] of Batman 66 or just Batman. Yeah. That was part of my childhood. You know, like I remember dressing

[00:23:00] up as, as Robin, you know, cause I related to Robin back in the day when, you know, cause being Filipino,

[00:23:05] I had no, no superheroes or people I could relate to, but I could relate to Robin for whatever

[00:23:11] reason. Maybe cause he was young. He was young. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that's so yeah, it was,

[00:23:15] uh, the 66 Batman was kind of my jam meeting into all this, but yeah. Yeah. Did we ask you? Um,

[00:23:23] I was so mad at young Phil over here for answering my, we didn't cover that, but I would say I kind

[00:23:28] of actually agree with Phil's opinion on a lot of that. He's not here. Um, Tyler, I was going to say,

[00:23:33] Tyler would actually agree a wholeheartedly a hundred percent with what he said. Um, just being

[00:23:38] that, uh, Ben Affleck really did do a very good job and Tyler and I have actually agreed on that

[00:23:42] quite a bit. He nowhere near got enough screen time, right? The movies were kind of rough to watch,

[00:23:48] but if we're being honest, he was as close to what I believe comic version of Batman is. Um,

[00:23:53] now if you ask me what's the most enjoyable movie, it's always a difficult question to answer these

[00:23:58] things, but I would say the Nolan verse was the most enjoyable to watch specifically dark night,

[00:24:02] dark night was by far one of my favorite Batman movies. Yeah. Even over, he got the most screen

[00:24:09] time as Batman. Yeah. Yeah. Even over the, um, the, the, the Keaton movies, I would still say,

[00:24:15] you know, and I, and I love like Michelle Pfeiffer and I love it, love it, love it, love it. But

[00:24:19] even over that, the Nolan verse had it. Right. Right. And, and, and I mean, going into what's going

[00:24:24] on now, right? Like the, the, the penguin that we're getting right now, right. With the series

[00:24:28] is everything I've learned. Colin Farrell. Colin Farrell. Yeah. Like I, I've been,

[00:24:33] this is the penguin I've been wanting for a long time. Yeah. I've been wanting the rise of the mob boss

[00:24:39] penguin and not this for, for, for as fun as, uh, the, the, the version that was in Batman returns is

[00:24:46] right. It never was anything that meshed in the comics. It was a completely made up version of the

[00:24:51] character. Right. Uh, so this is exactly what I want in the penguin. Yeah. That's, that's awesome.

[00:24:56] Yeah. So this is a real talk. This is a real talk moment. That's good. I'm loving it. Yeah.

[00:25:01] And I'm definitely taking over, so I need to shut my mouth, but, uh, no, no, no, we're good. Um,

[00:25:05] on that, like I said, you know, this is just, I know we're going to make this kind of quick

[00:25:09] because we know that we have a lot we got to get to. We're actually the three of us are going to head

[00:25:13] over to a panel right now shortly, but, um, yeah, that's it. I guys, I think it'd be great to again,

[00:25:18] do another one of these totally full length version. Maybe we'll do a little split video or

[00:25:22] something. Absolutely. Hold on. We got some, we got some like wrap up questions. Oh yeah. Yeah. Let's do it.

[00:25:26] Absolutely. So I'm going to ask you one of the hardest questions you've ever been asked in your

[00:25:29] life. I actually kind of told you what it was, uh, but I think I know what's coming. Yeah. So

[00:25:33] I'm going to ask you this question, man. What is your favorite kind of taco? That is a, that's a

[00:25:37] tough question. That's, that's really got to think about that. It's a tie between two, but I'm going

[00:25:41] to have to go with what, what I would pick, what I would honestly pick as long as the carne

[00:25:46] asada that I'm ordering is solid, right? Yeah. It's going to be, in my opinion, the best carne asada

[00:25:51] that's what we're going with. Cause it was going to be carnitas, carnitas is up there, but carne asada

[00:25:55] is going to have cilantro and onions, unfavorably red salsa. So I'm going to go with the red salsa.

[00:26:00] I'm okay with that. Yeah. I like green better, but I mean, I'm, that's not a problem. That's

[00:26:03] why I said it's good. A lot of people would say it's unfavorable, but I will go with the red salsa

[00:26:07] cause it's spicier typically. Yeah. That is true. And maybe just a little bit of guac. That's it.

[00:26:11] Okay. Now are you're down here in LA, right? I am. So do you have a favorite spot? I actually,

[00:26:17] believe it or not, the best carne asada tacos I have, I find outside of LA. Wow. Like LA,

[00:26:22] like LA County. Yeah. Yeah. We're at like, what's, what's your favorite spot? If you, if you could go

[00:26:26] anywhere right now, where would you go? Oh my gosh. Honestly, I have a culinary degree,

[00:26:31] so I'd make them myself. Nice. A culinary degree. Real quick. If you guys want, if you guys want a good

[00:26:37] recipe for a bomb carne asada taco, however you like your carne asada, cook it that way. I'm not

[00:26:42] going to tell you how to do that. I do sazon and beer. See, fantastic. Do it that way. Now,

[00:26:47] the key on this is get whatever corn tortilla you like, melt cheese on the pan, grab that corn tortilla,

[00:26:57] slap it on there and let it get toasted up. Make a mulanito. Yeah. Once it gets all and it's gooey and

[00:27:03] toasted and it's like, there's a crust on that. You lift that up, you drop your meat on there, add whatever

[00:27:07] toppings you want and you're going to have a fire taco. Yeah. Plain and simple. Yeah. Let's call it

[00:27:11] a mulanito in our culture. There it goes. That's interesting. We always have like an argument back

[00:27:15] and forth about like, should or is cheese a necessity for a taco? When you have it that way? Yes.

[00:27:22] Like that way. Yeah. But sometimes, I mean, I, I, I'm just like, give me the carne asada or the

[00:27:28] pasta or, you know, onion, cilantro, that sort of thing. Yeah. I don't need cheese all the time.

[00:27:33] Like let it stand on its own, bro. Yeah. You know, get your cheese out of here. Hey bro,

[00:27:36] it's okay. You can have your own opinion. It's the wrong opinion, but you can have it.

[00:27:40] Hey, real talk. Um, so man, uh, what's some advice you might have? Like say if you, if it,

[00:27:47] for anybody who's trying to jump into the industry, we've been doing this maybe for a little bit

[00:27:51] now, but you know, say if you were like looking back on how you started to now, what's some

[00:27:56] advice you might give to like, say yourself or somebody trying to get into the industry?

[00:28:00] A hundred percent. I would say always be authentic. Be authentic. Be yourself. If you're yourself,

[00:28:03] you're authentic. No one could ever take that away. You will never, you will never change.

[00:28:08] You'll never change. And that's, I think, and I think you guys probably agree with that too,

[00:28:11] because you guys are yourselves in the podcast. The most cringe worthy, worthy thing I see,

[00:28:15] especially like being so close, cause we have a lot of people we deal with in like Hollywood

[00:28:19] and we see, we know, um, is when you see them interview somebody. And as soon as that camera

[00:28:24] turns off, as soon as the mics are off, they're just like COVID masks on, they wipe their hands away.

[00:28:29] They like, don't even want to talk to anybody. And they're just like, they're out of the room.

[00:28:32] It's like, that is the fakest thing I've ever seen. And I will say it probably unpopular opinion,

[00:28:36] but that person's garbage. And I want nothing to do with people like that. As soon as we're done

[00:28:41] talking, we're laughing. We're the conversation keeps going. We're still bullshitting. We're having

[00:28:44] a good time. We're laughing all the way to Kevin Smith here in a minute. So I mean,

[00:28:47] Oh, a hundred percent. Like I said, we come on, we're going to throw some nachos on the table. I was

[00:28:51] talking to one of my friends downstairs about this cause she's going to be on. We're going to throw

[00:28:54] some nachos on the table. We're going to have some beers. We're going to talk. We're going to laugh.

[00:28:57] Love it. That's what it's about. Now I'm hungry. Now we're hungry. Let's, let's go to the panel

[00:29:03] and then let's go eat. So real quick before we get out of here. Right. So, so what's next for you,

[00:29:07] man? We, you, you, you have anything, any more cons you're going to anything you're promoting

[00:29:11] or anything like that? Next for us. So the rest of the year is pretty light. I think in,

[00:29:15] in all of this world, it's pretty light. Usually LA comic-con is like the last con of the year.

[00:29:19] It is. It was December. Now it's October. Yeah. We're not going to LA to New York. So New York

[00:29:25] is out of the question. There's too much going on since two back to back to this. Yeah. So New

[00:29:29] York's out of the question. We won't be going there, but the very next thing is going to be AVN

[00:29:33] in, uh, or sorry, X3, which I believe is in January and that's here in LA. Then AVN,

[00:29:38] which I believe is at the end of January, early February. Vegas. Vegas, right. Vegas. Yeah. Okay.

[00:29:41] So we'll see that. And like I said, I have good friends, Angela White. She's an amazing person.

[00:29:45] Covey Thompson, amazing person. Abigail Morris, another one who's here today. If you guys get a chance,

[00:29:49] stop by here, talk to her. Yeah. Beautiful, beautiful person. So yeah, but yeah, that's,

[00:29:55] that's what we have planned. That's what we're doing. So, and then after that, the comic-con

[00:29:58] start all over again. There we go. Starts up again, right? A hundred percent. Yeah. Uh,

[00:30:02] so put yourself over man. Uh, give, give us all your social medias, your pluggables, anything.

[00:30:06] How do we find you? Yeah. Real talk, Russ.com. So go to the website. If you're curious,

[00:30:11] you can find everything there, but that's the first and foremost real talk. So like Apple podcasts,

[00:30:15] real talk, Apple podcasts, uh, yeah. R U S S real talk, Russ. Um, and then if you,

[00:30:20] Apple podcasts, Spotify, uh, wherever you listen to your podcast, you can pretty much pull it up.

[00:30:24] YouTube as well. Real talk, Russ on there. And then, uh, social medias is, uh, Russ,

[00:30:29] Russell underscore Martini. So that's where you'll find me. Uh, real talk podcast is also,

[00:30:33] it's underscores in between the words for, uh, Instagram, Twitter, same thing. Um, or X now,

[00:30:39] now they're calling X. We still call it Twitter. Right. Right. Uh, and then same thing for Tyler is

[00:30:43] Tyler's go. So that's, his is really, we don't need to plug him. He's not, we don't need to play.

[00:30:47] He's not here. He's not here. Who does his hair too? Yeah, exactly. He said, screw us. We're

[00:30:51] going to say screw him. It's fine. The worst part is to piss James off. He takes two minutes to do

[00:30:54] his hair. If you really want the truth. Really? He literally grabs the stuff,

[00:30:57] throws it in his hair and that's it. So good. So good. Tyler. He wakes up with that hair. Yeah.

[00:31:03] Tyler's a majestic man. He's a, he's the best. Like James has a man crush on Tyler. It's fine.

[00:31:07] It's fine guys. You know, he's used to it. Tyler, Tyler's used to it. It's fine. We're fine. We're all fine.

[00:31:12] Yeah. And I just, I tend to hate overly handsome guys. So I mean, just like, yeah, Russ, thank you

[00:31:18] so much. Thank you guys. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me on. We'll do it again.

[00:31:22] Absolutely. All right. Well, we hope you enjoyed this week's comic conversation.

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