Trade School: Reckless with Lee Greger
We’re back with another episode of Trade School! This time, we’re talking about Reckless! Our host this week is Lee Greger!
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Edited by Case Aiken
Scored by Bret Eagleston
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Outline
Introduction & Context (00:00 - 01:24)
Lee Greger introduces Certain Point of View's Trade School podcast episode focused on comic book trade paperbacks.
Personal background context: Lee born in 1973, describes cultural and media influences growing up as an '80s kid.
Review of "Reckless" by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (01:24 - 04:19)
Summary and analysis of Reckless by Brubaker and Phillips (started in 2020).
Main character Ethan Reckless as a private investigator with CIA past, set in Southern California near a beach.
Recommendation & Availability (04:19 - 05:43)
Lee recommends Reckless for fans of 80s noir, pulp detective novels, and similar TV shows. Notes that Image Comics produces these in 144-page hardcover trade editions, available on Amazon and retailers.
Additional Podcast Promotions & Wrap-Up (05:43 - 07:16)
Introduction of Case Aiken and Sam Alicea from "Another Pass" podcast focused on movie reviews—balancing fascination with flaws and constructive criticism. Brief announcement about the new show "We Have Issues" with hosts Keith and Josue, reviewing a wide range of new comics weekly.
Transcription
00:00
Welcome to Certain Point of View's Trade School, where each episode a different host talks about a comic book trade paperback that they loved and why they love it.
00:09
Thank you, Case. And hello, I'm your host this week, Lee Greger. And I'll be reviewing the trade paperback from the new comics noir duo Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips and their newest endeavor named Reckless. So before I get into it, I'd have to make a small confession my age. So I was born in 1973, so that would mean I was six years old when the 80s came in. And by the end of the 80s I was 16. So I clearly grew up an 80s kid. And one of the things coming from the 70s, the noir pulp detective novels like more modern were becoming more prevalent. And it carried into the 80s, but it also influenced renaissance of the private detective shows. Pretty much started with the Rockford Files.
00:58
And I might be wrong here, but it by the 80s, it just bloomed into like almost every night you could watch a private investigator thing and all the tropes and everything that went with that, anywhere from Simon and Simon to Magnum PI and all the way to the end of the 80s when you had almost a meta commentary with the show Moonlighting. Well, coming from that 80s nostalgia, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips started their new endeavor called reckless in 2020. And I picked it up and I was instantly brought back to those old private detective things, even with the tropes of like never trust the person that hires you and never trust a person from your past that wants to hire you for a favor and other things like that.
01:40
Another trope is usually either a location or a vehicle or a building is often just as much character as the leading protagonist and the show. And now you enter. In 2020, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips introduce us to Ethan, Reckless private investigator that has a 1-800-number who does favors for people and gets paid to do it. It's very cloudy about his past because he was former CIA operative, you later learned, and that training lets him fix things according to his own thing. And the setting is Southern California near the beach. And he with the money he had left over, he uses it to buy this old decrepit picture theater movie theater called the El Ricardo, which is just so much atmosphere. He buys old movies to watch during his downtime.
02:34
And also joining him on this is the 80s punk rocker Anna, who had different color hairs and she would write graffiti on there. And that's how he found her, that she was riding this anarchy symbol on the door and then he offered her a job and she's usually the legwork for him. And he gets to go out and solve crimes. And of course the first one doesn't go very well. And it gets more find out the people that he's working for are probably not the best people, but that's normal tropes of the 70s and 80s private investigators, noir novels and also the TV shows from the 80s. It was later hinted on that Ethan is actually narrating this from much when he's much older, like modern day. And he's always hints at something happened to Anna.
03:22
They still haven't revealed it yet in any of their novels, but that is probably an Easter egg for another day. So this novel, the Brubit Baker writing and then the Sean Phillips inks and pencils just take you Back to the 80s with the Ray Ban sunglasses and all the just the noir near the ocean, you just feel the ocean from 80s California. And also I like to give some credit to Jacob Phillips, Sean Phillips son. He did most of the coloring for this and he does that makes you feel like it's California, if that makes sense. Like it's either dusk or dawn. And so all the colors and hues are like an orangish definitely 80s type hue. Except like when danger comes he tends to color it much darker and more sinister.
04:10
But all in all it's just a great novel and takes me back to watching those old Simon and Simon episodes about San Diego. And so I would highly recommend this if you enjoy 80s noir, if you like any of the old 70s and 80s pulp novels, detective novels, or if you just want to, you know, watch Magnum PI or think about something that reminds you of Magnum PI but new. So it'd be highly recommended. Image does produce these and they don't do issue by issue. So these are only available and 144 page hardcovers, but they're clearly still available according to Amazon right now and or any place where you normally get comics. So I don't really have anything to plug. I'm just a small farmer from North Dakota. But I would recommend like another pass with Case and Sam.
04:59
And also we have issues with Keith. He's a great source for if you're trying to get back into comic books. He reviews way more comics than you'll ever read and I've had several recommendations that he does that are really great. So I guess I'll just let you go read Reckless Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. And also a word of advice, never trust the woman who hires you and also, happy reading.
05:29
Hey, Nerf herders, You sure you want.
05:31
To go with that?
05:32
Hey, everyone.
05:34
There we go.
05:36
Have you ever had a movie that you really wanted to love, but something holds you back?
05:40
Or one that you did love in spite of a flaw?
05:43
Well, I'm Kay Sagan.
05:44
And I'm Sam Alicea.
05:46
And on another pass, we sit down with cool guests to look at movies that we find fascinating but flawed. And we try to imagine what could have been done when they were made to give them that little push.
05:57
We're not experts. We just believe in criticism.
06:00
Constructive criticism, sure. But come take another pass at some movies with us.
06:05
And every now and then, we can celebrate movies that did it on their own, too.
06:09
You can find us@ certainpov.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
06:14
Pass it on.
06:18
All right, Josue, let's go through our new comic Day stack. We have a lot to review. I know. Maybe we've gone too far. Let's see. Marvel, of course, dc. I got Image, Dark Horse, Black Mask. Boom. Idw. Aftershock, Bald, of course. Mad Cave, Oni, Valiant, Scout, Magma, Behemoth. Wow, that's a lot.
06:42
Oh.
06:43
All we need now is a name for our show. We need a name for a show about reviewing comic books every week. Something clever, but not too clever. Like a pun. It's kind of cheesy. Yeah, it's something that seems funny at first, but we might regret later on as an impulsive decision. A few dozen episodes in. Yeah, we'll think of something. Join Keith and Osway for we have Issues. A weekly show reviewing almost every new comic released each week, available on Geek Elite Media and wherever you listen to your podcasts.
07:11
CPOV certainpov.com.