24. “The One Where Jack Shows Up”

In this week’s episode, we welcome special guest and friend of the show, Jack Adrien. We cover Jack’s entire secret origin: what got him into pop culture, who his favorite childhood heroes were, when he found Mint Condition, how we all became friends, Jack's favorite Star Trek

episodes across all series, and more.

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:14 James introduces the show and guest Jack Adrien. We dive right into what got him into pop culture. We talk about the first comics he started with: The Legion of Superheroes, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan specifically), The Flash (Wally West) and his other major influence, Star Trek.

5:40 Chris asks Jack why he was such a fan of The Legion of the Super Heroes. Jack and Joe talk about why they both enjoyed The Legion; Jack tells the tale of how The Legion comic allowed him to connect with his lifelong friend Pete and how comics brings us together.

10:00 James asks Jack where he got comics growing up and what his first comic book store was. This launches us into the conversation as to how Jack came to Mint Condition.

13:13 We start the conversation about how Jack became a store regular and started hanging out with people at the store. This leads into how Jack and James met.

18:02 We turn to when Jack and Joe first met at the store. They recall some of their crossover working for Barnes and Noble.

20:14 We talk about how Chris and Jack met: Chris tried to teach Jack Pokémon! Chris talks about how he enjoyed the fact that Jack wanted to hang at the store with him.

23:40 We discuss how Jack used to jump in and help at the store; Joe and Jack recall working an out of the store birthday party (brought up in the first episode of the podcast). Also, they commiserate about how the register at Mint Condition was very tricky to work and perhaps belonged in a museum.

26:34 Our conversation leads to the Comic Book Bull Session we used to have at the store, with Jack being the center piece of a few of them. Joe and Jack share that while at times they had differences of opinion, it was always a learning experience. We also get into Jack’s favorite bull session topics and ones he would like to revisit on future podcasts. Plus, Chris gives a quick plug for the DC book Farsector.

32:44 We call back to the start of the episode and Jack talks about Hawkman.

35:45 We ask Jack to give his recommendation for a comic book to a new reader. This leads us to talk about Jack’s favorite comic book/ books of all time, which include: The first run of The Sandman, Who is Donna Troy? and Mr. Majestic at the End of Time.

43:38 We ask Jack to name his favorite pop culture hero now. Jack reveals that is Benjamin Sisko, which leads us to talk about Jack’s favorite Star Trek episodes through all the series.

55:44 We ask if Jack is currently reading comics, and what type of pop culture stuff he is following currently. This somehow gets us talking about Josh Bernhard’s pick of Star Trek the Motion Picture as his favorite Star Trek and the future debate surrounding this contentious pick. It also opens up a conversation about diversity in MCU projects, and how sometimes they don’t go far enough with the social part of commentary, and comic books usually take bigger risks with the social commentary and message.

1:15:00 We end by asking Jack how he's been introducing his son to classic movies, which his son

considers “old movies”