Guardians godfather Dan Abnett talks ‘Groot’ and we celebrate X-Men Monday 200

Welcome to another edition of the AIPT Comics podcast, where we recap the news, review comics, and host special guests. This week, special guest co-host Chris Hassan returns to unpack X-Men Monday 200 and talk comics. Plus, we have very special guest Dan Abnett on to talk about Groot, the new series launching next week that will unveil the untold backstory of everyone's favorite Guardians of the Galaxy member. This is an extended interview from the written interview from a few weeks ago.

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NEWS

1. X-Men Monday 200 Behind AIPT’s mutant milestone and the biggest scoops!
2. Dawn of DC adds new series 'Power Girl' and 'Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville'
3. Dawn of DC grows with 'Blue Beetle' #1 out September 2023, 'Green Arrow' gets extended to 12-issue series, new character Troublemaker
4. ‘Scarlet Witch’ #7 to debut new villain Hexfinder
5. Marvel details ‘What If…?’ starting July 2023 adding Venom and Moon Knight
6. Stan Sakai’s Dogu Publishing announces 'Oni Ronin' for November 2023
7. Creed gets a comic series
8. Jonathan Hickman’s 3 Worlds / 3 Moons opens online retail portal Emporia
9. Comics Publisher IDW Hit By Massive Layoffs

Our Top Books of the Week

Dave:

1. Clobberin' Time (2023) #2 (Steve Skroce)
2. Unstoppable Doom Patrol (2023) #2 (Dennis Culver, Chris Burnham)

Chris:

1. Invincible Iron Man #5 (Gerry Duggan, Juan Frigeri)
2. Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1 (Kieron Gillen, Lucas Werneck, Paco Medina)

Standout KAPOW moment of the week:

Chris - Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1 - Last page - TO THE PIT! (Kieron Gillen, Lucas Werneck, Paco Medina)

Dave - Star Wars: Darth Vader - Black, White & Red (2023) #1 (Peach Momoko story)

TOP BOOKS FOR NEXT WEEK

1. Dave: Peacemaker Tries Hard! #1 (Kyle Starks, Steve Pugh)
2. Chris: Immortal X-Men #11

JUDGING BY THE COVER JR.

1. Dave: Batman #900 (Joe Quesada) 
2. Chris: Moon Knight #23 Variant by Declan Shalvey

Interview: Dan Abnett talks Groot #1 out May 3rd!

1. Dan, we last spoke in 2016 about Aquaman, how have you been?
2. At that time we got to talk a bit about how James Gunn made it clear the Guardians movie version is the Guardians you and Andy Lanning formulated, and now you're going back to Groot's past adding things, any chance what we find in this comic may be referenced in the third film?
3. What's it like revisiting a character like Groot and formulating something new set in the past?
4. Did you have a list of things you wanted to tackle as far as creating new continuity?
5. Groot #1 is coming out May 3, right in time for a bonafide Guardians of the Galaxy month of delights, so let's start with, how important do you think Groot to the Guardians team and how it works?
6. You hinted when Groot was announced there were unexpected Marvel characters popping up, with four issues in the series, can we expect 4 unexpected faces?
7. According to my research, Brian Michael Bendis and Jeff Loveness were the last two writers to contribute to Groot's early origins, one detail is we did not get along with his fellow saplings but did prefer the company of "Maintenance mammals" is this something you'll be exploring further?
8. Did this scratchan itch that makes you want to return to Marvel comics titles?