Collecting Issues

Is Harrow County the best horror comic of the last decade? Ben and Mick revisit Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook’s Harrow County Vol. 1: Countless Haints (Dark Horse Comics, issues #1–4) in this remastered Halloween archive episode, with new context added for 2026. Emmy is turning 18 on a quiet Southern farm, but Harrow County has a long memory. The witch Hester Beck was hanged from a tree years ago, a...

Mick and Ben open spooky season with Fault Lines , the debut comic anthology from Robert Cullen, the Irish animator who founded Boulder Media ( Danger Mouse , Transformers , Wacky Races ). It has three stories about guilt, grief and the Irish diaspora. They range from Twilight Zone strange to quietly devastating, and each turns on the moment a life breaks apart. In this episode: The Vanishing Act...

What happens when a Justice League pastiche decides the only way to save the world is to run it? On this episode of Collecting Issues, the monthly comic book club podcast, Ben and Michael read Squadron Supreme #1–12 (Marvel Comics, 1985) by Mark Gruenwald, Bob Hall and John Beatty. Hyperion, Power Princess, Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum, the Whizzer and the rest of the Squadron Supreme wake up in a w...

What happens when the man who can escape anything cannot escape himself? In this remastered archive episode, first recorded in 2019 and reissued with new context and commentary, Mick and Ben dig into Mister Miracle (2017-2018) by Tom King and Mitch Gerads , the Eisner Award winning 12 issue series from DC Comics. The episode covers: Jack Kirby's Fourth World and why the New Gods were born out of K...

Collecting Issues is a monthly comic book book club. We have read the thing, you have read the thing, and there are spoilers all the way down. This month Ben and Michael take on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, collecting issues 1 to 8 of the 2021 DC Comics series by Tom King, Bilquis Evely, and Matheus Lopes. King has been open that the pitch was True Grit in space, a mentor and mentee bound togethe...

Welcome back to Collecting Issues, your monthly comic book book club! This month, Mick and Ben are strapping in (and trying not to burst out of identical tight t-shirts) to review Assorted Crisis Events, Volume 1 , collecting issues #1-5 of the hit 2025 Image Comics series. Created by the powerhouse team of Deniz Camp ( 20th Century Men , Absolute Martian Manhunter ) and artist Eric Zawadzki, with...

In this episode, Michael and Benjamin are wading deep into the gutters of Marvel’s latest Spider-man reboot to discuss Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) Volume 1 (Issues 1-6) and Volume 2: The News (Issues 7-12) by Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, and David Messina. Is this 2024 reimagining a light snack or a massive epic? We look at everything from Peter Parker’s 35-year-old power fantasy to Harry Os...

Note: This is a classic archive episode from the vault, originally broadcast back in the ill-fated year of 2019! Welcome back to Collecting Issues , ladies and gentlemen! This week, Mick and Ben are looking into an absolute titan of comic book history: Marvel’s The Dark Phoenix Saga (collecting Uncanny X-Men #129-137), first published in the bloody 1980s by the legendary creative team of Chris Cla...

Welcome back to Collecting Issues, the monthly comic book club! This month, Michael and Ben are stepping away from the usual superhero capers to explore an absolute titan of the indie comic world: Jeff Smith’s Bone Vol. 1: Out from Boneville (collecting issues #1-6). What starts as a seemingly harmless, 1950s Saturday-morning cartoon romp starring three weird little cousins; Fone Bone, Phoncible P...

Welcome back to Collecting Issues , the monthly comic book club where we assume you’ve done the reading (and we will judge you if you haven't). This week, Mick and Ben dive into the beautiful, mind-bending melange that is DC's runaway 2025 hit: Absolute Martian Manhunter Volume 1 (Issues #1-6). Written by Deniz Camp ( 20th Century Men ) and illustrated by the masterful Javier Rodriguez ( Zatana: B...

 The Beauty (Image Comics) vs. FX’s Adaptation: Ozempic, Body Horror, and Ryan Murphy What if an STD could make you the most perfect version of yourself? This week on Collecting Issues , Benjamin and Michael read The Beauty (Vol. 1, Issues #1-6), the 2016 hit by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley . We compare the original "buddy cop" police procedural comic against the new 2026 FX on Hulu adapta...

"It was a different time." That seems to be the motto for this month’s episode of Collecting Issues . Join Michael and Benjamin as they crack open the briefcase on 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call . Published in 1999 by Vertigo Comics, this multi-Eisner and Harvey Award-winning series by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso was hailed as a gritty crime revolution. But does it hold up in 2026? We di...

Welcome back to Collecting Issues , your monthly comic book club! To close out 2025, we are wading deep into the bog of Irish Myth to discuss Tuatha , the stunning one-shot from Irish creator Gavin Fullerton , published by IDW Comics . If Samurai Jack and Hellboy had a baby and sent it on a grim quest across a war-torn ancient Ireland, it would look like this. In this episode, Michael and Benjamin...

Welcome back to Collecting Issues, the monthly comic book book club! This week, Michael and Benjamin are heading to the Midwest to tackle a modern critical darling: Local Man (Issues #1-13 & #25). Published by Image Comics , Local Man is the 2023 creation of Tim Seeley ( Hack/Slash , Grayson ) and Tony Fleecs ( Stray Dogs ). It’s a genre-bending mix of rural noir and 90s superhero pastiche tha...

Happy Halloween, listeners! This month on Collecting Issues, the monthly comic book book club, Michael and Benjamin skirt the rules to cover an anthology: Come Find Me: An Autumnal Offering . This 2024 one-shot is published by the new, creator-owned DSTLRY Comics. It's an... interesting business model of limited digital runs and resellable digital rights. (Wait, did we just buy an NFT? Is this the...

Welcome back to Collecting Issues , the comic book book club where this month we're pulling a rabbit out of a hat and diving into Zatanna: Bring Down the House ! Join us as we review issues #1-5 of the 2025 DC Black Label series by the incredible team of Mariko Tamaki , Javier Rodriguez , and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou . Is this spooky, Halloween-adjacent tale a true horror comic or more "spider decora...

This week on Collecting Issues, we're diving headfirst into the dense, brutal, and brilliant world of 20th Century Men , the six-issue epic from Deniz Camp, Stipan Morian, and Image Comics. It’s an alternate history where the Cold War got much, much hotter, fought with super-soldiers, giant mechs, and broken ideals in the mountains of Afghanistan. WARNING: This is a full-spoiler discussion! We hig...

This week on Collecting Issues, we step into the ring for Do a Powerbomb! (issues #1-7), the 2023 masterpiece from Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer for Image Comics. Get ready for a cosmic slobberknocker that's one part The Wrestler , one part Dragon Ball Z , and all parts heartbreaking, kinetic action. Join us as we continue our Daniel Warren Johnson odyssey and explore why he's one of the m...

his week on Collecting Issues, we're opening the archives to bring you our classic deep dive into Kingdom Come , the legendary 1996 DC Elseworlds series by Mark Waid and Alex Ross . Originally recorded in March 2021, this episode is as relevant as ever. Join Mick and Ben as they explore how Kingdom Come served as a powerful critique of the '90s comic book "dark age"—an era defined by pouches, exce...

In this episode of Collecting Issues , we blast off into Marvel’s cosmic corners to discuss Beta Ray Bill: Argent Star – Collecting issues #1–5 of Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer’s 2021 miniseries. This listener-recommended pick follows fan-favourite, horse-faced hero Beta Ray Bill on a heavy-metal space odyssey of broken hammers, busted pride, and one very big sword. We cover it all: How Ar...

This week on Collecting Issues , we’re talking about The One Hand and The Six Fingers —two five-issue series from Image Comics (2024) by Ram V, Dan Watters, Laurence Campbell, Sumit Kumar, Lee Loughridge, and Tom Muller. Set in the gritty, retro-future city of Neo Novena, these stories unfold from two perspectives: a weary detective facing a familiar case on the eve of retirement, and a brilliant...

In this episode of Collecting Issues , we dive headfirst into Thor: Prey , collecting issues #7–14 of Donny Cates’ 2020 run with art by Nic Klein, colours by Matthew Wilson, and covers by Olivier Coipel. This mythic, messy, and often horrifying arc explores what happens when the forgotten alter ego, Donald Blake, returns—with a scalpel and a grudge. We break down: How Thor: Prey explores the conse...

In this episode of Collecting Issues, Michael and Benjamin break down 8 Billion Genies , the complete 8-issue limited series from Image Comics by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne. What if every person on Earth was suddenly given a genie and one wish? This high-concept comic explores the global and personal chaos that follows—and we’re diving into all of it. From the explosive first eight seconds to t...

Join the Discord and read along In this very first From the Archives episode of Collecting Issues , we go back to where it all began with our 2022 discussion of Kraven’s Last Hunt , the seminal Spider-Man story by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck . Originally published across The Amazing Spider-Man , Spectacular Spider-Man , and Web of Spider-Man in 1987, this dark, introspective arc sees Kraven the H...

Welcome back to Collecting Issues – the comic book book club podcast – and our first episode of the year (even if it is March, don’t @ us). This month, we’re diving deep into one of the most iconic and influential superhero stories of all time: Daredevil: Born Again – collecting issues #227 to #233 from the 1986 Daredevil run, written by Frank Miller and drawn by David Mazzucchelli. In this extend...