Worst Collection Ever

Spawn #41 (1996)  Continuing on with our mid-90s SPAWN coverage, we pick up with the Spawn man about to be dissected by the goatee-having villain Curse up his precariously balanced castle. Curse, you see, wants to be come “Satan Two” and believes he can use Spawn’s necroplasm to get there. Sure, why not. Highlights include: Hell had some solid prospects back in 1996 Cy-Gor snuffs out some pot...

Spawn #40 (1996)  Hey check this out — we are covering a Spawn book (quite possibly) for the first time! It has been a big year of first for us over here at WCE. We’re jumping in here with Spawn being abducted and dissected by Curse, a tech savvy religious zealot. We also have Cy-Gor the cybernetic gorilla running rampant somewhere in upstate New York. Highlights include: Spawn’s Bone Throne...

Elseworlds 80-Page Giant #1 (1999) Something slightly different this week as we chat about a specific story from an Elseworlds anthology called “Rockumentary.” This is a silly take on BEHIND THE MUSIC with Lex Luthor as a bigger-than-life record company executive. It’s a fun trip so let’s check it out! Highlights include: Martian Manhunter…with hair! Darkseid wears a nice suit Tie me down, tell th...

Ghost Rider [vol 3] #35 (1993) One more ride with Ghost Rider before we move on! Here, GR is not only contending with a Death Ninja, but also the super-armored Heart Attack, the death-obsessed Suicide and the always furious Lt. Badilino aka the future Vengeance. Highlights include: An extended conversation about Bon Jovi Tom Cruise’s apartment from WAR OF THE WORLDS What is Vengeance reading? Stup...

Ghost Rider [vol 3] #34 (1993)  It has been too long since we’ve talked about Ghost Rider and with the latest Ryan Gosling news, now is a great time to revisit our favorite Spirit of Vengeance. This time out, a Death Ninja seeks finality and must hunt GR down in order to achieve it. Highlights include: Ghost Rider actually HELPS a victim receive medical care! Corpses on the news in the 1990s...

Green Lantern [vol 2] #183 (1984) John Stewart is a newly-minted Green Lantern and Hal is not happy about it. Regardless, John is quickly put to the test by a conflicted Major Disaster, who is threatening to flood Los Angeles. Also, we learn about a potentially problematic GL ring feature. Highlights include: John hits it off with a newscaster Eclipso makes a prank call Major Disaster can think it...

Green Lantern [vol 2] #182 (1984) LANTERNS, an honest-to-goodness live action TV show with Green Lanterns in it, is coming our way so let’s see what the Emerald Knight was up to back in the mid-80s. Turns out quite a bit as Hal Jordan bails on the gig and the formidable John Stewart is next in line. Also, Major Disaster is walking the streets and Eclipso is rightfully lurking in the shadows! Highl...

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #14 (1978) Spider-Man, Flash Thompson and new friend Razorback are on a race against time to get to Yonkers to stop an evil cult from going nationwide. As it turned out, we didn’t allot for covering the conclusion to this arc but I can assure that it all works out for Spider-Man. Nonetheless, this book does have a surprise reveal and Spider-Man punching Raz...

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #13 (1977) Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has a new movie coming out this week so let’s see what he was up to in the late-70s! Somehow it involves cults, big rig trucks and a large man dressed as a pig. Highlights include: Spider-Man does some window peeping Meet Razorback, Marvel’s 2nd most famous big-rig trucker Praise for Johnny Cash When an alien...

Detective Comics #32 (1939) Our journey back to early (EARLY!) Batman stories continues - and concludes - as Batman faces off against the Mad Monk inside his wolf-filled castle. Highlights include: Are they vampires or werewolves? Screw it — it’s the Bat-Plane now Batman and his growing collection of women This bag of vampire money will protect you! Batman casually uses a firearm Slam Bradley! Als...

Detective Comics #31 (1939) We go way back in time this week as we talk about DETECTIVE COMICS mere months after the debut of the Batman! It is classic Golden Age goodness as (the) Batman squares off against Mad Monk and his menagerie of mammals and reptiles. Highlights include: The debut of the Batarang! Wilfred Brimley, medical professional Batman is hoarding the cure to rabies Multiple gorilla...

Uncanny X-Men #290 (1992) The immense drama that is the UNCANNY X-MEN continues as Storm takes her time contemplating Forge’s marriage proposal, Iceman’s date continues to go sideways and Colossus has a day on the town with his newly-resurfaced brother Mikhail. Highlights include: Storm and Bishop go full Natasha Bedingfield Jean Grey literally throws in the towel Krang’s body Mystique gets c...

Uncanny X-Men #289 (1992)  It is X-MEN TIME as X-MEN ’97 returns for a second season and we return to some proper X-books! This time out, Bishop and his massive arms have just joined X-Men Gold, causing unintended friction between Forge and Storm. Also, Iceman introduces his girlfriend to his lame-ass parents and Archangel has a fit when Mystique dresses up in one of his old costumes. Highlig...

Supergirl [vol 2] #18 (1984) Join us this week as Supergirl continues to wreak havoc in Chicago as she shows off her new headband whilst foiling a jewel heist and recklessly heaving planes to their certain doom. Also, there is an alien terrorizing the seas AND the skies asking for human monies. Maybe. He forgets pretty quickly. Highlights include: The Penguin’s Southern cousin, Boss Cobb! Beware o...

Supergirl [vol 2] #17 (1984) Supergirl has a new movie coming out so let’s talk about her! It is the early 80s and she’s living in Chicago doing scholarly things and the like. Everything is going swimmingly until some 1950s mobsters rough up her Tom Baker-ass looking professor and now Supergirl has to fly to French Polynesia to save him. Highlights include: Chicago hot dogs vs. Metropolis hot dogs...

Power Man & Iron Fist #107 (1984) Let’s wrap up this trip into freelance superhero services as we follow Power Man and Iron Fist as they serve as bodyguards to an eccentric rock star. There’s also a BARBARIAN meets SMALL WONDER deal going on with the rock star’s father so it is guaranteed to get wild. Highlights include: Luke Cage earns 25 cents Are the Heroes for Hire insured?? Resentful gran...

Power Man & Iron Fist #106 (1984) We are keeping the Power Man and Iron Fist party alive as we check in with Iron Fist getting hired to escort a posh woman to her high school reunion. Not really the spicy kind of “escort” but more of a “weird guy from high school is freaking me out" kind of vibe. Especially when said creep is Whirlwind, an Avengers foe that wears a weird helmet and has an obse...

Power Man & Iron Fist #105 (1984) What’s a comic book podcast without one of the most ubiquitous 80s comics you’ll find in a dollar bin? Talking about some POWER MAN & IRON FIST here, the book that was read by everybody and nobody. In this issue, Luke and Danny are feeling the freelance superhero squeeze from Crimebuster, an escaped con posing as a “hero” who got his hands on some pistols...

Star Wars #9 (1978)  It took twelve years but we we FINALLY tackle a STAR WARS comic on this podcast and this one is a blast as we check out an early issue in the initial Marvel run. We got Han Solo and Chewbacca on an Outer Rim planet teaming up with a green bunny and a porcupine man to defend folks from lecherous bandits. Also, Luke Skywalker and the droids are adrift in the cosmos looking...

Hex #1 (1985) Let’s take a break from our current apocalypse to see what happens when you pluck disfigured gunfighter Jonah Hex from the Old West and place him in a dystopian Seattle. HEX was one of the bold swings from DC Comics in the mid 80s and truth be told, it’s not that bad! Highlights include: Can a comic book truly be “gut searing”? Magenta meat is on the menu Why did we stop talking abou...

Nice! Time for another installment of HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT…? ” a semi-recurring segment where we look at random characters that we encounter in the books we read. Lots of strange, unusual folks out here that you need to know about. Since we are putzing around with the Punisher, the most logical solution would be to talk about the LOBO BROTHERS, two brothers who are both high-class drug dealers AND...

Hell yeah, it is the return of FINAL ISSUE BLUES here under the Worst Collection Ever umbrella of media offerings. FINAL ISSUE BLUES is a segment were we talk about the last issue of a comic book series. This time out, we will discuss the end of Marvel’s BLAZE [vol 1] (1994-1995) ending with issue #12 in July 1995. Blaze — as in Johnny Blaze — is best known as (technically) the second Ghost Rider....

The Punisher [vol 2] #19 (1989) One of Frank’s drug busts goes sideways and he ends up in the Australian outback seeking vengeance for a slain woman that he JUST saved from choking. It’s complicated but Frank does get to eventually ride a camel and wear a fun hat so it’s not so bad. Highlights include: Frank Castle uses the Village Voice to sell drugs the art of the “avalanche divorce” Eastman and...

DC Comics Presents #25 (1980) Our vacation in Stupid Town has reached its end as Superman teams up with the Phantom Stranger to rescue Pete Ross’s son from a future timeline. Somehow, this is all Superman’s fault (not wrong) and it has driven Pete Ross insane but most importantly, it has given Superman a stomach ache so it must be addressed at once! And as a bonus, we get 10 pages of Hourman fight...

DC Comics Presents #24 (1980 Deadman wants to quit being Deadman but the higher powers decide he has business to tend to in Metropolis first such as stopping cardiac-induced earthquakes. Superman finds himself involved and has to burrow into the earth’s core to fix this mess. Also, the mafia! Highlights include: BEEF~! Harley Race: earth scientst Superman enters the Kumite Deadman ruins Midsommar...