Bros Foes and Heroes

Nobody asked for a giant green stockbroker. 1940 gave us one anyway. This week Zach introduces Mike to the Green Giant, not the vegetable mascot, a different one. A public domain Golden Age superhero from 1940 who works at a brokerage firm on Hall Street, fights counterfeit stock fraud, and gets big when he touches his belt. That is his entire power set. Why does he get big? Nobody knows. The comi...

FULL SPOILERS. If you haven't seen Supergirl yet , go see it first, then come back. We went to the movies. We have thoughts. A lot of them. Zach gives Supergirl a B/B+. Mike lands at B minus. Both agree: go see it. It's a fun ride. Not everything in it works, but Millie Alcock is perfect as Kara, Eve Ridley is great as Ruthie, the fights are great, there's a Modest Mouse needle drop, a Jimmy Eat W...

Before Jason Momoa shows up in Supergirl, here's everything you need to know about Lobo. This week Zach and Mike dive into the 1990-1991 four-issue Lobo mini-series by Keith Giffen and Alan Grant, the run that created the version of the character most people actually know. The one with the space hog. The chain. The white skin and black hair. The one who is almost certainly showing up in the Superg...

Happy 5th anniversary to us. We celebrated by reading a 1951 Batman comic that uses one specific word 37 times, and that word does not mean in 2026 what it meant in 1951. This week marks five years of Bros, Foes & Heroes and for our anniversary story, Zach pulled "The Joker's Comedy of Errors" from Batman Issue 66 (August 1951). The plot: the Joker becomes a national headline after a botched r...

This week Zach and Mike cover "The Lady and the Lion" . A Silver Age Superman story in which the Man of Steel gets roofied by an alien sorceress named Circe who drugged his mineral water because he politely declined her marriage proposal. The serum turns him into a lion by dawn because, as Circe helpfully explains, Superman most resembles a lion by nature. Nobody questions this logic. What follows...

Superman built his own island. Shaped like himself. In the middle of the ocean. With a foghorn that plays a recording of his voice saying "Keep off Superman Island." This week Zach and Mike tackle a pair of Silver Age Superman stories, starting with "The Secret of Superman Island" a story in which the Man of Steel harvests rocks from mountains, chisels a giant spade out of boulders, tells a whale...

Ever looked around the Batcave and wondered why on earth Batman keeps a giant, multi-ton copper coin just sitting next to the Batmobile? This week on Bros, Foes, and Heroes, Zach and Mike dive into the wonderfully ridiculous Silver Age origins of one of Gotham’s most famous trophies. Tune in as we break down World’s Finest Comics Issue 30 (1947) to meet Joe Coyne. The petty paper-boy turned "Penny...

Batman is the World's Greatest Detective. He lives in a cave under a barn. He got there by accident. This is the official origin story. This week Zach and Mike go back to Batman Annual Issue 1 (1961) to find out how Bruce Wayne discovered the Batcave. A story written by Bill Finger, drawn by Sheldon Moldoff, and so completely unhinged that Mike spends most of it convinced Batman is just a drug add...

The Clayface movie is coming and we've got you covered with everything you need to know. This week we're digging into the vault. Zach and Mike break down the full history of Clayface, all the versions, all the clay. Then dive straight into Clayface: One Bad Day, the 2023 DC one-shot that might just be the blueprint for what the movie does with this character. First: how do you go from Basil Karlo,...

The Clayface movie trailer just dropped — and before Mike sees it, Zach is making him sit through the Batman: The Animated Series two-parter that inspired it all. "Feat of Clay" is the origin story of Matt Hagan: a disfigured Hollywood actor addicted to a face cream that lets him reshape his own body, force-fed so much of it by the man who controlled his supply that he became something that could...

This week on Bros, Foes, and Heroes, Zach and Mike take a break from covering a single comic and dive into something way messier: the long, petty, and sometimes hilarious history of comic book creators going after each other. From the early days of Marvel and DC through the ’00s and beyond, this episode explores what happens when writers and artists don’t just disagree, but decide to put those dis...

This week on Bros, Foes, and Heroes, Zach and Mike take a look at one of the most unexpected comics ever published: a 1993 Marvel collaboration with a Christian publisher telling the Easter story of Jesus Christ. In the early ’90s, Marvel Comics teamed up with Thomas Nelson in a strange (and short-lived) attempt to bring faith-based stories into comic shops. The result? A straightforward, panel-by...

This week on Bros, Foes, and Heroes, Zach and Mike dive into Secret Six (2008) by Gail Simone. a brutal, hilarious, and wildly underrated run that throws together a team of villains and asks one simple question: What could possibly be worth a $10 million bounty… per person? The answer leads to chaos. We follow a crew of mercenaries including Deadshot, Bane, Catman, Scandal Savage, and the unsettli...

This week on Bros, Foes & Heroes, we're continuing our month of spotlighting female creators in comics and we're diving deep (pun intended) into the legacy of Ramona Fradon, one of the only women working in comics in the early 1950s. She started drawing Aquaman as a backup strip in Adventure Comics and ended up defining the character's look for over a decade. So if you picture the classic Aqua...

In this episode of Bro’s, Foes and Heroes, we dive into the history of one of DC’s most iconic and beloved characters: Harley Quinn. While many fans know her from the movies and modern comics, her origin is unique in the world of superheroes. Born not in the pages of a comic book, but on a television screen, Harley’s journey started with a chance friendship and a surprising inspiration from a dayt...

What happens when the King of the Seven Seas meets a literal circus performer in the middle of the ocean? In this episode, Zach and Mike dive into the surreal pages of Adventure Comics Issue 242 (1957) to uncover the "Amazing Feats of Aqua-Melvin." When an emergency S.O.S. leads to an unexpected medical procedure, Aquaman accidentally shares more than just a heroic bond with a circus clown named M...

This week, Zach and Mike dive into Action Comics Issue 241, a Silver Age gem where Superman’s Fortress of Solitude becomes the stage for a very strange mystery. There’s a secret intruder, a suspicious painting, and… a birthday surprise? What starts as a super-powered puzzle quickly turns into something much dumber (and better) than expected! In this episode: Superman’s strange hobbies A hidden mes...

Batman in red, gold… even rainbow?! In this wild Silver Age comic from 1957 (Detective Comics Issue 241), Batman shocks Gotham by wearing a different color suit every night and it’s not just a fashion statement. Join Zach and Mike as they unravel the hilariously bizarre mystery behind Rainbow Batman, complete with exploding trucks, tear gas cameras, a jealous movie star, and a sharpshooting contes...

This week on Bros, Foes, and Heroes, Zach and Mike dive into one of the strangest Silver Age Superman stories ever published: “The Curse of Lena Thorul” from Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane Issue 23 (1961). Sent to a New England town famous for witch trials, Lois Lane stumbles into a mystery involving disappearing objects, ancient spell books, reincarnated witches, and a woman who looks exactly l...

In this "at home" edition of Bros, Foes, and Heroes, we travel back to December 1950 to explore Batman issue 62 and the story titled "The Secret Life of the Catwoman". This issue is a fascinating piece of comic history written by Bill Finger, the man who truly shaped the character. From weaponized Persian cats to the mystery of "reverse amnesia," we dive into the Golden Age quirks that define one...

This week on Bros, Foes, and Heroes, Zach and Mike dive all the way back to Batman Issue 1 (DC Comics, 1940) to break down the first appearance and origin of Catwoman. Set almost entirely aboard a luxury yacht, this Golden Age story features jewel theft, disguises, masquerade parties, fourth-wall-breaking lectures to children, and one of the most unintentionally unhinged Batman moments we’ve ever...

What if we told you Thanos once flew around in a helicopter with his name printed on the side…and that somehow isn’t even the weirdest thing in this comic. In this episode of Bros, Foes, and Heroes, Zach and Mike dive headfirst into the wonderfully bizarre world of Spidey’s Super Stories, the kid-friendly Marvel comics of the late ’70s. It starts with Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel stopping a villain w...

In today's episode, Zach and Mike dive deep into one of the weirdest Silver Age stories ever told. Have you ever wondered what would happen if the Dark Knight was struck by lightning while on a flagpole and fell into the Gotham docks? Well, wonder no more! We’re breaking down Batman Issue 118 , where Batman literally becomes a "human fish". Batman Issue 118 (DC Comics, 1958) "The Merman Batman" Wr...

The clock has finally run out for Christopher Chance. In this episode of Bro’s Foes and Heroes, Zach and Mike dive into the final three issues of Tom King and Greg Smallwood’s noir masterpiece, The Human Target. As Chris enters his final days, the search for his killer leads to an unexpected cosmic trip to Oa with G'nort and a "highly disrespectful" showdown with Guy Gardner at a local pool hall....

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from Bros, Foes, and Heroes! In this short and sweet Christmas Day special, Zach and Mike dig into some weird, wild, and occasionally heartwarming DC holiday comics, perfect for anyone who needs a quick laugh or a breather from the holiday madness. This episode covers: A creepy yet hopeful Christmas story from House of Mystery. A very confusing Batman holiday tal...