Some of My Friends Read Comics

What's that Doctor Doom scamp trying to steal this time? Oh, it's all the vibranium in Wakanda. Yikes. We read DoomWar from 2010 in which he succeeds?!?!?! Oh no. And wait until you see which Deadpool character named Deadpool shows up to help the Black Panther out, it's a real shocker. We also read Squadron Supreme #3 and got some pretty unacceptable behavior from one of them old boys. Next Time:...

The Boys is a show. It seems to be a pretty popular one, so we read the comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson that inspired it. This was an unwise decision. The levels of sex and gore in these pages had us questioning if we had become our own moms. We moved onto Squadron Supreme #2 as quickly as we could. Next Time: Black Panther: Doomwar  

They're not rats and they're technically not queens, they're Rat Queens! A band of D&D-esque adventurers in a D&D-esque world just starting fights everywhere they go. We read the first volume of this Image title. And then we begin our long read of Mark Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme from 1984, which is some nice escapist fiction about fixing our broken brainwashed government. Next Time: The Boys: Th...

Madness! Chaos! Anything goes! It's Assistant Editors' Month at Marvel! Back in 1984, when all the head editors were off at conventions, they handed the reigns over to their assistants who had a lot of fun with their freedom. We read Thing #7, Defenders #127, Avengers #239, Dazzler #30, and the infamous takedown of Galactus by Aunt May and Franklin Richards in Marvel Team-Up #137. We also finished...

It's a scientific fact that stories about maniacal ax-wielding children are always entertaining. I Hate Fairyland is no exception, although I guess technically it's about a woman who just looks like a kid because she's spent 27 years stuck in a sugary wonderland. We read the first 5 issues of writer/artist Skottie Young's recent Image series and then we continued JLA/Avengers with issue #3. Next T...

In 1989, long before the AVP movies, Dark Horse published a few short stories that brought the Alien and Predator franchises into the same universe. In 1990, they kicked off a full miniseries of Aliens vs Predator. Now, with the news that Dark Horse is losing their rights to the licenses, we take a look back at that original miniseries that forever intertwined these two foes. We also continue JLA/...

This week on the show, we remember Dennis O'Neil with a look back at his run with Neal Adams on Green Lantern from 1970, in which he explored a few topics that superheroes didn't often tackle. Green Lantern shared the spotlight with Green Arrow to start their "Hard Travelin' Heroes" Era, and we read issues 76-81. After that we jumped into another DC/Marvel team-up with the first issue of JLA/Aveng...

For the last few episodes, we've been reading Marvel vs DC, about two universes pitted against each other. But just before the final issue, they merged and Amalgam Comics was born! We take a look at a handful of those special one-shot issues that all arrived before the event's finale which we also read! Join us as we explore Amazon, Dark Claw, Super Soldier, Spider-Boy, Doctor Strangefate and the...

Teenage. Mutant. Ninja. Turtles. Four words that instantly belong together. We go back to where it all started in Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's original comics from the mid 80's. We read the first 7 issues and saw the turtles fight robots, travel to outer space and murder Shredder(?!). Unfortunately, there were no Cowabungas. Then we read Marvel vs DC part 3 aka the one with all the fights! Next...

There aren't main writer/artist pairs in comics who work together as consistently as Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips, and yet we've never covered their work! We finally rectify that by reading a spin-off of their long standing Criminal series called Bad Weekend, in which we learn about all kinds of shady practices behind the scenes of the comic book industry. And then we keep diving deeper into Marvel...

It's the exciting conclusion to the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time manga with Volume 2! Will Link ever be a little kid again? Will this mysterious Sheik be friend or foe? And how much does this thing line up with the video game? After that, we begin our long read of Marvel vs DC, featuring the most famous comic book character of all time: Lobo! Next Time: Criminal: Bad Weekend by Ed Brubaker & S...

Some of My Friends Read… Manga?!?!? And Play Video Games?!?!?! After 5 years, we finally delve into some content from Japan: The Ocarina of Time manga adaptation from the Legend of Zelda series. Did we get confused reading right to left? Were we able to switch back for the Marvels Epilogue? (Yes, it was fine.) Next Time: We close out The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time with Volume 2 + we start re...

Marvel's had plenty of titles dedicated to the "next generation" of X-Men, but New Mutants was the first. We jumped into the Demon Bear Saga and read issues 18-21 written by Chris Claremont in his prime and with the wIcKeD art of Bill Sienkiewicz. Then we finished up Marvels: Eye of the Camera with the unexpectedly moving issue 6. Next Time: After 5 years, we finally decide to dip our toe into man...

Remember that time Colonel Sanders defeated the evil Colonel Sunder from Earth-3 by taking down his knock-off fried chicken franchise with the help of Green Lantern and Flash? Well you're remembering it wrong, Colonel Sanders doesn't need nobody's help. We read a 3-pack of KFC/DC crossover comics from 2015-2017 and then we experienced an actually intriguing story beat in Marvels: Eye of the Camera...

It's high time we read some Sandman for this show. No, not the the literal sand guy from Spider-Man. It's the Neil Gaiman series that made Vertigo Comics famous. We jumped straight into Volume 4: Season of Mists, which seems to be less about seasons and more about land ownership rights. Then we keep reading Marvels: Eye of the Camera and we regret every second of it. Next Time: April Fools' Day wi...

It's finally time for us to cover one of Batman's greatest villains: a leopard! (Actually, it's Ra's al Ghul, but the fight with the leopard looked cooler). We take a look at Old Ghoulie's first appearance in Batman 232 and then his first rise from a Lazarus Pit in issues 243 and 244. All by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams. And do we have to keep mentioning Marvels: Eye of the Camera? We're on issue...

On today's episode, we explore the rare Non-Gritty Reboot. I assure you, they exist. At the very least, one example exists: Archie. In 2015, Mark Waid and Fiona Staples brought Archie back to mainstream comics. And it's nothing like Riverdale. We checked out the first six issues and then continued our read of Marvels: Eye of the Camera with issue #2. Next Time: The Origins of Batman villain Ra's A...

In my headcanon, Birds of Prey was always 3 members: Oracle, Black Canary, and Huntress. Turns out Huntress didn't even join the team until Gail Simone took over in 2003. Turns out Harley Quinn was definitely not on the team. We read the first few issues of Simone's run from #56-61 and then we continued our read of Marvels with the 1st issue of the followup miniseries, Marvels: Eye of the Camera....

We've got more Moore than you can handle, as we take a double dose of Alan Moore's Superman from the 1980s! First up, Alan Moore teams up with his future Watchmen collaborator Dave Gibbons with 1985's "For the Man Who Has Everything", where Batman & Wonder Woman try their darndest to find a good birthday present for Superman, while Superman imagines a world where Krypton did not explode and he nev...

Way back in episode 19, we read our first Thanos comic when he returned from death in 1990 and started collected the Infinity Gems. Now, exactly 100 episodes later, we decided we'd take a look at how he actually died in the first place. It was surprisingly earlier in 1977's Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2, written and drawn by Jim Starlin (because who else would it be?). And then we relive the terror...

The holidays are upon us and you know what that means: Ducks. Specifically Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck. We take a look at the very 1st appearance of Scrooge McDuck in "Christmas on Bear Mountain" from way back in 1947 and then "A Christmas for Shacktown" in 1951, both written and drawn by "the good duck artist," Carl Barks. And the it's on to the mutant scare in Marvels #2! Next Time: The (Orig...

It's time to continue Marvel 1602! In the last 4 issues of the miniseries, we make our way to America and find out how this universe connects to our regular 616 universe. But will Gaiman's 1602 survive? (Spoiler alert: nothing ever dies). And we also get our long read of Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross really rolling with issue #1. Next Time: Donald Duck in "Christmas on Bear Mountain" (Scroo...

Back in the 1600s, there were apparently superheroes in England. I don't know because I wasn't there, but I will take Neil Gaiman's word for it. He wrote about Marvel 1602 in an 8-issue miniseries that very strangely seems to parallel the Marvel Universe we are already familiar with. We read the first 4 issues and then we started our long read of Marvels with issue #0, which takes place in the 40s...

It's (after) Halloween! And we continue our tradition of releasing a late episode about late, spooky comics with Jughead: The Hunger! We read the first volume to see if this is another clever take on classic comics like Sabrina was or just an excuse to tell a werewolf story with Archie characters. And we also finish off All Star Superman with issue #12! Next Time: Marvel 1602 Pt. 1 (#1-4) and Marv...

What's up, spooks? Time for some scary comics for the spookiest month of the year. First up is Locke & Key by Joe Hill who for some reason reminds us all of Stephen King. Hmm, wonder why that is. Anyways, it's a book about the scariest thing in existence: KEYS. We read the 1st volume: Welcome to Lovecraft. And we're so, so close to the end of All Star Superman with issue #11. Next Time: Jughead: T...