Some of My Friends Read Comics

Even the undead fear… The Goon! But who is The Goon? We take a look at Eric Powell's strange pulpy horror adventure crime comic series about a tough guy who beats up spiders and zombies and elves and cows and anyone else who needs a beating. We're looking at 4 issues (and a color special) that were self published by Eric Powell, but that Dark Horse later released as Volume 1 of the Goon. We're als...

It's Eisner season again! This year we took a look at the winner for best single issue, Hellboy: Krampusnacht. But of course one issue's not enough for us. We thought we'd also visit our old friends (and previous Eisner winners) Beasts of Burden in their team-up with Hellboy called Sacrifice before moving on to our continuing read of Crisis on Infinite Earths with issue #8. We're two-thirds of the...

In this episode, we honor Steve Ditko's memory by reading one of his rare solo creations as both writer and penciller with Charloton Comics' Blue Beetle #1-5 from 1967. These issues also featured backup stories with The Question, so we take the time to talk about some of these early Charlton characters before they made their way to the DC Universe. Also: Crisis on Infinite Earths heats up with the...

Now that Cable and Domino have appeared on the big screen in Deadpool 2, the team of X-Force is all the more well-known. We take a look at one of the best eras of X-Force with issues 70-75, when some of the other characters spread their wings and leave Cable behind. And stick around afterwards for our continued read of Crisis on Infinite Earths with issue #6. Halfway there! Next Time: We remember...

Happy 4th of July! Last year we talked about Prez, the 1st teen president, so this year we decided to celebrate America's upcoming reboot by reading the Prez reboot from 2015. This time it's a teenager named Beth Ross in the year 2036 who takes on robots, cat flu, and evil corporations like Pharmaduke. Join us to find out if Transylvania sends any vampires again. Plus, we continue our look into Cr...

We continue our tradition of celebrating Marvel movies by looking at the time that hero took over the Fantastic Four. This time, it's Scott Lang's turn! The Fantastic Four have gone away for a bit and they've left some other heroes in charge of the Future Foundation to look after all those smart kids. Ant-Man, She-Hulk, Medusa, and Miss Thing do their best in issues 4-8 of FF (the 2013 reboot) by...

Doctor Doom loves to steal powers! After touching on it in our last episode, we wanted to see more of his crazy schemes, so we went back to Fantastic Four 57-60 from the mid 1960s to watch him steal the Silver Surfer's cosmic powers. Ol' Stan and Jack really had a good time with this one. We also continued our read of Crisis on Infinite Earths with issue #3 which is getting slightly easier to unde...

Infinity War "The Comic" is a little different from Infinity War "The Movie."   There are lots of evil doppelgangers, Adam Warlock is the most important character, and the infinity gems aren't working together (due to a previously established court ruling).   Galactus also shows up long enough to make a real boneheaded move. Nice going, Galactus.   Next Time: Dr. Doom steals the Silver Surfer's po...

It's a major milestone for the Man of Steel as we read the newly released Action Comics #1000, filled with stories honoring Superman as well as Brian Michael Bendis' first story after his move from Marvel to DC. And since we're reading something so modern, we figured we'd take a look at various offerings from this year's Free Comic Book Day. AND on top of all that we're starting our deep dive into...

Time to head back to outer space! After the events of Annihilation, Marvel's reinvigorated galactic universe gets taken over by robots. Sequel time! Annihilation: Conquest brings back Nova, Quasar, Moondragon, Star-Lord and a whole slew of outer space favorites. Rocket and Groot make their modern debuts too. We say modern because Groot's 1st appearance was back in Tales to Astonish #13 from 1960....

It's our 3-year anniversary, so we had to continue the tradition by reading Batman: Year 3 from 1989 by Marv Wolfman with art by Pat Broderick. No really, we had to, we're thankful there's no Year Four. Originally from issues 436-439, it appears to be a story retelling Robin's origin. And then they pasted the "Year Three" title on it. Then they changed "Three" to a "3" for some reason. Look, we do...

Has anyone even heard of Moon Knight? We read the first 6 issues from his ongoing series in 1980 and we've learned that he might be crazy or he might be dead. Or both. And he has multiple personalities. He also might have werewolf blood. There's a lot to unpack here. Join us while we try! Next Time: Batman: Year Three (Batman 436-439)

The burning question on everyone's lips: Would Batman have been able to solve the Jack the Ripper murders? Duh, obviously yeah. Gotham by Gaslight, an Elseworlds tale from 1989, covers the whole story with art by pre-Hellboy Mike Mignola. They even just made an animated movie out of it, which is different in A LOT of ways. Next Time: Moon Knight (1980) #1-6

We heard that Black Panther was kind of a big deal (btw, check out last week's spoilercast about the movie), so this week we're looking at his short-lived stint as the leader of the Fantastic Four. Written in 2007 by Dwayne McDuffie (Damage Control, Static Shock, much of the DC Animated Universe), Fantastic Four 544-550 finds the the titular team in disarray after Civil War.  Reed and Sue take a b...

Spoilers spoilers spoilers! We have a very special episode to talk about the biggest movie in the world, Black Panther!  Was Killmonger right?  How good of a performance did young Forest Whitaker give?  Are the Oscars for Costume Design and Original Song already locked up Special guest Marselles from The Blurred Nerds and Pixl Gods podcasts joins special guest Kimberly on this episode.  Bruce also...

Happy Valentine's Day! We're celebrating in the traditional way, which is to doubt all love right before your wedding, but go through with it anyways. At least that's what's Spider-Man did, yeesh. Don't let that loser get you down though, there are some fun Marvel Weddings to be had! We read three of them: Reed Richard & Sue Storm (Fantastic Four Annual 3), Peter Parker & MJ (Amazing Spider-Man An...

Anyone else ever been in a court room, representing a ghost or maybe Spider-Man, and just dying to change into She-Hulk? But you can't because your boss really wants you to stay regular old Jennifer Walters? But then he screws up by letting a bunch of miniaturized super-villains escape from a high-tech prison? Yeah, me neither. Join us as we read She-Hulk 1-6 from 2004! Next Time: Marvel Weddings...

Aunt May. It's really a miracle that she lived as long as she did. The woman was in her 70's for about 30 years, always on the verge of death from some disease or another. In 1995, writer J. M. DeMatteis agreed and finally killed her off in Amazing Spider-Man #400. There were also a bunch of Spider-Clones running around. Don't worry, we'll talk about that.  Of course  we'll talk about that. Next T...

Does it count as a spoiler if it's in the title? Jim Starlin don't care, he does what he wants. He and Marvel changed up their regular comic book format with The Death of Captain Marvel in 1982, the beginning of a line of original graphic novels intended to be richer stories for a more mature audience and published like traditional books. But what kills him?!?!?! Sorry, no spoilers. Next Time: Ama...

Happy Holidays! We're embracing the spirit of togetherness by reading seasonal comics by both DC AND Marvel! For DC, we're covering Gotham Central #12-15 about a murderous rampage from the Joker just days before Christmas. For Marvel, it's Uncanny X-Men #143 featuring Kitty Pryde alone at the X-Mansion while everyone is away on vacation. Join us and see if you can figure out who secretly got drunk...

In the mid-90s, Lucasfilm decided to fill in the Star Wars gap between episodes 5 and 6 with Shadows of the Empire. There was a game, a book, a soundtrack, a junior novelization… pretty much everything except a movie. There was even a comic book! And we read it! All 6 issues! What's gonna happen? Is Luke gonna die?! (no) Is Boba Fett gonna die?! (no) Is Han gonna get delivered to Jabba?! (yeah) Is...

Geoff Johns has been one of the important modern writers for DC, so it's about time we talked about him. Before becoming one of the main architects of their universe, he made a name for himself by writing The Flash in the early 2000's. He capped off his first year of that run with a one-shot called Iron Heights, drawn by Ethan Van Sciver, set in the prison where The Flash's rogues' gallery is kept...

Justice League's almost out, but we had the brilliant idea of reading about the FUTURE JLA from Alex Ross and Mark Waid's Kingdom Come in 1996. A beautifully painted miniseries where the only characters that matter are Superman and Batman. Turns out it's barely about the Justice League. Whoops! But hey, at least it's pretty. Next time: The Flash: Iron Heights by Geoff Johns & Ethan Van Sciver

If we've learned anything from this show, the best way to make a cool Thor comic is to take a non-human character and put Thor clothes on it. It worked with Frog Thor and it totally works with Beta Ray Bill. We read his 1st appearance at the beginning of Walt Simonson's classic run from the mid 80s in issues 337-343. Thor also fights a dragon and changes his secret identity situation from unnecess...

Sabrina the Teenage Witch, once a beloved TGIF star, has finally received a reboot. And believe it or not, it's one of the best horror comics we've ever read. Sure, her aunts Zelda and Hilda are still there, but they quite enjoy eating people and making sure that Sabrina completes her satanic rituals. Salem the talking cat is there too, along with a host of other animal familiars. And blood. Lots...