The Source Material Comics Podcast

Strap in, because this episode is less “review” and more survival run through one of the most disorienting comics Grant Morrison ever unleashed. Jesse and Mark close out their Morrison trio with Nameless (Image, 2015) — a six-issue blast of cosmic horror, occult symbolism, and reality-slippage that left both hosts asking the same question: what did we just read? Jesse frames the experience with an...

In this episode of Unspoken Issues, the crew launches their ambitious year-long “96 Number Ones” experiment — a deep dive into the debut issues that hit comic shelves in 1996. With polls driving the conversation, listeners voted, and the winner is X-Nation 2099 #1. That means it’s time to revisit Marvel’s chrome-covered future and explore one of the more curious late-era entries in the 2099 line....

On this episode, Jesse and Mark head into the attic—and straight into Aqua Lung, the strange, shifting fantasy realm at the heart of Joe the Barbarian (2010). They break down Grant Morrison’s eight-issue story about Joe, a 13-year-old dealing with type 1 diabetes and the grief of losing his father. When Joe’s blood sugar crashes during a stormy afternoon alone, his house becomes a mythic battlefie...

The Guardians are back, and so are Jesse and Evan, ready to break down all the wild cards, lore tangents, and deck experiments that come with Marvel Snap’s Guardians’ Greatest Hits Vol. 2 season. This installment isn’t just a review — it’s a celebration of creativity, chaos, and saxophones? Kicking things off with Star-Lord: Master of the Sun, the hosts explore energy manipulation and high-Evo syn...

Gotham isn’t just dark in this episode — it’s a city of assassins, and Jesse Starcher is joined by Dean Compton and Darry to take on one of the most important early-’90s DC arcs: Deathstroke the Terminator #6–9. The big historical hook? As Dean points out, this storyline marks the first time Batman meets Deathstroke in DC continuity, a moment that echoes all the way into modern games, cartoons, an...

The chaos continues in part two of the February 2026 season recap as Jesse and Evan break down their personal card unlocks and dig into the state of the Marvel Snap meta. From deck experimentation to high-voltage hilarity, this episode is packed with practical insights and community gems that make the Snap scene so addictively unpredictable. Jesse kicks things off with his latest collector climb a...

The dragons have descended — and Jesse and Evan are diving headfirst into Marvel Snap’s “Dragons” season! In this rich, laugh-filled episode, the duo finally catches up after a holiday hiatus and a bout with what Evan affectionately calls the “souvenir virus.” From card nerfs to surprise meta shifts, it’s a complete tour through the February 2026 season that’s packed with surprises, strategies, an...

In this episode of Source Material, Jesse and Mark dive headfirst into the surreal, violent, and surprisingly heartfelt world of Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson’s Happy—a four-issue comic that combines noir grit, Christmas horror, and the unlikely guidance of a cheerful blue cartoon horse. What starts as a hitman’s bloody downward spiral becomes a darkly redemptive journey. Nick Sax is a drug-...

"The Battle of Benzheen" concludes, and the body count continues to rise. In this second part of the Unspoken Issues deep dive into GI Joe: A Real American Hero #112–115, hosts Jesse, Dean, and Darry dig into the final act of one of the most sobering and ambitious arcs in GI Joe comic history. What starts as a toy-driven war comic ends up being a stark anti-war narrative that hits harder than expe...

The Unspoken Issues crew returns to the battlefield with a deep dive into GI Joe: A Real American Hero issues #108–111, a storyline remembered for its high stakes, real-world parallels, and shocking casualties. Jesse, Dean, and Darry deliver an unflinching look at one of Larry Hama’s most intense arcs—unofficially dubbed “The Battle of Benzheen.” This isn’t the sanitized world of the Saturday morn...

The Snap Material Podcast returns with the second part of their January 2026 breakdown—and it’s loaded with meta insights, unlock recaps, and deck-building war stories. Jesse and Evan dive headfirst into how the Weapon X season shaped the Marvel Snap meta, especially the dominance of destroy decks, the ongoing power of Fastball Special + Adamantium Infusion, and the strategic responses involving L...

The Snap Material crew returns for 2026 with a powerful breakdown of December's Weapon X season in Marvel Snap—and this one’s all about destroy, discard, and domination. Jesse and Evan bring their trademark mix of analysis and banter to dissect the season’s standout cards, from the evolving role of Weapon X Wolverine to the near-game-breaking synergy between Fastball Special and Adamantium Infusio...

In this mind-bending episode of The Source Material Comics Podcast, Jesse Starcher and Mark Radulich unravel the chaos that is Matthew Rosenberg’s Multiple Man (2018), a five-issue rollercoaster of clones, time travel, dystopian futures, and the sheer absurdity that only Jamie Madrox can deliver. Presumed dead, Jamie reemerges in a secret lab beneath the X-Mansion—and things go off the rails almos...

What happens when Gotham’s Dark Knight crosses paths with Jackie Estacado, the supernatural mob enforcer known as The Darkness? Jesse and Chris crack open the 1999 Top Cow/DC one-shot The Darkness/Batman to find out—and dive into one of the most visually intense and strangely pivotal crossovers of the ‘90s. In this episode of Unspoken Issues, we explore how the story fuses Gotham’s gritty crime at...

In this compelling episode of The Source Material Comics Podcast, Jesse Starcher and Mark Radulich dissect Grant Morrison’s Superman and the Authority (2021), a sharp and introspective mini-series that sees the Man of Steel not as the invincible Boy Scout, but as an aging legend struggling to stay relevant in a cynical world.  Set decades after a private meeting with President Kennedy, the comic i...

As 2025 winds down, Jesse takes us on a deep dive into one of the most productive and creative years in the history of the Source Material Comics Feed. This special solo episode looks back at all three shows on the feed—Source Material, Snap Material, and Unspoken Issues—with a detailed breakdown of episodes, standout moments, creative experiments, and stats that reveal what resonated most with li...

Cowabunga meets the Upside Down in this wild crossover you didn’t know you needed! In this episode of the Source Material Comics Podcast, Jesse Starcher and Alexis Hejna dive deep into the 2023 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Stranger Things comic series—a mashup of radical ninja action and supernatural horror that somehow works way better than it has any right to. The episode kicks off with a look...

This holiday season, The Source Material Comics Podcast unwraps a Bronze Age Christmas classic with a bizarre twist—Marvel Two-in-One #8, where the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing teams up with Ghost Rider in a nativity-themed showdown that only writer Steve Gerber could dream up. Jesse Starcher, Chris Armstrong, and Evan Bevins take listeners on a nostalgic sleigh ride back to 1974, exploring a comic...

In this final installment of our series on Marvel Holiday Special 1993, we explore a haunting and poetic story that closes the anthology on a quiet but deeply symbolic note: The Rapt Lamb, by Ann Nocenti and Tom Grindberg. Unlike the action-heavy, traditional superhero stories that precede it, this eight-page Daredevil tale trades spectacle for introspection, delivering a holiday parable that ling...

In this episode, we dive into Holiday on Ice, the seventh story in Marvel Holiday Special 1993. It’s a grounded, surprisingly heartfelt short from Sholly Fisch and Tom Morgan that puts Iron Man at the center of a story about redemption, empathy, and the power of second chances. While many holiday comics lean on spectacle or seasonal gags, this one slows down to deliver something more introspective...

In this episode, we journey into the emotional depths of Marvel’s cosmic universe with the story Yule Memory, an eight-page gem from Marvel Holiday Special 1993. This tale reunites the powerhouse duo of writer Jim Starlin and artist Ron Lim—architects of Marvel’s Infinity era—to explore an unexpectedly intimate chapter in the life of the Mad Titan himself: Thanos. Set between the cosmic events of...

In this episode, we dive into the fifth story from Marvel Holiday Special 1993, titled “Revisionist History” by legendary writer Peter David, with art by John Hebert and inks by Mike DeCarlo. On the surface, this eight-page tale seems like a chaotic holiday gag strip, but beneath the surface lies a layered exploration of storytelling, tradition, and the impossibility of keeping a classroom full of...

This year, The Source Material Comics Podcast unwraps a holiday comic that trades sleigh bells for shell casings and tinsel for trench coats. Jesse Starcher and Mark Radulich dive into Santa Claus: Private Eye by Jeremy Bernstein—a clever, genre-bending tale that asks what happens to Santa during the 364 days he's not climbing down chimneys. This hard-boiled one-shot delivers classic noir tropes w...

In this episode, we dive into one of the most unexpected holiday stories in the Marvel Holiday Special 1993—“Spirit of the Season”, a 10-page Punisher tale written by Carl Potts with art by Richard Levins and inks by Al Milgrom. The premise? Microchip dares Frank Castle to go 48 hours without using lethal force… during Christmas. What follows is a gritty, surprisingly funny, and uniquely festive a...

This week, we swing into the third tale from Marvel Holiday Special 1993: “The Big X-Mas Blackout”, a festive, fast-paced Spider-Man adventure written by the legendary Stan Lee, with art by Steve Lightle and colors by Renée Witterstaetter. This eight-page holiday romp places Peter Parker in the middle of a Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, only for the celebration to be short-circuite...