The Very Fine Comic Book Podcast

It's a zombie jamboree! Twenty years ago in October 2003, Robert Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" comic [and eventual cross-media IP] kicked off a zombie-mania which has arguably oversaturated the genre for decades to come. We hop into the time machine to discuss a pair of older black&white indie zombie comics -- 1986's DEADWORLD from Arrow Comics, and 1989's THE WALKING DEAD from Aircel Comics [no re...

Shocktober is here! Our first spooOOooky reading of the month is Emily Carroll's THROUGH THE WOODS -- her first nightmare-inducing printed collection of short horror tales, which was published in 2014 after a few years of Emily creating (and continuing to create!) horror webcomics which often use the medium of reading-on-the-internet in very clever ways. Those can still be read online at https://e...

The paranormal investigator known as DYLAN DOG was created by Tiziano Sclavi in 1986 and has had over 400 magazine-sized comic issues published in his native Italy, very few of which have ever been officially translated into English. Can this very episode change that??? We hope so, as Dylan Dog is awesome. Find and read some of his spooky adventures this October! --- What else are we reading? Mike...

THE BLACK HOLE! The ambitious 1979 live-action space-horror film was unlike anything Walt Disney Productions had put to screen before, and spawned a number of different tie-ins, including not one but two comic adaptations! -- a newspaper comic by Jack Kirby, and an ongoing monthly series from Gold Key Comics which expanded the story beyond the movie's ending. --- What else are we reading? Justin l...

Body horror meets the teen melodrama of pulp romance comics in Charles Burns' BLACK HOLE, in which a mysterious body-mutating STD affecting only teenagers surfaces in the 1970s. --- Follow us on Instagram at  https://www.instagram.com/theveryfinecomicbookpodcast/  and send us questions to potentially read on-air via IG DM or via email at theveryfinecomicbookpodcast@gmail.com If you're enjoying The...

In the early 1990s, Peter Parker ventured to the great white north of Canada in these five one-shots produced by Marvel Comics in conjunction with the Toronto-based Community Programs Group. Spider-Man visited Winnipeg, Fredericton, Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal in mildly-educational stories framed around substance-abuse awareness and bike-safety, which were given out in schools, hospitals, commu...

They're the Oscars of the comic scene -- the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards! In this episode, we run through / share thoughts on this year's nominees and winners, the list of which can be read in full here: https://www.thepopverse.com/eisner-awards-comic-award-will-industry-2023-nominees-winners-graphic-novel-ogn-novels-comics-book-books "You Won an Awar...

In 1992, Don Rosa set out to chronicle the backstory of Uncle Scrooge, as originally detailed by breadcrumbs scattered throughout the many earlier stories by Scrooge's legendary creator Carl Barks. The end result was the twelve-chapter "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck", considered since then to be the definitive canonical history of the character. "Just a Duck" by Moes Haven, from the album "...

Long before serving as the villain in James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3", the High Evolutionary was the chief antagonist in one of Marvel's biggest crossovers to date -- THE EVOLUTIONARY WAR event, which ran through all Marvel Comics Annuals in the Summer 1988 (including the confirmed-canonical ALF Annual #1). We take a look at all 12 chapters, warts & all! "Charles Darwin: Good Scienti...

Right before "Watchmen" in the mid-1980s, legendary comic writer Alan Moore wrote an assortment of incredibly-enduring Superman stories for DC Comics. In this episode we discuss Moore's "For The Man Who Has Everything" and "Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?"

A reporter travels to the Amazon Jungle to investigate a missing worker and sabotage at a logging site in "The Amazon" by writer Steven T. Seagle and artist Tim Sale! Originally published as a three-issue miniseries by Comico in 1989, "The Amazon" has since been re-collected in a new hardcover edition from Dark Horse Comics. "Welcome to the Jungle" by The Passionate & Objective Jokerfan, from the...

On a remote island in the South Pacific lies Zander Cannon's KAIJUMAX , a maximum security prison for giant monsters! This senpai-tacular series is available in 6 six-issue TPBs from Oni Press! -- https://onipress.com/collections/kaijumax "Going to Prison!" by The Very Nice Interesting Singer Man, from the album "Stuff That Happens" -- https://open.spotify.com/album/2bRzzuOZzwLj0zpCGN38v3

FLASH! AHH-ahhhhhhh! Barry Allen wakes up in a changed timeline and is the only one who can set things right in FLASHPOINT, the 2011 DC Comics miniseries by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert! This iconic story was the basis for the 2013 DC animated feature "THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX" as well as the 2023 live-action "THE FLASH" film.

In this episode, we dive into/across/beyond the SPIDER-VERSE to discuss the original 2014 Marvel Comics miniseries spearheaded by Spider-Man writer Dan Slott!

In this episode, we raise to a glass to sweet revenge and join the ranks of Michel Fiffe's wildly inventive Suicide Squad homage, COPRA!

We take a trip to the Dakotaverse to rave about MILESTONE COMICS, the legendary African-American creator-owned comic line founded in 1993 by Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek T. Dingle -- and we discuss the publisher's first four ongoing titles, HARDWARE, ICON, STATIC, and BLOOD SYNDICATE.

In this episode, we set (metaphorical) sail for LOST AT SEA, the first graphic novel by Bryan Lee O'Malley of "Scott Pilgrim" fame!

Wrestling! Comics!! Wrestling Comics!!! In this episode, Justin & Mike's tag team enters the action packed intergalactic wrestling tournament of the Image Comics miniseries DO A POWERBOMB by Daniel Warren Johnson!

In a future timeline ravaged by nuclear war, only one city remains - Dystopia, ruled by the unstoppable tyrant known only as the "Maestro". In this episode, we revisit one of the most revered Incredible Hulk stories of all time - 1992's HULK: FUTURE IMPERFECT by the legendary Peter David and George Pérez!

Like Uncle Scrooge in his money bin, we dive into piles of acquisitions from this year and recent years of TCAF -- the Toronto Comics Arts Festival! https://www.torontocomics.com/ Titles discussed: Dirty Diamonds anthology Edited & Published by Kelly Phillips and Claire Folkman http://www.dirtydiamonds.net/ Cram Comics anthology Published by Andrew Alexander https://www.cram-books.com/ To Die by M...

Alec Robbins is the LUCKIEST guy in the world because HE'S MARRIED TO BETTY BOOP!!! Yep, you read that right!!! In this episode, we discuss the medium of webcomics, with a spotlight on Alec Robbins' incredible, impossible, boundary-pushing series MR. BOOP -- which is available to read in full on http://mrboop.net/ and in a complete hardcover edition from Silver Sprocket books: https://www.silversp...

We take a look at the influx of translated manga hitting North America in the 1990s, with a focus on one of the most beloved and influential manga series of all time - Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½!

Justin & Mike ride on the wind into the fantastical supernatural folklore-rich world of PRETTY DEADLY - the multi-generational western/war/noir epic by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Ríos!

Justin & Mike travel to Mega-City One and attempt to survive THE APOCALYPSE WAR -- one of the most legendary Judge Dredd stories of all time by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Carlos Ezquerra!

Whoever wins, WE READ! ...the original 1990 Aliens vs. Predator miniseries from Dark Horse Comics!