Worst Collection Ever

Fantastic Four #165 (1975) Will today be the day that we get a Fantastic Four movie that we can be proud of? I guess it’s time to find out. In the meantime, we wrap our FF coverage of their battle with Crusader which doesn’t end well for anyone. Topic include: the EVENT HORIZON-inspired Fantasti-Car Sue’s Namor calendar Ben Grimm remembers hot dogs Human Torch’s love life is in shambles The Thing...

Fantastic Four #164 (1975) There’s a new Fantastic Four movie about to show up in a few weeks so let’s catch back up with Marvel’s first family as we check out the debut (return?) of the Crusader! Crusader is back from space and he’s SHAKING WITH ANGER to the point that he’s flinging middle-aged men across Washington Square. Also, Johnny Storm’s first date with a debuting Frankie Raye gets ruined...

Superman #342 (1979) Happy Superman Movie Day everyone! Let’s keep the super-vibes flowing as we stick around in 1979 as Superman quarantines himself in a Willy Wonka elevator. S.T.A.R. Labs screwed up and beset a noxious black cloud over a city somewhere. Of course, Superman has to fix things but he forgot that Chemo was dispersed in the atmosphere so now Supes is afflicted with bestial urges and...

Action Comics #497 (1979) Since he’s got a big movie coming out, let’s keep it going with the Man of Steel here on WCE with a Bronze Age tale of Superman finding himself at the whims of three kids and an inter-dimensional imp convening in a modest shack in Kansas. You see, one of these kids needs life-changing surgery so the imp is letting these youngsters conjure up all sorts of perilous tasks li...

Absolute Superman #1 (2025) We have reached the end of DC Absolute Universe Month as we talk about ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN! Absolute Superman dives mightily into the Kryptonian class structure and what it would be like to have brunch on Krypton. Kal’s parents are working-class citizens with interesting backstories, fixing space farming equipment and rightfully pointing out hazardous mining conditions. A...

Absolute Green Lantern #1 (2025) It is yet another entry in our DC Absolute Universe Month as we cover the horror-tinged — and possibly AMERICAN PIE-tinged — ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN. Green Lantern this time around is the Far Sector’s Jo Mullein and much like Absolute Batman, she is friends with her contemporaries such as toy collector slash architect Hal Jordan, local police chief Guy Gardner and t...

Absolute Wonder Woman #1 (2025) Absolute Month from DC Comics rolls along as we check out the immensely awesome ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN! There’s a lot to dig here because it’s basically Wonder Woman rubbing monster blood across her eyes and slaughtering assorted Hell demons and monsters that fly out of an upside down pyramid in the sky. If that’s not wild enough, Absolute WW was RAISED AS A CHILD in...

Absolute Batman #1 (2024) It is all about the Absolute this month as we check out some of the premiere issues of the Absolute Universe from DC Comics! We start off with the meaty thighs of ABSOLUTE BATMAN and his blue-collar origin story where Bruce is almost seven feet tall, Alfred is not his friend (yet) and Martha Wayne is STILL ALIVE! We also got possible squid people, Alfred with Paulie...

Thunderbolts #3 (1997) Our Thunderbolts comes to an end as Marvel’s newest team of fake superheroes clashes with the newest version of evil villains as the Masters of Evil….return? Its’s quite the crew: there’s a freshly mutated Tiger Shark, a guy dressed as a tiger that FLYS, an Olympic skier turned violent feminist, a French mafia operative wearing a dead guy’s gear and Justin Hammer’s daughter...

Spider-Man Team-Up #7 (1997) Look, I know it’s supposed to be more Thunderbolts but the “Justice Like Lightning” trade tricks you into reading a Spider-Man book. Thankfully, it is chronologically congruent to the ongoing storyline that we are covering so let’s keep going. Spider-Man is framed for murder and the Thunderbolts are the only ones to can help (because everyone else is dead). Songbird an...

Thunderbolts #2 (1997) Our OG Thunderbolts discussion continues as the Thunderbolts adjust to their newly heroic personas in a battle against the Mad Thinker and his plan to suck knowledge out of Franklin Richards’s brain. Thankfully, the T-Bolts are here to handle the situation even though they pretty much get their asses handed to them by Thinker’s Gumby-looking android. Also, Mach-1 gets amorou...

Thunderbolts #1 (1997) It’s time to talk about the origins of the MCU’s latest offering as we look at the very first issue of the THUNDERBOLTS! Of course, there is the big undercover villain twist at the end here but who can blame them when Onslaught eliminated all of our heroes and all that’s left is Spider-Man, Daredevil and (maybe) Blade. We got Baron Zemo masquerading as a capoeira-slinging Ho...

THUNDERBOLTS* is dropping this Friday and we’ve got a selection from the OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE to go with it as we talk about Red Guardian (I)!  Join us as we chat about the OG Red Guardian (played by David Harbour in the upcoming film) and learn about his humble beginnings as a hotshot test pilot, his marriage to Black Widow (wait, isn’t his daughter in….) and his involvem...

JSA #58 / Hawkman #25 (2004) Apologies for the delay but here it is — the final chapter in our #JSApril stint as we cover the final two installments of the “Black Reign” story arc! First in JSA, we suffer a few unintentional casualties on the heel side, Doctor Fate gets trapped in suburbia and Brainwave Jr. Jr. Jr. has actual brain WORMS in his head and they’re…friendly, sort of? Then in HAWKMAN,...

JSA #57 / Hawkman #24 (2004) It’s a double dose of #JSApril this week as we double up the conversation on the next two installments of the “Black Reign” story arc! In JSA, the team makes its way to Kahndaq, having to use air travel as opposed to magic travel because Nabu’s being REAL cranky these days. Along the way, Power Girl calls Hawkman an ass, Black Adam bifurcates thru the JSA transport and...

Hawkman #23 (2004) #JSApril continues to chug along as we jump over to HAWKMAN for the next installment of the “Black Reign” arc! Before it all goes to hell, the JSA are in St. Roch aka Earth-One New Orleans for honor Hawkman on his presumed birthday. The JSA is wild in the streets as Power Girl endures a fortune telling, Wildcat plays pocket pool, Doctor Mid-Nite threatens to drown a man with his...

JSA #56 (2004) Welcome to #JSApril! Worst Collection Ever is proud to participate in this celebration of JSA content by delivering our wicked takes on Geoff Johns’s “Black Reign” saga! This issue plays out more like the first act of a promsing action flick, with Black Adam recruiting a crew of disenchanted, mayhem-seeking folks to help him liberate his home country of Kahndaq. We got the assassin...

GUY GARDNER: WARRIOR #0 (1994) It is our first podcast guest in a LONG time as Shawn's brother -- the mighty Brian Marek -- joins us to talk about pivotal (to Shawn and Brian at least) 90’s comic GUY GARDNER: WARRIOR. It is the Zero Hour issue that reboots Guy as a descendant of a race of peace-keeping aliens who have been traveling the cosmos in a quest to create the perfect, well, warrior. This...

DIAL H FOR HERO from Superboy #39 (1983) Something a bit different this week as we revisit a backup story from Superboy [vol 2] featuring the Dial H For Hero crew! The Dial H stuff is pretty boring and lame to be honest but there’s some fun stuff to talk about. We got lead boy Chris’s dad living in an Al Bundy simulacrum, Turkish cigarette preferences, larceny and ill-advised attempts at bus magic...

It is time to return to our rewatch of SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES!! This time out, we are covering: Ep9 / 10: THE MAIN MAN — PARTS 1 & 2 (Airdates: 11/9/96 & 11/16/96) Join us as we discuss topics such as: Is it Speweege or Spooj? Clark is a sick man Lobo eats rebar the long way The origins of Superman’s alien menagerie/zoo Gas Babes Gone Wild! *** EPISODE DISCUSSION STARTS AT 00:06:54...

Defenders #45 (1977) It’s a Defenders Gender Battle as the Red Rajah saga comes to close! Doctor Strange, all red-gemmed up as the Red Rajah, wants mankind as his universal think tank and he’s starting with Manhattan. He’s got the boy Defenders under his control so its up to the girl Defenders to save NYC (and humanity pretty much). Also, Red Guardian goes full Gwen Stefani with her outfit, Hellca...

Defenders #44 (1977) Man, the Incredible Hulk can be an incredible pain in the ass sometimes. Presently apoplectic that Doctor Strange, the only solution is for the rest of the Defenders to track him down. Unbeknownst to them, Doctor Strange is now the Red Rajah, an entity focused on bringing Manhattan together as one big think tank whether they want to or not! We also got Valkyrie’s ex-husband st...

Defenders #43 (1977) The fun times keep rolling along for Marvel’s favorite non-team as the Cobalt Man’s about to explode and all the Hulk wants to do is punch the radioactive villain in the face. Thankfully, Knighthawk (who is still shirtless) has a better solution.  We also have Egghead unleashing his lethal egg-based offense with surprisingly efficient results, Luke Cage yeeting an agitate...

Taking a deviation in our Defenders coverage to bring you a [R]OHOTMU featuring one of the prominent villains, Solarr! Solarr, as discussed last week, is a mutant with the power to harness energy from the sun and use it for crime and other stuff. Plus, he’s gotten a few upgrades over the years thanks to Egghead. Oh, and he’s also died twice. His first death comes at the hands of El Segundo’s hotte...

Defenders #42 (1976) Oh man….the Defenders are back on WCE, baby! This is a wacky arc (as most Defenders books tend to feature) where Doctor Strange gets transfixed by a mystical ruby like he’s Kevin Garnett in UNCUT GEMS. He also gets super ageist towards his friend’s courier and skips out on the Defenders while they fend off Cobalt Man. We also got Egghead stealing an ENTIRE NASA space station,...