X Is For Comics: An X-Men Podcast

After the events of Heaven’s on Fire, Ghost Riding goes wild! The new generation of Riders are different than the previous crew and goes places no Ghost Riders had gone before. First up, Alejandra Jones – one of the shortest lived proper Riders, before taking a look at the hot two Riders of the last decade: Robbie Reyes (the All Rider) & Kushala (The Spirit or Demon Rider)! Plus, looks at the Ride...

There’s LOTS of Ghost Riders – really, there’s more than you’d think. Marvel’s taken the time to give a few of them a deeper look, and the Action Pack is going all in on it – join the team as they begin the investigation into what makes a Spirit of Vengeance tick, what pushes them to bring the hell, and what keeps those heads all fiery. This time, examine the different major writers who shaped the...

There’s LOTS of Ghost Riders – really, there’s more than you’d think. Marvel’s taken the time to give a few a deeper look, and the Action Pack is going all in on it – join the team as they begin the investigation into what makes a Spirit of Vengeance tick, what pushes them to bring the hell, and keeps those heads all fiery. First up: Johnny Blaze, Dan Ketch, Naomi Kale, Kenshiro Cochrane, & more! ...

Over the last four years, Marvel Comics has initiated a lot of refreshes on their big name properties, from the start of the Krakoan Age to the first semester at Strange Academy. So many books got a big reset to their status quo. Today, a lot of those stories are winding down, or have already moved into their next era, from the Fall of the House of X to a new start for Daredevil. We’re taking a lo...

Halloween is unlike any other holiday in the Marvel Universe – a winter-holiday story about Christmas, Hanukkah, or Yule needs that sweet spot publishing date of Oct, Nov, or Dec; while there’s always a bit of romance in a title, Feb really hits it with Valentine’s Day; and it’s only ever Flag Day, Memorial Day, or Veteran’s Day in Cap Comics – but Marvel can produce a whole character line around...

Daredevil is a complicated hero – DD historically sits at the bottom of the top tier heroes (save for a dynamic once-every-decade redefining run), mixing dark magic ninjas with Irish-Catholic guilt like few comics can, and – in great part due to a shared pool of creators – is regularly seen as a crimson-imitation of Batman (and sometimes, they even team up). But then, in 2019, Chip Zdarsky dared t...

The nature of the shifting comic book news cycle means readers often see covers, know plots, teams, creators, and more sometimes as much as six months in advance of release, leaving readers in holding patterns where the nature of what’s out now vs what’s coming next can become confusing. At other times, the announcements can aggressively infringe on the validity of what’s coming out at the time. N...

Wolverine & Ghost Rider team-up for Weapons Of Vengeance -- a four-part crossover building on the current runs of both books by Ben Percy. The crossover goes deeper, painting a picture of a missing moment in both heroes’ journeys, leading the Action Pack to examining the history of Wolvie & the Rider, across multiple iterations of both characters, starting when the two first met in 1990, with no s...

Whether its the comics or the TV show, the world of Daredevil wouldn't b be the same without Gladiator -- but his earliest appearances do Melvin Potter no justice, as he struggles to find his character. The earliest years of Daredevil feature so much testing-new-ideas, The Hornhead faces some forgettable foes like The Tri-Man and the Masked Marauder as well. But it's cool because Gladiator is so h...

When Marvel fans think of classic friendships, Daredevil and Spider-Man often comes to mind first. While many of the earliest stories lack the exact magic that later tales would contain, this early story is filled with memorable moments and a battle with the Masked Marauder. But really, it’s about the power of community the two characters manage to share despite their as-of-yet-unknown secret iden...

The Ox was not the most memorable villain Daredevil had in the earliest issues o the title, but Ox’s second appearance, while rote with tropes that were common to the era, manages to finally reclaim the energy that once belonged to the title. The transition of artists, writers, and genre left Daredevil languishing, like the wrong mind in the wrong body – which is exactly what Daredevil #15 deliver...

As Daredevil continues to struggle to develop its voice as a title, the characters continue to evolve and transform into the heroes we know them as today. In Daredevil #9, Matt gets his first “you-may-get-your-sight-back” story as well as the first DD villain who never shows up again – in fact, never even sees mention again. Klaus Kreuger acts as a rough Doctor Doom stand-in, and finds himself sli...

Few Marvel heroes stretch back as far as Namor: The Sub-Mariner does through canon, and a year into Daredevil’s run, the two characters come against one another! In Daredevil #7, Namor WIPES THE FLOOR with Daredevil, kicking his ass in the air, on land, and underwater. But despite this power imbalance, Namor sees the worth in Daredevil and treats him with dignity, only leaving him in defeat, inste...

Marvel is reinventing their universe with GODS by Jonathan Hickman & Valerio Schiti while dialing into the past of the MU with Marvel Age 1000. One book seeks to develop the future, unifying the complexity and in-the-moment magics and sorcery of the Marvel Universe while the other “includes contributions from some of the most storied creators in Marvel history, as well as a few surprises, as the c...

One of the most famous friendships in all of comics, Spider-Man and Daredevil have their first team-up in their long careers in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #16. Their brotherhood is first defined here, where Matt and Peter meet and face off against the Ringmaster, an odd turn considering last issue of DD, DD faced off against another mind-controller. Nico and Tori fall for DD and Spidey fallin...

X Is For Podcast ran unbroken from September 2018 through November 2022 when the team made the jump to YouTube for regular live broadcasts! But it turns out there's just too much comic and too much X-Men, Spider-Man, & Daredevil to keep to the streaming channel alone! So, Nico & TK are back to kick off a new season, starting with an end-of-summer-classic-standard -- THE YEAR IN OMNIBUS REVIEW! Plu...

Join Daredevil fans Nico & Tori as the two begin a journey through the History of The Man Without Fear (or as he starts out, The Yellow-Bellied Fear-Man). Each episode of The Billy Club focuses on a single Daredevil story, covering every appearance of Daredevil, Matt Murdock, and more -- from the swashbuckling 60s to the harsh light of the 90s, The Billy Club is your #1 Daredevil hangout for fun,...

Post-Flame Con, the Action Pack is back to talk comics! With the Zdarsky run of Daredevil coming to a close, X-Men coming out of a time of great, but isolated prosperity and books like Uncanny Avengers tying them closer to the Marvel Universe it seems we may be looking at a new Era for Marvel. We’ll discuss what makes Marvel eras unique, where we are now, where we’re going and of course talk about...

Lots of us make top five lists in our head. Lots of us can say why we picked those characters. But what if it wasn’t just in our heads? Enter: DEAL BREAKERS. Get a topic, make your top 5 list, and the 3 rules you think everyone in everyone’s top five should follow. Then, come to the game, and pit your list of faves and rules against your opponents to see who’s choices have the fewest Deal Breakers...

It’s the first new New Comic Wednesday post-SDCC. And everything is different? Right? Isn’t it? They’ve announced an AoA-looking X-Men book; a book called New X-Men; a title in 2024 (announced in July 2023?); there’s a new Punisher now that the Punisher looks after kids in one of the Weirdworlds; they revealed the never-done-plans-for-Hickmans-original-X-Men-pitch-sorta; and the trailer for The Ma...

It’s Wednesday New-Comic-Day News on X Is For Show! First we look at Deadpool: first it was joining the MCU, then it was adding Hugh Jackman (and more!), now it’s ON-SET PICS! The Action Pack discuss costumes, set pieces, and potential stories. Then we turn to The Flash as it passes $260 mil, and compare it to Marvel’s 2022 multiversal “misfire” with Doctor Strange & The Multiverse Of Madness. If...

"Nerdy guy gets bit by a radioactive spider" seems a universe away… or does it? “Evolve or die.” The Action Pack talks about the evolution of Spider-Man and the massive leap the character took in J. Michael Straczsynski's Amazing Spider-Man. From the focus on just a few supporting characters (Aunt May, JJJ, MJ) to the reintroduction of the origin of Spider-Man (we're looking at you, Spider-Gods),...

"Nerdy guy gets bit by a radioactive spider" seems a universe away in Across The Spider-Verse. The Action Pack take a look at the recent sequel as well as the most recent story in the Spider-Verse franchise, Spider-Man #1-7 by the guy who came up with the Spider-Verse, Dan Slott, and Ultimate Spider-Man co-creator, Mark Bagley. The team looked back on every page of Spider-Verse so far, some of the...

Take a look at the last 18 months of Marvel Number Ones – Who has had how many, how many times? Who hasn’t had a number one in a while? What titles went from on-goings to miniseries? Check out Jan 2022 - Jun 2023 with the X-Pack from the relaunch of Iron Fist under Alyssa Wong & Michael Yg; Jed MacKay’s multiple resets on Doctor Strange (that were all the same story?); and the never ending cycle o...

The Action Pack may be kings of talking-media-all nowadays but when this show first began it had a pretty singular focus: Marvel Comics and, more specifically, X-Men. Over the years, the crew expanded ranks and coverage, and even added sub-series like the deep-dive into MC2 that became all-things Spider-Girl / Spider-Verse / The Totemic Symbology Of All Fiction. Comics will always be a home for th...