We open with The Ten-Cent Plague By David Hajdu, which leads into crime comics, Jack Cole, Fredric Wertham, Creem Magazine, a few random comics and pulp heroes. Don Newton finished it out.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: French Maide
We start off with the influence and large body of work Marie Severin has left behind. Working behind the scenes and the return of the Fantastic Four finish things out.
We Bid Farewell To Marie Severin.
We started out talking about Svengoolie, then said goodbye to Russ Heath and the fantastic work he left behind. Artists influenced by other artists, newspaper strips and Laugh-In and the Walmart exclusive 100 Page Super-Spectacular finish it off. Enjoy!
All American Men Of War 94 Cover By Russ Heath.
Even though this is a comic book podcast, Al starts the conversation off asking about the film In The Mood For Love. The life and work of Steve Ditko is discussed for most of the show, then The Spectre, books about comic book heroes and Jules Feiffer are talked about as well.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Mr. Partridge
Marvel Tales Reprints Was The First Time Al Saw Steve Ditko.
Al is back and joined by Don and they made no time for a music break.
There was a lot of comic talk though.
The Occult Files of Dr Spektor By Donald Glut And Jesse Santos.
Vague talk of the new Star Wars movie and a discussion of the webcomic Blue starts the episode off. Page design, storytelling and website navigation come up, along with the new trailer for the upcoming Avengers movie. Dollar box diving, overinflated prices for back issues in the past and airline meals that no longer exist.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: The Blow
The work and thought process of Alex Toth is discussed as well as newspaper comics we had never seen or didn’t bother reading when they were being published. Don talks about the incredible work of Matt Howarth while Al stays silent until Howard Chaykin is brought up.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Emitt Rhodes
Alter Ego 63 Remembering Alex Toth.
Two Brothers starts this episode off, which leads into The Umbrella Academy, The Airtight Garage and Where The Wild Things Are. The second half covers the 1966 version of the MLJ superheroes The Mighty Crusaders and other lighthearted comic books. We enjoyed recording the second half so much that we did it twice.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Disperse • Jakub Zytecki
Two Brothers By Gabriel Bá And Fabio Moon.
Here Is Their Word Balloon Interview.
Al and Don cross the bay into Tampa to search through the dollar boxes at Comics & Stuff. Rondo Hatton, The Mighty Thor and Blade Runner are discussed as well.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Greymarket
Dallas is back, and he wants to talk about Halloween! Unfortunately Mister Miracle and his different creative teams, Espers, EC and underground comix are what we talk about. The holliday is discussed a little bit at the end.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Stars
Mister Miracle By Tom King And Mitch Gerads.
No Dallas, no Rook, so it is a given that Al and Don start off topic and go well over the time limit. Comics & Stuff in Tampa, Valerian And Laureline: On The Frontiers, Hugh Hefner and his interest in comics, the large shadow cast by Len Wein, a band called The Move and Jack Kirby’s 100th finish everything out.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: The Move
Valerian And Laureline: On The Frontiers
By Jean-Claude Mézières And Pierre Christin.
This episode is so packed we didn’t stop for a music break. But we did talk about Pee Wee Herman, playing Dungeons And Dragons with Lego, Disney comics, comic book adaptations and outright swipes of other artist’s work. It ends with talk of The Sandman by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.
Not a long episode, but a lot was discussed. Avengers in the eighties (again), Duotone paper, the beginning of comic book events, Ghost Rider’s roots, The Comics Journal, characters with dog in their name, Love And Rockets, Agent 13: The Midnight Avenger, DC’s Elseworlds stories, and Marvel’s What-If. Give it a listen.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: The Horribles
Even Though Dan Pritchard Was Lamenting the Avengers Line
Up During The Eighties, Al Says Issue 310 Is Worth Reading.
The conversation begins with dollar box finds, then goes into color theory, high contrast and happy Batman. The world needs more happy Batman.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Steve Connelly And The Lesser Gods
A quick discussion of The Archies One Shot starts everything off and moves into Bug! The Adventures Of Forager and the many characters of Jack Kirby. G.I. Combat, comic book ads, differing art styles, The Jack Kirby Omnibus Volume One and Oneshi Press finish everything out.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Yellow Magic Orchestra
The Archies One Shot With A Cover By Jaime Hernandez.
Valerian: The Complete Collection Volume 1 starts everything off, which sidetracks into the Squirrel Girl comic and the Valerian movie. Snow Piercer, listener mail and pullapalooza are discussed and we finish with a review of Earth’s Final Chapter From Endless Ink.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Greymarket
Wonder Woman and her great movie starts it off and rolls into her different incarnations and other female characters in comics. Guardians Of The Galaxy 2, the Guardians’s comic from the seventies along with Adam Warlock. Mike Tyson and Weird Love 18 finish it out.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Can
Two hundred episodes in and still no direction. Enjoy!
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Arkasia • Alex Chilton • Puffy AmiYumi
DOWNLOAD
200 Episodes In And Still No Direction.
We talk about the work and influence of Adam West along with the different incarnations of Batman. William Shatner, Adventures Of Jerry Lewis And The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl are discussed as well.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Geneva Wollett
It is Free Comic Book Day so it is another road trip to Yancy Street Comics.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: hitomi
Don Thought Free Comic Book Day Started In The Nineties.
But It Began In 2003.
More comments about the state of mainstream comic books starts the conversation off, which goes into the giant monster comics from Atlas, 3-D comics and ends with Pullapalooza.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Matthew Sweet • Hi-Standard
Sergio Aragonés Destroys DC By Mark Evanier And Sergio Aragonés,
Since the first half was trashed last time, we start off talking about the Marvel executive who says diversity may have alienated readers, which turns into the price of comics and creating new characters. Rock and roll lawsuits, Batman’s Strangest Cases, Paul Grist and books from the dollar box fills out the remainder.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: The Verve
Blue Beetle And The Question By Steve Ditko.
Al started the episode off with a rant about the Marvel executive who says diversity may have alienated readers, which led into a discussion on the price of comics today, trade paperbacks and the culture of comics. Unfortunately, all of that is gone, because Don trashed the first half of the episode before it was produced. Sorry about that.
The surviving half discusses books that we didn’t plan on reading, but ended up liking anyway. And Doctor Strange, there was a lot about him.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: The Cramps
Marvel Executive Says Diversity May Have Alienated Readers.
And Here Is What The Beat Says About It.
The first half of the episode starts off with Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 A.D., Turok: Son Of Stone and the fantastic painted covers of Gold Key Comics. Bernie Wrightson and his work was discussed for the second half, so of course it went over the time limit.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Redd Kross
Leaving Megalopolis and dangerous super-heroes are discussed in this episode along with the continuing Ex-Heroes series. The conversation moves on into zombies and Pokémon Go.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Steve Robinson
We start off with a correction from Episode 186 on Doom Patrol and Ted Mckeever. A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics is covered, Rook’s box of bubble gum cards, television show hosts, cable network shows, Sunstone 1 and Hot Gimmick 12.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Ed Woltil
Doom Patrol 79 Cover By Kyle Baker (Who Don Gets Confused
With Ted Mckeever, But He Does Not Know Why).
Al and Don go far beyond the normal time limit and show just how free form they can get.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Mick Ronson
Dallas gives his take on the current Doom Patrol, which leads into a discussion of the different incarnations of the comic and Ted McKeever who had worked on it, but we didn’t know. The Vision, Ramona Fradon and the many awesome projects of Mark Chiarello.
Low: The Delirium Of Hope and the tight line of fantastic graphics and not being confusing is gone over, along with the third trade of Alex + Ada and text features In old comic books.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Strung Out
Doom Patrol 2 From DC Young Animal. Cover By Michael Allred.
Moebius and The World of Edena is discussed in great detail. Nod Away, The Undertaking Of Lily Chen, Prince Of Persia and Doom Force are covered as well,
but not as much.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Pierre Legault
Mike Baron and Steve Rude’s current Nexus work starts this episode off, which quickly turns off to stock poses, The Lost Continent and Shade The Changing Girl 4. A lengthy dollar box segment is followed by Archie: A Celebration of America’s Favorite Teenagers. Pullapalooza finishes it out once again.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Dana Gillespie • hitomi
Nexus: Into The Past And Other Stories By Mike Baron And Steve Rude.
