On today’s episode, we explore the rare Non-Gritty Reboot. I assure you, they exist. At the very least, one example exists: Archie. In 2015, Mark Waid and Fiona Staples brought Archie back to mainstream comics. And it’s nothing like Riverdale.
We checked out the first six issues and then continued our read of Marvels: Eye of the Camera with issue #2.
Next Time: The Origins of Batman villain Ra’s Al Ghul with Batman 232, 243, and 244!
In my headcanon, Birds of Prey was always 3 members: Oracle, Black Canary, and Huntress. Turns out Huntress didn’t even join the team until Gail Simone took over in 2003. Turns out Harley Quinn was definitely not on the team.
We read the first few issues of Simone’s run from #56-61 and then we continued our read of Marvels with the 1st issue of the followup miniseries, Marvels: Eye of the Camera.
Next Time: Archie gets rebooted in 2015 by Mark Waid & Fiona Staples!
We’ve got more Moore than you can handle, as we take a double dose of Alan Moore’s Superman from the 1980s!
First up, Alan Moore teams up with his future Watchmen collaborator Dave Gibbons with 1985’s “For the Man Who Has Everything”, where Batman & Wonder Woman try their darndest to find a good birthday present for Superman, while Superman imagines a world where Krypton did not explode and he never came to Earth.
Then, we check out the final story of the pre-Crisis Superman with Alan Moore and Curt Swan’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” As Bill Hader’s Stephon would say, this book has everything: Krypto the Superdog, superbabies turning coal into diamonds, Jimmy Olsen & Lana Lang getting superpowers, and Superman defending his friends against all his foes. It’s a classic story you don’t want to miss!
And finally, we conclude Phil Sheldon’s journey through the early days of the Marvel Universe with Kurt Busiek & Alex Ross’s “Marvels #4”! (That’s not really true, we start the sequel “Marvels: Eye of the Camera” next episode.)
Next Time: Birds of Prey: Of Like Minds by Gail Simone (Birds of Prey #56-61) + Marvels: Eye of the Camera #1
Way back in episode 19, we read our first Thanos comic when he returned from death in 1990 and started collected the Infinity Gems. Now, exactly 100 episodes later, we decided we’d take a look at how he actually died in the first place.
It was surprisingly earlier in 1977’s Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2, written and drawn by Jim Starlin (because who else would it be?).
And then we relive the terror of Galactus in Marvels #3!
Next Time: Superman & Alan Moore times two with “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” and “Superman: For the Man Who Has Everything”
The holidays are upon us and you know what that means: Ducks. Specifically Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck. We take a look at the very 1st appearance of Scrooge McDuck in “Christmas on Bear Mountain” from way back in 1947 and then “A Christmas for Shacktown” in 1951, both written and drawn by “the good duck artist,” Carl Barks.
And the it’s on to the mutant scare in Marvels #2!
Next Time: The (Original) Death of Thanos from Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 (1977)
It’s time to continue Marvel 1602! In the last 4 issues of the miniseries, we make our way to America and find out how this universe connects to our regular 616 universe.
But will Gaiman’s 1602 survive? (Spoiler alert: nothing ever dies).
And we also get our long read of Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross really rolling with issue #1.
Next Time: Donald Duck in “Christmas on Bear Mountain” (Scrooge McDuck’s first appearance) and “A Christmas for Shacktown”
On this episode, I look at a pairing of two things that should’ve gone perfectly together (Mega Man and Soccer) and discover the biggest mistake of my childhood.
