Can Wolverine run a school? That’s the premise of Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo’s “Wolverine and the X-Men” from 2011.
There’s more to it than that: A new Hellfire Club is attacking. The Department of Education is inspecting. One of the students should probably be in jail.
We read the first 4 issues to see how Wolverine survives. Then we continue Knightfall with Chapter 4 in Detective Comics #660.
Next Time: Young Avengers (2005) #1-6
As one of Japan’s most popular characters, of course Mario would have his own manga. It’s been running for 30 years but somehow it just got its first English translation in 2020 with a greatest hits compilation called Super Mario Manga Mania.
And you can’t get a digital copy anywhere. This is the comic that finally broke the show. Nevertheless we persevere.
And of course we also read the next chapter of the Knightfall saga in Batman #493 in which Zsasz threatens to slice up a bunch of people, and Batman is just plain tired.
Next Time: Wolverine and the X-Men #1-4 by Jason Aaron & Chris Bachalo
Ho ho ho ho, it’s time for another holiday special!
This year we take a look at the DCU Infinite Holiday Special from 2006 featuring stories about Green Lantern, Supergirl, Batwoman, Shadowpact, Flash, Superman, and… Shazam? Let’s just say the card is subject to change.
Then we continue the Knightfall storyline in Detective Comics #659 where the Ventriloquist tries a bunch of new hand puppets!
Next Time: Super Mario Manga Mania
Instead of reading comics, we thought we’d put a focus on watching cartoons for this episode so that we could look back at some of Kevin Conroy’s best work as the voice of Batman in some of his favorite episodes.
First, we cover an episode titled “Perchance to Dream” from Batman the Animated Series where Bruce Wayne dreams of a life with his parents still alive. Then “This Little Piggy” from Justice League Unlimited, where wonder Woman gets turned into a pig and Batman has to save her.
Then we jump into Knightfall proper with the first episode of the Broken Bat Saga in Batman #492 where lots of villains have just been freed from Arkham!
Next Time: DCU Infinite Holiday Special (2006)
It’s been a while but we finally revisit the Age of Apocalypse with the next miniseries on our list, X-Calibre, which is basically the Nightcrawler and Mystique show.
It’s got pirates and senseless murder and piles and piles of dead bodies. Cool.
Then we start our longread of Batman: Knightfall with a special Vengeance of Bane one-shot that tells us about how Bane was sentenced to prison as a baby. Wait, that can’t be right…
Next Time: We break format to remember Kevin Conroy with a pair of animated TV episodes
Plus we start Batman: Knightfall properly with Batman #492
With Namor appearing in the movies soon for the first time in Black Panther, we go waaaaay back in the past to 1939 to read the first appearance of the Sub-Mariner in Marvel Comics #1, published back when they were called Timely Comics.
Then we read the Namor stories from Marvel Mystery Comics #7-10 to see him attack New York and fight the Human Torch and basically be the biggest a-hole of all time. It’s very entertaining!
Then we finish our tour through the life of Earth-2’s Batman with Brave and the Bold #197, in which Batman recalls the way he and Catwoman fell in love.
Next Time:
As the spooky season nears its end, we take a look at some various scarious one-offs.
First up is Spider-Man: The Short Halloween, a comedy one-shot by SNL’s Bill Hader & Seth Meyers.
Then we go back to some classic 80’s X-Men when Storm turned into a vampire in issue #159, and then again when Dracula returns in X-Men Annual #6.
Then we continue our trip to Earth-2 with The Brave and The Bold #182 where Earth-1 Batman teams up with Earth-2 Robin!
Next Time: Namor’s Origins with Marvel Comics #1 + Marvel Mystery Comics #7-9 + Brave & the Bold #197
The spooky season creepiness continues as we revisit Locke and Key with Volume 3: Crown of Shadows. We’ve got ghosts, dead bodies, and weird teenagers trying to go to a Muse concert. Scary stuff!
Then we continue our trip through Earth-2 with Adventure Comics #462 where we see the death of Earth-2 Batman to one of the most infamous villains of all time.
Next Time: Spider-Man: The Short Halloween + Storm Turns Into a Vampire (Uncanny X-Men #159 & Annual #6)
The spookiest of seasons is upon us, so we decide to take a look at one of Marvel’s spookiest comics: Tomb of Dracula! We know this character’s not very well known, so we read issues #10-15 which include the first appearance of Blade, a much more popular character.
Plus we get Dracula doing all of his trademark moves like steering a boat and calling his enemies up on the phone.
Then we continue our Earth-2 journey with JLA #160 which features a panel where The Atom is lying on a giant hospital bed. That’s all I remember about it. And dinosaurs.
Next Time: Locke & Key, Vol. 3: Crown of Shadows
She-Hulk has her own show! And it seems to take a lot of inspiration from the Dan Slott run that we visited a while back.
We dive back into it with Volume 3: Time Trials, which collects #1-5 from the 2005 She-Hulk series. There’s cowboys, jealousy, and time cops: the three perfect ingredients in any story.
Then we read our next Earth-2 book with a JLA/JSA team-up in Justice League of America #159.
Next Time: Blade’s Origins with Tomb of Dracula #10-15 + Justice League of America #160
All My Friends Are Right Here 