It’s time to take our first trip to Marvel’s 2099 universe and meet Miguel O’Hara aka Spider-Man 2099. He’s ruder than OG Spider-Man and he has a drug addiction problem to boot (technically not his fault).
We read the first 6 issues of this series from 1992 before continuing our Korvac Saga long read with Avengers 174. Korvac actually shows up! And he explodes Benicio del Toro!!!
Next Time: Slayground by Richard Stark adapted by Darwyn Cooke
We haven’t read nearly enough Hulk for this show, so we thought we’d read Future Imperfect by Peter David and George Perez. The Hulk has to stop an evil old version of himself from ruining the future. In just 2 issues, The Maestro manages to make a strong name for himself as a serious villain.
Afterwards, we continue The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck with part 11 in which Scrooge unfortunately also establishes himself as a serious villain.
Next Time: Captain America by Ed Brubaker Pt. 3: Red Menace Pt. 1 (Captain America (2004) #15-17, Captain America 65th Anniversary Special)
Just like in the movies, Black Widow spent most of her time in the comics as a side character until she finally got to stand in the spotlight on her own.
We took a look at a couple of these stories from the 80’s in a collection called Black Widow: Web of Intrigue, both written by Ralph Macchio.
First up is a George Perez story from Marvel Fanfare #10-13 and then a black & white one-shot in Bizarre Adventures #25 with art by Paul Gulacy.
And of course, we continued Amazing Spider-Man with issue #10 and the least memorable villains of all time.
Next Time: Super Metroid (from Nintendo Power 57-61)
It’s a scientific fact that stories about maniacal ax-wielding children are always entertaining. I Hate Fairyland is no exception, although I guess technically it’s about a woman who just looks like a kid because she’s spent 27 years stuck in a sugary wonderland.
We read the first 5 issues of writer/artist Skottie Young’s recent Image series and then we continued JLA/Avengers with issue #3.
Next Time: Marvel Assistant Editor’s Month 1984 (Avengers #239, Dazzler #30, Defenders #127, Marvel Team-Up #137, Thing #7)
This week on the show, we remember Dennis O’Neil with a look back at his run with Neal Adams on Green Lantern from 1970, in which he explored a few topics that superheroes didn’t often tackle.
Green Lantern shared the spotlight with Green Arrow to start their “Hard Travelin’ Heroes” Era, and we read issues 76-81. After that we jumped into another DC/Marvel team-up with the first issue of JLA/Avengers from 2003.
Next Time: Aliens vs. Predator (1990)
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
There’s a spy in the Teen Titans… and she works for Deathstroke! Dick Grayson drops the Robin mantle to debut Nightwing! There’s a new team member named Jericho, a sweet little mute boy!
It’s the Judas Contract from Tales of the Teen Titans #42-44 and Teen Titans Annual #3.
And over in All Star Superman #9, Clark deals with some real assholes!
We’ve reached the final issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths!
And as our first long-read book ends, we jump right into our next one and begin Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars (yes, that’s the full title).
We look back at the entirety of DC’s first event and what it meant for comics as a whole before reading Secret Wars #1 to see what direction Marvel took for their first event.
And we’ll keep reading an issue of Secret Wars every episode to see how the story progresses!
Next Time: Afterlife with Archie
It’s a major milestone for the Man of Steel as we read the newly released Action Comics #1000, filled with stories honoring Superman as well as Brian Michael Bendis’ first story after his move from Marvel to DC.
And since we’re reading something so modern, we figured we’d take a look at various offerings from this year’s Free Comic Book Day.
AND on top of all that we’re starting our deep dive into the classic Crisis on Infinite Earths by reading the first issue. That’s a lot of stuff!
Next Time: Infinity War and Crisis on Infinite Earths #2
We’re heading back out to space!
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps building towards Infinity War, we’re doing the same with all of Jim Starlin’s Infinity books and this time it’s the Infinity Gauntlet, a 6-issue miniseries and one of Marvel’s best event comics of all time.
Spoiler Alert: Thanos kills everybody.
Next Time: Amazing Spider-Man 298-300 – The Birth of Venom!
All My Friends Are Right Here 