Some Of My Friends Read Comics

When you think about it, Batman and the Ninja Turtles have a lot in common. They're orphans, they're well-trained in martial arts, they thrive in darkness. I think they're all aliens too but I could be wrong about that.   We read their DC/IDW co-published 6-issue crossover from 2016.   Then, Peter Parker starts making that money in Amazing Spider-Man #2   Next Time: Locke & Key, Vol. 2 - Head Games

We're starting a couple of classics today from very different eras! First up it's Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier run on Captain America, which provided the inspiration for the second Captain America film. We're planning to read the whole thing eventually, but for today we're just doing the first volume. Then we're starting our long-read of the first year of Amazing Spider-Man. That's right, all the way from the beginning. If it's any good, maybe we'll read the next 60 years worth as well. Next Time: Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-6  

How many of the Captain Marvels have we talked about? We've talked about Mar-Vell and Carol Danvers, but Monica Rambeau hasn't really come up that often, at least not as Captain Marvel. With her being featured recently in WandaVision, we thought we'd take a look at her first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 and then the Captain Marvel one-shot from 1989. And then it's finally time for Squadron Supreme #12! Final issue! Big fight! Lots of deaths! Next Time: Captain America: The Winter Solider (Captain America 2004 #1-7)

Wedding bells are in the air! We're going back to the mid-90's when Lois and Clark got married in the comics as well as on TV! We read Superman: The Wedding Album, a one-shot from 1996 which tells the whole story in a pretty self-contained issue. We also get to some more questionable moral choices in Squadron Supreme #11 as we get really close to the end! Next Time: Monica Rambeau's origins in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 and Captain Marvel (1989) #1

Babyhands. This dude has babies for hands. I know this was supposed to be about Wanda and Vision and their weird magic babies or whatever, but as soon as this guy came on the scene he stole the whole damn show like he stole those babies. BABYHANDS.  This was from West Coast Avengers 50-52 and 56-57, which was a strange selection of issues. Over in Squadron Supreme #10, we get some spies on the team! Next Time: Superman & Lois Lane tie the knot in Superman: The Wedding Album (1996)

Somehow, we'd never read The Death of Gwen Stacy for the show, so we rectified that by reading Amazing Spider-Man #121 & 122. We also read "What If Spider-Man Had Rescued Gwen Stacy?" from What If #24. Special thanks to Uatu who hooked us up with this story, it's good to know that Peter Parker makes dumb decisions no matter what happens. We also continued with Squadron Supreme #9 in which a member of the team dies! Next Time: Scarlet Witch & Vision find out the truth about their children in West Coast Avengers #50-52/56-57

It's still December, we've been told, which means we're legally obligated to continue covering Christmas comics. But we broke the rules and did a cartoon too! Take that! We went with Paul Dini's "Slayride" in Detective Comics #826 as well as the "Christmas with the Joker" episode of Batman: The Animated Series.  And then we continued Squadron Supreme with issue #8, in which we get an actual honest to goodness superhero fight. Next Time: The Death of Gwen Stacy (Amazing Spider-Man #121-122) and What If Spider-Man Had Rescued Gwen Stacy (What If? #24)

Anytime the holidays roll around, you know we're gonna get Santa plastered all over a ton of comics. DC's Christmas With the Superheroes 1988 collects 6 different stories from throughout the years and we tried to guess how many would contain the real Santa. Or as real as a comic book Santa can get.   And then we got another shocking twist in Squadron Supreme #7.   Next Time: A double-dose of Paul Dini Holiday Fun with Batman: Slayride (Detective Comics #826) and Christmas with the Joker (Batman: The Animated Series Season 1, Episode 2)  

We forgive you if you haven't heard of Dog Man, he's not exactly a super hero. He's half cop / half dog, stitched together after a terrible accident, but not in like a gross way. It's cute, we promise. It's a spinoff of that kids book, Captain Underpants and it's published by Scholastic. We jumped right into Dog Man Volume 3: A Tale of Two Kitties and then went on to Squadron Supreme #6, where we get some bigtime shakeups in the team roster. Next Time: DC's Christmas with the Superheroes (1988)  

Spooky month continues with a highly praised modern horror comic called Harrow County. It's a witch book by Cullen Bunn with watercolor finished art by Tyler Crook, so we just had to try it! The first volume, Countless Haints, was only 4 issues and the haints were honestly pretty countable. Then we moved on to Squadron Supreme #5 where the entire team gets mind controlled AGAIN. Next Time: Dog Man 3: A Tale of Two Kitties

We wanted to read some classic horror to celebrate the spookyseason so we dug up some of the original Tales From The Crypt comics from 1950. Actually, we read the first issues (#17-19) called Crypt Of Terror before they changed the name. It was some weird crime stuff before that, I know it's confusing, just listen to the episode and everything will be okay. Until we continue our read of Squadron Supreme with #4 in which everything is definitely NOT okay. Next Time: Harrow County: Countless Haints by Cullen Bunn & Tyler Crook

What's that Doctor Doom scamp trying to steal this time? Oh, it's all the vibranium in Wakanda. Yikes. We read DoomWar from 2010 in which he succeeds?!?!?! Oh no. And wait until you see which Deadpool character named Deadpool shows up to help the Black Panther out, it's a real shocker. We also read Squadron Supreme #3 and got some pretty unacceptable behavior from one of them old boys. Next Time: Tales from the Crypt #17-19 (found in the Tales from the Crypt: The EC Archives Vol 1)

The Boys is a show. It seems to be a pretty popular one, so we read the comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson that inspired it. This was an unwise decision. The levels of sex and gore in these pages had us questioning if we had become our own moms. We moved onto Squadron Supreme #2 as quickly as we could. Next Time: Black Panther: Doomwar  

They're not rats and they're technically not queens, they're Rat Queens! A band of D&D-esque adventurers in a D&D-esque world just starting fights everywhere they go. We read the first volume of this Image title. And then we begin our long read of Mark Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme from 1984, which is some nice escapist fiction about fixing our broken brainwashed government. Next Time: The Boys: The Name of the Game by Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson

Madness! Chaos! Anything goes! It’s Assistant Editors’ Month at Marvel! Back in 1984, when all the head editors were off at conventions, they handed the reigns over to their assistants who had a lot of fun with their freedom. We read Thing #7, Defenders #127, Avengers #239, Dazzler #30, and the infamous takedown of Galactus by Aunt May and Franklin Richards in Marvel Team-Up #137. We also finished out JLA/Avengers #4! Don't say we didn't warn you! Next Time: Rat Queens: Sass & Sorcery + Squadron Supreme #1  

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)

In 1989, long before the AVP movies, Dark Horse published a few short stories that brought the Alien and Predator franchises into the same universe. In 1990, they kicked off a full miniseries of Aliens vs Predator. Now, with the news that Dark Horse is losing their rights to the licenses, we take a look back at that original miniseries that forever intertwined these two foes. We also continue JLA/Avengers with issue #2. Next Time: I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 1: Madly Ever After by Skottie Young

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)

For the last few episodes, we’ve been reading Marvel vs DC, about two universes pitted against each other. But just before the final issue, they merged and Amalgam Comics was born! We take a look at a handful of those special one-shot issues that all arrived before the event’s finale which we also read! Join us as we explore Amazon, Dark Claw, Super Soldier, Spider-Boy, Doctor Strangefate and the JLX. Next Time: We remember the late great Denny O'Neil with Green Lantern & Green Arrow: Hard-Traveling Heroes (Issues 76-81) + We start our next long-read with JLA/Avengers #1 (from 2003).

Teenage. Mutant. Ninja. Turtles. Four words that instantly belong together. We go back to where it all started in Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s original comics from the mid 80’s. We read the first 7 issues and saw the turtles fight robots, travel to outer space and murder Shredder(?!). Unfortunately, there were no Cowabungas. Then we read Marvel vs DC part 3 aka the one with all the fights! Next Time: We wrap up DC vs. Marvel, but not before reading a few comics from the Amalgam Universe!