Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About Spider-man

Spidey teams up with Doctor Strange, who happens to be the other big co-creation of Spidey artist Steve Ditko. There’s very little Peter Parker as the two Ditko superheroes battle a pleasantly very evil wizard named Xandu! Ah, HERE’S the great Ditko art we were missing a bit in the last regular issue!

Sure there’s a golden man who can punch like a wrecking ball but also: PETER PARKER GRADUATES HIGH SCHOOL! Kevin and Will get into this momentous event. We also talk about how Ditko’s plotting seems to focus way more on Peter’s civilian life than his super-hero exploits as Spidey and how that’s cool. Also this issue features some very rare bad Ditko art! Relatively speaking since, no surprise, we still love it.

We are well into the era where artist Steve Ditko had stopped talking to writer/editor Stan Lee, and it’s making for stories with very unique structures! For example, in this issue -- the battle is over at the halfway point, and then there’s about 10 pages of wrapping everything up! It’s… not bad! But it feels different than most super-hero books! Listen to hosts Kevin and Will talk about it forever!

Spidey fights not ONE but TWO villains with secret identities: The Green Goblin and also -- THE CRIME MASTER! It’s yet another guy who’s plan is to unite all the crime syndicates in NYC! Will the fact that Spidey-Man has to use a cheap rented costume slow him down! Hint: yes! Kevin and Will like this issue as they realize that they had underestimated this particular era of the Ditko-Lee partnership.

Steve Ditko passed away this week at the age of 90. We recorded this episode the morning after the news broke. As listeners know, he is the artist and co-creator of Spider-Man. Hosts Kevin and Will give him a special eulogy episode where we talk about what made Ditko so special, about how big his impact was on Marvel in particular and comics in general. We get into this feud with Marvel, his eccentric reclusivity, his non-Marvel comics. RIP Steve Ditko, one of the giants of comics!

We interrupt our flow of doing the Ditko issues to talk about two brand-new issues of Spider-Man, because they are so good! Instant Classics. One is Dan Slott’s final issue -- Amazing Spider-Man #801. And the other, Chip Szdarsky’s Spectacular Spider-Man Annual with a JJJ story. They both broke our hearts and we had to talk about it!

First appearance of the Spider-Slayer robot, back when it was just the Spider-capturing robot! Also, Kevin and Will realize every teenager on Peter Parker’s block is a nephew/niece with no parents in sight. Weird, right? And we catch up reader mail, which leads to Will pitching an impressively detailed vision for an Enforcers television show.

Kevin and Will break from the format of the podcast to talk about Spidey stories from after the original Steve Ditko era! They talk about two in this episode: The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man and Kraven’s Last Hunt! Both are so cool!

The current penciller (Joe Quinones) and colorist (Jordan Gibson) for “Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man” join Kevin and Will to talk about the psychological drama that is issue 24 -- Spider-Man Goes Mad! We get into: Ditko hands! Gangster Faces! European Therapists! And how a villain really gives away his guilt when he instantly tries to run away at the first accusation! We also talk about Joe and Jordan’s recent issues, which had modern Spidey meet Ditko Spidey! This is a CAN’T MISS ep!

Kevin and Will are joined by Chip Zdarsky, current writer for the Marvel Comic “Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man.” We talk about his recent story in which 2018 Spider-Man time-travels to… the Spider-Man of THIS EPISODE’S ISSUE! So cool! We get into: What exactly is the Green Goblin’s concept? Do all newspaper publishers micro-manage as much as JJJ? Is Betty Brant a robot? And why does gangster Lucky Lobo snap his cigar?

Step right up and see… the silliest heroes yet! A group of circus performers kick out the one member of their group with actual powers (The hypnotist Ringmaster) and try to get Spidey with their ability to… Run at him fast! This ish also features a record high number uses of the word “female!” Check it out!

Spider-Man and the Human Torch have two problems: their emotionally fragile girlfriends, and a guy with an armored flying suit who calls himself the Beetle. Guess which one is portrayed more realistically!

Co-hosts Kevin and Will discuss the debut of the probably-not-that-great-villain The Scorpion! He can punch! He can also...well, he can punch pretty hard. Plus a boatload of reader mail!

After a whole issue of doubt, Spider-Man is back into action! For the first time in the comic’s run we have a whole issue where Spider-Man is joyously being Spider-Man, and it is FUN! Your hosts love this issue, which is zero surprise.

One of the best issues of the original run, according to your co-hosts Will and Kevin! There is no villain for this issue as Peter deals with the fallout of his decision to quit being Spider-Man as he cares for his Aunt May. Co-creators Steve Ditko and Stan Lee pull off a masterful buildup of tension to one of the Hines’ favorite endings to a Spider-Man ish ever! Check it out!

The Green Goblin is back and he’s meaner and smarter. Pete’s love life is once again falling apart as he can’t convince working girl Betty that popular rich girl Liz means nothing to him. Everyone loves the Human Torch more than Spidey. And then: a twist near the end that ups the drama and leaves this issue as the start of one of the best Spidey stories of the original era, at least according to your hosts Kevin and Will!

Co-hosts Kevin and Will Hines ask: If you’ve got a top hat that can hypnotize anyone -- why not open a circus? Well, that’s the apparent decision by this issue’s villain; The Ringmaster! Previously appearing in The Hulk, this actually-twirling-an-evil-mustache villain is BACK, and this time he’s got a whole circus of weirdly-shaped crime thugs!

We take a break from analyzing the old comics to discuss: Spider-Man movies! Kevin and Will talk about their lifelong dream to see a good Spider-Man movie, and what it felt like to see it realized in the original (2001) Spider-Man! We talk about what we like and didn’t like about each of the big movies. We talk about the movie WE’D make given unlimited budget and power (in other words, as if we were the Green Goblin in issue 14!).

For the first-ever Spider-Man annual, there’s a special event: six of Spidey’s worst baddies team up to try and defeat him together…. By fighting him ONE AT A TIME! Also, most of Marvel’s other heroes casually walk in and out of the story, doing very little but plugging their own comics! And Spidey loses his powers for almost four pages! AND … the art is amazing, the dialogue very truly funny and this is a fun fun ride.

He’s a hunter and you know that because he is wearing a vest made out of a LION. He’s KRAVEN the HUNTER, and he debuts in this issue, Amazing Spider-Man 15. Kevin and Will -- er, no surprise -- love the issue, though they also admit it has the usual number of insane moments -- like Kraven winning over NYC by wrestling to the ground dangerous animals which he had just brought into the country himself! Oh yeah, and The Chameleon is back, due to zero popular demand!