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

We cover the first appearance of a group of heroes that would change Marvel, superheroes and all of comics forever: The X-Men. And we find the issue: really rushed! Like, no backgrounds, crazy powers (even for 60s Marvel standards), a lot of panels with the team simply freaking out that a pretty girl is joining the team (Marvel Girl) and Magneto writes in the sky in surprisingly legible cursive. It's Jack Kirby, so even a rushed Kirby is dynamic and inventive and good, but there's a long way to go before the X-Men become the force we know of them. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

We cover the first appearances of Iron Man and Dr. Strange. We find Iron Man has a pretty solid story. Extremely problematic depictions of the Vietnamese? Yep. But the character of Tony Stark is well-developed, and much like he will remain right up until his rise to the top of the MCU. And you know we visit the 4-page introduction of the classic red and yellow armor, designed by Steve DItko. Speaking of Ditko, Dr. Strange has a slower start. It has the the terrific Ditko art. But since the initial few stories are just 5 pages each, it takes a few chapters until we have much more than Dr. Strange entering ghost form and punching other ghosts. But soon we have some beautifully designed villains and surreal nightmare dimensions. The Marvel Universe is starting to feel like a full place. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

We continue our examination of Marvel First Issues with the Ant-Man and Thor. We talk way more about Ant-Man than we expected to. But Ant-Man has a way of surpassing people's expectations. Who would have guessed that the hero of "The Man in the Ant Hill"  or whatever it was called in Tales to Astonish #27 would go on to be Marvel's second-ever super-hero? Not the Milksops. But that is exactly what he is. And that's despite: odd powers, a shifting origin story, a complete lack of logic within his strategies, and aliens made of (drum roll) formic acid. We eventually move onto Thor's first apperence. The art is far superior and the story... mostly superior. But still a long ways to go in terms of how important the Mighty Thor will become to the Marvel Universe. But for all the craziness of these stories, they ARE fun. We kinda want to read more Ant-Man! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

We start a new season analyzing the number 1 issues of all the original Marvel Comics series. Today we start with the big three: Spider-Man, FF and Hulk. Known informally (to us) as "the good ones" this discussion gives us an excuse to again celebrate the special alchemy of creativity, recklessness and just plain goodness that made these issues such milestones. We also discuss Alan Moore's new short story collection "Illuminations" and the recent DC movie "Black Adam." __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops were guests on the terrific comics podcast Marvel By The Month to discuss the Alan Moore penned series 1963. This is that episode presented here in our feed for the convenience of our listeners / laziness of us. "1963" was published in 1993 by then-new Image Comics. It was Alan Moore's homage to the superhero books of the early 60s, basically the birth of the Silver Age. We have a Captain America-like person, a Fantastic Four-ish group, a Spider-Man sorta fella, and lots more. And it wouldn't be an Alan Moore book without 2 or so pages of straight prose in impossibly small type. Part love letter, part satire, all fun. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

On the FF side of things, we start with the fate of Galactus and Frankie Raye, and we end with the beginning of a Dr. Doom story ("Too Many Dooms!"). Both fine issues. But in the middle we have one of the best FF issues ever, and certainly one of the signature issues of John Byrne's run - #245 "Childhood's End." It's Byrne's thesis statement on Susan RIchards, The Invisible Girl. What makes her special, powerful, indispensible? It is demonstrated masterfully in this tale, where Susan takes on a mysterious enemy so powerful he dispenses with Reed Ben and Johnny with little more than a thought. Two Milksops up! On the correspondence side, we get into some corrections on more Will Hines factual errors, a request for a no-prize (denied, for the first time ever) and a discussion of the inimitable Forbush Man. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

We have some Galactastic issues of FF! John Byrne continues his tour of the big Kirby stories with a visit from Galactus! First we have to deal with some magic armor that has allowed a Roman soldier to preserve ancient Rome in a column just outside of Wakanda. You know, little stuff. But then it's Galactus, who is dying. Reed decides we gotta save him, which is a hot take. On the correspondence side, we have an impassioned defense of Squadron Supreme from Mark Gruenwald superfan, Chris Gethard. __  SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

On the FF side of things, we learn about Frankie Raye's hidden powers, see the return of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot, and watch the Inhumans move their city to the moon. Very solid issues sandwiched in between a few more iconic chapters that we will soon get to. From the correspondence side, we get questions about how to deconstruct The Enforcers, do we care about "collecting," and somehow start talking about The Last Action Hero! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

We finish our analysis of 1985's Squadron Supreme series and come to the same conclusion we had at the very beginning: it's good but reading it now isn't as fun as reading it then probably was. We also go over Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story even though Will is only 20% through it! #screwitinstapush is still in effect as make our drive to get 1500 instagram followers. WILL IT HAPPEN? WOULD WE NOTICE? __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

CORRECTION: Yep, Will is still saying 'Madame Ape' instead of 'Ape X' -- please enjoy his wrongness! Three more issues down, and the Milksops opinion of the Squadron has... remained mostly the same! They appreciate the books' strengths and find it interesting BUT we both feel that it suffers when you read it, like, now (post-Watchmen, post-multiversemania). Still, we examine the stories in this issue which include: Fake Evil Hyperion dating Recently Widowed Princess Power (recently widowed because Evil Hyperion killed her husband!), Blue Eagle and Foxfire getting it on, Madame Ape (Ape X?) falling for Tom Thumb, and a very abrupt ending to issue 9! We also talk about the CW cartoon series The Spectacular Spider-Man which Will has just started watching. We wrap it up by trying to think of what movies / comics / TV shows have endings that make your impression of them jump way up.

CORRECTION: Will keeps saying 'Madame Ape' which is very wrong -- he should have said 'Ape X.' Three more Squadron Supreme issues, and it's growing on the 'sops. There's a brainwashing machine in play and it's giving the Squadron some Clockwork Orange creepiness. We like. Plus there's guilt and death and betrayal and just to keep things interesting, another 10 or so characters added. We like these more than we did the first three, maybe because the exposition is finished? Plus we grieve the recent deaths of comics greats Kevin O'Neill, Carlos Pacheco and Kevin Conroy (voice of Batman in BTAS and ... everything). Also, the #screwitinsta push remains in full effect!  __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops begin their coverage of Mark Gruenwald's most famous work, the 12-issue "Squadron Supreme" mini-series from 1985. It's the OTHER comic where a bunch of heroes who are not in the normal comics continuity have to deal with a realistic world (the primary one from this time in comics being Alan Moore's Watchmen). We get into the huge cast, the Squadron's history up until this point, the gutsiness of Gruenweld's story, the surprises, and also the shortcomings (perhaps TOO "regular comics" for its subject, maybe a bit rushed?) as well as the inevitable comparison to Alan Moore's great work. Defying expectations, we even answer a few pieces of mail. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

On the Byrne FF side of things, we've got two great issues and one very solidly okay one. In the "great" column we have the FF battling Ego The Living Planet in issue 235 -- one of Kevin's favorite FF issues ever! Then in issue 236 there is one of the most revered issues in Byrne's whole run - "Terror In A Tiny Town" which has the FF facing off against The Puppet Master, Dr. Doom as well as.... their own minds! Then issue 237 is pretty okay too. We also get into our mail which has a listener fan-casting a Fred Hembeck movie(?), and pleas for us to read more X-Men (no, but thank you). Please email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com and post Instagram stories about our pod with the hashtag #screwitinstapush __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

It's a new era of mailbags episodes! Starting now, we are covering issues of the John Byrne Fantastic Four run on the eps where we also read some mail. In this first FF/mail ep, we talk about what we learned about Byrne from reading his run as co-creator of X-Men stories. We discuss his "back to basics" approach with the FF, his terrific fight scenes, the clear story beats, simple characters, cool clothes, advancement of female characters and of course his stupendous rubble! We read mail (barely, kind of). __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

We continue our examination of Love and Rockets comics with a focus on Gilbert Hernandez's first big Palomar story "Heartbreak Soup." We discuss the hugeness of the world, the variety of influences (Jack Kirby, Don DeCarlo, folk tales, punk rock), the wildness of Gilbert's plot, the progressive sex and love, the problematic sex and love, the boldness of the mature themes. We get into Gilbert overall: how much he's done, how challenging he can be to read. Will talks about how much this affected him when he first discovered it in 1987 and how far ahead of so many comics it was. Kevin chimes in now and then. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops go over one of Will Hines' all-time favorite comics: Love and Rockets. Done (mostly) by two Mexican-American brothers, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Love and Rockets mixes sci-fi, soap opera, folk tales, sexuality, surrealism and sometimes even good 'ol superheroes to make one of the coolest and most innovative comics ever. Published in various forms since 1981, this is a mammoth comics run. To spare our listeners (much) of Will just rambling forever, we are doing only 2 eps on this series. For this one, we focus on Jaime and in particular his late 80s story "The Death of Speedy." We talk about Jaime's superb art, the confident use of flashbacks, the assumption that you, the reader, are noticing all the detail in the panels, the aimless plot, the beautiful character moments, the mxiture of cartoonish styles with realistic drawing. Kevin assures Will that the story is not as hard to understand for newbies as he fears. Next ep: Gilbert and Heartbreak Soup. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics

Comics (and prose and TV) writer J.M. Dematteis returns to plug his new independently funded comics line: Spellbound Comics. JM is teaming up with 4 terrific artsts (Shawn McManus, David Baldeon, Matthew Dow Smith, Tom Mandrake) to tell a wide variety of stories. The Milksops talk about that a bunch and also ask him about: keeping a positive attitude, the influence of Ray Bradbury and Twilight Zone, themes of identity that recur throughout his work, his recent novella The Excavator and much more. We also talk about (amongst ourselves, once it's over) all the questions we should have asked him!! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Two huge milestones: Magneto is taking over the X-Men, and the Milksops are stepping away from the Uncanny X-Men. Claremont and John Romita Jr. are on a roll -- these issues are fun and exciting with surprising character moments (Magneto good? being foremost among them). But we've done over 100 issues and we want to shift onto “new” things (John Byrne’s early 80’s run on The Fantastic Four is as new as we get). We talk our opinions of what it's been like to read this huge swath of X-books, which includes among them some of the most famous Marvel comics of all time. We have really really loved reading these books and will miss it! We also get into some mailbags action, in which we are deservedly corrected and sometimes complimented! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Three X-Men comics that actually feature the X-Men! Whoops, except the first one which is almost all Power Pack. But the Milksops love Power Pack, so they're happy. Then we've got a murder mystery which only kind of features a guest appearance by the omnipotent Beyonder (here to promote Secret Wars II, a comic which the Milksops read and remember almost nothing of), and then a Doom/Arcade story which is, as they say in an old Beach Boys song, fun. We're getting ready to wrap up our mutant coverage and woudln't you know Claremont and JRJR are starting to heat up, just to punish us. We also get into the mail which features: the Milksops pronouncing names wrong, What If? pitches, explanation of She-Hulk's talking to the camera, and validation for our Sandman TV review. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Whoa, we are coming up on 100+ issues of the Uncanny X-Men reviewed on this podcast! Pretty good for two idiots who'd skipped this stuff the first time it came out. We go over some fun stories in these issues including: the X-men face off against Magus (alien robot lifeform) who's come looking for his son Warlock (a member of the New Mutants) the return (sort of) of original new X-man Thunderbird (sort of), and a battle with Juggernaut. I believe all of these battles end in a draw, which now that I realize that, is hilarious. We also go over the mail in which we say that comics created at the demands of marketing departments are (hot take alert) sometimes pretty good. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify