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

First the Milksops review a three issue span where the X-Men and New Mutants team up against the magic villain Kulan Gath, who has thrown Manhattan back into Conan the Barbarian-esque time (NOT Conan O'Brien, despite what Will says a few times). Kevin liked that it was a short arc, and the glimpse into telepath Rachel Summer's terrible dystopian future world. Will was fed up with Claremont's overly-complicated plots and the density of characters! Like, wait, who's Amara? Why is Spider-Man unaffected? Why is Spider-Man even here? Which Milksop is right? We also get into some mail and talk about re-buying issues, forgotten teams we want back, British comics, and give out a few no-prizes for no reason! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops review the new Netflix' series The Sandman. We already did 10 eps on the comics so you know we're fans, so was the show good enough for us? Short answer: kind of! We respect the shows' reverence for the source material, the great casting and visual goodness. But something is missing from the show, and we spend 45 minutes trying to figure out what.  But we love the Corinthian, maybe too much, and the show kept getting better and better as it went. We're hoping there’s a season 2 because we feel the comics ALSO got better as they went, and we think the show will too! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

In preparation for the Disney Plus show, the Milksops review She-Hulk in the comics! We go over the Savage era, the Byrne treatment, the Sensational phase (Byrne II), the Slott epoch and the Soule chapter. Plus dips into the other stuff. We talk about how Jennifer Walters went from a very tossed-off rip off of Bruce Banner into her own indominatable indispensible part of the Marvel Universe! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops go over the 1982 four-issue mini series Wolverine, written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Frank Miller. This was part of Wolverine's ascendence to becoming one of the most popular characters in the Marvel Universe. Kevin was expecting a "bigger" story, something akin to what Miller would do on Batman: Year One or Daredevil: Born Again. It's not that seismic, but there's plenty of terrific Miller art and layouts in this story. There's also ninjas, Japanese culture, an expansion of the Wolverine character and world, the arrival of the assassin/would-be-love-interest Yugio and plenty of Claremont prose. The story is good, both Milksops agree, and they are glad to have read this story -- something that has been recommended to them for over 30 years! We also read mail! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

NO MAILBAG THIS EPISODE. For the "mutants" portion of our ep, the Milksops review the graphic novel "God Loves, Man Kills" in which the X-Men ally with arch-enemy Magneto to battle an anti-mutant televangelist/murderer! This was also known as "Marvel Graphic Novel #5," which was part of a series where Marvel creators could make more adult content. This story contains brutal murders, commentary on how people use religion and media to manipulate the masses, a man killing his family and Kitty Pryde dropping the N-word in an argument about racism. It's intense! It's also really good and one of the most compeling and nuanced portrayal of Magneto so far! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

We saved (one of) the best for last: Astro City. This is Kurt's masterpiece. Along with artist Brent Anderson and cover artist/collaborator Alex Ross, Kurt created an entire superhero universe for Astro City. The characters are a combination of analogues of very popular superhero "types" (we see a Superman-ish person, a Spider-Man ish hero, a Justice League, a Fantastic Four), but also characters who don't fit cleanly into any box. What is true of every character in Astro City is they are: human, emotional, moving, surprising and impressively thought-through. Astro City is to superhero comics what Speilberg movies are to adventure serials: better, deeper more moving versions of the old tropes --- done with joy and love and excitement. We dig a bit into two issues: #1 ("Flying") and #1/2 ("The Nearness of You") which is one of the Milksops' favorite issues of comic book of ANY genre and series. Hope you like it! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.co

We continue our look into Kurt Busiek with a deepish dive on one of his most beloved works: 2004's "Secret Identity." What if someone woke up in OUR world had Superman's powers? Meaning there are no superheroes but there are Superman comic books. He knows what he's become, but not why or how. An off-kilter premise, explored with heart and sweetness and surprise. It's a moving story that covers far more emotional ground than you're ready for. The decency and goodness in this story gets at the core of why we all love Superman so much. A must read. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops continue our Talking 'Bout Busiek season with a look at his stellar run on The Avengers. Specifically we dig into issues 19-22, Ultron Unleashed! Thor has words with Ultron, Justice doesn't drink tea, and lots of robots wish they had families. It's action-packed and is a highlight of Kurt and George Perez's Avengers run. We also talk about the hard-to-find Avengers/JLA book and it's insanely dense character-filled fan service. If you ever wanted to see two universes kiss, then this is the comic for you. But also Superman holds Thor's hammer! It's fun when people hold Thor's hammer, right? Email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com ok? __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Continuing our dive into Kurt Busiek, we look at his critically acclaimed series Untold Tales of Spider-Man. It's a masterpiece of going back to basics with the webhead, finding new stories from the old strategies. In particular, we dive into two incredible issues: UTOSM #16, which shows what Mary Jane Watson thought of Peter (and Spidey) before they met, and also UTOSM Annyal '96, which has the web-head go on a date with The Invisible Girl. These two issues have everything a great Spidey tale could have: action, humor, pathos, nerdiness, joy, severe punching and truthful emotional centers. We also go through some mail in which we find out we've made mistakes. But Will is still not convinced Matt Murdock has a personality. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

A team of villains who sometimes maybe kinda want to be heroes? One of the great series in recent decades. The Milksops get into Thunderbolts #1 with it tremendous twist ending that caught everyone unaware. We also talk about the series overall. It was born in a strange time in Marvel "history" when many of the big properties were removed from publication. Busiek turned this possible restriction into a feature. Also on display is Kurt's standard high level of story navigation: clear characters established quickly, smart plot twists and fun dialogue. It's one of those issues you read a second time the second you've finished it. Plus we get into some mail where as usual we are corrected on getting some facts wrong and we pick what a modern "Marvels" comic might focus on! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops begin their celebration / examination of legendary comics writer Kurt Busiek by doing a medium-depth dive on his breakout 1993 mini-series Marvels. With the stunningly realistic paintings of Alex Ross, Marvels was a critical and commercial hit that also proved that the classic Marvel characters and stories still worked in the collectors-edition froth of the early 1990s. The series established Kurt's knack for creating everyman characters who view the world of superheros from "street level." The Milksops argue that Marvels and Kurt's success also marked the beginning of a "back to basics" appraoch for Marvel comics stories after the constant showing revisions of the 1980s. Hey, fun. We also answer email, which is why this episode is a bit longer. Mail includes a question on the movie War Games, because this show doubles as Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About War Games. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts

To prepare for the new Disney+ show starring Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan incarnation), the Milksops do a crash course on her comic books! Despite just having debuted in Feburary 2014 (besides a fast cameo in 2013), Ms. Marvel has gotten a lot of development and appearances in that time. We go over her impressively strong debut, which includes the personality of Jersey City, her interesting conservative Muslim family, and cabal of surprising, supportive high school friends. We see a lot of Peter Parker in Kamala, with her joy and decency and missteps. We're intrigued by her Muslim background. We love the physical weirdness of her poly-morphism -- very Kirby, we think. We don't love the Inhmans origin (too complicated) and don't love her as much on teams (too competent, you heard us), and have yet to be grabbed by the recent "space stories" run. But we think this character is a hit and are excited for the show. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subs

The Milksops break from their tendency to talk about 80s and 90s comics to focus on the latest MCU release: Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Their take: it's good? We get into what Kevin didn't like about the first one, and why he likes this one better. We also get into: guest character appearances, our assessment of the films visuals and actions, rating its villain, the impact on the story of the MCU as a whole and along the way Kevin spoils Citizen Kane! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Two issues of bliss, two issues of blah -- that's how the Milksops see these issues. We get a fun look at Rogue and Storm's friendly in 185, followed by the double-sized Barry Windsor-Smith pencilled epic of Storm and Forge falling in love with each other! They're each fun, intriguing, exciting issues of the X-Men. And then we get two completely confusing issues where they face off against an alien race called the Dire Wraiths who come from the Marvel title ROM, which was one of those toy-first-comics-later comics that often doesn't work (Transformers, you get a pass). We also talk a lot about superstar artists George Perez and Neal Adams who sadly recently passed away. They each were impactful for their work as artists and work behind the scenes as human beings! In the mailbags portion, we pick an all-bald super-powered basketball team and talk about digital vs print comics! You can't miss this ep! --                 SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmai

A terrific run of Claremont issues. We have the charming "Young Dragons in Love" where we see Japan bring out its standing anti-Monster forces to stop a lovesick dragon from destroying Tokyo. Rogue loses track of which of her memories are really hers when she rescues an ex-boyfriend (we think) of Carol Danvers. Wolverine takes Colossus out to maybe beat him up for dumping Kitty Pryde and instead just lets casual clothes wearing Juggernaut beat him up. And finally Rachel Summers, the daughter of Scott and Jean from another timeline arrives in our present to , we presume, save the world. Hey, pretty fun. We still get some Kevin hot takes, don't you worry. In the mailbag, we get suggestions of what we should cover in future Crash Courses, a defense of the "a hero is someone who always gets up" trope from a fellow Danburian, and Kevin and Will talk about how they always seem to get along? is it a hoax????? __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscri

In this X-issues we see a lot of cool stuff but also Professor X playing basketball in X-themed athletic wear, which is..... I can't decide what that is. Great? Silly? Fun? In other events, we see Kitty almost get married, and Caliban reveals he can be good. Nightcrawler continues being a doctor, and Rogue is more and more accepted into the team. Scott continues to be married to an almost maybe kinda clone of his dead girlfriend. John Romita Jr. is the regular artist now, and in one issue is inked by his own dad! Interesting! In the mailbags portion, we get more trivia questions and one reader has a hilarious explanation for Karen Page's behavior in the Born Again storyline. --               SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Three pretty great X-Men issues where we the mutants deal with getting used to Rogue, meeting Scott's Jean Grey-clone(?) fiance and Wolverine investigating why he was left at the altar! Also Will is so exhausted that he keeps calling Nightcrawler "Wolverine" which is insane! Then we cover Annual 7 which is, depending on your mood, either deligtfully silly meta in-joke fun where ou see the Marvel Bullpen, or maybe just totally dumb and who cares? Why do annuals exist? Then we cover the mail where we learn about Bantam, the not-at-all Batman character from Marvel, and the Milksops get called out for being hypocrites about thinking it's funny how much Marvel characters call each other cowards. --               SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The mutants return to fight the villain they are most known for fighting: Count Dracula! Wha....? Okay, so it's not a standard X-villain, but this is a better story than the count's previous X-appearance. We then get into the arrival of a terrific legendary X-man: Rogue. And right on the heels of that the (near) wedding of Wolverine and Mariko. In typical Claremont era fashion, the story's plots are insanely complicated and hard to summarize, but the character moments are moving and terrific. There's a great Rogue/Wolverine team up sequence and Professor X is..... not around until everything is solved? In the mailbag section, we talk about switching heroes' Rogue Gallery, picking the most important non-super people in the comics universe and hear a million listeners tell us we forgot to pick Maus as the third big comics event of the mid-1980s. Consider us properly shamed! --               SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcas

The big finish of the Born Again saga. We've got: crazed super-soldier who always thinks he's in Vietnam, corrupt generals and police commissioners and police, Matt Murdock cooking amazing burgers, the return of wearing a superhero costume, and oh yeah the Avengers. And epic finish to a story that transformed the character and probably intimidated/inspired everyone writing superhero comics in the whole world! Our take: we like it. --               SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Born Again saga begins jumping from character to character faster and faster, but Miller's taut prose and Mazzuchelli's deft art keep everything feeling smooth. Matt is healing, Ben Urich is scared and the not scared, Karen is on the run and then not on the run and Foggy has a bowling ball. We talk about how fearsome the Kingpin is despite his ridiculous habit of beating up scores of employees in karate gis. The Daily Bugle scenes are so beautiful and cinematic that you almost want the whole comic to take place there. And we make an argument that drug dealer/murderer Paolo is the accidental hero of some twisted version of this tale. --               SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify