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

It's a bit of a valley in the X-Men saga, as we take a breath after the Death of Phoenix and before Days of Future Past. We get a funeral, a recap of... the entire X-men comics run, Kitty Pryde showing up to an empty mansion, a Wolverine/Nightcrawer trip to the world's richest government (Canada) and also real quick a trip to hell. In the mailbag, we get into X-adaptations, old cartoons and comic books filing systems! --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

One of the Milksops' dream guests, J.M. DeMatteis graces the podcast this epsiode! J.M.'s credits in comics are vast: he had several long runs on Spider-Man (including the legendary series "Kraven's Last Hunt"), the dialogue writer on Justice League International (which was one of the funniest superhero comics ever, not that it was comedy, but still), Captain America, Moonshadow, Blood -- not to mention writing several episodes of animated series Justice League, Superman and others. J.M. asked to talk about Silver Surfer #3 from 1968. Written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Buscema, it's a philosophical, spiritual and trippy story --- no surprise that J.M. connected with it, given his long run of emotionally powerful comics stories. We were thrilled to have him! Oh, and he has a great John Lennon story which he DID NOT TELL US! --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Death of Phoenix. Truly one of the milestone stories in modern superhero comics, and it still hits hard, even for the Milksops who are reading the full arc for the first time this year! --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops interview Chris Claremont, author of Marvel's X-Books for something like 17 years, and then some. We get into how he got hired by Stan Lee in the early 1970s, what Marvel was like at that time, the decision behind the Death of Phoenix, the challenges of writing comics these days, his priorities while writing comics, and more! --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Enter: The Hellfire Club. Also enter: "radiation" heroes as stand-ups, mutants as improvisers; the abundance of alleys in Marvel's NYC; the debut of Kitty Pryde; and one of the most famous Wolverine panels to have ever happened! Plus the mail: we pitch some "What Ifs?", Kevin has an idea for The Incredibles 3 and wondering how the mutants will fit into the MCU. --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Alex Segura, who's written and edited in various capacities for Archie, DC and many others (in addition to writing terrific crime novels) joins us to analyze Amazing Spider-Man #350, in which Erik Larsen draws an epic battle between Spidey and the very normally named Doctor Doom! --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops arrive at the Proteus saga, and notice that the already-great X-Men series is levelling up in quality. Multiple storylines intersect with a powerful villain to create tension, action and drama. Phoenix is powering up. The Hellfire Club arrives. Moira Mctaggert returns, as does her ex-husband. Colossus' inferiority complex goes away, and Wolverine remains his fun and brutal self. Our take: this comic is goddamn good. Plus the mail! --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

A catch-up issue where everyone catches their breath, then Arcade throws everyone into a giant pinball machine, and then oh yeah some guy named Arkon from another dimension or something shows up and fights and then befriends the X-Men! Kevin compares these comics to old Kirby FFs. Will likes the Wild West and confirms the least surprising thing ever: he has a crush on Storm. Plus the mail! --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The X-Men go up against the most powerful enemy: the insanely well-funded secret Canadian super-hero program. Enter ALPHA FLIGHT! --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

A big episode for a big event: the wrap-up of Superior Spider-Man. One of the all-time great Spidey comics comes to a thundering, epic, emotionally devastating close. The Milksops first wrap up the arcs that precede the finish: Spider-Man 2099, Stunner and Venom. But then they spend a full hour on the final two issues of the series. Dan Slott and company deliver the goods in Spidey-Otto's final hour. --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The X-Men (most of them) make it to the Savage Land. The Milksops talk about the trope of hidden lands with dinosaurs in them, people who look like they've read Lord of the Rings but haven't, and try to figure out what the deal was with The Petrified Man. Plus lots of email! --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Over these issues, Spidey-Otto evolved into full super villain mode. He gets a lair, henchmen and even a giant robot. The Milksops discuss this, as well as some MCU talk and Will's plan to play the Thing in an FF movie as an homage to Fat Bastard from Austin Powers. --     SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

John Byrne is on-board and the X-Men stories are getting wilder, weirder and even more fun. We've got circus sideshows, robot nannies and Colossus saying "Lenin's Ghost" a whole lot more. Plus the Milksops read some email, with a very funny example of Moon Knight announcing his name before punching a bad guy out! --   SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Things go from bad to worse for Ghost Peter as Spidey-Otto discovers his existence. We get into the many ways that Dan Slott keeps this story emotionally interesting, with surprising plot twists and oh yeah, the art is great too. Plus a great cover, dare we say iconic, of Peter and Otto fighting inside of Spidey's brain! -- SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

Barely 12 issues into their run and the X-men battle with approximiately 100 newish characters and save the universe. We get into: Claremont and Cockrum putting themselves in the issue, the joy of new characters, the speed with which Claremont and team are changing the X-universe, Cockrum's insanely good costume design and the arrival of little rookie artist John Byrne. Also we answer a million emails. Plus: Screw It We're Just Gonna Talk About War Games returns! -- SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

More tales of Spidey-Otto! The milksops get into seeing which ways Otto is a more efficient Spidey and the many ways in which he is worse. Some hot takes from Kevin on how modern comics kills people too easily, without good enough story reasons. As usual we disagree with the readers who thought this series glorified or somehow approved of Otto -- it most definitely does not. -- SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

We're not far into Chris Claremont's X-Men run and things are happening FAST: Storm and Jean Grey are best friends, the X-Men have gone on vacation for the second time in a year, the Sentinels are back and Marvel Girl becomes Phoneix? So much! We talk about: old comics' tendency to RUSH everything (on the team for 2 issues: best friends), the weird decisions to bring back lame villains from X-Men 1.0. But also there's the good: romance and passion, terrific writing -- like literal wordsmithing, great costumes, and fast-piling sub plots. And we answer email! -- SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The new normal: Otto Octavious is Spider-Man. What could have been a single issue is being played out into a multi-year regular series! We start to see the ramifications of Otto as a man determined to be the best Spider-Man ever: robot spies, new tech for defeating baddies, more merciless beatings... and this all sometimes works? The Milksops dive in! -- SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops introduce a new episode format: Mutants and Mailbag. For half the episode the cover the early Chris Claremont run of Marvel's X-Men (which they are embarrassed to admit they have never read before) and then for the other half they catch up on mail! In this ep, we go over Giant Size X-Men #1 and X-Men #94-97 --- seismic issues that would transform Marvel Comics forever! -- SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops get into one of the most-requested series from our fans: 2012's Superior Spider-Man, in which Spidey and Doctor Octopus switch bodies! In this episode we go over the three issues of Amazing Spider-Man where the story started, before it kicked off into its own series for thirty or so issues. Will is won over right away. Kevin talks about how he had to read the first issue a second time immediately after finishing it once. Fun! Scary! Cool! -- SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify