Podcast The Classy Comics Podcast

Catwoman and Batman are engaged but they have to settle some old business and also a double date with Superman and Lois Lane.Affiliate link included. Transcript:Graham:Batman and Catwoman go into the desert on a secret mission and then they go on a double date with Superman and Lois Lane. Find out more as we take a look at Batman Vol 5: Rules of Engagement, straight ahead.[Intro Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham.Graham:Rules of Engagement is a really interesting Batman book about Tom King. It really doesn't hinge on the fight scenes or the big action sequences you saw, particularly during the first three volumes of Tom King’s run and, of course, a little bit in The War of Jokes and Riddles. This is much more a character-based book. It collects issues 33 to 37 of Batman along with Batman Annual #2. The first part of the book is issues 33 to 35 and the story, Rules of Engagement, in which Batm

Superboy and Robin team up to train and then travel to an alternate universe, and then they get their own lair.Affiliate link includedTranscript:Graham:The Super Sons travel to another dimension and get a brand spanking new headquarters. Find out all about it as we take a look at Super Sons: Vol 2: Planet of the Capes, straight ahead.[Intro Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham.Graham:The Super Sons, originally, they came up with a sort of imaginary stories idea back in the Bronze Age of comics where Superman and Batman had each had sons that fought crime together and did buddy things but generally as adult grown up sons but in the D.C. Rebirth world Batman and Superman have actual juvenile sons and so the Super Sons series follows their adventures together. The second volume collects issues 6 through 10 of the series. First up is the four-part Planet of the Capes story. The Kents are slowly eas

The most forgettable member of the Silence returns in the conclusion of the Sapling saga.Affiliate link included.Transcript:Graham:The doctor encounters a world with all the marks of Time Lord interference and then he and Alice have to have a final confrontation with the scream as the story of the sapling comes to an end as we take a look at Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor The Sapling Volume 3 – Branches, straight ahead.[Intro Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham.Graham:This volume collects four issues of Titans 11th Doctor Comics issues 9 and 11 through 13 and there are two stories in it. The first is Strange Loops, which finds the Tardis arriving on the planet Zoline, which the last time the Doctor had been on this world, it was pre-industrial. A special mask is required in order to breathe the air. The Doctor is having some strange reactions and so he sets out to find out what's going on and

Supergirl battles a bunch of villains we don't care about, gets a new status quo, and then goes to Mongolia to have a trilingual adventure.Affiliate link included.Transcript:Graham:Supergirl's powers surge out of control as she faces the Fatal Five as we look at Supergirl: The Girl of No Tomorrow, straight ahead.[Intro Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham.Graham:This is the third volume of Supergirl stories under the D.C. Rebirth label and this has some callbacks to the previous volumes. Volume 2 ended on a cliffhanger with her seeming to be shot by Katherine Grant. However, she wasn't actually shot by Kat Grant. As Volume 3 starts, we found out that Kat was giving a speech elsewhere. The person who shot her and was pretending to be Miss Grant was none other than the sorceress Selena. However, what she did shoot Supergirl with, has caused her powers to rage out of control. Something that has n

The Torch is dead, but he's an android so how does that work? It's the best Mad Thinker story ever as Toro and the Torch return.Affiliate link included.Transcript below:Graham: How can an android be dead? Get ready to flame on as we take a look at The Torch by Mike Carey, straight ahead. Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham.Host:Most people know Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four as the Human Torch. However, he was not the first character in Marvel Comics to bear that name. Actually, the original Human Torch, presented first on the front cover of Marvel Mystery Comics number 1, was an android. An android named Jim Hammond. During the Golden Age of comics, he fought crime in a wide variety of different Marvel magazines and he also made a brief comeback along with Namor and Captain America in the mid-1950s. The 1970 series, the invaders told of how Namor, Captain America, and the human torch along with

Barry Allen and Wally West continue their groundbreaking adventures as they travel through time and battle epic villains like Captain Boomerang for the first time and a team up with the Green Lantern.Affiliate link included.Transcript:Graham: The Flash is tied to a giant boomerang, twice and Kid Flash travels back to pre-historic times, twice. We'll talk about it, straight ahead in The Flash: The Silver Age Volume 2.Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham.Graham:As I discussed in a previous episode after many of the great superhero franchises of the Golden Age flamed out in the late 40s and early 50s, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman remain the really only consistent games in town when it came to superheroes. However, that changed when D.C. introduced Barry Allen as the Flash in Showcase number 4. The Flash was successful and with the Scarlet Speedster’s success, many more superheroes would be added to

Come back to the late 1960s as the JLA/JSA battle strange black spheres and the sinister Dr. T.O. Morrow. Affiliate link included.Transcript:Host: Get ready for universe spanning crisis as we take a look at Crisis on Multiple Earths Volume Two, straight ahead.[Into Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham. Host:During the Silver Age of D.C. Comics, as we discussed in another episode, a multiverse was established to exist with, particularly in the beginning, there being Earth-1 which was the home of the ongoing main D.C. Universe characters and then there was Earth-2 a parallel Earth with many similarities and a very similar history but with Golden Age heroes including Golden Age versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman who fought in World War two and contained the D.C.'s Golden Age characters including the Justice Society of America. As part of this multiverse those universes crossed over tim

Batgirl solves a mystery at the local swimming pool and then reveals a dark secret.Affiliate link included.Transcript:Graham: Barbara Gordon investigates ghost in a local swimming pool and then has to face some ghosts from her past. Join us as we take a look Batgirl Volume 3: Summer of Lies, straight ahead.[Into Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham.Graham:I have to admit, prior to this volume, I was about on the verge of giving up on Batgirl and somewhat bummed that Batgirl and the Birds of Prey was being cancelled because to me that was the better book. First two volumes have been kind of directionless and have not really taken good advantage of the character but they intrigued me enough that I gave this one more try. So, Volume 3 of Batgirl is called Summer of Lies and it collects six issues. It features issues twelve through seventeen. The book starts off with issue twelve, which has Batgirl

Captain Marvel gets a new haircut and takes command of a team of Candian Superheroes…IN SPACE!Transcript:Graham: Captain Marvel gets a haircut and a new look and also takes command of a space station. We'll talk about it ahead as we take a look at Captain Marvel: The Rise of Alpha Flight.Announcer:Welcome to the Classic Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho here is your host Adam Graham. Graham:After a critically acclaimed, if not always commercially successful, run on Captain Marvel, Kelly Deconnick left the book and the series was taken over by Tara Butters who wrote the Agent Carter series. So, we’ll take a look at what she did in this book Captain Marvel: The Rise of Alpha Flight which covers issues one through five of the relaunch Captain Marvel series. Captain Marvel is Carol Danvers who began her career as Miss Marvel back in the 1970s. We reviewed Essential Miss Marvel Volume 1 talking about that series while she was a lot of identities became Miss Marvel

DC Superheroes crossover with Looney Tunes so get ready for Bugs Bunny meets the Legion of Superheroes, Lobo takes on the Road Runner, and get ready for the newest noir classic, Batman v. Elmer Fudd. Affiliate link included.Transcript:Graham: Be very, very quiet. We’re reviewing comic crossovers. Join us as we take a look at D.C. meets Looney Tunes straight ahead.[Intro Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho here is your host Adam Graham. Graham:The idea of the D.C. meets Looney Tune series was pretty simple. Essentially, you would have a 30-page story that was told more in a typical D.C. comics style and then after that you'd have about an 8-page story that was much more Looney Tunes and cartoony. So, the trade paperback of D.C. meets Looney Tunes contains all 6 issues and so we start out. The first issue is Legion of Super-Heroes/Bugs Bunny Special #1. This story really does seem like it is probably not set with the modern-d

I revisit the first graphic novel I read, "The Untold Legend of the Batman" as well as Len Wein's other later Batman work including Batman meets Grizzly Adams (sort of).Affiliate link included.Transcript below:Graham: We take a look at the first graphic novel I ever read and a few more of Len Wein’s Batman tales as we conclude our look at Tales of the Batman: Len Wein. Straight ahead.[Into Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham. Graham:Concurrently with Wein’s run on Batman the last three months, there was a mini-series released called Untold Legends of the Batman. It was actually only the second mini-series that D.C. Comics had created. The first was 1979’s mini-series, World of Krypton. This Untold Legends of the Batman, kind of serve to really cement what Batman's origin story had been because there has been a lot of conflicting tales, imaginary tales. There was information in various books an

A look at Len Wein's Bat-murderer saga in the early 1970s. Then in the later 1970s, Wein became the writer of Batman and introduced a love interest in the form of Selina Kyle.Affiliate link included.Transcript below:Graham: Can Batman survive the danger posed by such foes as Ra’s al Ghul and Signalman? We'll tell you all about it next as we take a look at Tales of the Batman: Len Wein straight ahead.[Into Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise Idaho, here is your host Adam Graham. Graham:Len Wein was one of those really great comic book readers tied into a lot of things was a co-creator of Swamp Thing and also of Wolverine as well as helping to revamp the X-Men and was rightly inducted into the comic book Hall of Fame in 2008, passed away in 2017. Today we're taking a look at Tales of the Batman: Len Wein, which collects his work on the Cape Crusader. These range from one off appearance in Detective Comics to his own run as writer o

The Titans try to figure out who's the traitor on the team.Affiliate link included.Transcript:Graham: It's time for the Titans to root out the traitor. Find out all about it as we take a look at Titans Volume 3: A Judas Among Us.Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best Comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham. Graham:The Titans have been around for 50 years in either the form of the Teen Titans, the original teen from the 1960s, with sidekicks for Batman, the Flash and Aquaman to the present day. There have been a lot of iterations of this. One of the more popular ones are the Titans, which are the original Teen Titans, people who knew each other since they were kids, now fighting together as adults, young adults. The Titans disappeared in the New 52. In Titans Rebirth, it was revealed that their memories had been stolen and Wally's return helped them to remember who they were and come together as a team with old Wally West, a big part of the

The Doctor goes to Antartic and finds Vikings, Ice Warriors and a ton of continuity. Affiliate link included.Transcript:Graham: The Doctor arrives in Antarctica to find Vikings and a whole mass of old continuity and then faces a greater challenge when he takes Bill shopping. We'll tell you all about it as we take a look at Dr Who: The Twelfth Doctor – The Wolves of Winter. Straight ahead.Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best Comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham. Host:We're now to the point in the Twelfth Doctor comics continuity where he began to travel with his series 10 companion Bill Potts and they continued on to some adventures in the comics rather than going with one-off comic-only companions. This book contains 4 issues and 2 different stories. The first is a 3-issue story the titular Wolves of Winter, where the Doctor arrives right after Vikings land in Antartica fleeing other Vikings and wanting to protect their treasure and pr

An old enemy returns and why the Kents left Hamilton County.Affiliate link included.Transcript:There's something weird going on in Hamilton County when Batman comes to town. Find out more about it as we take a look at Superman Volume 4: Black Dawn. Straight ahead.[Intro Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham. D.C. Rebirth began with Clark Kent and family living in Hamilton County. Clark running a farm with Lois getting rehired to the Planet, first impersonating her younger self and then made the actual Lois Lane with the advance of Superman Reborn, where the 2 timelines were merged. She, and now Clark, have jobs in Metropolis and so, eventually, it’s going to require moving there. I think this has always been in the offing. As much as I like the idea of Clark Kent, rural farmer who super commutes as Superman, I think that these things in comics, there tends to be a gravitational pull back toward

A look at several comics that are great for kids. Transcript:Host:Today we take a look at 7 series of comics and graphic novels that are great for kids. Straight ahead. Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham. Host:When I was growing up, my dad didn't actually let me read superhero comics and I think that there was actually good reason for that. There’s a lot of comic material out they are that's dark and gritty and just not very appropriate for kids to read but if you're a fan of comics and you'd like to introduce that to your kids and you want something that's not going to expose them to a lot of dark, violent stuff as well as sexual content that you don't really want them introduced to, it can be a challenge. So today, we're going to go ahead and take a look at some comics and comic series that are good for kids and I should note in talking about this that in addition to comics that are really you k

A look at some later Lois Lane adventures as part of a celebration of 75 years of Lois Lane.Affiliate link included. Transcript below:Graham: I look at some more modern day Lois Lane comics as we continue our look at Lois Lane, A celebration of 75 Years straight ahead.Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham. Graham:Well the first comic featured in part 3 of this book, is actually from Man of Steel Number 2. It is the John Byrne mini-series which relaunched Superman post-crisis and provided new detailed origin stories for Superman and his world. And I will say this, while John Byrne can be criticized for some of the elements he introduced for Superman, I think both this and also the story for Lois Lane that he plotted in Action Comics 600, which is also included in here, is really a grand story and does quite a bit of justice to Lois. The story does have some comedy to it, as she is just desperately try

A look at Lois Lane's early appearances beginning at Action Comics #1. Affiliate link included. Transcript:Graham: Today we salute Lois Lane and as we take a look at Lois Lane: A Celebration of 75 Years straight ahead.[Intro Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham. Graham:D.C. Comics has, several times, created cross decade collections focusing on a single character. Probably the first time was in the late 1980s where they released The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told and The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told and they also released similar compilations for the Golden Age and Silver Age in imaginary stories. And then the early part of the 21st century, they revived the Greatest Stories Ever Told line but this time with more characters: Batgirl, Wonder Woman and Shazam, but many of us question these. I say many of us, at least me and several reviewers online. We took a look at Shazam: The Greate

Dick Grayson goes through relationship problems, which are far worse than Nigthwing having to battle a boatload of supervillains.Affiliate link include.Transcript:Host: Nightwing takes on a ship full of supervillains, from stem to stern, and then faces his former espionage colleagues in a battle for his life but could the worst thing going for Dick Grayson be his relationship problems? We'll tell you all about it next as we look at Nightwing volume 4 Blockbuster straight ahead.[Into Music]Announcer:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best Comics in the universe from Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham. Host: During the New 52, Dick Grayson went through an era where he was no longer a superhero or Nightwing but rather a secret agent for Spyral because spies are known for their very punny use of names. However, with D.C. Rebirth, Dick Grayson returned to the role of Nightwing at the first book better than Batman. It’s really good but in current adventures you can probably start

The Flash's power is out of control and the wonky artwork isn't helping.Affiliate link include.Transcript below:Another volume of The Flash is out. Does that mean more sorrow, suffering and anguish for Barry Allen. Find out as we look at The Flash: Volume Five Negative, straight ahead.Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.The Flash is the comic series that I've been reading the longest. It was actually the only series I regularly read during DCs New Fifty-Two era, and I liked a lot of the ideas Josh Williamson came up with in the early Issues of the series. But it seems like the series has taken a slightly more negative turn with Kid Flash breaking away from Barry. Of course, Kid Flash – in this case the the younger Wally West – and in the last volume he faced Reverse Flash and ended up winning, but Iris learned his secret identity, feels very betrayed and at the same time he received powers from the Negative