Podcast The Classy Comics Podcast

Batman has a terrifying team up with the Phantom Strangler, is paralyzed and has to rely on his team and dumb luck, and then has to team up with Sgt. Rock to battle Satan-or is it Hitler or both?Affiliate link added.Transcript below:Batman teams up with Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Metamorpho, and of course his old buddy, Sergeant Rock. We'll talk about it as we examine ‘Legends of the Dark Knight: Jim Aparo Volume One', straight ahead.Recently, DC has released a lot of books that have reprinted Batman comics from the 1970s and early 80s when a lot of them had been reprinted. Certainly, when I really got into reading through the trades they weren't around a whole lot. One series of ‘Legend of the Dark Knight' books focused on Jim Aparo, who a lot of people tend to overlook but was actually very influential on artists that followed. And I noticed that my library through Hoopla had access to that book, and that had a lot of the same titles as in the Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold, and even more. Though we'l

Batman team-ups from the 1970s including Batman tries to exorcize himself of the ghost of a Portuguese sailor, trying to foster mutual understanding between adults and some well-intentioned teenagers who are holding Gotham City hostage with a nuclear bomb!And will the Metal Men refuse to help Batman because of robot lib?Affiliate link added. Transcript below:Batman joins forces with the fastest man alive! Killers[?] from another dimension and three random British people. We'll tell you all about it as we look at Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold: Batman Team Ups Volume Two.Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here's your host, Adam Graham.I love a good team up book and DC was kind of the leader in getting those started. They had the original monthly team up between Batman and Superman in World's Finest. In the Silver Age they took Brave and the Bold, what had been a series with a colored past and various formats – more recently a tryout

We take a look at Gambit's first appearance and his first mini-series preceded by a completely pointless comic with a flying alien.Affiliate link included.Transcript follows:Find out about Gambit's first comic book appearances as we take a look at Gambit Classic: Volume One straight ahead.Gambit Classic: Volume One was the book that I'd hoped to get for my inter-library loan request last year, and I talked about the book I got instead on our second and third episodes. This book collects Gambit's earliest appearance on Uncanny X-Men, and then his first mini-series. He appeared in Issue 266 of The Uncanny X-Men. So, of course this book collects Issues 265 to 267.Issue 265 is one I really could have done without reading. After the initial appearances in 266 and 267, Marvel put a page of exposition to explain his entire tenure with the X-Men over two year prior to the mini-series. It seems like the relevant parts of Issue 265 could have just as easily been summarized. The relevant part is that at this time Storm

Find out who breaks up the Green Lantern Corps/Sinestro Corps alliance as we look at Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, Volume 4: FracturesAffiliate link included.Transcript below:Breaking up isn't hard to do, not when you're two enemy factions trying to forge a fragile peace, and Kyle Rayner ticks off the one person who can send it all into a tailspin. We'll tell you all about it next as we look at Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, Volume Four: Fractures. 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.‘Fractures' is the fourth volume of the Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps trade for the current series. It collects issues Twenty-Two through Twenty-Nine, and contains two separate four-part stories. First up is ‘Fractures', and to explain this story a little bit of continuity in the series. The Green Lantern Corps was thought to have disappeared from the galaxy, and Sinestro, a longtime enemy of the Corps

A look at Jan Van Meter's 21st Century updated take on Black Lightning's origin story.Affiliate link included.Transcript:"Justice like lightning should ever appear, to some men hope, to other men fear." We're taking a look at Black Lightning, Year One, coming up next.Black Lightning was created by Tony Isabella in 1977. Black Lightning, Year One was published in 2009 and is a modern updating of Black Lightning's origin stories. The reason this was done is that he was introduced prior to Crisis on Infinite Earth where the DC Universe could be rebooted, and its continuity simplified so that that would never happen again. And about twenty-five years later they had to do it again.The original origin story from the 1970s really worked pretty well for the most part. The story was that Jefferson Pierce, a gold medal Olympian, returned to his old high school – Garfield High in a suicide slum in Metropolis – to serve as a high school teacher; and the murder of one of his students leads him to become Black Lightning an

Proto-borgs, a space race, James T. Kirk, slave trader, and a trip to the 20th Century for some fan service. That's what ahead and more in today's review of Star Trek Newspaper strips.Affiliate link included.Transcript below:Space, the Final Frontier! These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her four-year mission: to help promote Star Trek movies in newspapers all around America. Learn more when we take a look at Star Trek: The Newspaper Comics Volume 2, straight ahead.  It's amazing the number of properties that have appeared as newspaper strips. Some we wouldn't be surprised by comic books, but daily and Sunday strips were oftentimes seen as a great way to adapt a property. Many obvious superheroes such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman have been in the comic strips along with characters like Blondie and the Peanuts gang. There was even a series of Stars Wars comic strips. In conjunction with the release of the first Star Trek movie, Star Trek launched newspapers across America with the crew app

Adam Graham discusses how to legally read comics for free. Legal sources for free comics include the library, library services such as Hoopla, Overdrive, and Comics Plus. Also, there is NetGalley and Comixology has a free comics selection.Transcript:Do you want to read comic books and graphic novels for free? We'll tell you how, 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.Today is one of those non-review shows where we take a look at a topic that's really worth pursuing. There are a lot of people who like comics and superheroes and sci-fi franchises, but they can't afford to read as many books as they might like. And this episode is going to show you legal ways, and I want to underline that, legal ways to read comics for free. Now, of course, there are people out there who will pirate anything, but I strictly discourage that. As somebody who writes things and does podcast, it is just not appropriate t

Superman barely has time to adjust to his latest retcon before a team of malcontent supervillains form the new Superman Revenge Squad and declare war on him.Affiliate link included.Transcript:Superman faces his revenge squad and we take a look at it in Superman Action Comics Volume Four: The New World. The return of Superman has been one of the big pluses of the DC Rebirth Event. The DC Universe was rebooted in 2011, more than a quarter century after the last full Universal Rebirth in Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the 1990s Superman married Lois Lane but the younger Clark Kent under The New 52 Universe was a single man, allowing writers to explore the possibility of things such as a relationship with Wonder Woman. In The New 52 event ‘Convergence' it was revealed that the post-Crisis Superman had actually survived along with Lois, and that they had had a son. In the eight-part mini-series ‘Superman: Lois and Clark' written by Dan Jurgens it's revealed that they made it to The New 52 earth, but that Superman d

It's World War II and Namor declares offensive war on Japan, sometimes very offensive. He also finds time to work undercover at a lumber company and fighting underwater pirate Nazis because Golden Age. Meanwhile the Angel fights crime in a loud costume that doesn't enhance his abilities or hide his identity also because golden age.Affiliate link included. Transcript below:GrahamPrince Namor or declares war on Japan. Find out all about it as we take a look at Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner, Vol. 1, 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 Golden Age of Marvel Comics is not quite as celebrated as D.C. Comics Golden Age and there's some reason for that. D.C.'s greatest heroes Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, all had their beginning during those years in the late 30s and early 40s and the Justice Society of America was a big crossover event featuring a lo

Batgirl, Huntress, and Black Canary battle a metahuman who is turning other metahumans deadly, find out the truth behind the new Oracle, and battle a pair of evil realtors. Along the way Nightwing, Green Arrow, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy guest star.Affiliate link included.Transcript:Graham:Brace for adventure with the ladies of Gotham as the Birds of Prey fly into another adventure. Today we're taking a look at Batgirl and the Birds of Prey Volume 2: Source Code, coming right up.[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:Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast. Be sure and check out our website classiccomicsguy.com, email me at classiccomicsguy@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter at classiccomicsguy The Birds of Prey began in 1995. In the post crisis universe, Barbara Gordon was put in a wheelchair by the Joker, thus ending her career as Batgirl. However, she found a new career as Oracle. He

Can the Twelfth Doctor and a punk rocker from the 40th Century stop a seaweed monster on the loose in a 1970's English village?Affiliate link included.Transcript: GrahamCan a Punk Rocker save a 1970s English town from destruction? Find out as we take a look at Doctor Who – The Twelfth Doctor: Time Trials Vol. 1: The Terror Beneath.[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. Host:Welcome back. As I mentioned in my previous Twelfth Doctor review, after Clara Oswald left, the Twelfth Doctor had two adventures with Hattie Monroe, a 40th century punk rocker who the Doctor met on the Twist, a figure eight shaped world ship. The book opens with the Doctor finishing a pretty cool mission, from what it looks like, involving the return of the Quarks to an undersea location before leaving to check on Hattie at the Twist. When he first met Hattie, she was an aspiring punk rock star. Now she's made it big

The Eleventh Doctor and Alice have a baby…tree (I am not Groot.) while trying to thwart a member of the Silence who refuses to shut up.Affiliate link included. Transcript:Graham:The Eleventh Doctor and Alice and a baby tree makes three find out what it's all about as we take a look at Doctor Who – The Eleventh Doctor: The Sapling Volume 1: Growth in today's episode of the Classy Comics podcast.[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:As a reference before, Titan comics when they got the Doctor Who license launched series for the previous two doctors David Tennant's 10th Doctor and Matt Smith 11th doctor and gave each of them new set of companions, kind of to create a new era for them outside of the show and its continuity and what was going on there and indeed with the way the Eleventh Doctor was written popping in to see his first companion, Amy Pond, just every now and again, it wa

A look at the Seventh Doctor's earliest comic strips in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine as he battles the Ice Warriors, and lends a hand to a microscopic species.Transcript below:It's time to set your TARDIS time coordinates for 1987, then we're going to take a look at the start of the Seventh Doctor's comic run in Doctor Who Classics: Volume Seven just 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.As I mentioned in a previous podcast, going back to the late 1970s' Doctor Who Magazine was the home of Doctor Who comic strips, and this continued into the Seventh Doctor era. The Seventh Doctor was portrayed by Sylvester McCoy who took over at a very difficult time. Colin Baker had been fired as the Doctor at the request of the BBC – quite unfairly in my opinion – and hadn't actually appeared in a regeneration story with McCoy donning Baker's costume and a blond wig. Definitely a bumpy way to begin an on-television

In preparation for the Black Panther movie, we take a look at the beginning of Christopher Priest's 1998 influential run on Black Panther, Issues 1-17. Affiliate link included. Transcript follows:T'Challa fights evil in Wakanda, in the air and in Hell's Kitchen, while his State Department liaison tries to avoid getting hit by Bill Clinton with a hockey stick. I'll tell youall about it as we take a look at the beginning of Christopher Priest's run on Black Panther ahead in the Classy Comics Podcast.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.T'Challa, the Black Panther, was the first black superhero. He was introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four by Stanley and Jack Kirby back in 1966. He begins by kidnapping the Fantastic Four. Good heroic opening if I've ever heard of it, but it's only to test them to see if they would be able to help him with the problems he's going through in his nation of Wakanda. He later ma

Wrapping up our look at Peter Park's spectacular 1980s adventures in the pages of Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man, Volume 3. Affiliate link included. Transcript:If you want to view paradise, go to the suburbs? We'll talk about that and more as we continue our look at Essential Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, Volume Three.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.Welcome back to our look at Essential Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, Volume Three. There were not a ton of major villains who appeared in the book. I think more of the really heavy hitters tended to show up in Amazing Spider-Man; nevertheless you did have a few. Kraven and Electro were two major villains from Spiderman ‘s Silver Age; certainly Electro was not looked on as quite the big deal he had been back in the 1960s, although Kraven would have one of the best known Spider-Man story lines in just a few years. In T

Travel back to the early 1980s as we look at what made Spider-man's third series a worthwhile read in Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man, Volume 3 collecting Issues 54-74 and Annual #3. Affiliate link included. Transcript:Grab your web shooters and get ready for a trip back in time to the '80s as we take a look today at Essential Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man Volume Three.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.Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast, and today we take our first look at the Essential line for Marvel with Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man Volume Three. And this book collects Twenty-One issues of Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, Issues Fifty-Four to Seventy-Four, and Annual Number Three which featured cover dates from May of 1981 to January of 1983. Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man was actually the third Spider-Man series. Of course, Amazing Spider M

Adam Graham talks about the benefits and drawbacks of comic book trade paperbacks Transcript:Trade Paperbacks, threat or menace? Find out on today's episode of the Classy Comics Podcast.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. Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast from Boise, Idaho; this is your host Adam Graham. This is something I will try to do infrequently – mostly I want to be talking about comic books and trade paperbacks, but sometimes there can be a general comic topic that's worth a talk, particularly since part of my vision for the show is to talk to folks who are not necessarily been into collecting or reading for quite some time. When you say reading a comic book, people will often imagine you sitting there with their traditional comic book with its glossy cover held together by a staple or two, and generally with a few ads in there. I think of that specific experience I've only read one in all of 20

Tom King bids for an all-time great Batman story from Batman's second year as Batman fights the war of Jokes and Riddles. Affiliate link included.On today's podcast we're going to war. Join me as I take a look at The War of Jokes and Riddles by Tom King coming up next.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.There are many ways to tell a Batman story: there are the goofy stories of the Silver Age and the stories that are in the spirit of the 1966 TV show such as were published in the Batman Sixty-Six series by Jeff Parker, and then you have the darker crime stories which I think have dominated Batman for the better part of the past forty years. While we all love a light-hearted Batman tale I can also appreciate a good crime story featuring the world's greatest detective. There are, of course, many ways to make a bad Batman story – it's far easier to do so. Some of it is caused by the almost worshipful reverence t

We conclude our look at the second volume of Amazing Spider-man: Renew Your Vows. Can you really tell a good Venom story in two issues. Find out as Ryan Stegman clears the deck for a new creative team with issues 8-12 of Amazing Spider-man: Renew Your Vows.Affiliate link included.

Adam Graham takes a look at Amazing Spider-man: Renew Your Vows, Volume 2: The Venom Experiment with a look at the alternate universe Spider-Family and the reason they exist. He discusses Issues 6 and 7 as the Spider Family meets the X-men.Affiliate link included in this post. Transcript Below:Spiderman and family meet the X-Men, fight the Lizard and face a giant Green Goblin robot. Find out more about it on today's episode of the Classy Comics Podcast.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.Welcome to today's episode of the Classy Comics Podcast. If you have a comment email it to me classycomicsguy@gmail.com. Today we're going to be talking about the trade Amazing Spiderman: Renew Your Vows Volume Two: The Venom Experiment, collecting issues Six through Twelve of the ongoing Amazing Spiderman: Renew Your Vows series. So, what's this series about? To explain that you have to begin in the 1980s with the marriage.