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 becau...
Nov 30, 2022•1 hr•Season 11Ep. 22
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 rece...
Nov 23, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 11Ep. 21
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...
Nov 16, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 11Ep. 20
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...
Nov 09, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 11Ep. 19
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...
Nov 02, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 11Ep. 18
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 h...
Oct 26, 2022•59 min•Season 11Ep. 17
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 ...
Oct 19, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 11Ep. 16
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...
Oct 12, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Season 11Ep. 15
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...
Oct 05, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 11Ep. 14
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 covera...
Sep 28, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 11Ep. 13
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 tha...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 11Ep. 12
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 unaffe...
Sep 07, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 11Ep. 11
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 becau...
Aug 31, 2022•53 min•Season 11Ep. 10
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 Subs...
Aug 17, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 11Ep. 9
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 t...
Aug 10, 2022•53 min•Season 11Ep. 8
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...
Aug 03, 2022•47 min•Season 11Ep. 7
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...
Jul 20, 2022•54 min•Season 11Ep. 6
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 cor...
Jul 13, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Season 11Ep. 5
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 ...
Jul 06, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 11Ep. 4
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 c...
Jun 29, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 11Ep. 3
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 e...
Jun 22, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 11Ep. 2
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...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Season 11Ep. 1
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 Park...
Jun 08, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 10Ep. 21
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: ...
May 25, 2022•45 min•Season 10Ep. 20
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-...
May 18, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 10Ep. 19
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 ...
May 11, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Season 10Ep. 18
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 ink...
May 04, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Season 10Ep. 17
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...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Season 10Ep. 16
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. Th...
Apr 20, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Season 10Ep. 15
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: @ScrewItCo...
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Season 10Ep. 14
