We go over the first arc in the Ed Brubaker Catwoman series. Guess what: it's good! We've got: Darwyn Cooke art, film noir aesthetics, questions of good versus evil, a for-real supervillain, a little Batman which all adds up to a great story. __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify...
Jun 21, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 12Ep. 25
In this "one shot" episode (a name I just made up where we examine a topic separate from our current season) we take a break from Catwoman to discuss the topic of "shelf appeal." This means roughly the way comics look on the shelves of comic shops. We bring on former guest Casey Bruce, co-owner of Danger Room comics in Olympia, Washington to talk about the challenges facing shop owners when it comes to making their product look appealing to customers. There's packaging, what editions are availab...
Jun 14, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 12Ep. 24
We cover one of the all-time great comic book stories: Selina's Big Score. Written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke, this story is a masterpiece of crime fiction, active storytelling, redefining a classic character all with some of the prettiest art you could hope to see. There's echoes of crime fiction author Richard Stark in here (there's a character named after him), but also reminders of classic 1980s superhero crime stories by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and David Mazzuchelli. Truly a pleasure to r...
Jun 07, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 12Ep. 23
We begin our coverage of the Ed Brubaker / Darwyn Cooke era of Catwoman comics. We start with Trail of the Catwoman - written by Brubaker, drawn by Cooke.. Originally published in 2001 as a backup feature in Detective Comics, it's now collected with the solo Catwoman series that Brubaker and Cooke worked on. The plot of the story is that hard boiled private eye Slam Bradley (himself an actual golden age character from the pre-Batman Detective Comics) as he tries to determine if Selina Kyle is re...
May 31, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 12Ep. 22
The Milksops discuss the third installment in the MCU Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Kevin liked it more than Will, but Will admits that maybe he's just going through MCU fatigue, and he's not being fair. Both of us love that James Gunn got to finish this trilogy, and appreciate that he's kept the same tone and voice throughout the series. We talk about the challenge of balancing so many characters and places, and which characters have changed the most since the first movie in 2014. In our w...
May 24, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 12Ep. 21
The Milksops review "Marvel Comics Assistant Editor's Month," one of the first crossover events Marvel ever did. Here's what happened: For comics dated January 1984, readers were told that the assistant editors had been given reign over the content since the regular editors were away at San Diego ComicCon. Some comics took this as an excuse to do very far-out stories (Marvel Team-Up featured Galactus and Aunt May), whereas some did only very small changes (Moon Knight has a typewritten letter fr...
May 17, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 12Ep. 20
Milksop Brother Three Brian is back with a quiz of comics-related questions for his older brothers. "What's your favorite comic" type of questions, but these go way beyond that. We thought this was gonna be a mini-ep, but Kevin and Will spend so much time discussing things that we got to a full hour. But think about how you would pick YOUR Mount Rushmore of Comics, and see if you can answer quickly. AND you KNOW we've got some Loose Screws™! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics...
May 10, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 12Ep. 19
It's your Friendly Neightborhood... Mole Man?!?!?! Yes, kind of! The Thing and The Human Torch team up with Mole Man to defeat a Walt Disney-esque captain of industry who has gone completely nutso and wants to save the Earth with a plan which will unfortunately also destroy it! We also have a hugely long plug for the Comedy Bang-Bang (podcast) (book) in which Will wrote a piece as Morpheus. And in the mailbag, we answer questions about: Miracleman, the appeal of TMNT and much more! __ SHOW INFOR...
May 03, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 12Ep. 18
REED RICHARDS MUST DIE! Harsh, right? Or at least rude. Then again, Reed did save Galactus, who has a nasty habit of eating planets. So we have ourselves a legal conundrum as a council of aliens decide if Mr. Fantastic should be executed. The Watcher gets involved, which he's never supposed to do, yet always does. This is also "Assistant Editor's Month" in which Marvel allegedly lets its junior editors run the show. For the FF, that means that John Byrne himself is in the issue, to bear witness ...
Apr 26, 2023•58 min•Season 12Ep. 17
We've got three fairly Doom-tastic issues of the FF to go over. We get a day in the life of Doom running the show over in Latveria, and then a two-issue battle of Sue, Johnny and Ben vs. Terrax the Untamed (who's gotten his Power Cosmic back thanks to Doom). The FF end up winning, with the help of the Silver Surfer, but in the end one question remains: where the heck is Reed? Plus we get to some mail, where we cover 70s sci-fi recs, thoughts on Reed and Sue's romantic activites, how we would wra...
Apr 19, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 12Ep. 16
The Milksops 3 finish their coverage of Zot! with a humdinger of an issue: "Normal." Originally released as Zot #33, this tells the story of Jenny's best friend Terry coming to terms with her sexuality as a gay teenager in a very homophobic high school. Although it's aged very well, it still helps to remember this issue came out in 1990. As the rest of comicdom was about to embark on a bombastic era of variant covers, millions of X-books and the birth of hyper-active Image Comics, Scott McCloud ...
Apr 12, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Season 12Ep. 15
The Milksops Three continue their coverage of Zot!, the late 1980s indie comic that featured a Golden Age style optimistic hero wrestling with the emotional challenges of "our" Earth. In this episode we cover "The Ghost in the Machine" which is Zot's three-issue battle against one of his main villains, 9-Jack-9. Jack is a legitimiately terrifying villain, an assassin who can travel via electrical wires, has no emotion, and is incredibly smart. By the way, he killed Zot's parents. But in typical ...
Apr 05, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 12Ep. 14
The Milksops Three (Will, Kevin and Brian) discuss the "black and white" era of Zot! comics. We discuss how much this comic levels up in terms of quality, ambition and emotion, in both art and story. We see Zot trying to convince Jenny that her Earth is worth living in, as she tries to convince him to visit more and more. We meet Jenny's friends, and even see a few tender moments of older brother/sometimes monkey Butch. Email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com . __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @Screw...
Mar 29, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 12Ep. 13
A special mini-episode to honor the special mini issues of Zot that came out, which were drawn by stick figure genius Matt Feazell. The Milksops were all big fans of these. They inspired a young Kevin Hines to make mini-comics of his own! Email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com . __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify...
Mar 23, 2023•13 min•Season 12Ep. 12
Kevin and Will welcome Milksop #3 - Brian Hines, the legendary third Hines brother to the podcast. We talk about a comic that has meant a lot to each of us: Zot! Created by Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics), Zot ran from the mid-80s through the very early 90s, and represented a sensitive, human and nuanced look at a superhero arc. The stories brought influences of manga to an American book in a way that hadn't been done in any prominent fashion. Plus the sweet, compassionate world of Zot stoo...
Mar 22, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Season 12Ep. 11
The FF finish their Negative Zone saga! We've got aliens that look like salamanders, Reed rebuilding his own consciousness, and a plan to save the end of the world that worked because the Avengers are able to, um, well... okay, we can't tell why it worked. But it DID work and so the FF return to their own Earth in time to stop Annihulus. Or maybe just scare him off? In our mailbag section, we get corrected and then (probably) make more errors!
Mar 15, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Season 12Ep. 10
The FF are in the Negative Zone. The Negative Zone is an alternate universe which is different from our universe in that it is.... well, it's not that different. But it means Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny are visiting a new planet every issue, meeting a new alien race and encountering a big ironic twist! Kinda a la Star Trek. Meanwhile super-mean bad guy Annihulus has taken up residence in the Baxter Building. More Negative Zone coverage next episode! In our mailbag, we have more pitches for our unn...
Mar 08, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 12Ep. 9
FF #250 has the FF vs Gladiator, plus the X-Men (kind of) and the Skrulls, in a double-sized fight-tastic story. Then #251 sets up what is going to be a run of stories set in the Negative Zone. Your hosts, the Milksops, like it all. Plus we've got mail. Sop it up! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify...
Mar 01, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 12Ep. 8
The character that we refer to many times as "Guardian" is actually "Gladiator." Three more John Byrne FF issues! We've got "This Land Is Mine" which makes the argument that Latveria might be better off when Doom is in charge. The Milkshops are not convinced, but also can see that Byrne is trying to give nuance to the main FF nemesis. We've got an Inhumans one-and-done story where the FF are trapped (and.. murdered?) by a huge alien. And finally a big battle against The Guardian (super-powered "...
Feb 22, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Season 12Ep. 7
Kevin makes a really good case that this first appearance of Daredevil is one of the strongest first issues we've read. This is in contrast to the sort-of "second tier" status Daredevil will have for much of the 60s and 70s. Even after Frank Miller and Klaus Janson brought the title to the top of the sales charts in the early 80s, there have been almost no "bad runs" on Daredevil. Has he quietly been one of the best Marvel characters this whole time? Will perhaps unfairly compared this issue to ...
Feb 15, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 12Ep. 6
Milksops Assemble! We go over Avengers #1. It's crazy and also good in the way a lot of early Marvel stuff is both crazy and good. Kirby's art is great. The inventiveness is BIG. The leaps is logic to justify the plot are .... ALSO VERY BIG. Big jumps. Why Hulk decides to "hide out" by posing as a robot in a circus is never going to make sense. Never mind that he... doesn't look like a robot when he's in disguise, He just looks like the Hulk with the smallest amount of clown makeup on. Or why Lo...
Feb 08, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 12Ep. 5
We cover the first appearance of a group of heroes that would change Marvel, superheroes and all of comics forever: The X-Men. And we find the issue: really rushed! Like, no backgrounds, crazy powers (even for 60s Marvel standards), a lot of panels with the team simply freaking out that a pretty girl is joining the team (Marvel Girl) and Magneto writes in the sky in surprisingly legible cursive. It's Jack Kirby, so even a rushed Kirby is dynamic and inventive and good, but there's a long way to ...
Feb 01, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 12Ep. 4
We cover the first appearances of Iron Man and Dr. Strange. We find Iron Man has a pretty solid story. Extremely problematic depictions of the Vietnamese? Yep. But the character of Tony Stark is well-developed, and much like he will remain right up until his rise to the top of the MCU. And you know we visit the 4-page introduction of the classic red and yellow armor, designed by Steve DItko. Speaking of Ditko, Dr. Strange has a slower start. It has the the terrific Ditko art. But since the initi...
Jan 25, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Season 12Ep. 3
We continue our examination of Marvel First Issues with the Ant-Man and Thor. We talk way more about Ant-Man than we expected to. But Ant-Man has a way of surpassing people's expectations. Who would have guessed that the hero of "The Man in the Ant Hill" or whatever it was called in Tales to Astonish #27 would go on to be Marvel's second-ever super-hero? Not the Milksops. But that is exactly what he is. And that's despite: odd powers, a shifting origin story, a complete lack of logic within his ...
Jan 18, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Season 12Ep. 2
We start a new season analyzing the number 1 issues of all the original Marvel Comics series. Today we start with the big three: Spider-Man, FF and Hulk. Known informally (to us) as "the good ones" this discussion gives us an excuse to again celebrate the special alchemy of creativity, recklessness and just plain goodness that made these issues such milestones. We also discuss Alan Moore's new short story collection "Illuminations" and the recent DC movie "Black Adam." __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitte...
Jan 11, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 12Ep. 1
The Milksops were guests on the terrific comics podcast Marvel By The Month to discuss the Alan Moore penned series 1963. This is that episode presented here in our feed for the convenience of our listeners / laziness of us. "1963" was published in 1993 by then-new Image Comics. It was Alan Moore's homage to the superhero books of the early 60s, basically the birth of the Silver Age. We have a Captain America-like person, a Fantastic Four-ish group, a Spider-Man sorta fella, and lots more. And i...
Jan 04, 2023•1 hr 57 min•Season 11Ep. 27
On the FF side of things, we start with the fate of Galactus and Frankie Raye, and we end with the beginning of a Dr. Doom story ("Too Many Dooms!"). Both fine issues. But in the middle we have one of the best FF issues ever, and certainly one of the signature issues of John Byrne's run - #245 "Childhood's End." It's Byrne's thesis statement on Susan RIchards, The Invisible Girl. What makes her special, powerful, indispensible? It is demonstrated masterfully in this tale, where Susan takes on a ...
Dec 28, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 11Ep. 26
We have some Galactastic issues of FF! John Byrne continues his tour of the big Kirby stories with a visit from Galactus! First we have to deal with some magic armor that has allowed a Roman soldier to preserve ancient Rome in a column just outside of Wakanda. You know, little stuff. But then it's Galactus, who is dying. Reed decides we gotta save him, which is a hot take. On the correspondence side, we have an impassioned defense of Squadron Supreme from Mark Gruenwald superfan, Chris Gethard. ...
Dec 21, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 11Ep. 25
On the FF side of things, we learn about Frankie Raye's hidden powers, see the return of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot, and watch the Inhumans move their city to the moon. Very solid issues sandwiched in between a few more iconic chapters that we will soon get to. From the correspondence side, we get questions about how to deconstruct The Enforcers, do we care about "collecting," and somehow start talking about The Last Action Hero! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics ...
Dec 14, 2022•1 hr 27 min•Season 11Ep. 24
We finish our analysis of 1985's Squadron Supreme series and come to the same conclusion we had at the very beginning: it's good but reading it now isn't as fun as reading it then probably was. We also go over Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story even though Will is only 20% through it! #screwitinstapush is still in effect as make our drive to get 1500 instagram followers. WILL IT HAPPEN? WOULD WE NOTICE? __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewIt...
Dec 07, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 11Ep. 23
