It's the Dr. Manhattan on Mars issue! The man (god? thing? electro magnetic lifeform?) who lives in all time! Although he only relives his life up until things we have already seen. No spoilers in the Dr. Manhattan all-time existence! This is one of the most iconic and memorable issues of a superhero comic book ever! We get into it! --------- Subscribe for bonus episodes (like our recent foray into Ryan North's FF issues) at screwitpodcasts.com
Oct 23, 2024•55 min
Watchmen #3! Dr. Manhattan is forced off of Earth because journalists are annoying! Take that, the media! We also see Laurie and Dan's friendship blossoming into something more. Or at least they seem to get sexually excited beating up bad guys. We also get our longest look yet at the most divisive part of Watchmen: the pirate comic! Subscribe at screwitpodcasts.com for bonus episodes, to support our podcast and to give to Hero's Initiative!
Oct 16, 2024•57 min
We continue our examination of Watchmen with issue 2! A funeral for a friend! Not a friend so much as a violent amoral psychopath - The Comedian! Writer Alan Moore's narrative mastery is on display as we learn about the Comedian from a series of flashbacks that show us the way he changed over the years from a 16 year old would-be-sexual assaulter, to remorseless mercenary, to finally a frightened man begging for help from his former enemy. We also learn more of the world of Watchmen and how thin...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Today we are republishing a discussion on the first issue of Alan Moore/Dave Gibbon's landmark 1986 comic book Watchmen . We first released this on Nov 27, 2019. At that time, HBO was airing its television series adapation of/sequel to the comic, so Kevin and Will went through the first issue of the comic. Now five years later we want to go through the entire series. Listen to this epsiode and we'll be here next episode with a discussion of issue 2! Watchmen is, of course, a 12 issue comic book ...
Sep 25, 2024•1 hr
EPISODE 291 - We take a break from our regular seasons to pay tribute to two great comics artists who passed away recently: John Casasdy and Karl Moline. Cassady is probably best known for his stunning work on Planetary (with writer Warren Ellis) and Astonishing X-Men. But also -- everything he drew was magic. Moline was a bit less known, but made a huge impact with his stellar work on The Fray, Route 666 and much else. Both of them are gone too soon. On cheerier subjects, we catch up on our mai...
Sep 18, 2024•56 min
For our last episode on The Human Target, we go over the recent excellent run by writer Tom King and artist Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance is back and this time he has to meet with members of the beloved 1980s version of the Justice League. You want The Human Target chatting on a couch with G'nort? You've got it. He also falls in love with Ice, works for Lex Luthor, has to look over his shoulder to check for Batman -- and lots of fun stuff. Although a very different approach than Peter Milli...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 1 min
EPISODE 289 : End of the Peter Milligan run. We finish our coverage of the Peter Milligan run of the Vertigo series "The Human Target." The final story, "The Stealer" is in many ways the most Human Target-y stories of them all. Someone from Christopher Chance's life wants to steal his identity. What happens when a master of disguise is impersonated by another master of disguise? Will it hard to know who is the real Human Target? Will Christopher Chance himself know? Will Bruno be able to get goo...
Aug 28, 2024•1 hr 6 min
We continue our look at the excellent crime noir Vertigo series HUMAN TARGET. In these issues, our hero Christopher Chance gets involved in the seedy underbelly of human trafficking. This series is not big on lighthearted topics! Chance and his romatic partner (wife? girlfriend? it depends which identity Christopher is in) discover the lengths each will go to achieve their goals. Oh and there's also a fun story where Christopher is contracted to sexually please a bunch of woman. True!
Aug 21, 2024•49 min
EPISODE 287: Peter Milligan's run on Human Target continues to tackle tough, dark material, this time with a story about a group of domestic terrorists. We follow another protagonist who seems to have less than steady morals as he commits murder, abandons his friends, lies to his family, plans marital affairs, and immediately presumes he is being hunted! And then.... Christopher Chance the Human Target enters his life! Chance seems to mostly hold on to who he actually is during this story. The i...
Aug 14, 2024•1 hr 4 min
This is a 10ish minute preview of our "sop-scriber" episode in which Kevin and Will create a superhero team. If you want to become a sop-scriber, go to screwitpodcasts.com! ---------------------- Martin Goodman, former publisher of Marvel Comics has come back from the dead and asked the Milksops to make a new superhero team. Requirements: 4-8 members, names and powers, a "hook" for the team (and we agree to sign away all the rights). In just over an hour we do it!
Aug 08, 2024•11 min
EPISODE 286 - After Vertigo published the four issue Human Target mini series, and after the original graphic novel, they started a short-lived but excellent regular series. We cover the first three issues in this episode. The first issue takes where things left off in the graphic novel (no spoilers, but Christopher Chance has forgotten he is Christopher Chance -- that's not a spoiler because that happens a lot) and gets The Human Target back to his bizarre status quo. Remember this is a guy who...
Jul 31, 2024•49 min
EPISODE 285 - We welcome two time Eisner nominee comics writer Jordan Morris to this ep! Jordan is here to promote his new young adult comics novel Youth Group. Jordan is also co-host of the great podcast Jordan, Jesse, Go! as well as having written for several cool television shows. Check out Jordan's work! Jordan also joins us in this episode's topic: The Final Cut, an original graphic novel featuring the Human Target. The Final Cut happened a few years after the Human Target Vertigo mini-seri...
Jul 24, 2024•1 hr 18 min
Acclaimed comics writer J.M. DeMatteis ( Justice League International, Kraven's Last Hunt, Moonshadow ) is back to promote his new Kickstarter for the second issues of his DeMultiverse. The DeMultiverse is JM's independently produced comics, which include four titles: Layla in the Lands of After, art by Shawn McManus Anyman, art by David Baldeón Godsend, art by Scott Koblish Wisdom, art by Tom Mandrake Plus as a bonus an earlier project that had not been released: The Edward Gloom Mysteries, art...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr 14 min
EPISODE 283: The Milksops begin their dive into Peter Milligan's early 2000s run on The Human Target. Created by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino in 1972 for DC Comics, the Human Target has had several runs over the years. The basic gist is this: if you're in danger of being killed, you can hire Christopher Chance who will dress up as you until he catches the killer! Very normal, simple strategy. In 1999, writer Peter Milligan and artist Edvin Biuković started a run which pushed the envelope of ho...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 1 min
EPISODE 282 - We finish our coverage of John Byrne's FF with the issue where Sue Richards changes her name from The Invisible Girl to The Invisible Woman. It's a fine issue that mostly features She-Hulk breaking out of Psycho-Man's fear spell. We also learn the story of Pearla, Queen of the Microverse! We give some closing thoughts on John Byrne. For a good John Byrne issue, and there were many you got: strong confident storytelling, exciting purposeful battles, clearly told stories, a strong co...
Jun 26, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 17Ep. 13
EPISODE 281 - We're approached the end of the John Byrne FF era. Franklin is having another prophetic dream, which is a six page plug for Power Pack, which the Milksops applaud. Sue Richards is standing up to Reed like never before, and she demands revenge against Psycho-Man. And that means we're going to the Micro-Verse! And also, whoa, what is the Micro-Verse? We also have an appearance of our sub podcast "Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About War Games" which is hilariuosly more well produced...
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 5 min
We're nearing the end of our coverage of John Byrne's FF run. In one of the final stories, the (new) Hate Monger teams up with the (old?) Psycho-Man to create a third brand-new villain... Malice! And you'll never guess Malice's true identity. Ok, I'll tell you: it's the Invisible Girl! And this is the final adventure of the Invisible Girl! Not because she dies but because she changes her alias next story. We read some email, which I bet was great! Email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com In a few epi...
Jun 12, 2024•1 hr 5 min
This is an all mailbag episode, including an email from Chris Gethard about our Ultimate Spider-Man coverage. Next week: FF#280!
May 29, 2024•52 min•Season 17Ep. 10
EPISODE 278 - Doom is back, sort of? At least his life story is back, in the form of memories being artificially implanted into a helpless child! This is the kind of good times Dr. Victor Von Doom brings to the party. The Milksops are glad to see Doom. So much that they never even get to mail! But they do spend a while talking about the hit show X-Men '97, which Will loves and Shogun, which Kevin loves!
May 22, 2024•53 min•Season 17Ep. 9
Episode 277 - As an epilogue to our season on Ultimate Spider-Man, we go over some other reboots of Spidey continuity. Well, some of them are reboots, some are kinda just parallel Spider-Man dimensions. We discuss: Untold Tales of Spider-Man #1 Chapter One (a little bit) Mary Jane #1 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #1 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #53 (kind of a restart of this line) Spidey #1 Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) Subscribe to get access to our monthly bonus episodes at screwitpodcasts.com Or ...
May 15, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Episode 276 - We finish out our look at the first arc of Ultimate Spider-Man. In this issue, we get the rest of Spidey's first battle with this universe's monstorous Green Goblin. We also see Spidey's first use of his web shooters, the idolization of Spidey by Peter's friends and Peter's first alibi of why he wasn't around as Spidey kicked butt. Next episode we are going to go over some other attempts to reboot Spider-Man's continuity! If you want access to our monthly bonus episodes, become a s...
May 08, 2024•53 min
This is subscriber-only episode! Subscribe at screwitpodcasts.com to listen! Regular episodes back in this feed next week! --------------------------------- Kevin and Will review the first five episodes of X-Men '97, the hit new animated Marvel show. Does it hurt never having seen the original series? How about never having read any Chris Claremony Uncanny X-Men until two years ago? How about not telling each other what they think of the series before they started recording????...
May 01, 2024•9 min
In issue 6 of the Bendis/Bagley run, we get to see Actual Ultimate Spider-Man -- properly costumed, fighting bad guys and everything! Does this change Kevin's mind about the pace of the comic? You'll have to listen to find out! (hint: not really!) Joining us for this episode is guest Elliott Kalan (former Daily Show head writer, co-host of The Flop House podcast). Elliott is a passionate Spider-Man fan and a fan of this podcast! Hey, this guy is pretty smart! Elliott also writes comics. He tells...
Apr 24, 2024•1 hr 24 min
The Milksops welcome TV writer / podcaster / comics creator James III to the show! You may know James as a co-creator / co-star of the Netflix sketch show The Astronomy Club, or from his podcast Black Men Can't Jump In Hollywood. Friends from the UCB Theatre in NYC, the Milksops and James dive into another issue of the Bendis/Bagley run of Ultimate Spider-Man. This is issue #5, which takes place immediately after the death of Uncle Ben. It's a terrific issue which puts all of the strengths of th...
Apr 17, 2024•1 hr 14 min
Episode 273 - Continuing the Bendis/Bagley run -- we reach the big moment. Peter lets a criminal, who he easily could have stopped, run past. And his family pays a huge price. But before that, we get the Bendis/Bagley nuanced look at Peter's extended world. We see Kong extend the hand of friendship. We see Liz Allen make a move on Peter, an MJ storm off. We see a revamped version of the famous "with great power must come great responsibility speech." And we see police cars and ambulence gathered...
Apr 10, 2024•51 min•Season 17Ep. 4
The Milksops continue their examination of Bendis/Bagley's Ultimate Spider-Man! Kevin likes it more on this reading, but is still frustrated by the slow pace. Will remains is moved by the nuanced characters. In this issue, Peter begins his short career as a masked wrestler, and also becomes a star of the high school basketball team. In our world famous loose screws segment, Kevin talks about the Aquaman movie sequel. Does Kevin like it, or not? (Spoiler: no!)
Mar 27, 2024•37 min•Season 17Ep. 3
We keep going through this legendary run by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley. Will continues to like it, Kevin continues to think it's too slow. We both agree the "homage" to Ferris Bueller at the top (the boring professor who goes "voodoo economics") is... weird. We discuss the effects of getting to know Uncle Ben more. We observe how obvious it must be to Peter's classmates that he has supernatural powers. We see Peter's anger boiling up. Email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com with your thoug...
Mar 20, 2024•40 min•Season 17Ep. 2
We get into one of the most popular runs on a superhero comic ever: Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley. An attempt to win over new audiences, this was a rebooted Spider-Man without any history or previous continuity. It was a commercial and critical smash! Kevin never took to the slow pace of the plot, and doesn't think the Bendis-style dialogue is worth it, though he admits that it's well crafted and was certainly a hit. Will is taken with the emotional nuance of the ch...
Mar 13, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 17Ep. 1
Two stories in one! The top half of each page details the return of Ben Grimm, and an almost-but-not-quite battle against the Dire Wraiths (who?) And the bottom half has Reed, Sue and Franklin in hell! Which is pretty fun! Then we read a bunch of mail, which Kevin has organized by THEME! Join our subscriber level for bonus eps (soon) - https://www.screwitpodcasts.com/
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 16Ep. 12
We cover three more issues of John Byrne's run on FF: A check-on on The Thing while he's on the Secret Wars planet, a story of a tabloid getting a hold of naked photos of She-Hulk, and the start of a Mephisto story where Reed and Sue go to an unnamed Hell! We also talk about the recently announced FF movie casting.
Feb 21, 2024•1 hr•Season 16Ep. 11
