Superfluous Triton Hello, and welcome to episode 340 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. This week, we tackle the middle chapter of the Serpent Crown Affair. The Serpent Soci- uh, Squad are here to explain everything, destroy and oil rig, go treasure hunting, and exchange underwater punches with The Thing, Stingray, and special guest star Triton of the Inhumans, who definitely has a role to ...
Aug 24, 2019•48 min
Gratuitous Vindicator Hello, and welcome to episode 339 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. In a taste of things to come that will dominate the Fantastic Four for years, this week sees John Byrne at the typewriter for the first time, assuming both writing and penciling duties as a corporate tie-in gets repurposed to fill an unexpected hole in the publishing schedules. Is it the real thing? Y...
Aug 17, 2019•47 min
Pregnancy Blind Spot Hello, and welcome to episode 338 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. This week, we return to both the Marvel multiverse and Earth 772 as we take a look at how Reed Richards might fare following Sue Storm's decision to stay with Namor the Sub-Mariner. Rejecting Spider-Man, alienating Ben, faking evidence to draw the world into war, and attempted genocide - all perfectly ...
Aug 10, 2019•1 hr 17 min
Wind-Generated Oil Rigs Hello, and welcome to episode 337 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. We're at the start of another big storyline for Marvel Two-in-One, as abandoned plotlines from Namor's solo title drive the adventures of Benjamin "The Thing" Grimm and Walter "Stingray" Newall. A jaunt to visit the Inhumans turns into a rescue mission at a suspiciously-acting oil rig, and there are...
Aug 03, 2019•51 min
Much Ago About Namor's Horn Hello, and welcome to episode 336 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. When is a fill-in not a fill-in? When it's the first issue of an ongoing run that immediately goes on hiatus for another fill-in, right? Despite being introduced as a fill-in, this is the first issue of Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz's much-criticised run on the Fantastic Four, as they remix t...
Jul 27, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Everybody Hates Starhawk Hello, and welcome to episode 335 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. This week, we're returning to outer space to hunt down those who have stolen Counter-Earth, discover Adam Warlock's body, and get someone laid. Behold as plotlines from comics nothing to do with the Fantastic Four get explained and retconned while the star of this book stands around and listens. Ma...
Jul 20, 2019•48 min
Steve's Eternal Spider-Disappointment Hello, and welcome to episode 334 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. This week sees us firmly in fill-in crossover team-up territory. In a shared story of Spectacular Spider-Man #42, the Frightful Four have reformed - this time with Electro - and have set their sights on both Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. With the aid of some nifty technology, they...
Jul 13, 2019•53 min
It's Spankin' Time Hello, and welcome to episode 333 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. This week we're back in the realms of Marvel Two-in-One, as an extended cast (including Starhawk, Moondragon, Her, and Alicia Masters) make their way to Counter-Earth. Well, they would do, if some bastards hadn't towed the bloody thing away, forcing them to resurrect the High Evolutionary to work out whe...
Jul 06, 2019•1 hr 1 min
This Little Robot Tramp Hello, and welcome to episode 332 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. Ah, Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics, we barely knew ye. Actually, we knew you rather too well - you were annoying and unfunny. But still, in Fantastic Four #217, your final appearance, a modicum of empathy is gained. Secrets are uncovered, identities are revealed, and a s...
Jun 29, 2019•47 min
Er... Yeah... Fnarr? Hello, and welcome to episode 331 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. This week, we're doing our best not to snigger in a smutty manner at the title of Marvel Two-in-One #61. Because there's nothing to laugh at, at all, alright? Anyway, we start another cosmic epic for Ben Grimm, as he gets mixed up with Her, Moondragon, Starhawk, and Alicia Masters. Some of these charac...
Jun 15, 2019•56 min
Daniel Bedingfield Is Ultron! Hello, and welcome to episode 330 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. This week, we loiter in the aftermath of the Wolfman run on the Fantastic Four. Following all the high-stakes cosmic drama, it's time for something a little more grounded. Well, as grounded as a hyper-evolved scientist and an incursion from the Negative Zone by Blastarr can possibly be. Can ou...
Jun 08, 2019•50 min
Laptop Or Cigar Box? Hello, and welcome to episode 329 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. How many issues of downtime do you need following one of the greatest stories of the late-1970s? We're glad the answer is 'more than one', as it allows to us to enjoy an evening in the company of Ben Grimm, Alicia Masters, The Thing's purple-and-green hat, and... waitaminnit! That's not a hat! That's T...
Jun 01, 2019•52 min
How To Evolve A Watcher Hello, and welcome to episode 328 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. The door to the Negative Zone has been opened. From within the depths comes one of the most terrifying beings, raw power personified, fueled by a lust for conquest. Only four beings can stand in the path of this mysterious fig- oh, they just named the comic after him? Oh, right. Hey, everyone - Blas...
May 25, 2019•54 min
Nose-Operated Alarms Hello, and welcome to episode 327 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. The Pegasus Project is over. It's time for some much-needed downtime for our hero, Ben Grimm. Maybe with some Conan the Barbarian comics. Let's hope that he doesn't get roped into a series os shenanigans involving a very unfortunately-designed piece of peril simply to save the life of a serial idiot ou...
May 18, 2019•53 min
THEY MELTED MY ROBOT BRAIN! Hello, and welcome to episode 326 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. The 1980s are here, and what better way to celebrate the dawning of a new decade by finally wrapping up some, but not all, subplots from the last year's worth of stories? The time has come to address both Skrull X and the artificial aging of the Fantastic Four, while at the same time, almost-com...
May 11, 2019•47 min
The Age Of The Aquarian Hello, and welcome to episode 325 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. The finale to both the Project Pegasus Saga and our coverage of books cover-dated in the 1970s is finally here. Many questions will now be answered. What is Bill Foster really doing at Project Pegasus? Why is Wundarr so important to the story? What exactly was Dr Lightner up to? Why were so many vil...
May 04, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Bin-Juice-Ridden Sh*t-Clothes Hello, and welcome to episode 324 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. Who's ready for an annual comprising two planned issues of the main title? Well, thankfully, we are, as we join Ben Grimm, Black(agar) Bolt(agon), and the master of gravity himself, Graviton, in New York, for a titanic tussle-'n'-throw-down. Allyn Brodsky, David Michelinie, Jim Craig, Bob Budi...
Apr 27, 2019•58 min
The Susan Storm Affair Hello, and welcome to episode 323 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. After 88 issues, Marvel Team-Up finally gets around to featuring Sue Richards. Well, better late than never. She's joining forces with Spider-Man to escape the rigour of a society event, rescue her son, pay off the Maggia, and chew bubblegum. And, unfortunately, she's all out of bubblegum. Although, ...
Apr 20, 2019•47 min
But He Really Illustrates Hello, and welcome to episode 322 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. The Fantasticast goes giant-sized once again, as Steve and Andy get to grips with Fantastic Four Annual #14. Nicholas Scratch and Salem's Seven are back, the Fantastic Four are out of action, and only Franklin Richards and Agatha Harkness can stop them. It's the team-up you never knew you wanted! ...
Apr 13, 2019•56 min
A Paradox-Free Bow Hello, and welcome to episode 321 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. We're back, and we're weekly again! Yes, after a couple of months of rest, we're back to our regular weekly schedule, just in time for a momentous climax to the long-promised Sphinx/Galactus battle. And, as an extra bonus for our listeners, we manage to uncover more than a few things that we really liked...
Apr 06, 2019•46 min
Shout! Shout! Let It All Out! Hello, and welcome to episode 320 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. We're returning to the depths of the original Project Pegasus, as the Project Pegasus Saga moves towards its climax! Solarr and Klaw run rampant through the tunnels of Project Pegasus, while Thundra mopes in a cell, and Wundarr goes for a wanderr. Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, George Perez, G...
Mar 23, 2019•45 min
Pharoah's A Jolly Good Fellow Hello, and welcome to episode 319 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. This time on the Fantasticast, we're returning to Earth as an aged Fantastic Four, a non-aged Galactus (how does he age, anyway?), and a brand new herald arrive in New York city, hot on the trail of the Sphinx. Who is actually in Egypt, indulging in fantasies of an idealised past that would ma...
Mar 09, 2019•57 min
Five Wrestlers In Search Of Whatchamacallit Hello, and welcome to episode 318 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. Grab yer spandex and yer definitely-not-choreographed-at-all moves - it's time to bring some wrasslin' to the Pegasus Project! Thundra, blackmailed by a mysterious man with a cigar, leads the Grapplers into the tunnels of everyone's favourite energy research complex, and only Bla...
Feb 23, 2019•53 min
Zwammo - Just Say No (No)! Hello, and welcome to episode 317 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. What time is it? Why, it's time for a new herald for Galactus! And the Fantastic Four find themselves conscripted to conscript this new herald, being sent across the galaxy to find the being that shall become Terrax... The Tamer! Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, Joe Sinnott, Ben Sean, Joe Rosen, and Jim...
Feb 09, 2019•55 min
Blobby, Oh Mr Blobby Hello, and welcome to episode 316 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. This week, we're dragging ourselves to the halfway point of The Pegasus Project Saga. Bill Foster is the guest-star, sporting a natty new costume, a natty new attitude, and a natty old name. He's got an elevator to support, and a nuclear-powered childlike colossus to punch. Oh, and he's got his superhe...
Jan 26, 2019•42 min
Why Is Johnny On Fire? Hello, and welcome to episode 315 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. It's the issue that gives its title to the collection of this cosmic epic. It's the midpoint of the story (if you pretend all that stuff with the Monocle never happened). It's the return of one of the greatest comics villains of all time. This has to be a great issue, full of relevance, chocked full ...
Jan 12, 2019•51 min
The Thing Does It One-Handed Hello, and welcome to episode 314 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. We kick off our eighth(!) year of podcasting by returning to Project Pegasus to see how Ben Grimm and Quasar do when confronted by the Marvel Universe's favourite ex-con-who-was-turned-into-a-cyborg-assassin-from-an-alternate-future-before-finding-himself-stranded-in-the-present-day-who-will-la...
Jan 05, 2019•49 min
A trailer for The Fantasticast in 2019 and beyond. Here come the 1980s! http://www.thefantasticast.com/
Jan 04, 2019•57 sec
H.E.R.B.I.E. cometh Hello, and welcome to episode 313 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. Oh dear lord, it's finally happened. Not content with annoying the heck out of everyone with a pair of ears who watched the 1978 Fantastic Four animated series, HERBIE has arrived in the Fantastic Four, full of smug attitude, extendable trippin' legs, and a great big basket o' suspicious activities that...
Dec 22, 2018•43 min
Whammosplang! Hello, and welcome to episode 312 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. This week, it's the final pre-Byrne issue of the Fantastic Four. Well, technically it's the final pre-pre-Byrne issue, but I think I'm splitting hairs... The spotlight swings onto Nova and his supporting cast of misfits, who lurch from saving the Fantastic Four to stealing the power of the living computers of...
Dec 15, 2018•1 hr 7 min
