Make Mine Manga!

Poor Aldo’s taken a sick day, so Stephen and John provide a bit of banter over the best Marvel stories as chosen by Marvel readers… in 2014. How has their selection of best Marvel stories aged? And why is ours better?

Happy Halloween!

And, like every Halloween, we’re bringing you a factory sealed and packaged treat full of Marvel Zombies and other spooky stories. No razorblades here - we promise!

This season, in addition to tackling Marvel Zombies Supreme, we’ve got the recent Darkhold Saga - a Twilight Zone-esque look at darker timelines for your favorite superheroes. And also Black Bolt.

[Stephen: I actually like Black Bolt…]

When John’s away, Aldo and Stephen will play. And the game they play is “Which Marvel characters would make good guest stars in classic anime?” John’s presence never really deters the weabiness from coming forth, but be warned: this episode is just a LOT of anime.

After we continue our journey through Superior Spider-Man, we realize that we’ve hit a real milestone. It’s our 300th story… with a twist so devilish you’d think we were reading One More Day again! Alas, it’s not to be… It’s potentially worse? Really? That can’t be right. 

After all, how bad could Trouble be?

It’s a bit of a lighter read this week, but a good one. The boys tackle Johnathan Hickman’s Doom one-shot… well, Hickman was the writer, but the real draw (no pun intended) was Sanford Green’s amazing art.

From there, things get EVEN MORE SERIOUS with the grim event comic that is Shadowland! Can Luke Cage and Iron Fist save Daredevil from his darkest demons? 

We’re feeling a touch romantic this week. No particular reason. We just love you!

Three of Marvel’s biggest wedding stories are in the spotlight this week: Reed and Sue, Spidey and MJ, and Northstar and Kyle. How will the books fare on the great Superhuman Registration Podcast list?

Nostalgia is a strong spice, but does it accent the quality of John’s first comic (the 1992 New Warriors event “The Hero Killers”), or is it simply so much pepper to mask the stink of something rotten?

Also… Venom! It’s not the 90s anymore as of Donny Cates’s 2018 run. Why does that relic of the most extreme decade feel better today than it did then?

Aldo spent our usual recording time at Evo, so John and Stephen were left to their own devices. So they did what any parents would do when their kid leaves town: brainstorm which Marvel characters would make for the best musicals! Featuring Chris, who is perhaps most famous (at least in our circles) for… being John’s brother-in-law.

Today’s hero double-feature is… less heroic. First, we’ve got the slightly monstrous Immortal Hulk. Then, we’ve got the wonderful She-Hulk, who’s very heroic in deed, but her personal life is kinda trash. Between the continued descent into horror we see in Bruce Banner and the offbeat comedy and heart in “Single Green Female,” I think we can conclude we’re all Hulk fans now.

It’s Patriot Season in the US, which means the boys are reading some more Captain America stories. Will the Star-Spangled avenger help our boys overcome their current nationalist-fatigue? Or will they walk away cold?

(You get it? Cuz… cuz the stories we read are “Winter in America” and “Cold War”?)

(Guess I should have explained that first.)