Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Marvel/DC Movie Slate 2020 V v V-- PenĂșltimo!

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 026



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Face Front, True Believers! You can really hear the screwdrivers kicking in as Illegal Machine and Diabolu Frank slur their way through 2016's bout between Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War! Straight edge Mister Fixit joins in during a second sober session at 23:19. Next, dated film material recorded on our original ghetto rig, because as we proved last week, we don't throw much of anything out. The case in favor of heavy editing begins at 33:09 with Sony Spider-Man talk (and if you want to do one of those Marvel Omnibus cuts, this would be seated right after the Daredevil discussion featured in the extended Sub-Mariner section from the 2014 Annual-- Rascally Roy!) Then we talk about Batman v Superman some more, but in the past, like a flashback! Ooo, temporal paradox! 41:39 brings us to the Josh Trank Fantastic Four flick. Plus, s'more Ant-Man, with references to X-Men and Batman throughout this back matter! 59:40 sees a truncated Mitey Marvel Mail Bag, and of course, a stinger for this shaggy dog episode! Excelsior!

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Monday, December 22, 2014

#MarvelSHP Annual 2014

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 025


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Face Front, True Believers! Don't call it a comeback! We been here for half a year! Yeah, it's a few days before Christmas and then the dead zone through New Year's, so we're phoning it in (sometimes literally!) For our twenty-fifth episode, we decided to follow a classic Marvel Comics tradition and run a bunch of "reprints" dolled up as an annual/giant-sized special! But see, besides gathering some of the most scintillating material from our first dozen or so episodes, the tracks have been reedited to include previously deleted material never before presented to the public! Sure, the audio quality is largely grody with rambling about long-shuttered local comic shops and movie talk past its sell-by date, but it's... uh... conversational! Excelsior!

Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here...






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Monday, December 15, 2014

Marvel/DC Movie Slate 2020 Part Four

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 024



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Face Front, True Believers! Mister Fixit, Illegal Machine and Diabolu Frank keep talking about these friggin' Marvel Studios versus Warner Brothers/DC movie slates for like hours and hours and it just doesn't seem to stop and it's twenty minutes on Inhumans v Shazam and something along the lines of thirty-five minutes of letters and dear god in heaven how much longer will this go on? December is shaping up to be the month of unfinished business drudgery, amiright? Excelsior, beaches!




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Monday, December 8, 2014

Annihilation: Ronan (2006)

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 023



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Face Front, True Believers! This week we return for the penultimate Annihilation event tie-in mini-series (only two months after covering Annihilation: Nova!) But we're also continuing the value-adding by looking at the first appearances of the Kree alien race and their Ronan the Accuser from Fantastic Four #64-65 (1967.) The Dogged Duo of Diabolu Frank & Illegal Machine will finish this event, even as a member of the trio has fallen by the wayside! This war must be won! Also, mail. Excelsior! Episode art tumblr here.

Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here...



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Monday, December 1, 2014

Marvel/DC Movie Slate 2020: Doctor Strange v The Flash

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 022



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Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here... Face Front, True Believers! Mister Fixit, Illegal Machine and Diabolu Frank are back to slogging through the proposed comic book movie slates of Marvel Studios versus Warner Brothers/DC. Fixit catches up with the conversation of our first episode in this series by addressing Black Panther v Cyborg (00:33) and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 v Suicide Squad (16:34) while the full trio delve into newer territory with Doctor Strange v The Flash (03:27). Then Mac and Frank climb into the Mighty Marvel Mail Bag (22:05)! Excelsior!



To clarify on commentary in the mail section, Jem debuted as part of Super Sunday, a half-hour anthology cartoon co-produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions that ran for a year beginning in October of 1985. Segments included Jem, Robotix, Inhumanoids, & Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines. Two of the segments never progressed past the show, Inhumanoids spun off into a thirteen episode series, while Jem ran 65 episodes before wrapping in 1988. ThunderCats debuted in January of 1985, SilverHawks in September of 1986, followed by the much less successful TigerSharks and the Super Sundayesque The Comic Strip, all from Rankin/Bass Productions.

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Sunday, November 23, 2014

Howard the Duck (1986)

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 021



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Face Front, True Believers! Mister Fixit, Illegal Machine and Diabolu Frank tackle the first ever major motion picture to star a Marvel Comics character, Howard the Duck! Conceived as an animated project, Universal Studios needed a live action summer release from Lucasfilm, so the film was converted without regard to propriety or technical difficulties on a tight schedule. The actual Howard suit/animatronics were a work in progress, with varied, obviously divergent stages/designs showing up throughout the film. Ed Gale primarily worked Howard's body, while Chip Zien provided the drake's voice. One of the major action set pieces, the Ultralight sequence, was designed by future Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston. Released on August 1, 1986, the film earned less than a million dollars over its reported production of $37M ($77m in adjusted dollars, relatively cheap by today's standards.) Despite its reputation as one of the biggest box office flops and "worst movies ever," the facts of the matter don't add up. Howard isn't even in the top 50 worst performers at the box office (it technically made money in the long run.) It isn't on IMDb's Bottom 100 (with its 4.5 rating) and there are many thousands of movies with lower Tomatometer readings than 14% (39% with audiences.) But we're not here to damn the movie with faint praise as only a middling disaster*. Howard the Duck scores 100% favorability among your trio of hosts, who are here to tell you why for a bit under an hour. Excelsior! Plus, the Mighty Marvel Mail Bag!



*Full Disclosure: Howard the Duck did put in a strong underperformance as the 1986 Razzie awards, tying for worst picture with Under the Cherry Moon and chosen as biggest loser for Worst Screenplay to Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, Worst Visual Effects to Industrial Light and Magic, and Worst New Star to "The Six Guys and Gals in The Duck Suit," plus nominations for Worst Supporting Actor Tim Robbins, Worst Director Willard Huyck, and Worst Original Song for "Howard The Duck" by Thomas Dolby, Allee Willis and George Clinton.



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Monday, November 17, 2014

Marvel/DC Movie Slate 2020: Ant-Man v Aquaman

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 020



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Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here... Face Front, True Believers! Mister Fixit rejoins Illegal Machine and Diabolu Frank as they look book at the Captain Marvel v Wonder Woman movie debate, then forward to the cinematic Ant-Man v Namor the Sub-Mariner Aquaman the Barbarian! Plus, the Mighty Marvel Mail Bag!

*Batman Begins 2005 – 374,218,673
*Superman returns 2006 – 391,081,192
*Dark Knight 2008 – 1,004,558,444
Iron Man 2008 – 585,174,222
Incredible Hulk 2008 – 263,427,551
Watchmen 2009 – 185,258,983
Jonah Hex 2010 – 10,903,312
Iron Man 2 2010 – 623,933,331
Thor 2011 – 449,439,994
Captain America 2011 – 370,569,774
*Green Lantern 2011 – 219,851,172
*Dark Knight Rises 2012 – 1,084,439,099
Avengers 2012 – 1,518,594,910
Iron Man 3 2013 – 1,215,439,994
Thor: Dark World 2013 – 644,783,140
Man of Steel 2013 – 668,045,518
Captain America Winter Solider 2014 – 714,083,572
Guardians of the Galaxy 2014 – 768,009,017

2008- 2014 Marvel Total (estimated) = 7,157,455,505
2005 – 2014 DC Total (Estimated) = 6,478,068,491

*Not in the continuity with planned DC Cinaverse


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Tuesday, November 11, 2014

The Slate 2020: Marvel Studios v Warner Brothers (Part One)

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 019




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Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here... Face Front, True Believers! Illegal Machine and Diabolu Frank look at the Warner Brothers DC Comics projected movie slate through the year of our Lord (Pumpkin?) 2020, then contrast it against Marvel Studios' scheduled films through 2019 in flick-to-flick bouts.
  • 06:59 Captain Marvel v Wonder Woman
  • 20:31 Black Panther v Cyborg
  • 35:40 Guardians of the Galaxy 2 v Suicide Squad
  • 41:58 Mac & Frank v The Mighty Marvel Mail Bag: Row v Wade
  • 01:05:54 V v V: V


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Monday, November 3, 2014

Reintroducing Patsy Walker: 70 Years of Marvel's #1 Hellcat Heroine

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episode 018

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Face Front, True Believers! This week Illegal Machine, Mister Fixit, and Diabolu Frank explore arguably the most successful female protagonist of Marvel/Timely's Golden/"Middle" Ages, Patsy Walker! "The Girl Who Could Be You" starred in the comics section of Miss America: Teen-Life Magazine, whose 1946 covers boasted it as the largest selling teen-age magazine at "More than 1 MILLION COPIES" (emphasis theirs.) Within months of her 1944 debut, "The Prettiest Gal in Town" gained her own eponymous comic book series, which led to a slew of spin-offs across 23 years of continuous publication from the end of World War II through The Human Be-In. Patsy's only rival for the #1 lady of Timely/Atlas spot was Millie the Model (1945-1973,) and the only hero to lay such a claim was Kid Colt (1948-1979.) However, of the three only Patsy found a second life in the mainstream Marvel Universe proper (just five years after her series ended,) first as a supporting character to The Beast, then as the costumed heroine Hellcat. We trace her tortured, byzantine, fabulous path through publication lo these past seven decades! In fact, we were so irrepressibly ecstatic, we ran longer than any previous episode and posted two tumblr galleries, here and here!


Patsy (seated at center) and Pals (clockwise from left) Nancy, Hedy, Ronnie, Buzz and Tubbs.

How much was Patsy Walker influenced by Archie Andrews? The cover of Patsy Walker #7 even references a "Riverdale Charity Drive." It took a while to settle on her red hair though. She's a brunette on her first eponymous cover, then again for #9-13. She transitioned to auburn on #2-5, strawberry blond on #5-6, and blond on #7-8. Auburn returned from #14, with varying shades thereafter, and she didn't commit to being a proper ginger until 1950. A possible contributing factor was that her first regular gig was in Miss America Magazine, which routinely featured photo covers of blond and brunette young women. It was only after they switched to illustrated Patsy Walker covers that both series consistently featured her as a redhead. Even when they went back to photo covers, the models' hair shifted spectrum.



According to Marvel Masterworks Resource Page, the earliest Patsy Walker stories were "written by Stuart Little (the husband of 'Miss America's editor for volumes 1-4, Bessie Little)." Their message board has a post featuring sample scans from issues of Miss America Magazine you might like to give a look. It appears that the very first Patsy story page is offered, introducing Buzz Baxter and the Walker family featuring Stanley, Mary, & Mickey. In the postcast, we identified the mother as "Betty," though we don't know if that's an error or just another indication of inconsistency in the parents' names. Also notice a mention of shopping in Farmdale that makes us wonder if that was Walker's first hometown name or perhaps a neighbor city to Centerville. 1947's Miss America Magazine #37 was the first issue to feature Patsy Walker's name (in the form of her enduring logo) prominently as a sales draw, where it would remain for most of the rest of the run.



Comichron.com reports that in 1962 Patsy & Hedy ranked #45 in all comics sales for that year with an average reported sell through of 139,855 copies, marking it as Atlas/Marvel's #2 title behind Modeling with Millie's 143,476. Tales to Astonish, Strange Tales and Journey into Mystery were relatively close behind. The Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor and Ant-Man were all active that year, but the sales numbers for many of them are unknown in their early years. Comichron's 1963 rank saw Patsy Walker rise to #29 overall at 174,375 copies on average, though she fell in rank within the Marvel family behind Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt Outlaw, Tales to Astonish, Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense and Journey into Mystery as super-heroes like Iron Man, Human Torch, Wasp and the X-Men ascended, though Patsy did nudge Millie the Model out of the top girls' humor spot. Comichron 1964 is especially spotty in its reportage, as most super-hero titles remain absent. Strange Tales reported 215,090 for top spot of those listed. Not on the list was Patsy Walker, but our copy of #115 offers sales of 174,300, placing it in the top 50 of books with available numbers. 1965's Patsy Walker #120 listed average circulation of 195,000, though the issue nearest to filing date sold 211,400, likely due to the course change toward romantic drama. The similarly revised Patsy & Hedy: Career Girls #99 rose from an annual 199,765 to 229,400. That would place them in the bottom third of the top 100 per Comichron, and quite a bit lower than Millie the Model's 219,427. Patsy Walker was cancelled by 1966, though Patsy & Hedy: Career Girls #105 posted 199,826 average with a nearest issue surge to 245,175. Well within the top 100, it still wasn't enough to save the book from the ax in 1967.



The Patsy Walker Baxter Hellstrom Reading List (1944-1989)
  • Miss America Magazine #2-83 (November 1944-March 1953) which was reprinted in Canada by Superior Publishers Limited
  • Patsy Walker #1-124 (Summer 1945-December 1965) which was reprinted in Canada by Bell Features
  • Georgie Comics #8 (November 1946)
  • All Teen #20 #20 (January 1947)
  • Teen Comics #21-35 (April 1947-May 1950)
  • Cindy Comics #30, 34, 36 (August 1948, April & August 1949)
  • Patsy and Hedy #1-110 (February 1952-February 1967)
  • Patsy and Her Pals #1-29 (May 1953-August 1957)
  • Wendy Parker Comics #1-8 (July 1953-July 1954)
  • Girls' Life #1-6 (January 1954-November 1954)
  • Hedy Wolfe #1 (August 1957)
  • A Date With Patsy #1 (September 1957)
  • Millie the Model Comics #103 (July 1961)
  • Millie the Model Comics #107 (March 1962)
  • Patsy and Hedy Annual #1 (1963)
  • Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965)
  • Modeling with Millie #43 (November 1965)
  • Patsy Walker's Fashion Parade #1 (1966)
  • Amazing Adventures #13-15 (July-November 1972)
  • The Avengers #139-144 (September 1975-February 1976)
  • The Avengers #147-151 (May 1976-September 1976)
  • The Defenders #44-57 (February 1977-March 1978)
  • Spidey Super Stories #39 (March 1979)
  • The Defenders #59-81 (May 1978-March 1980)
  • The Defenders #83-101 (May 1980-November 1981)
  • The Savage She-Hulk #12-14 (January-March 1981)
  • Spidey Super Stories #53 (July 1981)
  • The Defenders #103-104 (January-February 1982)
  • Captain America #268 (April 1982)
  • Fantastic Four Roast #1 (May 1982)
  • The Defenders #106-111 (April-September 1982)
  • The Defenders #116-122 (February-August 1983)
  • The Defenders #125 (November 1983)
  • The Defenders #148 (October 1985)
  • The Incredible Hulk #277-279 (November 1982-January 1983)
  • The West Coast Avengers Annual #1 (1986)
  • West Coast Avengers #14-16 (November 1986-January 1987)
  • Solo Avengers #9 (August 1988)
  • The Avengers #305 (July 1989)
  • Marvel Comics Presents #36 (December 1989)
  • Avengers Spotlight #27 (Mid-December 1989)


Read Siskoid's take on RAMPAGING HULK #7, Marvel Comics, February 1978!

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Monday, October 27, 2014

To Hell with Mockingbird

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 017



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Face Front, True Believers! Agent 19 of S.H.I.E.L.D., A.K.A. Dr. Barbara "Bobbi" Morse, is the subject of this week's podcast! Long, long before she made the trip to weekly live action television star, the future Mockingbird was totally unrecognizable and unnamed in 1971's Astonishing Tales #6 before becoming a supporting character to Ka-Zar with ties to the origin of Man-Thing! Who knew? Supposedly created by Len Wein and Neal Adams for a story in Savage Tales magazine that was long delayed in publication, Morse went through so many changes that a case could be made for her having a half dozen or more other pappies before becoming the character we kinda sorta know today. She's the one who was married to Hawkeye, right? Mister Fixit, Illegal Machine and Diabolu Frank will take you to Hell and back with their discussion of Mockingbird, but not everybody will make it through the journey home. Huge debt for information relayed in this week's episode owed to Brian Cronin's 2011 Comics Should Be Good article A Hell of a Past – Mockingbird article, recently updated with major new developments, so check it out! Especially because his article is a defacto extended episode art gallery, though we added a few large images to the episode art tumblr.

On the back end, we discuss the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer and open the Mighty Marvel Mail Bag. That happened on Sunday night, so Frank took Mac's advice to go slack ass on editing. Please excuse the mess of umms and awkward pauses. There's a great big chunk of our discussion that took up too much time, so that'll have to get plugged in somewhere else down the line. Somebody leave a comment about why the hell Bobbi's codename is Mockingbird, k? Oh, hey, and yes Mac, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey was published by Marvel Comics. It was adapted by Evan Dorkin of Milk and Cheese fame, as was the twelve issue ongoing series that followed. th'sheridans' Health music video isn't embeddable, but if you touch that different colored glowy text a few words back, it will take you on a short journey to YouTube.



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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

NYCC 2014 FYI

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 016




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Face Front, True Believer! West Side was represented in episode 3, so now it's East Side's turn! The slightly less world renowned but still well regarded and now more heavily attended New York Comic Con held its 2014 gathering earlier this month, and our vociferous speakers Diabolu Frank, Mister Fixit & Illegal Machine have cranked out over an hour of commentary on news surrounding the event with our first ever special guest, Pekita Trotamundos! How's that for service, effendi?


  • 01:39 Captain America: Civil War. The Warner Brothers DC Comics Cinematic Universe. The Fantastic Four grim n' gritty reboot. Knocking out the big stuff right at jump.
  • 13:40 Talking early comics-related experiences in Mexico with Pekita!
  • 22:25 Let's talk about the latest batch of actors who ultimately won't be cast as Doctor Strange, especially Keanu Reeves. Also, what about his villains? And screw it, Frank offers his top 5 Clea casting picks, for all anyone cares.

  • 29:12 Wonder Woman '77. Bitching about Black Widow. Guardians of the Galaxy, Nicole Perlman, and the Gamora ongoing series. More girl power at Marvel. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Daredevil on Netflix. DC Domino Dancing.
  • 39:38 Apocalypse casting. The Zod Distraction.
  • 46:42 The Mighty Marvel Mailbag in broken English! Includes Pekita's ranking of the Marvel Studios movies.


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Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Tigra, the Were-Woman! (1974)

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 015


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Episode Art Gallery


Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here...

Face Front, True Believers! This week Illegal Machine and Diabolu Frank look at the 1974 radical revision of the feminist super-heroine The Cat* into the bikini-clad cat-woman Tigra, begun in the left field title Giant-Sized Creatures #1 (July 1974)! We follow that up with a gander at Tigra's second appearance in the black & white horror magazine Monsters Unleashed #10 (December 1975)! Weird wild stuff! Apologies for the dodgy sound quality, as our digital mixer made margaritas instead of resonance, but at least the new microphones keep the flat, hollow, two-guys-in-a-den sound clear of the perpetual haze of distortion hiss you're probably used to by now and prefer. Sigh. By the way, we stumbled upon some Ramona Fradon art for The Cat here and here, so don't miss that! Finally, we didn't receive a single comment on the blogs about last week's Nova episode, and we know it didn't suck like Ka-Zar the Great, so we blew off the Mail Bag this week. Count Drunkula, why hast thou forsaken us? Feel free to leave a comment about how we left the comments out. Frank'll spend the time he saved on editing to respond. Episode art tumblr here.

[*Editor's Note: The Cat made her audio commentary debut appearance in Episode 012! Yes folks, now even The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast itself has continuity! --Rascally Roy]

Read a high quality version of Giant-Sized Creatures #1 on Marvel Unlimited, or crappy little scans here. Since you can't read Monsters Unleashed #10 at Marvel, try here.

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Monday, October 6, 2014

Annihilation: Nova (2006)

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 014



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Face Front, True Believers! This week we return for another Annihilation event tie-in mini-series (almost done,) but along the way we also talk about 1976's The Man Called Nova and 1989's Quasar #1! This one is a rare instance where Diabolu Frank, Illegal Machine and Mr. Fixit are unanimous in their decision on a book, but is it thumbs up or thumbs down? Also, the Mighty Marvel Mail Bag was rather full this week, but that doesn't stop Frank from tacking on a Dr. Strange casting discussion! Episode art tumblr here.

Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here...



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Monday, September 29, 2014

The Origin of the Incredible Hulk

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 013



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Fantasy as you like it! The strangest man of all time!! Is he Man or Monster or... is he both? It's "The Coming of the Hulk" as we look at The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962,) its faithful adaptation on the 1966 The Marvel Super Heroes animated series, plus the 1982 and 1996 takes from two separate series of The Incredible Hulk cartoons. Added value bonus at no additional cost to our treasured listeners: Hulk related commentary, anecdotes, and tunes as part of our biggest show yet! This is the last early episode length audio recorded using the Graphophone system onto cardboard tubes covered in wax as overseen by Alexander Graham Bell himself, so please excuse the low audio quality, awkward chemistry, jokes that miss like a troop run by Major Glenn Talbot, excess of needless recapping rather than essential commentary, and Frank hogging too much of the narration.



Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here...
  • 00:52 Why the Hulk? Fixit, Mac and Frank talk about getting started with the Green Goliath, with emphasis on the run of Peter David and his all-star artists.
  • 06:17 "The Coming of the Hulk," our anti-hero's first ever comic book story and cartoon, adapted as "The Origin of the Hulk."
  • 16:50 The 1982 animated episode, also called "Origin of the Hulk."
  • 25:59 1996's cartoon take, a portion of the two-part episode "Return of the Beast."
  • 34:14 Illegal Machine shares his thoughts on the role of the Hulk in the Marvel Universe and his relatively slim relationship with the character's solo adventures.
  • 38:13 The 1978–1982 live action Hulk TV series' legacy is compared to other super-heroic greats of television, such as Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman.
  • 47:14 The Marvel Mail Bag is packed to the gills with commentary on episodes #9-12!
  • 1:08:46 The end of the episode. No, really. You hear the 1986 Marvel Productions LTD closing credit music, and that's it. Just like always.


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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Beware! The Claws of... The Cat! (1972)

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 012


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Episode Art Gallery


Face Front, True Believers! This week #Frank'sAgenda is in full flower as we revisit Marvel Comics' 1972 stab at drafting a feminist super-heroine, The Cat! First Illegal Machine & Frank dissect the debut issue, then Mr. Fixit & Frank dive into #2 (32:00,) with the Diabolical One ranting a bit about #3-4. Stan Lee and Marie Severin get the creation credit, while Linda Fite writes (with editor Roy Thomas,) and there's fill-ins galore throughout the brief experiment. We finally reopen the mighty Marvel mail bag (44:58,) with Fixit & the Ill Mac taking the fore 'fer once! Frank probably would have preferred if things had turned out more P.C., but the show is entertaining, which is the paramount concern. Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers! We have an extensive episode art tumblr here. Even in an extra-length episode, we can't fit everything, but we do have replies to your comments again and this handy text addendum...


  • The Cat #1 was reprinted in one of the earliest Marvel Comics trade paperbacks, 1977's The Superhero Women, as part of the Simon and Schuster Fireside series of comic book collections for the bookstore market. She was joined by reprints of stories prominently featuring Medusa, Red Sonja, Invisible Girl, Ms. Marvel, Hela, The Wasp, Shanna the She-Devil, Black Widow, and Princess Lyra of the Femizons (don't ask.)
  • #1 Amazing Origin Issue!
  • The Cat #1 was also featured in the initial volume of Marvel Firsts: The 1970s, while The Cat #2 & 3 can be found in the Women of Marvel: Celebrating Seven Decades omnibus
  • Zabo actually survived his first confrontation with the Cat, and turned up in a 1983 issue of Marvel Team-Up seeking revenge for the death of his brother... Malcolm Donalbain!
  • #2 "The Owl and the Pussycat!"
  • Marie Severin left the series following #2 after being promoted to head Marvel's coloring department.
  • Greer Grant Nelson was named after Paty Greer, a former assistant to the series' initial artist and co-creator, Marie Severin. Greer drew the third issue of The Cat, then went on to draw the alien races in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, as well as working as a colorist and an overseer of production art. Today she's better known as Paty Cockrum, wife of the late great Dave Cockrum.


  • Breezy synopsis of #3.
  • According to a synopsis of #3 found online, Dr. Tumolo was slowly recovering from her minor brain damage.
  • Frank Miller had a fan letter in The Cat #3 where he praised the proactive heroine.
  • Gerry Conway, creator of DC's The Vixen, also wrote Marvel Team-Up #8, the issue referenced in the podcast featuring Man-Killer. It was released with an April 1973 cover date, the same month as The Cat #3.
  • #4 "Stampede!"
  • One year and one month after the release of The Cat #4 (with the scrapped #5 still in a file drawer,) Greer Nelson would return in a radically altered form in Giant-Size Creatures #1. Despite the change, The Cat appeared in September 1975's Spidey Super Stories, with The Owl as featured villain. This was under a John Romita cover was a story by the Night Nurse creative team of Jean Thomas & Win Mortimer. Linda Fite had co-written the final issue of Night Nurse (#4) with Thomas. The Cat returned for a story in #13 (with The Falcon & Kraven the Hunter) while Tigra turned up in #21 (again, against Kraven, but this time written by Pat Thackray.)
  • Linda Fite left The Cat and Marvel (again) following the birth of her first child with Herb Trimpe. They eventually had three children together before divorcing. Fite went on to work for New York's Times Herald-Record.


  • The Cat made her cover-featured British debut in the 4 October 1975 issue of The Super-Heroes (#31.) She and Ant-Man were joining the original X-Men in the weekly anthology title, where she presumably resided until #38, exhausting the U.S. content. She was also on #32's cover (on both her costume was colored dark green,) and continued to have her head featured in the corner box thereafter.
  • Of the 1972 female friendly launches, Stan Lee was said to have had the greatest optimism toward The Cat, her origin story, and her creative team. However, Lee noted in editorial content for The Superhero Women that the title "struck out" after that team fell apart.
As you can tell, we love a fierce conversation and a pretty picture, so why don't you socialize with us, either by leaving a comment on this page or...

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Annihilation: Super-Skrull (2006)

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episode 011



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Face Front, True Believers! This week we return to the Annihilation event, with a (thankfully) more self-contained mini-series starring the classic Fantastic Four foe Super-Skrull! Episode art tumblr here.

Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here...

As you can tell, we love a fierce conversation and a pretty picture, so why don't you socialize with us, either by leaving a comment on this page or...

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Iron Man and Mr. Fixit: A Night with Mac and Fixit (Frank Free Episode!)

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast
Episode 010

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FRANK FREE PODCAST!
Since our old buddy has been banished to the Negative Zone, Mac and Fixit decide to take a shot at this whole "podcasting" thing on their own.
The two guys break down the only Fixit/Iron Man crossover they could find. Iron Man #247 (October 1989) and Incredible Hulk #361 (November 1989) is a quick, caper style story bringing together not only two of our favorite characters, but ICONIC creative teams of Dave Michelinie/Bob Layton for Iron Man and Peter David/Jeff Pervis for Hulk.
Mostly, we just needed something that Frank wouldn't be pissed at us for covering. LOVE YOU, BRO!

Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here. Episode art tumblr here.



As you can tell, we love a fierce conversation and a pretty picture, so why don't you socialize with us, either by leaving a comment on this page or...

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Iron Man Is Born!

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episode 009



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Face Front, True Believers! This week, we look at the 1963 first appearance of Iron Man from Tales of Suspense #39, then compare it to 1994's The Marvel Action Hour: Iron Man episodes 11 & 12, "Origin of Iron Man: Part 1 & 2!"

Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here. Episode art tumblr here.


As you can tell, we love a fierce conversation and a pretty picture, so why don't you socialize with us, either by leaving a comment on this page or...

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Annihilation: Silver Surfer (2006)

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episode 008



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Face Front, True Believers! We're back to lean, mean fighting form with our latest episode! Following our looks at Marvel Cosmic and Drax the Destroyer: Earthfall, we're ready to attack the epic Annihilation story arc of 2006 in earnest. The seeds for Guardians of the Galaxy were planted by this exciting event! Episode art tumblr here.

Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here...

As you can tell, we love a fierce conversation and a pretty picture, so why don't you socialize with us, either by leaving a comment on this page or...

Monday, August 25, 2014

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episode 007

Annihilation Prologue (2006)



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Face Front, True Believers! We're back to lean, mean fighting form with our latest episode! Following our looks at Marvel Cosmic and Drax the Destroyer: Earthfall, we're ready to attack the epic Annihilation story arc of 2006 in earnest. From this one-shot came five direct tie-in mini-series from whose soil the seeds for Guardians of the Galaxy sprouted as part of this exciting event!



Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here. Episode art tumblr here.






Siskoid can be heard on DC RPG: The Hero Points Podcast

From Lissbirds, "How I discovered Ron Lim, or, the one Ron Lim DC series"




Lissbirds also asked, "have you guys seen this?"

As you can tell, we love a fierce conversation and a pretty picture, so why don't you socialize with us, either by leaving a comment on this page or...

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episode 006

Adventures of Ka-Zar the Great



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Face Front, True Believers! We're setting the Time Platform back to the dawn of Timely Comics with the Golden Age Ka-Zar and the Masked Raider! Also, the biggest, fattest Marvel Mail Bag ever! Episode art tumblr here.



Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers...
  • 01:10 A look at the predecessors of the comic book, pulp fiction.
  • 02:45 The origin of David Rand, better known as the original Ka-Zar.
  • 07:35 Comments on The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episodes #1-2, Namor the First Marvel and Marvel Cosmics & Warlock
  • 14:28 The continuing adventures of Ka-Zar, spanning through Marvel Mystery Comics #15 and notes on his final appearances.
  • 20:23 Comments on The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episode 003, SDCC 2014 FYI.
  • 43:10 The Masked Raider's entire Golden Age career gets our jaundiced gaze.
  • 51:15 Oh, we're still not done with the mail, but at least Mr. Fixit retroactively contributes to the SDCC episode.




As you can tell, we love a fierce conversation and a pretty picture, so why don't you socialize with us, either by leaving a comment on this page or...

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episode 005

Guardians of the Galaxy:
Experienced it in IMAX 3D



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Face Front, True Believers! The universe's most polyphallicetious Marvel Comics podcast returns to discuss the biggest hit film of the summer not associated with Michael Bay, Guardians of the Galaxy! Join Illegal Machine, Mr. Fixit and Diabolu Frank as they debate the highs and lows of Marvel Studios' latest blockbuster franchise! While we tried to keep spoilers to a minimum, you'd probably ought to have seen the movie before listening, or at least skip the podcast "chapter" beginning at 16:01, where the majority of plot landmines lie. In the second half, we open up the floor to all the Marvel Studios movies, and then a few quick draws out of the Mail Bag!



Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers...
  • 01:15 The Ill Mac gives his concise overall review.
  • 03:22 Fixit chimes in with his take. Mac might take off on a tangent at some point.
  • 11:19 So, there were some dumb parts, fanboys? Wait, Fryhole? Did I hear that right?
  • 14:00 Star Wars gets a Millennium Falcon Punch.
  • 16:33 We haven't heard much from Frank and we're a quarter of the way through a double length episode. I have a bad feeling about this...
  • 29:28 We offer our individual lists of Marvel Studios movies to date ranked by preference.
  • 31:00 Here's where the train derails folks, as we jump off the lists and into a mini-review of the Thor & Hulk movies.
  • 33:43 Mr. Fixit's list swiftly turns into a discussion of Iron Man 2 and 3.
  • 36:38 Oh yeah, Fixit's still trying to nail that list down. So, Cap?
  • 38:54 Mac brings it back to GotG.
  • 44:22 Can we see the reboots/recasting from here?
  • 58:05 The Mini-Marvel Mail Bag!




As you can tell, we love a fierce conversation and a pretty picture, so why don't you socialize with us, either by leaving a comment on this page or...