Some Of My Friends Read Comics

We're back in the Age of Apocalypse! This time we're reading the 4-issue Factor X miniseries that heavily focuses on Scott & Alex Summers, aka Cyclops and Havok. Turns out Havok is a real jerk who wants to kill his brother. Rude! We also get to know the evil mad scientist version of Beast who just wants to run genetic experiments on everything. Major creep. Then we continued the Korvac Saga with Avengers #173. Michael Korvac actually makes an appearance in this one! Next Time: Spider-Man 2099 (1992) #1-6  

For today's episode, we're diving into one of the most poorly received Batman comics of all time from the "All-Star" creative team of Frank Miller and Jim Lee.   We had a good time reading All-Star Superman a while back, so how bad could this be? Embarrassingly bad? Offensively bad? Incomprehensibly bad? Maybe all of the above.   It's so bad that we needed our friend Nick from the Your Stupid Minds podcast to help us wade through it.   Join us as we read All-Star Batman & Robin #1-6, and then continue our long read of the Korvac Saga with Avengers #172.   Next Time: We return to the Age of Apocalypse with Factor X #1-4!  

We're getting into April and we had the idea that we would read some... not great comics this month. Because April Fools Day or something. It's gonna be the worst tradition ever. We're starting with Fear Itself, a Marvel event from 2011 which is basically Thor vs a snake. We have issues with it. We then continue our read of the Korvac Ultron Saga with Avengers #171. Next Time: All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #1-6 by Frank Miller & Jim Lee  

For today's episode, we're entering one of the most lore-heavy comic book universes out there... a world we've never delved into before... Sonic the Hedgehog. We're specifically reading the Endgame storyline from issues #47-50 in the original Archie Comics run so that we can get a nice little taste of everything the universe has to offer. It's a lot. We then continue our read of the Korvac Saga with Avengers #170, in which it doesn't feel like the Korvac Saga has really started yet because we're busy dealing with Ultron. Next Time: Fear Itself by Matt Fraction & Stuart Immonen

In this week's episode, we check out the origin of Batman's famous sidekick, Dick Grayson aka the first Robin! Wait, I thought we were reading the 2nd half of Batman: Dark Victory... this episode was supposed to be issues 7-13. We were gonna find out who the Hangman Holiday killer was and how it relates to Batman, Two-Face, and all the Gotham mob families. Oh, that all happens too, I see. We also continue the Korvac Saga with Avengers #168 in which Captain America acts like a major asshole. Next Time: Sonic the Hedgehog: Endgame (Sonic (1993) #47-50) + The Korvac Saga #4 (Avengers #170)

Remember about 6 years ago when we read Batman: The Long Halloween about a serial killer who strikes on major holidays? Well it's time for the sequel, Batman: Dark Victory, which is about a serial killer... who strikes on major holidays. Cool. It's a 13-issue series, technically 14 since there's a little prequel issue, but we start off by just reading #0-6. Then we go onto The Korvac Saga in Avengers #167, which includes a fashion show! Fun! Next Time: We finish up Dark Victory!  

It's time to dive into our first Age of Apocalypse miniseries with the Astonishing X-Men! We meet Blink, Morph, a Sabretooth that acts a lot like Wolverine, a Rogue that's married to Magneto, and Apocalypse's first horseman.   We also start our long read of the Korvac Saga with a little bit of backstory from Thor Annual #6 where we jump into the 30th century and meet the original Guardians of the Galaxy. You'll probably recognize Yondu, he's there. And the villains have a cute blob you might like too.   Next Time: Batman - Dark Victory #0-6

It's been quite a while since we caught up with Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America. Last time around we discovered that the Winter Soldier is Bucky. And this week we read the next part of that run in Captain America #15-17 and then the Captain America 65th Anniversary Special. There's a big cool robot in it. And then it's finally time for the last chapter of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck where Huey, Dewey, and Louie finally get to meet their great uncle! Next Time: We return to the Age of Apocalypse with Astonishing X-Men (1995) #1-4  

We haven't read nearly enough Hulk for this show, so we thought we'd read Future Imperfect by Peter David and George Perez. The Hulk has to stop an evil old version of himself from ruining the future. In just 2 issues, The Maestro manages to make a strong name for himself as a serious villain.   Afterwards, we continue The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck with part 11 in which Scrooge unfortunately also establishes himself as a serious villain.   Next Time: Captain America by Ed Brubaker Pt. 3: Red Menace Pt. 1 (Captain America (2004) #15-17, Captain America 65th Anniversary Special)  

We don't get around to the X-Men often enough, so we're gonna make a commitment to jump in more often by exploring one of their biggest events, the Age of Apocalypse. We're starting with the prelude in the 4-part Legion Quest storyline where Professor X's son goes back in time to kill Magneto, and then we get introduced to an alternate reality in X-Men: Alpha #1. We also continue The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with chapter 10 in which Scrooge settles down in Duckburg. Next Time: Hulk - Future Imperfect  

It's raining Spider-Mans!!! For today's episode we read Edge of Spider-Verse, a collection of 5 different Spider-Character introductions that led directly into Spider-Verse itself. We've got Noir, Spider-Gwen, a monstrous Peter Parker, a little girl named Peni Parker, and a guy named Aaron Aikman from Tokyo or maybe Dallas. One of these things was not like the other. And then we continue The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck #9, in which our Scrooge is now finally rich! Next Time: We start the Age of Apocalypse with Legion Quest (Uncanny X-Men 320 & 321, X-Men 40 & 41) + X-Men: Alpha #1.

Hawkeye is one of those poor characters who also seems to be the butt of jokes for his lack of powers. The Matt Fraction & David Aja series from 2012 is widely regarded as one of Hawkeye's best, so we thought we'd see what it had to offer. But wait... Clint Barton and Kate Bishop are BOTH Hawkeye around this time. Is that okay? (It's fine.) There's a bonus Young Avengers story in this volume too, which we read before jumping over to The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck #8, which gave us a taste of that classic DUCK RAGE. Next Time: Edge of Spider-Verse

What is an Eternal? They got a whole movie but we have no idea. We decided the Neil Gaiman & John Romita, Jr. 6-issue miniseries from 2006 would be a decent place to start. Apparently it was so good they gave it a 7th issue! Wow, good job Eternals. And of course, we continued our read of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with issue #7. The number 7 is all over this episode. Numerology nerds take note. Next Time - Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction & David Aja (Hawkeye (2012) #1-5 + Young Avengers Presents #6)

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is back after a massive hiatus! What???? Is this real life? Yes, it's really happening. We read the first 5 issues forever ago and now it's time to finally read issues #6-8. At the time of this posting, a 9th issue has also been published. For real. Like for real for real. We're also officially halfway through The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, with issue 6 to round out his full rogues gallery. Next Time: The Eternals (2006) by Neil Gaiman & John Romita, Jr.  

Swamp Thing made someone's heart sing!!! He's in love! It's so sweet! But we have to go through some really creepy horror stuff first like BUGS. Eww, gross. In Alan Moore's 2nd volume of Swamp Thing (issues #28-34 & Annual #2), he gave us a little bit of everything, including a fun little trip to hell. And then we kept reading The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with Chapter 5. Spoiler alert: Scrooge dies. Next Time: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #6-8

This Jimmy Olsen story has too many characters we've never heard of, but now that we've read the back half of Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber's 12-issue Eisner winning maxiseries, we kind of love them all. We also continued reading through The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck with Chapter 4! Next Time: We return to Alan Moore's Swamp Thing (first time since Episode 45 back in January 2017) with Saga of the Swamp Thing #28-34 + Annual #2.

Jimmy Olsen?!??! It's easy to forget that Superman's Pal used to have his own long-running series filled with adventures, but now he's back and winning Eisner Awards thanks to Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber! We read the first half of the 2019 maxi-series which is all about the murder of Jimmy Olsen's fake body double. Then we continued The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with Chapter 3! Next Time: We finish up Jimmy Olsen with issues #7-12!

Shang-Chi! CM Punk! It's a double-topical episode! Shang-Chi is finally getting a movie and we admittedly knew absolutely nothing about him, so we went back to his beginnings in Special Marvel Edition #15 & #16 which was then renamed to Master of Kung Fu and the story continued with #17-19. But we didn't stop there! We also read Master of Kung Fu #126 written by the Best in the World himself, CM Punk. Then we continued our long-read of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with #2. So much content!!! Next Time: 2021 Eisner Award Winner for "Best Limited Series" -  Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #1-6 by Matt Fraction & Steve Lieber  

Some of my friends... WATCH WRESTLING?!?!? We delved into the squared circle with this episode by reading a biography of the biggest man in the industry, Andre the Giant: Life and Legend by Brian Box Brown. Chris and Kia did their best to teach Vince all about this weird world but really we all learned how big of an asshole Andre was. Then we moved onto our next long read: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa. That's right, the ducks are back baby!!!!!!! Next Time: Shang-Chi Origins (Master of Kung Fu #15-19, 126)

Agents of Atlas is a superhero team with a monkey AND a robot. Wow, it really doesn't get any better than this folks. We've been talking about Jimmy Woo and his weirdly thrown together team for ages and now it's finally time for us to see what it's all about. We read their first appearance as a team back in What If #9 when they saved President Eisenhower, and then we read their first substantial miniseries from 2006 by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk. Then over in Amazing Spider-Man, we finally finish a full year of this book with #12 in which Peter gets unmasked! Like for real! Next Time: Andre the Giant: Life and Legend by Brian "Box" Brown and the beginning of our next long read: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck #1 by Don Rosa!