Elliott Kalan has made a career for himself out of checking items off the bucket list he made for himself when he was 14, which is a damn fine way to go through life, if you ask us.

You may know him as the head writer of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return, which Robb mortgaged his house to Kickstart, or his 12-year run as writer and head writer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

He's written a bunch of Spider-Man comics, including Spider-Man & the X-Men, which includes what is probably the second-most-memed comics panel of the last decade.

He's been co-hosting bad-movie podcast The Flop House since 2007, long before the federal government made co-hosting a bad-movie podcast compulsory for men aged 18-25. And he co-hosted a 13-episode podcast about I, Claudius called (wait for it) I, Podivs with fellow MBTM alumnus John Hodgman.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, he has written two fantastic kids' picture books: Horse Meets Dog (which was the first book Bryan's son was able to read all by himself) and Sharko and Hippo, out now for your holiday purchasing pleasure.

Bottom line: Elliott is great. Please make the two hours he wasted doing this show with us worth his while by consuming all his media.

Stories Covered In Detail This Episode:

Strange Tales #161: “The Second Doom” - written and drawn by Jim Steranko

Tales of Suspense #94: “If This Be… MODOK!” - written by Stan Lee, art by Jack Kirby w/Joe Sinnott

Fantastic Four #67: “When Opens the Cocoon” - written by Stan Lee, art by Jack Kirby w/Joe Sinnott

Amazing Spider-Man #53: “Enter: Dr. Octopus” - written by Stan Lee, art by John Romita w/”Mickey Demeo” (Mike Esposito)

Complete List of Comics Published This Month (courtesy of mikesamazingworld.com): 

Amazing Spider-Man #53, Avengers #44, Avengers Annual #1, Daredevil #32, Fantastic Four #67, Not Brand Echh #3, Sgt. Fury #46, Strange Tales #161, Tales of Suspense #94, Tales to Astonish #96, Thor #144, X-Men #36, ©1967 Marvel Comics. 

"Marvel by the Month" theme v. 2.0 by Robb Milne, sung by Barb Allen, with bass by Ryan ‘Biff’ Dudder. All incidental music by Robb Milne. Visit us on internet at marvelbythemonth.com and follow us on Instagram at @marvelbythemonth.

Much of our historical context information comes from Wikipedia. Please join us in supporting them at wikimediafoundation.org.