Giant Size

"Batman (Without Batman)" comics, especially Gotham Central and Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, the brand-new Gotham Academy and Arkham Manor, as well as great collected series from the last two decades and a light primer on the work of Ed Brubaker.

Among other things, Kevin Maguire talks with John and Moisés about his "signature shot", how Godzilla began and ended his movie career (for now!), the frustrating logic that drives internet insta-controversies in comics, and what he's driven to do next in his career.

We discuss the "origin stories" of how John came to love Swamp Thing, Howard the Duck, and The Thing. From movies on cable and Saturday morning cartoons to reprints and recommendations from friends, we get to better know John's tastes and his "human experience" as "this fan, this podcaster."

The Power of-, Trials of-, and Magic of Shazam are all on the table this week, as we look at one of John's favorite characters. Old-school fans may know Billy Batson's alter-ego better as The Superhero Formerly Known As Captain Marvel.

How to get into Batman, with both older and newer modern-era takes on the Caped Crusader. It's probably best to start with Year One instead of The Dark Knight Returns. This is "Volume 1" in a series of Bat-shows to come.

This is the "Big Damn" Frank Miller episode. We look at his entire body of work while at once barely touching on Sin City or 300. In particular, more attention should be paid to his collaborations with David Mazzuchelli, Geof Darrow, Chris Claremont, Dave Gibbons, Klaus Janson, and Bill Sienkiewicz. Meanwhile, John culls his collection by hundreds of comics, and we discuss the hard choices we make going digital.

Val Mayerik (co-creator of Howard the Duck) discusses his career, work with friends like Steve Gerber and Bill Mantlo, untold tales of "The Duck", and his interest in getting back into comics. Cameo appearance by Larry Hama!

In this year's San Diego Comic-Con special, we further meditate on the balance of forces in fandom. The mainstream has fully invaded comics via TV and movies. Could it be that's how women (both characters and creatives) have gained traction in recent years? Featuring an interview with legendary designer and author Chip Kidd and the majority of the audio from this year's "Superheroines" panel, with Faith Erin Hicks, Marjorie M Liu, Jules Rivera, Joanna Estep, Dr. Andrea Letamendi, Marguerite Bennett, and moderator Dariane Nabor.

Our Spider-Man Spectacular continues, with Moisés, John, and Todd taking a much deeper focus on more from the modern era of Spider-stories, the work of Dan Slott in particular. We also hear more from the historic "Stan n' Dan" Q&A. Part 2 of 2

Our Amazing Spider-Man Spectacular begins here, True Believers! We've got good jumping-on points, what we like about ol' webhead, and weird one-off stories (like that time Peter Parker made his own detergent). Todd Nauck, Stan Lee, Dan Slott, and Howard Mackie guest in Part 1 of 2!