The Classy Comics Podcast

Spidey teams up with Sub-mariner, investigates video games that turns Aunt May evil, and then gets involved overly complicate spy scheme.
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Transcript below:
Spiderman will see you in the funny pages. Join us as we take a look at The Amazing Spider-Man: Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection 1983-1984 straight ahead.
Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.
While other superheroes have been around longer, Spidey has had the longest career in newspaper strips. Spider-Man [Superman] appeared on the funny pages from 1938 to 1966. Spider-Man started being published in newspapers in 1977 and continues to appear to this day for forty-one years and counting. The newspaper strip is a nice read currently if you're a fan of Spider-Man but hate the whole ‘one more day, sell marriage to the devil' storyline, as that never happened in the newspaper strip; although Stan Lee who was writing that and still has some creative input on it, decided to just without any deal with the devil just go ahead and revert Peter to being in college and not married; and essentially he got a lot of letters from fans saying they didn't like that, so he just reversed it back and the whole thing of the months of strips in which he was back in college was just a dream. If only the main Marvel Comics leadership were so responsive… At any right though we're taking a look at strips from 1983 to '84 which were before the marriage, which would actually occur in both the comic strip and the comic books simultaneously. [That] lays ahead.
This book has two years of strips and you'll notice compared to our previous look in an American Comics Library release, The Star Trek Book, there are a lot less stories in here. In fact, this book covers two years and we only really deal with four and a half stories.
The first one finds Peter being sent out along with a reporter by Jamieson to investigate some strange goings on at the Bermuda Triangle. It also turns out that Jamison sent along a oceanographer. Peter's shock turns out to be a woman. Peter says, "You're Sam Taylor, our oceanographer?" And she replies, "The ‘Sam' is for Samantha, and it's Dr. Taylor to you." "But you're a young, beautiful girl!" And she says, "And you're a male chauvinist cretin!" Peter says, "Did I say something wrong?" The reporter says, "Does Reagan like jelly beans?" The answer is ‘yes' for those of you not around in 1980s, and Peter tries to apologize in a later script and he says, "Look, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot. If I said anything to upset you…", and she says, "Woah, don't flatter yourself. You're not important enough to upset me. Males like you are a dime a dozen."
So, of course, after that opinion clearly, unambiguously stated, Peter gets the message and he spends the rest of this entire strip pining after Samantha. However, this is all interrupted when they are captured by Namor who happens to be in the middle of an Atlantean civil war. This is a very interesting story in that it becomes much more a Namor story than it does a Spider-Man story. But I love Namor and it's great to see him given this exposure in the newspaper strip, and as Peter does get the help – though he doesn't change into Spider-Man for the effort, so he's got to be discreet about it, particularly since there're people on board who could notice his secret identity. But I like this one pretty well.
The next one it finds Mary Jane having returned to New York about the same time Peter gets back from his trip, and she has a new career selling computers because that was the big new thi...

Spidey teams up with Sub-mariner, investigates video games that turns Aunt May evil, and then gets involved overly complicate spy scheme.

Affiliate link included.

Transcript below:

Spiderman will see you in the funny pages. Join us as we take a look at The Amazing Spider-Man: Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection 1983-1984 straight ahead.

Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.

While other superheroes have been around longer, Spidey has had the longest career in newspaper strips. Spider-Man [Superman] appeared on the funny pages from 1938 to 1966. Spider-Man started being published in newspapers in 1977 and continues to appear to this day for forty-one years and counting. The newspaper strip is a nice read currently if you’re a fan of Spider-Man but hate the whole ‘one more day, sell marriage to the devil’ storyline, as that never happened in the newspaper strip; although Stan Lee who was writing that and still has some creative input on it, decided to just without any deal with the devil just go ahead and revert Peter to being in college and not married; and essentially he got a lot of letters from fans saying they didn’t like that, so he just reversed it back and the whole thing of the months of strips in which he was back in college was just a dream. If only the main Marvel Comics leadership were so responsive… At any right though we’re taking a look at strips from 1983 to ’84 which were before the marriage, which would actually occur in both the comic strip and the comic books simultaneously. [That] lays ahead.

This book has two years of strips and you’ll notice compared to our previous look in an American Comics Library release, The Star Trek Book, there are a lot less stories in here. In fact, this book covers two years and we only really deal with four and a half stories.

The first one finds Peter being sent out along with a reporter by Jamieson to investigate some strange goings on at the Bermuda Triangle. It also turns out that Jamison sent along a oceanographer. Peter’s shock turns out to be a woman. Peter says, “You’re Sam Taylor, our oceanographer?” And she replies, “The ‘Sam’ is for Samantha, and it’s Dr. Taylor to you.” “But you’re a young, beautiful girl!” And she says, “And you’re a male chauvinist cretin!” Peter says, “Did I say something wrong?” The reporter says, “Does Reagan like jelly beans?” The answer is ‘yes’ for those of you not around in 1980s, and Peter tries to apologize in a later script and he says, “Look, I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot. If I said anything to upset you…”, and she says, “Woah, don’t flatter yourself. You’re not important enough to upset me. Males like you are a dime a dozen.”

So, of course, after that opinion clearly, unambiguously stated, Peter gets the message and he spends the rest of this entire strip pining after Samantha. However, this is all interrupted when they are captured by Namor who happens to be in the middle of an Atlantean civil war. This is a very interesting story in that it becomes much more a Namor story than it does a Spider-Man story. But I love Namor and it’s great to see him given this exposure in the newspaper strip, and as Peter does get the help – though he doesn’t change into Spider-Man for the effort, so he’s got to be discreet about it, particularly since there’re people on board who could notice his secret identity. But I like this one pretty well.

The next one it finds Mary Jane having returned to New York about the same time Peter gets back from his trip, and she has a new career selling computers because that was the big new thi...

A look at a 1950s character who became the first teenage superheroine. (Check out Tomboy's Adventure in Captain Flash.)
Transcript:
You'll believe a teenaged girl can hold on to the outside of an airplane in flight. Find out more as we look at a hero of the public domain, Tomboy, straight ahead.

Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.
With many old comics sometimes the most exciting thing isn't the main feature. It can be the backup feature, and this is the case as we take a look at Tomboy who was the star of the backup strip of Captain Flash published between 1954 and '55 by Sterling Comics which published a few somewhat obscure titles in that period where comics was between the Gold and Silver Ages. Very little is known about the books. I think it's safe to say that the writer who wrote them was a pro, but who, we can't say. The artist for the first Issue was Mort Meskin, a legend from the Golden Age and early Silver Age who would later be admitted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2013. After that the strip was drawn by a much more obscure artist named Edward Moritz who was mainly known for working for a lot of different companies and then painting some covers for Classics Illustrated, as well as doing some paperbacks for various things such as Tom Swift. The stories themselves had the same page constraints as Black Cobra that we talked about last time we visited a public domain hero, in that they were essentially limited to six or seven pages.
She appears in four stories in Captain Flash Number One through Four. In the first story she battles The Claw and we get an introduction to the character – no real origin and all – but the story involves her taking down a bad guy on the roof, and her identity as Tomboy. Later when she is in her secret identity as Janie Jackson her arch-nemesis The Claw calls up her dad to tell him that they are going to be hitting the waterfront district and she swings into action only to fall into a trap as The Claw had planned to capture Tomboy and takes her up in an airplane where he plans to drop incendiary bombs on the city so he can get people distracted and then raid the museum. And Tomboy manages to foil this in the most amazingly awesome, improbable way possible, jumping out of the airplane, grabbing onto part of the wing and holding on, and then being able to swing over to kick the bomb bay doors closed so that the bombs can't drop. And when they set the fuse to detonate it actually blows up the plane, and she manages to jump free just as the plane is exploding in the background. Now it is awesome, even though it is incredibly scientifically improbable. It's just a fun story.
The second story is also good where she battles a villain known has Sound Wave who is able to hold people up by remote by transmitting his voice, and Janie picks up a clue that Tomboy follows through on. Again, some great daring do.
The third Issue has her dealing with a double. Well the double is her brother's girlfriend, because her brother is very fixated on Tomboy, and so the girlfriend decides to impersonate Tomboy to accept an award from the police. Thankfully for her, Janie is brought along by her father and is able to make her excuses in time to rescue the girlfriend from Tomboy's enemies. This one is probably a little bit weaker just because it's a six-page story and there's not really time to realize all of the ideas here. It ends with her brother praising Tomboy and saying, "To think my sister had the nerve to masquerade as Tomboy", because this had been in a masquerade party earlier. OK, it's a masquerade party. You dress up as somebody. It's got of like "How dare she profane T...

A look at a 1950s character who became the first teenage superheroine. (Check out Tomboy’s Adventure in Captain Flash.)

Transcript:

You’ll believe a teenaged girl can hold on to the outside of an airplane in flight. Find out more as we look at a hero of the public domain, Tomboy, straight ahead.

Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.

With many old comics sometimes the most exciting thing isn’t the main feature. It can be the backup feature, and this is the case as we take a look at Tomboy who was the star of the backup strip of Captain Flash published between 1954 and ’55 by Sterling Comics which published a few somewhat obscure titles in that period where comics was between the Gold and Silver Ages. Very little is known about the books. I think it’s safe to say that the writer who wrote them was a pro, but who, we can’t say. The artist for the first Issue was Mort Meskin, a legend from the Golden Age and early Silver Age who would later be admitted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2013. After that the strip was drawn by a much more obscure artist named Edward Moritz who was mainly known for working for a lot of different companies and then painting some covers for Classics Illustrated, as well as doing some paperbacks for various things such as Tom Swift. The stories themselves had the same page constraints as Black Cobra that we talked about last time we visited a public domain hero, in that they were essentially limited to six or seven pages.

She appears in four stories in Captain Flash Number One through Four. In the first story she battles The Claw and we get an introduction to the character – no real origin and all – but the story involves her taking down a bad guy on the roof, and her identity as Tomboy. Later when she is in her secret identity as Janie Jackson her arch-nemesis The Claw calls up her dad to tell him that they are going to be hitting the waterfront district and she swings into action only to fall into a trap as The Claw had planned to capture Tomboy and takes her up in an airplane where he plans to drop incendiary bombs on the city so he can get people distracted and then raid the museum. And Tomboy manages to foil this in the most amazingly awesome, improbable way possible, jumping out of the airplane, grabbing onto part of the wing and holding on, and then being able to swing over to kick the bomb bay doors closed so that the bombs can’t drop. And when they set the fuse to detonate it actually blows up the plane, and she manages to jump free just as the plane is exploding in the background. Now it is awesome, even though it is incredibly scientifically improbable. It’s just a fun story.

The second story is also good where she battles a villain known has Sound Wave who is able to hold people up by remote by transmitting his voice, and Janie picks up a clue that Tomboy follows through on. Again, some great daring do.

The third Issue has her dealing with a double. Well the double is her brother’s girlfriend, because her brother is very fixated on Tomboy, and so the girlfriend decides to impersonate Tomboy to accept an award from the police. Thankfully for her, Janie is brought along by her father and is able to make her excuses in time to rescue the girlfriend from Tomboy’s enemies. This one is probably a little bit weaker just because it’s a six-page story and there’s not really time to realize all of the ideas here. It ends with her brother praising Tomboy and saying, “To think my sister had the nerve to masquerade as Tomboy”, because this had been in a masquerade party earlier. OK, it’s a masquerade party. You dress up as somebody. It’s got of like “How dare she pro...

Before she was Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers was Miss Marvel. We take a look at the entirety of her 1970s run in the Essential Miss Marvel, Volume 1
Affiliate link included.
Transcriopt below:
Graham: Before Captain Marvel aka Carol Danvers hits the big screen next year, learn about her heroic origins as we discuss the essential Miss Marvel Volume one straight ahead.

[Intro Music]
Announcer:Welcome to the Classic Comics podcast where we search for the best Comics in the universe from Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.
Graham: This year actually marks the 50th anniversary of Carol Danvers' first appearance in Marvel Super-Heroes #13. She was introduced as the Security Chief of a secret Air Force base; however, she was mostly a supporting character in the story and the future series starring Captain Marvel, i.e, Mar-vell of the Kree. She was a rival for Mar-vell's girlfriend and served to motivate that jealousy. Once that plot was played out, Carol Danvers pretty much disappeared from the comics until the 1970s. The Essential Ms. Marvel Volume 1 collects Ms. Marvel Issues 1 through 23 along with Marvel Super-Heroes Issues 10 and 11 from the 1990s and Avengers Annual number 10. You can also get these stories in full color if you get the Ms. Marvel Masterworks Volume 1 and Volume 2.
With the Ms Marvel series, the book actually opens with her being hired by Jameson to edit the magazine “Woman” and at the beginning of the series, Carol is not actually aware that she is changing into Ms. Marvel. I will somewhat revise what I said in the Noble review when I kind of poo-pooed the idea of having a hero with amnesia or in this case memory problems. Here it works because as readers we know what's going on and it doesn't take Carol too long to figure out for herself. It's revealed that in an issue where Captain Marvel rescued her, she was exposed to rays from a Kree device known as the Psyche-Magnetron. The Kree, of course I should note, are an alien species in the Marvel Universe with blue-skinned Kree as well as pink-skinned Kree, who could, and often do pass for white people, at least in the Marvel Universe and so in times of danger Carol changes into Ms Marvel who is a Kree warrior with amazing fighting powers. Now throughout the first dozen issues Carol believes that Carol Danvers and Ms Marvel are two separate people but then she realizes in the issue 12 that that's not the case, that as a result of this ray her mind was filled with the memories and the training of a Kree warrior and she just could not really process that so she created this second identity that she realizes that she's not two different people. She is the same person whether she's Ms Marvel or Carol Danvers. This kind of feels like they divided her personalities at the start of the book which would bear some semblance to what had gone on for a while in the Captain Marvel book with Captain Marvel and Rick Jones trading out existence in this universe but didn't really have an idea how that would work. It's worth noting that Gerry Conway wrote the first 3 issues of the book and then after that Chris Claremont of X-Men fame came aboard and so that may have been the reason for the discrepancy.
In terms of notable stories in the book I think issues 12 and 13 are interesting because not only does she have that realisation about her power but we get a little bit of insight into her past and her finding out that her dad is in trouble and trying to help out. Her dad shoos her away as Carol Danvers and when she intervenes as Ms Marvel her dad doesn't even say thank you. He's very condescending to her and just kind of acts like she's just a little girl and really doesn't want to have a relationship with her as an adult and it's something that clearly bothers her. It's a relationship she wants to have and...

Before she was Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers was Miss Marvel. We take a look at the entirety of her 1970s run in the Essential Miss Marvel, Volume 1

Affiliate link included.

Transcriopt below:

Graham: Before Captain Marvel aka Carol Danvers hits the big screen next year, learn about her heroic origins as we discuss the essential Miss Marvel Volume one straight ahead.

[Intro Music]

Announcer: Welcome to the Classic Comics podcast where we search for the best Comics in the universe from Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.

Graham: This year actually marks the 50th anniversary of Carol Danvers’ first appearance in Marvel Super-Heroes #13. She was introduced as the Security Chief of a secret Air Force base; however, she was mostly a supporting character in the story and the future series starring Captain Marvel, i.e, Mar-vell of the Kree. She was a rival for Mar-vell’s girlfriend and served to motivate that jealousy. Once that plot was played out, Carol Danvers pretty much disappeared from the comics until the 1970s. The Essential Ms. Marvel Volume 1 collects Ms. Marvel Issues 1 through 23 along with Marvel Super-Heroes Issues 10 and 11 from the 1990s and Avengers Annual number 10. You can also get these stories in full color if you get the Ms. Marvel Masterworks Volume 1 and Volume 2.

With the Ms Marvel series, the book actually opens with her being hired by Jameson to edit the magazine “Woman” and at the beginning of the series, Carol is not actually aware that she is changing into Ms. Marvel. I will somewhat revise what I said in the Noble review when I kind of poo-pooed the idea of having a hero with amnesia or in this case memory problems. Here it works because as readers we know what’s going on and it doesn’t take Carol too long to figure out for herself. It’s revealed that in an issue where Captain Marvel rescued her, she was exposed to rays from a Kree device known as the Psyche-Magnetron. The Kree, of course I should note, are an alien species in the Marvel Universe with blue-skinned Kree as well as pink-skinned Kree, who could, and often do pass for white people, at least in the Marvel Universe and so in times of danger Carol changes into Ms Marvel who is a Kree warrior with amazing fighting powers. Now throughout the first dozen issues Carol believes that Carol Danvers and Ms Marvel are two separate people but then she realizes in the issue 12 that that’s not the case, that as a result of this ray her mind was filled with the memories and the training of a Kree warrior and she just could not really process that so she created this second identity that she realizes that she’s not two different people. She is the same person whether she’s Ms Marvel or Carol Danvers. This kind of feels like they divided her personalities at the start of the book which would bear some semblance to what had gone on for a while in the Captain Marvel book with Captain Marvel and Rick Jones trading out existence in this universe but didn’t really have an idea how that would work. It’s worth noting that Gerry Conway wrote the first 3 issues of the book and then after that Chris Claremont of X-Men fame came aboard and so that may have been the reason for the discrepancy.

In terms of notable stories in the book I think issues 12 and 13 are interesting because not only does she have that realisation about her power but we get a little bit of insight into her past and her finding out that her dad is in trouble and trying to help out. Her dad shoos her away as Carol Danvers and when she intervenes as Ms Marvel her dad doesn’t even say thank you. He’s very condescending to her and just kind of acts like she’s just a little girl and really doesn’t want to have a relationship with her as an adult and it’s something that clearly bothers her.

The Universe is in peril which means it's time for a massive Doctor Who event with at least five Doctors playing an active role and so many guest stars.
Transcript follows:
The universe needs saving and it's up to the Doctor, a bunch of his past selves and a whole lot of friends in the massive crossover event Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension straight ahead.

Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.
Ever since Titan got the Doctor Who license, every year they have done a massive crossover event between different Doctors. The first year it was The Four Doctors which had the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors all meeting up despite Clara Oswald's efforts to prevent it; then there's Supremacy of the Cybermen which was a crossover event where things were happening throughout the Twelfth Doctor's prior lives, but really all of the action in terms of being able to impact everything lay with a Twelfth Doctor. It was also a comic book sequel of sorts to the series finale of Series Nine ‘Hellbent' which doesn't have a great reputation among fans to start with. For their 2017 crossover they tried something far more ambitious: there would be five Special Issues published along with taking one issue each from the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors' ongoing series. How does this work out? Well let's take a look.
The series was actually reprinted in two separate trades: Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension Book One and Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension Book Two. I wouldn't be surprised if sometime down the line Titan goes ahead and collects all eight Issues into a single trade; but at any rate, as of right now it's in two books, so just be aware of that. The books do have a reading order so we'll go ahead and take a look at them. It starts out with Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension Alpha which has Captain Jack trying to get Tara, a companion of the Ninth Doctor, who had been added during the Ninth Doctor comic series trying to get her home, yet the planet they're on is being subsumed in a White Hole. A figure in a white suit who turns out to be Jenny, The Doctor's daughter, offers to rescue them but we learn that she wasn't able to rescue them because she soon shows up where the Twelfth Doctor is on campus teaching, and informs him that she just got away and her bowship.
Now I should explain Jenny's origin. Jenny was actually grown from a DNA sample taken from the Tenth Doctor against his will and used as a soldier in a war that combatants assumed had been going on forever. She is killed towards the end of the episode and the Doctor leaves, but she revives at the end and flies off to have her own adventures and is never seen again on television.
The Tenth Doctor was quite miffed about this and really in denial, so it was kind of fun when I was reading the book. You saw the Twelfth Doctor acknowledge the problems of where she had come from but also kind of give her a fatherly embrace and accept her and say ‘You can't choose your kids'. I think reflects some of the maturing that the Twelfth Doctor actually experienced. However, this character moment is interrupted when Kate,Stewart, Osgood, and everyone from UNIT who'd been investigating the site of the crash of Jenny's bowship comes in all wild-eyed and saying, "Peace ", and we're definitely in for a difficult situation.
The next story is the Ninth Doctor Special because the Ninth Doctor no longer has an ongoing title at Titans. The story finds he and Rose landing on a ship in the ocean during Victorian era, and the ship is owned by Madam Vastra and she and Jenny are sailing out searching for a Silurian colony because Vastra believed that she was alone in the world and the Doctor persuad...

The Universe is in peril which means it’s time for a massive Doctor Who event with at least five Doctors playing an active role and so many guest stars.

Affiliate link included.

Jessica Cruz gets the worst instructor ever while Volthoom plots revenge eons in the making.
Affiliate link included.
Transcript below:
Jessica Cruz gets the worst training officer possible. We'll tell you all about it in Green Lantern Volume Four: The First Ring, straight ahead.

Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. from Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.
When DC Rebirths launched there were two different Green Lantern titles. There was Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps which focused on the better known Green Lanterns out having space opera adventures. Meanwhile, there were two Green Lanterns who were stationed on earth: Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, and they were forced to work as partners because Hal Jordan gave them only one power battery between them. At first they clashed but then they became friends as well as partners, working together and growing through the first three books. At the end of the third book Jon Stewart recalled them to Mogo for training without really giving them much chance to prepare. It's kind of a dubious move because they really could have been in the middle of something when he just whisked them away. But in the first three Issues of this book they do arrive on Mogo and undergo training. For some, and this is a mere matter of you learning to use more imagination when he uses his power ring, and for that he's trained by Kyle Rayner. Rayner had been an artist before he became a Green Lantern, and so this is a really fun section. The art throughout this book is really good and really expressive, fitting the unique power set of the Green Lanterns in terms of being able to make these will power constructs, as well as showing all of this majestic stuff in space and the different species.
It's particularly fun as Simon has to work his way through a maze that Kyle created with his ring, and it's just a pretty fun battle. Jessica faces a bigger challenge. Prior to getting her ring she suffered from anxiety; so much so that she couldn't even leave her apartment. But she's shown marked improvement and has achieved some key victories as a Green Lantern also in finding on the side of the Justice League having helped take down several heavy hitters. So of course when she gets to Mogo they take away her Green Lantern symbol because she is in training and hasn't even passed her basic training. This but having this whole saving earth several times thing, they're not going to stop that from standing in the way of the rules. To top this off, for a training officer Jessica gets Guy Gardner – probably the worst possible person you could give to someone who has had some emotional challenges. As well Gardner definitely has his good side, he can be a pretty big jerk when you're first getting to know him and that's the case here as he makes her absolutely miserable throughout the entire training period. She manages to hang on partially with some very kind advice from Killowog, the longtime Green Lantern veteran who'd really does play that sort of sage-veteran role in giving her just some really good inspiration. And it's a beautiful scene as he tells a Lantern legend and reminds her that she has what it takes. And she does, of course, pass training – though after she decks Guy Gardner; and who could blame her?
Of course, while our heroes are going through training that's not actually the most important thing that's going on in these first three Issues. This is all setting up a bigger story and part of this has been set up throughout the Green Lantern's story, and I strongly recommend if you haven't read the earlier volumes to pick them up. But there are a couple key things going on: first, we're seeing some people who were recruited as the earliest Lanterns at the very dawn of t...

Jessica Cruz gets the worst instructor ever while Volthoom plots revenge eons in the making.

Affiliate link included.