The Fantasticast

Don't Cry For Me Latveria

Hello, and welcome to episode 253 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, we're delving into the realms of the 1970s conspiracy thriller, as a technical wizard, a mesmeric master, and a mind-controlled zombie cyborg from an alternate future ripped from his own time come together to try and assassinate President Jimmy Carter at the moment of his inauguration. Yes, it's our coverage of Marvel Two-in-One #27 - Day Of The Demolisher!

Marv Wolfman, Ron Wilson, and Pablo Marcos come together to put the Fantastic Four (and friends) against The Fixer, Mentallo, and Deathlok the Demolisher. We also get to experience a naked inauguration, and ask the all-important question: Who's crapper? Deathlok or Cyborg Superman?

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

No Such Thing As The X-Factor

Hello, and welcome to episode 252 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, we're returning to the many, many subplots in progress in the main title, with Fantastic Four #182. Between revolution in the Negative Zone, child abduction in Whisper Hill, spousal impersonation in the Baxter Building, and the removal of as many extraneous characters as the writers can get away with, this is one heck of a full issue.

The fullness starts with the credit box, which lists Archie Goodwin, Len Wein, Jim Shooter, and Bill Mantlo as writers, alongside Sal Buscema (who we really like, despite the evidence to the contrary) and Joe Sinnott. They come together to present the misadventures of the Mildly Disturbed Thinker, and the long-awaited return of... ZANTE!

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Logistics of SHIELD Pizza

Hello, and welcome to episode 251 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, we're tackling two mighty Marvel tales. In the first, Marvel Two-in-One #26, a pizza date with Nick Fury turns into a fight against a mesmeric master and a future Thunderbolt for Ben Grimm. Mentallo and The Fixer are back, the world will never be the same again, and neither will a certain refugee from Earth-7484.

Then we're off into Earth-774 to revisit the history of The Incredible Hulk in What If? #2 - What If The Hulk Had The Brain Of Bruce Banner? This questions leads to the permanent cure of Ben Grimm, the abandonment of mutant rights, and the non-destruction of Earth, proving that the series just doesn't know its own tropes.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

You Can't Tie A Knot In Your Neck

Hello, and welcome to episode 250 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

It's celebration time for The Fantasticast, as we reach our milestone 250th episode. And how do we mark this huge moment in our history? Er... by doing nothing about it at all. Instead, we get stuck right into Fantastic Four #181, which sees the FF splintered and scattered across New York and beyond. Reed's fighting against Annihilus, Sue's contending with the return of Agatha Harkness, and Johnny's confronting PTSD with the subtlety of the Presidential tweet.

Roy Thomas, Ron Wilson, and Joe Sinnott present Fantastic Four #181, a tale of battle in the Negative Zone, dredging the Hudson River, kidnapping a child, and watching a marathon of film noir with an extra-dimensional shape-changing chaotic being with a penchant for green and purple.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Half-Inching The Goodyear Blimp

Hello, and welcome to episode 249 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, we're rushing through both Fantastic Four #180 and Marvel Two-in-One #25 in one episode. This task is made a lot easier by Fantastic Four #180 being a cunningly-disguised reprint of Fantastic Four #101. So cunningly-disguised is the reprint that Marvel even got Jack Kirby to draw a brand new cover that does not represent the contents in any way shape or form. Much like most covers from the early 2000s...

Marvel Two-in-One #25 is a more original affair, as The Thing and Iron Fist go for a wander in the jungle and get contracted to provide military training for an entire army. Marv Wolfman has arrived as series writer, joining Ron Wilson and Sam Grainger to present the most logical way to kidnap Ben Grimm from a football stadium.

Lending his vocals to our episode is Patreon supporter Patrick Delmore. Patrick has a new podcast launching this week: Next Generation's First Generation, a Star Trek: The Next Generation commentary podcast. Check out the first episode on September 23rd.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Return Of The Bollocksfish

Hello, and welcome to episode 248 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

Today, we peer through the windows into a strange parallel world of what might have been. For, none save The Fantasticasters (and their guest) can truly know what could have happened, but for the invisible workings of an incomprehensible fate. Today, we answer the question, What If Spider-Man Had Joined The Fantastic Four, as we read What If? #1.

We're joined by our episode image designer Sam Savage to look at the first of many Marvel titles devoted to the alternate worlds where history took a different turn. Roy Thomas, Jim Craig, and Pablo Marcos come together to retell and revise Fantastic Four and Marvel history. Will The Watcher's narration irritate us all? Will the Earth explode? Will we spend too long recapping fight scenes that have little-to-no bearing on the plot? Find out, as we enter Earth-772!

We also take some time at the start of the episode to pay tribute to Len Wein, who sadly and unexpectedly passed away earlier this week.

Sam can be found on instagram as slpsavage92

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Who?

Hello, and welcome to episode 248 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week on the show, we come to the conclusion of Bill Mantlo's run on Marvel Two-in-One. In common with a lot of his issues, he's picking up the reigns of a character rejected by the comics readership of the time, and giving him a second shot. In this case, it's Bill Foster - Black Goliath. And the Whiz Kids. But they're so unimportant that none of us recognise them.

Joining us for this episode is Fantastic Four superfan and comicbook.com writer Mike Brown. He stands beside us as we examine the work of Bill Mantlo, Jim Shooter, Sal Buscema, and Pablo Marcos. Strap in, folks - the Hijacker is here, and we definitely remember him!

Mike can be found on twitter as @EvrLvnBluIdThng, and you can find his interviews at comicbook.com with us here, here, and here.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Hardback, Softback, Any Kind Of Back

Hello, and welcome to episode 246 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, we're peeling back the covers of Fantastic Four #179. Reed Richards is lost and almost naked in the Negative Zone, forced to hunt bats for sustenance and to make fire from quite literally nothing. His doppelganger, The Brute, has taken his place on the team. Thundra is flirting outrageously with Ben, Sue's got her doubts, and Tigra just wants lunch.

Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Ron Wilson and Joe Sinnott present a tale full of double-crossing, film noir marathons, almost-pizza, a discussion of Kai Cole's recent statement regarding her marriage, unlikely giant robots, and sunken garbage scows. Oh, and a completely bland number one single.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Blacksun Won't You Come, And Wash Away The Rain

Hello, and welcome to episode 245 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, in We Set A Format For The Show Six Years Ago And We're Sticking To It No Matter What, we're taking a look at Marvel Two-in-One #23. The Mighty Thor continues to guest star as he and The Thing do something involving Seth, a golden bridge, a size-changing door, and Blacksun. You remember him, right? Well, that's more than the writers of this comic did.

Bill Mantlo, Jim Shooter, Ron Wilson, Marie Severin, and Pablo Marcos present the final part of this story involving the threat of Blacksun (even though that threat has spent this issue and the past lying unconscious with Johnny keeping hot/cold). The final part. With a conclusion. That ends things. Yes.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Counter-Earth Pantsless Pipe-Smoking Society

Hello, and welcome to episode 244 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

Following an unexpected diversion with the last episode, we're back on track this week with a look at Fantastic Four #178. The Brute has joined the Frightful Four, and the team of villains is holding the Fantastic Four hostage in the Baxter Building. Will New York pay the princely sum of... ONE MILLION DOLLARS? Or will Marvel's First Family pay the ultimate price?

Roy Thomas, George Perez, and Dave Hunt present Call My Killer -- The Brute, with a whole host of guest stars including Thundra, Tigra, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, The Impossible Man, and more. As well as this, we're also taking a look at Tom Hanks' oovoo, and discovering that there is nothing quite like The Fonz.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.