The Fantasticast

No Charge? I Still Want A Refund!

Hello, and welcome to episode 234 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 is a Marvel Two-in-One week, and what a week it is. Marvel Two-in-One #18 features possible the most obscure guest star to ever appear in the comic. It's The Scarecrow, and if you think you know who this guy is, you should probably check again. The inhabitant of a supernatural painting that also happens to be a portal to another dimension, The Scarecrow is here to make Ben reconsider his views on the Supernatural and to fail to do his one job.

Bill Mantlo, Scott Edelman, Ron Wilson, Jim Mooney and Dan Adkins present a comic that completely fascinates Steve, as it works to incorporate a complex backstory and an entire supporting cast into one punch-happy team-up story. We also take a brief look at Super-Villain Team-Up #7, ignoring anything at all to do with The Shroud, and see just how the Fantastic Four react to being thrown out of Latveria by Henry Kissinger.

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.

Thank You, Rich Buckler

Hello, and welcome to episode 233 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, it's the turn of Fantastic Four #173, as Ben Grimm prepares to battle Galactus in space, before events conspire to split the team up and hunt down a different snack for the World-Eater. Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Joe Sinnott present a tale of digging for oxygen, unconvincing reasons for Sue to stay out of the action, and the return of the surprising character.

But before all of this, we take a few minutes to remember writer and artist Rich Buckler, whose two year tenure as Fantastic Four artist we finished covering just a few months ago. Rich recently passed away after a long battle with cancer, and with his work fresh in our minds, we sit down to discuss his artistic contributions to the Fantastic Four, as well as his wider career in general.

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.

Powered By Plotonium

Hello, and welcome to episode 232 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

We're concluding our coverage of this volcano-themed three part story by taking a look at Marvel Team-Up #47. With The Thing and Spider-Man finally teaming up, only they can stand between The Basilisk and the fiery destruction of New York. Bill Mantlo, Ron Wilson and Dan Adkins present a comic full of arse equality, and we genuinely compare the writing styles of Mantlo and Jonathan Hickman.

Joining us for this episode is writer and podcaster Peter Dillon-Trenchard. Pete is one half of The Mostly Made-Up Doctor Who Podcast, another half of Ranger Pod, and a regular writer for the fantastic film and TV website Den of Geek. We're pretty sure we gave him the strongest issue out of the three parts of the story, but we're not entirely sure that would stand up in court. Follow him on twitter at @pdtsaysthings

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

Andy vs Jabba The Hutt

Hello, and welcome to episode 231 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

We're returning once again to the world of Marvel Two-in-One for an issue of Marvel Team-Up that was printed in the wrong place for reasons that aren't exactly clear to us. As a result, we spend a little too long dealing with recent events for Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up and not enough time focusing on The Thing. Although, seeing as most of his pages are spent in a fight with The Basilisk, maybe that's not such a bad thing after all.

Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito and Dave Hunt present Marvel Two-in-One #17, a book jam-packed with surprise volcanoes, unusual uses for web fluid, unlikely eye-beam propulsion, and the ever-changing vista as seen from the window of Peter Parker's apartment.

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.

Feeding Twinkies To The Cosmic Cube

Hello, and welcome to episode 230 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 scene of the crime, with a talking golden gorilla held in Reed Richards' sex dungeon laboratory. It's Fantastic Four #172, which returns the team to space to battle The Destroyer, Herald of Galactus, for the very existence of the High Evolutionary and Counter Earth.

Bill Mantlo, George Perez, and Joe Sinnott present Cry, The Bedeviled Planet, a truncated story of intergalactic life-saving, and space-filling flashbacks. As well as this, we discover that Andy can't remember who's been on the show, and we discover a surprising addition to the very short list of Tony-nominated comics creators.

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.

Surprise Pterodactyl

Hello, and welcome to episode 229 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

We're doing the unlikely this week, tackling two, full-length comics in one, full-length podcast. First up is Marvel Two-in-One #16, guest-starring Ka-Zar, Nick Fury, a surprised pterodactyl, a numbered tank, and a surprisingly-complacent Reed Richards. Written by Bill Mantlo, with art by Ron Wilson and Dan Adkins, it's a dino-tastic volcanic issue.

Then we're off to Latveria, as Steve Englehart, Herb Trimpe, and Jack Abel bring a story of the Fantastic Four going to war with Doctor Doom, invading his homeland for the first time. Only Namor the Sub-Mariner stands between them. Well, him and the infuriatingly-cryptic Shroud. Oh, and special guest star Henry Kissinger. Yes, him.

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.

8 Simple Rules For Punching A Nazi

Hello, and welcome to episode 228 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

For the first time in nearly three years, we open up the pages of a Fantastic Four Annual. The appearance of The Watcher and the disappearance of a small cylinder sets off a journey into an alternate past where the Nazis won World War II. Any similarity between our subject matter this week and a certain comic published this week is purely coincidental, but that doesn't stop us from spoiling the crap out of Secret Empire #0 as we cover Fantastic Four Annual #11.

Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Sam Grainger team the Fantastic Four with The Invaders to set history back on track (or not back on track, depending on your viewpoint). Featuring confusion as to how causality and memory actually works, Steve attempting to speak German, incredulity at a certain creator with the initials NS, and the discover of the lessons of the postman.

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.

Swipe Left To Turn Page

Hello, and welcome to episode 227 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

Apparently, at the time this comic was released, there was a new King Kong movie about to be released. Now, I'd hate to suggest that such a cinematic event would affect the plotting of this issue... but when there's a giant golden gorilla scaling the Baxter Building with Sue Richards in its hand whilst Ben Grimm cracks numerous Dino de Laurentiis jokes, it's hard not to draw that conclusion.

Roy Thomas, George Perez, Joe Sinnott, and Rich Buckler (guest-penciling three pages for no readily-discernible reason) present Fantastic Four #171 - Death Is A Golden Gorilla, introducing Gorr, and featuring another completely non-disastrous date for Johnny Storm and Frankie Raye. All this, plus a seemingly-invisible barcode.

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.

Interdimensional Linoleum

Hello, and welcome to episode 226 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

Hey everyone, the Living Eraser is back! Woohoo! Yaaay! We totally know who he is! And that completely affects our level of enthusiasm for his return! It's Marvel Two-in-One #15, in which the Living Eraser returns, along with Morbius, The Living Vampire. It's a tale of granite blocks, interdimensional travel, and a love untempered by an uncontrollable bloodlust.

Arvell Jones makes his full-issue Marvel debut, under the inks of the legendary Dick Giordano, whilst Bill Mantlo tries to get an interesting story out of two not-particularly-interesting guest stars. We also examine the confusing origins of this issue, and ask the troubling question: who erases the eraser?

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 Prat In The Cat In The Hat

Hello, and welcome to episode 225 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 say a fond farewell to the most recent substitute member of the Fantastic Four, Luke Cage. A victim of mind-control and Reed's inventiveness, the Hero For Hire is sent packing back to Harlem. But not before he goes toe-to-toe with an artificially-enhanced Ben Grimm across the skies of New York in Fantastic Four #170.

Roy Thomas, incoming regular penciler George Perez, and Joe Sinnott present what we consider to be the strongest story to date for Alicia Masters, as she single-handedly uncovers the villain behind the entire plot. We also spend time examining Riker's perverted boot, experiencing some OVER-ACT-ING!, and asking that all-important question: Who, or what, is Captain Sticky?

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.