The Fantasticast

Shooting Pigeons On The Roof

Hello, and welcome to episode 214 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

Good news, everybody - The Human Torch has stopped starring in Marvel Team-Up! He's merely featuring now! And what a story he's featuring in. Moving effortlessly from a flanderous pigeon murderer to some of the biggest events in the New York Underworld, it's a story of of gangs, organised crime, and accurate translations of Spanish.

Scripted by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Sal Buscema, we also encounter returns of classic characters such as The Big Man, The Crime Master, Fancy Dan, Montana, and a villain who has merely been on loan to the Fantastic Four for the past decade. Strap in, folks - it's our short, but it packs a punch!

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.

A New Year's Spanking

Hello, and welcome to episode 213 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

We kick of 2017 with Fantastic Four #164, which is an issue full of firsts. It's the first issue produced under the purveyance of incoming Editor-in-Chief Mark Wolfman. It's the first appearance of the villain known as The Crusader. It's the first appearance of Frankie Raye. And, as you can see from the episode image, it's the first cover by Jack Kirby following his return to Marvel.

It doesn't stop there. It's also the first issue with pencils by George Perez, making his first credited appearance on the Fantastic Four. Will the book survive so many shake-ups? Will Sue survive a 'good-natured' spanking from Ben? Will Ben survive giving the spanking to Sue? And just what is the stealth monogram? Find out, in an all-new episode of The Fantasticast.

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.

Do You Like The Fantastic Four?

Hello, and welcome to episode 212 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

To conclude our podcasting year, we're taking a break from covering every issue of the Fantastic Four. As you may know, we took the podcast to Thought Bubble this past November, sharing a table with our show artist Michael Georgiou. Whilst we were there, we took advantage of having a large number of guest-hosts (past and future) at the convention, and invited them to take part in our Fantasticast pop quiz.

13 podcasters. 5 questions. One episode.

Thank you to Joe Cunningham, Fraser Geesin, Michael Georgiou, Christine Hanefalk, Stephen Lacey, Andrew Leyland, Micheal Leyland, Al Kennedy, Ryan O'Sullivan, Seb Patrick, Stacey Taylor, Dan White and David Wynne for taking part!

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.

A Finale Finally Finalls

Hello, and welcome to episode 211 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 our final regular episode of 2016, and also the final issue of this multidimensional tussle. Ben's out in space playing 'catch' with Gaard, Reed's busy getting his company back from the grubby mitts of DeVoor, and Arkon desperately needs to invest in batteries. There's a nonsensical origin, a dose of interdimensional amnesia (whither Phineas and Valeria?), and a cutesy ending. Because it's Christmas!

Talking of Christmas, be sure to catch next week's episode, where a whole host of returning guest hosts get put on the spot and are made to answer questions about the Fantastic Four, LIVE at Thought Bubble 2016. And if you want to hear our commentary on Fantastic Four (2015), be sure to subscribe to our Patreon, as it'll be released just after Christmas...

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.

Bitten By A Radioactive Gil Kane

Hello, and welcome to episode 210 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

The week sees our final issue of Marvel Two-in-One for 2016. Marvel Two-in-One #11, guest-starring The Golem. And if your response to that is to go, "Who?", then you're not alone. He's a refugee from a very short-lived Strange Tales solo series, and he's popping up in this issue, dragging his entire supporting cast with him.

Roy Thomas, Bill Mantlo, Bob Brown and Klaus Janson pull together to bring you this tale of cross-continental travel, metropolitan transport-based destruction, and misplaced moral messages. To which we add an examination of Ben Grimm's musical tastes, and we discover just what Steve wears whilst podcasting.

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.

Farewell Art

Hello, and welcome to episode 209 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, our coverage of Fantastic Four #162 covers a lot of Things. We've got Things from different Earths doing all sorts of things whilst other things look one in bemusement at the things being carried out. It's the newly-christened Earth A vs the not-yet-christened 616 Earth vs the Fifth Dimension vs Machus! It's an interdimensional smackdown of epic proportions, brought to you by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott.

Things run the risk of getting so complicated that we've got a full page of exposition, complete with fancy diagrams. And, as if the four-way battle weren't enough, we've also got the first (and, sadly, not last) appearance of Gaard, the character that answers the question: What if the Silver Surfer played ice hockey and was crap?

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.

Contention Of The Revels

Hello, and welcome to episode 208 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 starting out trek towards the end of the month with some inter dimensional Thing v dinosaur action, in Fantastic Four #161. Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott keep on escalating their interdimensional cold war / financial hostile takeover with the addition of the Fifth Dimension (sadly, only the fourth dimension in this story).

Nelson Rockefeller is President (hardly the most ridiculous choice, with hindsight), vikings are battle a T-Rex, Johnny's getting some inter dimensional sugar, and Reed has developed some upper arm pain that he definitely won't bother Sue with because (like the characters in The Flash) he's learned his lesson about keeping secrets. All this, and we discover what happens when the Collector starts collecting comics.

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.

Atomic Bomb Tsum Tsum!

Hello, and welcome to episode 207 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, it's the turn of Marvel Team-Up #10, as Chris Claremont brings the Thing into the world of the Black Widow, helping her save the word from atomic devastation at the hands of Agamemnon. We're experience our first pencils from Bob Brown, and the first inks from Klaus Janson, whose brushwork not-so-neatly divides opinion amongst our hosts...

Joining us this week is podcast Nicolas Papaconstantinou, from We Have Issues and the UK Podcast Award-nominated Two Grown Men. He helps us bear witness to the greatest Black Widow action seen so far in comics, and to help judge the terribly-confusing terrorist talent show. Nick can be found on twitter as @nixsight, and the 24 Hour Twitter Comic 2016 fundraiser for Mind can be found here - in return for a donation, you'll receive a copy of the David Wynne-drawn comic.

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

How Andy Lost His Hair

Hello, and welcome to episode 206 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

With Spider-Man off enjoying his Giant-Size adventures, it's one again time for us to take a peek between the covers of Marvel Team-Up, as the Human Torch teams up with Doctor Strange. The Valkyrie and Spidey have gone missing, and it's up to Johnny to find them. But the mysterious Jeremiah and his cult have other plans for the heroes...

We're taking a look at the final work by Gerry Conway, Sal Buscema and Vinnie Colette to feature the Human Torch as the main character, as all future Marvel Team-Up issues feature a member of the Fantastic Four as a guest-star. We also reminisce about the fun times we had at Thought Bubble 2016, from the joy of meeting guest-hosts to the physical awkwardness of crawling out from behind a table.

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.

A Subsidiary of Something That Acronates To ITT

Hello, and welcome to episode 205 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 back from Thought Bubble with an episode recorded before we went, so you'll have to wait another week to find out how we got on. Or check out the report at thefantasticast.com/blog. Y'know, whatever. In the meantime, we're taking a look at Fantastic Four #160, in which a Thing fights an Arkon and a Lockjaw chases a thing.

We're also showing off a fantastic brand new logo and some gorgeous new artwork, courtesy of Sam Savage and Michael Georgiou.

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.