The Fantasticast

I'm The General... Whee!

Hello, and welcome to episode 184 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, Steve and Andy are tackling something a little... bigger than usual. It's the second/first issue of Giant Size Fantastic Four (blame title changes for the lack of certainty), in which another accidental activation of Doctor Doom's time platform threatens to unravel human evolution because George Washington fell off his horse. It's probably best not to wonder how...

It's the return of John Buscema to the Fantastic Four, along with Chic Stone as inker, a pairing that produces unusual results. We've also got some carefully-timed exposition, the entirety of Medusa's face, Reed and Ben mugging some revolutionary soldiers, and Marlon Brando as... The Watcher!

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-Prizing A Boardwalk

Hello, and welcome to episode 183 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're covering Fantastic Four #149, by Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott. With the title fast-approaching an big anniversary issue, there's a need to start wrapping ongoing plots and storylines. So, it's time to deal with Reed, Sue and Namor. And Thundra. And an Atlantean invasion. And some flashbacks to an early FF adventure. This one's a bit packed, folks!

With all of this going on, you'd think that there would barely be time to gaze at the view through Namor's legs, encounter a self-repairing boardwalk, wish each other a Happy Birthday, miss some very obvious swiping, and ponder on the whereabouts of Little Namor. Well, we managed to fit it all on. We're efficient like that.

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 Latverian Dictator In King Arthur's Court

Hello, and welcome to episode 182 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're stretching the title of Marvel Two-in-One to breaking point, as issue #4 not only guest-stars Captain America, but the Agent 13, Namorita, Reed Richards and Wundarr as well. It's Doomsday 3014 as Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema and Frank Giacoia lay the groundwork for the return of the Guardians of the Galaxy... but not just yet.

Joining us this week is Mark D. White. Mark is a Professor of Philosophy as well as a huge comics and Fantastic Four fan. He's the editor of books such as Batman and Philosophy and Watchmen and Philosophy, and the author of the newly-released A Philosopher Reads... Marvel Comics' Civil War. Given all of this, we probably should have picked an episode for him with a bit more philosophy in it... But we do have some enjoyable apes, some ebullient baboons, and John Ritter: The Solaria.

Find Mark at www.profmdwhite.com, and follow him on twitter where he is @profmdwhite. Mark's article, My Year With The Fantastic Four, can be found 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.

A Team-Up Of Ice And Fire

Hello, and welcome to episode 181 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

A titanic team-up as the tremendous twosome throw in together to tussle with the terrifying top dog of temperature, Equinox the Thermonuclear Man! Which tremendous twosome, we hear you ask? Why, the Human Torch and Iceman, who take over Marvel Team-Up for an issue. And just for fun, we also cover two pages of Giant-Size Spider-Man #1, in which Spidey borrows a ride and doesn't mention an ice patch.

Presented as only Len Wein, Gil Kane and Mike Esposito could possibly to present! Featuring lots of punching, and some surprising artistic references to the 1990s, but two decades too early. All this, plus Steve has finally combined his Hamilton obsession with his podcasting obsession. You have been warned...

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.

Such Maths. Wow.

Hello, and welcome to episode 180 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, Steve and Andy are journeying to a purely fictional location within the otherwise-completely-non-fictional Baxter Building to age war, in Fantastic Four #148. The Frightful Four have returned to battle the Fantastic Four for reasons that are carefully explained in detail, and Thundra's definitely not out to betray them at all, oh no.

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.

Namor, The Fastest Milkman In The West

Hello, and welcome to episode 179 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, and it's time to get damp and get punched. Divorce papers arrive in the Baxter Building, kicking off another throw down between the Thing and the Sub-Mariner, in Fantastic Four #147. We also take a moment to look at a couple of pages from Daredevil #110 as Ben Grimm gives Matt Murdock a ride.

As well as these comics, we have a smug Steve, a terrible trap laid by one of our listeners, and the Fantastic secrets of Steve's autocorrect. It's post-sprak, pre-boom, and if that makes sense to you, then you're clearly cheating.

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 Pro-Patriotism Podcast

Hello, and welcome to episode 178 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 our favourite Thing-starring team-up title, Marvel Two-In-One, to jump into the middle of an ongoing Daredevil storyline. The Black Spectre are attacking in an impossible blimp, the Black Widow is only appearing one body part at a time, and Hitler's killing Captain America. Somehow, all of this comes together into a story...

A Two-In-One issue demands a guest-host, and we couldn't resist the opportunity to bring back onto the show Christine Hanefalk, of The Other Murdock Papers blog. Having made four other appearances on the show, she's our first Five-Timer, and we're celebrating by making her explain the Nelson family tree. We're also examining convenient awnings, Steve Gerber's interpretation of circles, and pondering a cry for help from the letterer.

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.

Giant-Size Rental Lycanthropy

Hello, and welcome to episode 177 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

Giant-Size greetings to you all, as we take our first dip into the mid-1970s Marvel Giant-Size comics. Giant-Size Super Stars #1 is, to all intents and purposes, Giant-Size Fantastic Four #1, and it features another bout of fighting between the Hulk and the Thing... or does it?

We're looking at the the writing of Gerry Conway, the penciling of Rich Buckler, and the inking of Joe Sinnott. Oh, and the colouring of Petra Goldberg, and the lettering of John Constanza. We also have a re-appearance of Thundra, we go Over The Escher-esque Garden Wall, and discover that it's all Joe Quesada's fault!

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.

Junior Comics Podcaster Deathmatch

Hello, and welcome to episode 176 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're discovering just how cold it is in the hidden lands inhabited by a scientifically-advanced race of Bigfeets located just 50km away from the Great Refuge. Yes, we're covering Fantastic Four #146, by Gerry Conway, Joe Sinnott and guest-penciler Ross Andru. Given the cover, you have to wonder why they made such a fuss about concealing the arrival of the Thing in the story. And we do wonder.

To help us cover this issue, we're joined by podcaster Paul Spataro, co-host of Back To The Bins and Listen To The Prophets: A Star Trek Deep Space Nine Podcast. He's here to shame Steve by speaking with a true New York accent, and by revealing his actual first issue of the Fantastic Four. Spoilers: It's not this one.

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.

There Is No Cannon

Hello, and welcome to episode 175 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 sees the Fantasticast team reunited and looking at Fantastic Four #145, by Gerry Conway, Joe Sinnott and guest artist Ross Andru. Medusa and Johnny are stuck in the Himalayas, under attack from a race of advanced yeti-folk, struggling under the weight of too many flashbacks, and facing off against a formidable ice-cannon, which doesn't exist.

We're also getting our own schedule wrong, pondering the plural form of Bigfoot (Bigfeet?), experiencing THE SCIENCE, referencing Les Dennis, roping an unwilling guest star into joining the show, and wondering just what would have happened if George Constanza had joined the Marvel Bullpen.

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.