The Fantasticast

Yet Another Piece Of The Action, See?

Hello, and welcome to episode 107 of The Fantasticast, see? Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four, see?

OK, we've done that joke to death. This week sees us tackle Fantastic Four #93 as the saga of The Thing's enslavement on the gangster world with gladiatorial deathmatches comes to a close. Not necessarily a conclusion, but it certainly stops. Do the Fantastic Four have an actual role to play in the issue? Will the long-promised battle between Torgo and the Thing live up to expectations? And what happens when mobsters start arguing the finer points of the rulebook?

We're also taking a rare side-trip into The Incredible Hulk with issue #122. Reed's got a cure for the Hulk, and it's the first Hulk/Thing battle in several years. Herb Trimpe's on art, and without spoiling too much, this issue is a pleasant surprise. We also examine the contents of the Hulk's green-skinned grab bag, which is less of a pleasant surprise.

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

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Another Piece Of The Action, See?

Hello, and welcome to episode 106 of The Fantasticast, see? Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four, see?

It's Thought Bubble weekend, and Steve and Andy are busy trying to teach comics fans at the Royal Armouries in Leeds how to talk like a 1920s gangster, see? The reason for this is that this week's episode features covereage of the third (second-and-a-halfth) part of the Thing Enslaved story, in Fantastic Four #92, see?

Marvel at the delights of lazily designed and names Magno-Man! Delight at the appearance of Cat Man! No, not that one. Or that one. Thrill at the dropping of a running gag regarding the insertion of the word 'see' at the end of each sentence! All this, and the Swindon version of Seal's greatest hit!

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

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

A Piece Of The Action, See?

Hello, and welcome to episode 105 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four, see?

This week, we focus our gaze onto two comics, see? In Fantastic Four #91, The Thing is transported to a Star Trek episode and has to pretend that he's not seen the series, see? Meanwhile, in Amazing Spider-Man #77, The Torch treads on Spidey's toes as he tries to restrain the Lizard, see? With artwork from Sal Buscema, this is a rare thing - a 1960s Torch/Spidey crossover that we actually enjoy, see?

We also bear withness to the strange fate of Whitey Mullins, examine the maxim 'With Great Balls Comes Great Responsibility', and Andy teaches Steve how to talk gangster, see?

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

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage, see?

No Vagrant Is Safe

Hello, and welcome to episode 104 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 start our coverage of the last extended storyline from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, with Fantastic Four #90: The Skrull Takes A Slave. It's a bit more than that, though, as the issue takes some time to wrap up the previous Mole Man story as well. There's torture, deathly danger, and some lovely new clothes for The Thing.

As well as this, we've got an e-mail looking ahead to our 200th episode, the first and only Fantasticast 'rap battle', and a very long discussion about hair...

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

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Return Of The Shagg

Hello, and welcome to episode 103 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 cover Fantastic Four #89, with its hysterical blindness, and a plot hole so huge and inconsistent that only one of the team picked up on it. Returning this week is Shagg Matthews, of the Fire And Water Podcast and the Who's Who: A DC Universe Podcast, as well as the brand new Ultraverse Podcast.

As well as this, Steve has a series of shocking admissions to make regarding the things that he's seen, the things that he's not seen, and the things that he really should have seen...

Check out Andy's article on the Battlestar Galactica pilot here.

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

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Disparaging The Words Of Clark Griswold

Hello, and welcome to episode 102 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 finally get to Fantastic Four #88, after a previous attempt at recording the episode went horribly wrong. We managed to re-secure the services of the wonderful Shagg Matthews of the Fire And Water Podcast and the Who's Who: A DC Universe Podcast to help us through this issue.

And what an issue it is. Despite some fairly obvious warning signs, Reed and Sue decide to buy a very unsuitable house for them to live in with the still unnamed baby, and wouldn't you believe it - it turns out to be a sort-of-trap laid by a super-villain! All this, and Sue's collection of snow globes, job opportunities for hyper-intelligen space clouds, and we answer the burning question of the moment: Is hentai comic-code approved?

Shagg's latest podcasting venture is a guide to the Ultraverse comics published by Malibu in the 1990s. It launches this weekend, and can be found at http://ultraversepodcast.com

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

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Hello, and welcome to episode 101.5 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

Except for this one. Unfortunately, a recent recording went horribly wrong when a software crash caused one of the tracks to save with multiple, unsurmountable errors. So, we're delaying for a week whilst we get our re-record sorted.

As is traditional when this sort of thing happens, we're not going to leave you empty-eared for a week. To keep your Fantasticast cravings under control, we're presenting a selection of our favourite outtakes, distractions, insults, and idiocy from episodes 21-30. Featuring special appearances from our guest-hosts David Wynne and Michael Bailey.

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

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Jackanape Sanity Test

Hello, and welcome to episode 101 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 the end of an era, as the final Lee/Kirby Doctor Doom story comes to a close, not with a bang, but with possibly the most off-beat ending this year. Yes, it's the turn of Fantastic Four #87 to come under the gaze of The Fantasticast. We're also taking a brief, two-panel look at Namor, The Sub-Mariner #14 as Ben Grimm tries to avoid getting involved in the plans of Egghead, something highly recommended by anyone forced to deal with that particular villain over the years.

Along the way, we spy on Doctor Doom's sleepover, listen to some mid-combat shouting matches, discuss Latverian small talk, discover Rob Liefeld's Bullpen Bulletin, and find a scene that actually passes the Bechdel test. In the 1960s, Stan Lee-penned Marvel comic. Yeah, it surprised us too...

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

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Our Actual 100th Episode For Real

Hello, and welcome to episode 100 (yes, that reads 100!) 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 anniversary time at the Fantasticast, as we're celebrating our 100th episode. Steve and Andy have the third part of the Latveria saga to cover, with more Achilles Heels than you can shake a poisonous arrow at. There's also a lovely last-page reveal, that is totally spoiled by the cover of the comic, proving that today's comic covers owe rather a lot to Jack Kirby.

But this episode is about the celebrations. You'll discover the very secret origins of The Fantasticast, find out what happens when Andy wants to recast the Fantastic Four with DC characters, how few alternate FFs Steve has actually read, what the worst Marvel comic published in recent years is, what the Fantasticast might look like in an alternate universe where there are no Fantastic Four comics, and why Steve doesn't answer his texts.

Check out The Fantastic Flame On every day this week for special content celebrating our 100th episode!

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

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Deja Vu Masterpiece Theatre

Hello, and welcome to episode 99 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

It must be that time of year again. A recording has gone missing, and with it our first run of jokes, banter, and surprises. And what a surprise there is in this episode. We're covering Fantastic Four #85 - The Fantastic Four are trapped in Latveria, Doctor Doom has hypnotically sapped their powers, and Steve has something rather special laid open on the desk in front of him.

As well as this, we've also got a brief look at Silver Surfer #5, a couple more listener e-mails, and some other really great, funny stuff that I would love to tease about here but I forgot to make notes during the edit and none of them spring to mind whilst I'm writing these notes.

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

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.