Generally speaking, this is my most listened to show of the year, so thank you and strap in. Over the past several months this podcast has focused on many of the people who had not yet made the ballot. That gives me much more latitude on today's show to dive into the people and process of the Hall of Fame, examine the ballot, and on the second half of the show I throw a curveball to the process which makes for a very interesting segment. Also, I am preparing a suggestion for Dave Meltzer about how to handle the pioneer era of wrestling.

I am a sucker for Greco-Roman mythology, so I thought I'd check out the much lauded performance of bodybuilder Steve Reeves in the first of his two appearances as Hercules in the 1958 movie of the same name. Obviously, as far as special effects goes, this movie was seriously limited by it's era, but I have to say, Steve Reeves made a pretty darn impressive Hercules. The story took an unneeded detour in the middle which drug things down, but overall, this was a pretty solid movie.

Our next episode of First! takes a look back at Godzilla's comic book arrival in the United States in his own Toho licensed comic book series that was actually set directly in the Marvel Universe. In the pages of Godzilla (1977), Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to stop Godzilla from crossing the United States after he comes ashore on the west coast and begins his march east. By the end, he ends up facing The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and others!

Godzilla is a multi-million-dollar intellectual property that has given us many films, toys, and more. Today, When It Was Cool looks back at the first Godzilla movie from 1954, a great blend between a monster and horror movie. The first Godzilla movie stands the test of time.

This week, I have an episode from our new comic book podcast series at When It Was Cool called: First! This podcast series takes a look at first issues, first appearances, and more in comics and comic related pop culture. Today, we travel back to 1983 for one of the wonderful staples of the spinner rack- Alpha Flight! Mutants were soaring in popularity and Marvel had the idea to spin off a super team based in Canada.

This is my first time seeing George Reeves as Superman. Reeves was the iconic Superman of the 1950s and this movie length feature launched that beloved series. I didn't think this was very good and compared to the Superman movie serials a few years before fell short. But apparently it struck a chord in children of the era because it launched one of the most beloved TV series in American history.

Aquaman issue one was not the first appearance of Aquaman. Aquaman had a limited run in the Golden Age, but this was his debut in the Silver Age of comics and his first ever solo title. A multi-part story featuring Aquaman, Aqualad, and others against some Fire Troll. Join me for the second episode of First! covering first issues, first episodes, first appearances, and more! Now, let's go talk to the fishes for a minute.

Atom Man vs. Superman (1950) was the sequel to the 1948 Superman serial and used the original actors in their roles again. This time, however, the villain is a good one- Lex Luthor! We take a look at Lex Luthor's first time appearing in a live action series and, in my opinion, this is the best Luthor to-date! Atom Man... not so much.

Today the When It Was Cool special podcast takes a look back at the 1949 follow up to the previously reviewed 1943 The Batman. This serial was titled simply "Batman and Robin" and was a much better story with significantly worse costuming. There were some hilarious blunders along the way and once again Robin is old enough to be your dad but let's take a look at this much less racist Batman as he takes on the masked Wizard! Be sure to also check out the accompanying article at WhenItWasCool.com

The debut of the new First! podcast series. This series takes a look back at first issues, first appearances, and pop culture firsts contained in comic books. We will be looking at comics from the Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and Modern Age of comics. Today we look back to one of the earliest patriotic heroes and the most successful of them all- Captain America! Today, Captain America has multiple movie appearances including in the successful Marvel Avengers franchise, but all started out in 1941 with Captain America punching a certain real life historical bad guy right in the face!