For our last episode on The Human Target, we go over the recent excellent run by writer Tom King and artist Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance is back and this time he has to meet with members of the beloved 1980s version of the Justice League. You want The Human Target chatting on a couch with G'nort? You've got it. He also falls in love with Ice, works for Lex Luthor, has to look over his shoulder to check for Batman -- and lots of fun stuff.

Although a very different approach than Peter Milligan's, this is a delightful run! As fans of the 1980s JLI, we really enjoyed this!

Next episode we dive into a little-known indie comic called Watchmen (yep, that one).

EPISODE 289 : End of the Peter Milligan run. 

We finish our coverage of the Peter Milligan run of the Vertigo series "The Human Target." The final story, "The Stealer" is in many ways the most Human Target-y stories of them all. Someone from Christopher Chance's life wants to steal his identity. What happens when a master of disguise is impersonated by another master of disguise? Will it hard to know who is the real Human Target? Will Christopher Chance himself know? Will Bruno be able to get good water for his espressos? All these questions and more are answered or at least carefully dodged in this final really fun story!

Next episode - we give a quick look at the excellent Tom King / Greg Smallwood run. 

EPISODE 281 - We're approached the end of the John Byrne FF era. Franklin is having another prophetic dream, which is a six page plug for Power Pack, which the Milksops applaud. Sue Richards is standing up to Reed like never before, and she demands revenge against Psycho-Man. And that means we're going to the Micro-Verse! And also, whoa, what is the Micro-Verse?

We also have an appearance of our sub podcast "Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About War Games" which is hilariuosly more well produced than the main podcast.

And the Milksops cast themselves in a movie!

One more ep of Comics Rays and Correspondence to go!

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NO MAILBAG THIS EPISODE. For the "mutants" portion of our ep, the Milksops review the graphic novel "God Loves, Man Kills" in which the X-Men ally with arch-enemy Magneto to battle an anti-mutant televangelist/murderer! This was also known as "Marvel Graphic Novel #5," which was part of a series where Marvel creators could make more adult content. This story contains brutal murders, commentary on how people use religion and media to manipulate the masses, a man killing his family and Kitty Pryde dropping the N-word in an argument about racism. It's intense! It's also really good and one of the most compeling and nuanced portrayal of Magneto so far!

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We saved (one of) the best for last: Astro City. This is Kurt's masterpiece. Along with artist Brent Anderson and cover artist/collaborator Alex Ross, Kurt created an entire superhero universe for Astro City. The characters are a combination of analogues of very popular superhero "types" (we see a Superman-ish person, a Spider-Man ish hero, a Justice League, a Fantastic Four), but also characters who don't fit cleanly into any box. What is true of every character in Astro City is they are: human, emotional, moving, surprising and impressively thought-through. Astro City is to superhero comics what Speilberg movies are to adventure serials: better, deeper more moving versions of the old tropes --- done with joy and love and excitement. We dig a bit into two issues: #1 ("Flying") and #1/2 ("The Nearness of You") which is one of the Milksops' favorite issues of comic book of ANY genre and series. Hope you like it!

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We continue our look into Kurt Busiek with a deepish dive on one of his most beloved works: 2004's "Secret Identity." What if someone woke up in OUR world had Superman's powers? Meaning there are no superheroes but there are Superman comic books. He knows what he's become, but not why or how. An off-kilter premise, explored with heart and sweetness and surprise. It's a moving story that covers far more emotional ground than you're ready for. The decency and goodness in this story gets at the core of why we all love Superman so much. A must read.

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The Milksops continue our Talking 'Bout Busiek season with a look at his stellar run on The Avengers. Specifically we dig into issues 19-22, Ultron Unleashed! Thor has words with Ultron, Justice doesn't drink tea, and lots of robots wish they had families. It's action-packed and is a highlight of Kurt and George Perez's Avengers run. We also talk about the hard-to-find Avengers/JLA book and it's insanely dense character-filled fan service. If you ever wanted to see two universes kiss, then this is the comic for you. But also Superman holds Thor's hammer! It's fun when people hold Thor's hammer, right? Email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com ok?

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Continuing our dive into Kurt Busiek, we look at his critically acclaimed series Untold Tales of Spider-Man. It's a masterpiece of going back to basics with the webhead, finding new stories from the old strategies. In particular, we dive into two incredible issues: UTOSM #16, which shows what Mary Jane Watson thought of Peter (and Spidey) before they met, and also UTOSM Annyal '96, which has the web-head go on a date with The Invisible Girl. These two issues have everything a great Spidey tale could have: action, humor, pathos, nerdiness, joy, severe punching and truthful emotional centers. We also go through some mail in which we find out we've made mistakes. But Will is still not convinced Matt Murdock has a personality.

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A team of villains who sometimes maybe kinda want to be heroes? One of the great series in recent decades. The Milksops get into Thunderbolts #1 with it tremendous twist ending that caught everyone unaware. We also talk about the series overall. It was born in a strange time in Marvel "history" when many of the big properties were removed from publication. Busiek turned this possible restriction into a feature. Also on display is Kurt's standard high level of story navigation: clear characters established quickly, smart plot twists and fun dialogue. It's one of those issues you read a second time the second you've finished it. Plus we get into some mail where as usual we are corrected on getting some facts wrong and we pick what a modern "Marvels" comic might focus on! __ SHOW INFORMATION Twitter: @ScrewItComics Instagram: @ScrewItComics Email: ScrewItComics@gmail.com Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Subscribe: Spotify

The Milksops begin their celebration / examination of legendary comics writer Kurt Busiek by doing a medium-depth dive on his breakout 1993 mini-series Marvels. With the stunningly realistic paintings of Alex Ross, Marvels was a critical and commercial hit that also proved that the classic Marvel characters and stories still worked in the collectors-edition froth of the early 1990s. The series established Kurt's knack for creating everyman characters who view the world of superheros from "street level." The Milksops argue that Marvels and Kurt's success also marked the beginning of a "back to basics" appraoch for Marvel comics stories after the constant showing revisions of the 1980s. Hey, fun. We also answer email, which is why this episode is a bit longer. Mail includes a question on the movie War Games, because this show doubles as Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About War Games.

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To prepare for the new Disney+ show starring Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan incarnation), the Milksops do a crash course on her comic books! Despite just having debuted in Feburary 2014 (besides a fast cameo in 2013), Ms. Marvel has gotten a lot of development and appearances in that time. We go over her impressively strong debut, which includes the personality of Jersey City, her interesting conservative Muslim family, and cabal of surprising, supportive high school friends. We see a lot of Peter Parker in Kamala, with her joy and decency and missteps. We're intrigued by her Muslim background. We love the physical weirdness of her poly-morphism -- very Kirby, we think. We don't love the Inhmans origin (too complicated) and don't love her as much on teams (too competent, you heard us), and have yet to be grabbed by the recent "space stories" run. But we think this character is a hit and are excited for the show.

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The Milksops break from their tendency to talk about 80s and 90s comics to focus on the latest MCU release: Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Their take: it's good? We get into what Kevin didn't like about the first one, and why he likes this one better. We also get into: guest character appearances, our assessment of the films visuals and actions, rating its villain, the impact on the story of the MCU as a whole and along the way Kevin spoils Citizen Kane!

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Two issues of bliss, two issues of blah -- that's how the Milksops see these issues. We get a fun look at Rogue and Storm's friendly in 185, followed by the double-sized Barry Windsor-Smith pencilled epic of Storm and Forge falling in love with each other! They're each fun, intriguing, exciting issues of the X-Men. And then we get two completely confusing issues where they face off against an alien race called the Dire Wraiths who come from the Marvel title ROM, which was one of those toy-first-comics-later comics that often doesn't work (Transformers, you get a pass). We also talk a lot about superstar artists George Perez and Neal Adams who sadly recently passed away. They each were impactful for their work as artists and work behind the scenes as human beings! In the mailbags portion, we pick an all-bald super-powered basketball team and talk about digital vs print comics! You can't miss this ep!

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We're nearing the end of our coverage of John Byrne's FF run. In one of the final stories, the (new) Hate Monger teams up with the (old?) Psycho-Man to create a third brand-new villain... Malice! And you'll never guess Malice's true identity. Ok, I'll tell you: it's the Invisible Girl! And this is the final adventure of the Invisible Girl! Not because she dies but because she changes her alias next story. 

We read some email, which I bet was great! Email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com

In a few episodes we will begin our next season, coverage of Peter Milligan's run on Human Target.

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A terrific run of Claremont issues. We have the charming "Young Dragons in Love" where we see Japan bring out its standing anti-Monster forces to stop a lovesick dragon from destroying Tokyo. Rogue loses track of which of her memories are really hers when she rescues an ex-boyfriend (we think) of Carol Danvers. Wolverine takes Colossus out to maybe beat him up for dumping Kitty Pryde and instead just lets casual clothes wearing Juggernaut beat him up. And finally Rachel Summers, the daughter of Scott and Jean from another timeline arrives in our present to , we presume, save the world. Hey, pretty fun. We still get some Kevin hot takes, don't you worry. In the mailbag, we get suggestions of what we should cover in future Crash Courses, a defense of the "a hero is someone who always gets up" trope from a fellow Danburian, and Kevin and Will talk about how they always seem to get along? is it a hoax?????

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In this X-issues we see a lot of cool stuff but also Professor X playing basketball in X-themed athletic wear, which is..... I can't decide what that is. Great? Silly? Fun? In other events, we see Kitty almost get married, and Caliban reveals he can be good. Nightcrawler continues being a doctor, and Rogue is more and more accepted into the team. Scott continues to be married to an almost maybe kinda clone of his dead girlfriend. John Romita Jr. is the regular artist now, and in one issue is inked by his own dad! Interesting! In the mailbags portion, we get more trivia questions and one reader has a hilarious explanation for Karen Page's behavior in the Born Again storyline.

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Three pretty great X-Men issues where we the mutants deal with getting used to Rogue, meeting Scott's Jean Grey-clone(?) fiance and Wolverine investigating why he was left at the altar! Also Will is so exhausted that he keeps calling Nightcrawler "Wolverine" which is insane! Then we cover Annual 7 which is, depending on your mood, either deligtfully silly meta in-joke fun where ou see the Marvel Bullpen, or maybe just totally dumb and who cares? Why do annuals exist? Then we cover the mail where we learn about Bantam, the not-at-all Batman character from Marvel, and the Milksops get called out for being hypocrites about thinking it's funny how much Marvel characters call each other cowards.

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The mutants return to fight the villain they are most known for fighting: Count Dracula! Wha....? Okay, so it's not a standard X-villain, but this is a better story than the count's previous X-appearance. We then get into the arrival of a terrific legendary X-man: Rogue. And right on the heels of that the (near) wedding of Wolverine and Mariko. In typical Claremont era fashion, the story's plots are insanely complicated and hard to summarize, but the character moments are moving and terrific. There's a great Rogue/Wolverine team up sequence and Professor X is..... not around until everything is solved? In the mailbag section, we talk about switching heroes' Rogue Gallery, picking the most important non-super people in the comics universe and hear a million listeners tell us we forgot to pick Maus as the third big comics event of the mid-1980s. Consider us properly shamed!

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The big finish of the Born Again saga. We've got: crazed super-soldier who always thinks he's in Vietnam, corrupt generals and police commissioners and police, Matt Murdock cooking amazing burgers, the return of wearing a superhero costume, and oh yeah the Avengers. And epic finish to a story that transformed the character and probably intimidated/inspired everyone writing superhero comics in the whole world! Our take: we like it.

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The Born Again saga begins jumping from character to character faster and faster, but Miller's taut prose and Mazzuchelli's deft art keep everything feeling smooth. Matt is healing, Ben Urich is scared and the not scared, Karen is on the run and then not on the run and Foggy has a bowling ball. We talk about how fearsome the Kingpin is despite his ridiculous habit of beating up scores of employees in karate gis. The Daily Bugle scenes are so beautiful and cinematic that you almost want the whole comic to take place there. And we make an argument that drug dealer/murderer Paolo is the accidental hero of some twisted version of this tale.

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Because of the new Moon Knight television show, the Milksops do a crash course in to the comics portrayal of Moon Knight, a character neither of them know that well! After an admittedly fast and intense few days of reading, we give our first impressions of most of the different incarnations of the characters. But that's tough because the characters has been rebooted many times in very different ways. The original incarnation was an impassioned but scattered story of a mercenery resurrected (maybe) by an Egyptian god to do good. Along with multiple secret identities, a confusing array of allies and assistants, and a dark past -- the ingredients were set for the multiple reboots that followed. Your hosts see Moon Knight get labelled with interesting facets: multiple personality disorder, an insistance that villains "see him coming," a duty to protect travellers at night, loyalty to his Jewish heritage. A fun, complicated, constantly changing character. We hope you enjoy our guide!

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Despite some very big limitations and shortcomings, Born Again stands out as an incredible achievement of monthly comic book creation. Each issue is tense, interesting, has surprising developments, humor, character moments, ending in a terrific cliffhanger. Writer Frank Miller is excellent at taking characters you know and exaggerating them to more powerful versions of themselves. Kingpin is not just a crime lord, he's an imposing terrifying figure of doom. Murdock/Daredevil is not just a run-of-the-mill good guy, but a man who is unable to quit even when he loses his mind. Ben Urich is a tough-as-nails reporter commtted to getting the truth -- so what does it feel like when he gets truly scared? Karen Page is the well-known misfire in this story -- she's all damsel in distress with little personality other then begging Matt to save her. But for 1986, you can see that this run blew away its peers for presenting an exciting can't-wait-for-next-issue story.

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Professor Xavier is a jerk, says Kitty Pryde and X-Nation agrees, or at least the Milksops agree. We are into the beautiful Paul Smith epoch of the Claremont era of the X-books and things are cooking. We've got the final showdown with the Brood as the X-Men meet the New Mutants, Kitty (once again) proving herself to be worth of X-man status, and then a very cool and fun adventure in the sewers as the X-Men meet the Morlocks. The Milksops love these issues, and we can't believe how far we've come! We're almost up to the Secret Wars! Plus we get a great email from a fellow alumnus of our high scool, where the mascot was improbably a giant hat.

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The Milksops can't stop obsessing over Frank Miller, so we're going from Dark Knight Returns to Frank's awesome return to Marvel's Daredevil: the Born Again stories. Along with artist David Mazzuchelli, this seven part Daredevil story is one of the greatest Daredevil stories ever and one of the great Marvel comics stories. The Kingpin finds out that Daredevil is really Matt Murdock and so he... ruins Matt Murdock's life. What could be a simple one or two issue story becomes a prolonged exploration of what makes Daredevil truly a hero. We see Matt Murdock go completely insane, Foggy Nelson being a new love affair, Karen Page go on a doesnt-age-that-well struggle with drug addiction, Ben Urich stand up for getting the true story no matter what the cost -- all wrapped up in taut, lively compelling crime fiction. Oh, and the best cliffhangers in the biz!

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This is an all mailbag episode, including an email from Chris Gethard about our Ultimate Spider-Man coverage. Next week: FF#280!

Brood, Brood and more Brood. The X-Men find themselves in an impossible situation when they realize that a hostile alien force has planted eggs inside of their bodies, and the only way to stop the hatching is to die! Luckily they find a simple (not) solution involving the prophet/singer leader of a fleet of peaceful space whales, spirtual bonds that heal bodies, and a rogue dragon who eats eggs. Paul Smith starts his run as artist for the X-Men and it's a great fit right away. Also Professor X gets ready to begin the New Mutants. Will is more sympathetic to the good parts of recent stories, wheras Kevin has had it with The Brood taking up so many issues. They discuss if an unenjoyable run on a comic makes the comic as a whole bad.

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The final issue of the Dark Knight Returns brings a showdown that maybe only Frank Miller was asking for: Batman takes down Superman. We see a very Batman-centered view of Superman: a sellout, a toady, an obstacle. Superman meanwhile saves the lives of millions and is rewarded with an order to capture Batman. We see Gotham collapse into utter chaos when a nuclear bomb takes away all power in the city. Batman resorts to old tech to rally the mutants and Sons of Batman to put away the guns and restore order. The Green Arrow, now with one arm, wants to help take down Supes. Yindel has a change of heart. Carrie Kelly helps Batman carry out the ultimate con. As we turn the last page, we realize Batman - the story, the character, the myth -- will never be the same again.

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Batman doesn't kill. But should he? Frank MIller's portrayal of the Joker puts this question to the test after the Clown Prince of Crime begins a murder spree in already-collapsing Gotham. Also we see glimpses of Superman, who is forbidden from being talked about on the news. We see the old mutant gang decalre themselves to be the violent sons of Batman. New Commission Yindel makes no bones about this: Batman is a criminal and should be put in jail. The stakes keep going up up up! Oh yeah, there's also creepy flying doll bombs who have full personalities?

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The X-Men stories are getting so complicated it's tough to summarize correctly. But basically we've got: a quick fight against Dracula (no big), a demon who pulls Illyana into limbo for 6 or 7 years, Professor X remembering that he and Magneto were once allies and then shaking off a coma, and the beginning of a showdown against the increasingly horrifying (to the Milksops) Brood. Kevin is still a bit "meh" on how disorganized the stories are but Will sees that the characters' back stories are being improved and strengthened for the next era of X-Comics. Plus we get a great trivia game in our mailbag, questions about villains, and some corrections!

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Issue 2 of this seminal series is the only one that features a wholly original villain: the hyper-violent, extra-brutal leader of the Mutant Gang. Batman gets a new Robin: the extremely fun and optimistic Carrie Kelly. We also see the Bat-Tank version of the Batmobile, and get hints of a SUPER guest to come later in the story. This Kevin's favorite issue and Will's second-favorite. Can the Milksops survive such a disagreement (yes, it's no big deal).

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The Starjammers are back and things get confusing! It's something to do with a missing possibly kidnapped Princess Lilandra, and a coup among the Shi'ar, and also some villains called The Brood, and also Scott's dad is back (again), and Kitty hacks into computer and there's a living ship which is a brain-dead space-whale, and also.... we meet soon-to-be X-Man Rogue! In the mailbag, we get corrected for mis-remembering the source cartoon of Horny Wolf, and consider a Doom solo movie.

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The Milksops begin their in-depth look at THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, the 1986 Batman story by Frank Miller (and Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley) that changed the character and all of superhero comics forever. We get into: the violence, the density, the intelligence, the fun (yes, this bleak world has a lot of joy in it), the tons of captions, what it was like for Kevin to read this as a wee lad. We also get into the legacy, the influence, and the absolute enormous HIT this was at the time. Takes us about 25 minutes before we actually start discussing the issue and frankly I think we were rushing.

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Hilarious Correction Department: it's Emma FROST not Emma STONE. Anyway: A rival school for mutants drafts Kitty Pryde, and Storm switches bodies with Emma Frost. Plus a cute fairy tale that charmed Will and kinda was okay to Kevin, plus the Starjammers returns as Cyclops (again?) remembers the story of his father. In our mail, we are shamed for not mentioning the Daredevil cameo in "No Way Home" plus we have to pick the worst X-Men villains and Will just sys Galactus? Go to shortboxed.com/screwit to win a copy of a 2018 pressing of Dark Knight Returns #1 signed by Frank Miller and Klaus Jansen!

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The Milksops convene for a emergency episode to discuss their feelings on the new Spider-Man movie "No Way Home." Big spoilers starting at about 10 minutes in -- we warn you. Among topics discussed: Kevin balancing his wishes for MCU Spidey versus him actually enjoying the movies, fan service vs good story, the many redemption arcs for actors in this film, ranking all Spider films, what moments made our respective audiences burst out with applause and more!

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Magneto is back and badder than ever! Wait, no, maybe he's good! No, he's bad! Anyway: he's fun. The post-Byrne era continues. Claremont likes off-panel big events and big emotional reactions, even if these are completely different emotional reactions than happened the previous issue! In the mailbag, we talk about what we should cover after X-Men, the tragic news about George Perez and his gracious handling of it, comics of the early 2000s and how to pronounce "Darkseid."

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EPISODE 278 - Doom is back, sort of? At least his life story is back, in the form of memories being artificially implanted into a helpless child! This is the kind of good times Dr. Victor Von Doom brings to the party. The Milksops are glad to see Doom. So much that they never even get to mail! But they do spend a while talking about the hit show X-Men '97, which Will loves and Shogun, which Kevin loves!

We take a break from the superheroes with this one. Actor/writer Ben Rodgers (Lower Decks, Workaholics) joins the Milksops to discuss the indie comic classic Eightball, specifically issue #11. Eightball, written and drawn by Dan Clowes, was an anthology comic that featured a mix of short brutally hilarious pieces, surreal genre stories, longer more grounded explorations of every-so-slightly grotesque characters, mixed in a with lots of commentary on pop culture and our relationship to it! All with amazingly well done art. Ben, who once aspired to draw comics himself, is a passionate reader of lots of different comics and we loved talking with him about what he loves about Dan Clowes.

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Five more Claremont X-Men issues. We say goodbye to John Byrne with a cracker of Kitty Pryde story, followed by a Man-Thing story (the most awkwardly named Marvel character ever), followed by Cockrum Era Part II -- which means more Nightcrawler, kids! We are still loving these X-Men stories, so expect more. We also get into the mailbag, where we get helpful comments about the Dr. Doom story we read with Chris Gethard, and thoughts on the new Spidey movie and more!

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We're joined by Brett White, a writer for Decider.com, former employee of Wizard magazine and deeply devoted life-long X-fan. Brett gets into his passionate defense of X-Factor #84 and X-Force in general! Early and mid-90s Marvel gets criticzed a lot these days, but Brett explains about what made this time period special. We get into the X-Men cartoon on Fox that drew so many fans to the comic, and what Brett doesn't like about the current run of X-books. The Milksops maybe disagree with many of Brett's finer points on comics but we love him and love how well he descirbes and defends his viewpoint. Enjoy!

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The hits keep on coming! The Milksops have reached another X-Men milestone: the two-issue story "Days of Future Past." This is where we see an adult Kathryn Pryde in the future journey back to our present to prevent an mutant apocalypse. Written by artist John Byrne (with dialogue and some key plot points altered by Claremont), this story is a legendary chapter in the X-Verse. Will loves it, Kevin... mostly likes it? We also dive into our mailbag, where we talk crossovers, behind the scenes of X-Comics, and a possible Fancy Dan appearance in the Venom-movie-verse.

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Chris Gethard (Beautiful/Anonymous, Planet Scum, Half My Life special on Amazon Prime) returns to discuss a gem of a graphic novel from 1989: Dr. Strange and Dr. Doom - The Triumph and The Torment. We also get into: a old issue of FF the Gethard has acquired, whether or not Kevin and Will appreciate the X-Men the way they do the FF, Byrne / Claremont / DeMatties as interview subjects, Mark Gruenwald's run on Captain America, the impact of an FF movie on the MCU, The New Warriors, a tiny bit of UCB/improv history and the impact of graphic novels themselves!

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It's a bit of a valley in the X-Men saga, as we take a breath after the Death of Phoenix and before Days of Future Past. We get a funeral, a recap of... the entire X-men comics run, Kitty Pryde showing up to an empty mansion, a Wolverine/Nightcrawer trip to the world's richest government (Canada) and also real quick a trip to hell. In the mailbag, we get into X-adaptations, old cartoons and comic books filing systems!

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One of the Milksops' dream guests, J.M. DeMatteis graces the podcast this epsiode! J.M.'s credits in comics are vast: he had several long runs on Spider-Man (including the legendary series "Kraven's Last Hunt"), the dialogue writer on Justice League International (which was one of the funniest superhero comics ever, not that it was comedy, but still), Captain America, Moonshadow, Blood -- not to mention writing several episodes of animated series Justice League, Superman and others. J.M. asked to talk about Silver Surfer #3 from 1968. Written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Buscema, it's a philosophical, spiritual and trippy story --- no surprise that J.M. connected with it, given his long run of emotionally powerful comics stories. We were thrilled to have him! Oh, and he has a great John Lennon story which he DID NOT TELL US!

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The Death of Phoenix. Truly one of the milestone stories in modern superhero comics, and it still hits hard, even for the Milksops who are reading the full arc for the first time this year!

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The Milksops interview Chris Claremont, author of Marvel's X-Books for something like 17 years, and then some. We get into how he got hired by Stan Lee in the early 1970s, what Marvel was like at that time, the decision behind the Death of Phoenix, the challenges of writing comics these days, his priorities while writing comics, and more!

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Enter: The Hellfire Club. Also enter: "radiation" heroes as stand-ups, mutants as improvisers; the abundance of alleys in Marvel's NYC; the debut of Kitty Pryde; and one of the most famous Wolverine panels to have ever happened! Plus the mail: we pitch some "What Ifs?", Kevin has an idea for The Incredibles 3 and wondering how the mutants will fit into the MCU.

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Episode 277 - As an epilogue to our season on Ultimate Spider-Man, we go over some other reboots of Spidey continuity. Well, some of them are reboots, some are kinda just parallel Spider-Man dimensions.

We discuss:

• Untold Tales of Spider-Man #1
• Chapter One (a little bit)
• Mary Jane #1
• Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #1 
• Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #53 (kind of a restart of this line)
• Spidey #1 Ultimate Spider-Man (2024)

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Alex Segura, who's written and edited in various capacities for Archie, DC and many others (in addition to writing terrific crime novels) joins us to analyze Amazing Spider-Man #350, in which Erik Larsen draws an epic battle between Spidey and the very normally named Doctor Doom!

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The Milksops arrive at the Proteus saga, and notice that the already-great X-Men series is levelling up in quality. Multiple storylines intersect with a powerful villain to create tension, action and drama. Phoenix is powering up. The Hellfire Club arrives. Moira Mctaggert returns, as does her ex-husband. Colossus' inferiority complex goes away, and Wolverine remains his fun and brutal self. Our take: this comic is goddamn good. Plus the mail!

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A catch-up issue where everyone catches their breath, then Arcade throws everyone into a giant pinball machine, and then oh yeah some guy named Arkon from another dimension or something shows up and fights and then befriends the X-Men! Kevin compares these comics to old Kirby FFs. Will likes the Wild West and confirms the least surprising thing ever: he has a crush on Storm. Plus the mail!

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