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Some of My Friends Read Comics

SOME OF MY FRIENDS READ COMICS is a book-club format podcast about reading the great comic book stories for the first time. On each episode, your hosts will review a classic comic book story or run, examine how well it holds up, and figure out how it fits within the grand context of comics.
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Some of My Friends Read Comics
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Now displaying: 2021
Dec 22, 2021

We don't get around to the X-Men often enough, so we're gonna make a commitment to jump in more often by exploring one of their biggest events, the Age of Apocalypse.

We're starting with the prelude in the 4-part Legion Quest storyline where Professor X's son goes back in time to kill Magneto, and then we get introduced to an alternate reality in X-Men: Alpha #1.

We also continue The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with chapter 10 in which Scrooge settles down in Duckburg.

Next Time: Hulk - Future Imperfect

 
Dec 8, 2021

It's raining Spider-Mans!!!

For today's episode we read Edge of Spider-Verse, a collection of 5 different Spider-Character introductions that led directly into Spider-Verse itself.

We've got Noir, Spider-Gwen, a monstrous Peter Parker, a little girl named Peni Parker, and a guy named Aaron Aikman from Tokyo or maybe Dallas. One of these things was not like the other.

And then we continue The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck #9, in which our Scrooge is now finally rich!

Next Time: We start the Age of Apocalypse with Legion Quest (Uncanny X-Men 320 & 321, X-Men 40 & 41) + X-Men: Alpha #1.

Nov 24, 2021

Hawkeye is one of those poor characters who also seems to be the butt of jokes for his lack of powers. The Matt Fraction & David Aja series from 2012 is widely regarded as one of Hawkeye's best, so we thought we'd see what it had to offer.

But wait... Clint Barton and Kate Bishop are BOTH Hawkeye around this time. Is that okay? (It's fine.)

There's a bonus Young Avengers story in this volume too, which we read before jumping over to The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck #8, which gave us a taste of that classic DUCK RAGE.

Next Time: Edge of Spider-Verse
Nov 10, 2021

What is an Eternal?

They got a whole movie but we have no idea. We decided the Neil Gaiman & John Romita, Jr. 6-issue miniseries from 2006 would be a decent place to start. Apparently it was so good they gave it a 7th issue! Wow, good job Eternals.

And of course, we continued our read of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with issue #7.

The number 7 is all over this episode. Numerology nerds take note.

Next Time - Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction & David Aja (Hawkeye (2012) #1-5 + Young Avengers Presents #6)

Oct 27, 2021

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is back after a massive hiatus! What???? Is this real life? Yes, it's really happening. We read the first 5 issues forever ago and now it's time to finally read issues #6-8.

At the time of this posting, a 9th issue has also been published.

For real.

Like for real for real.

We're also officially halfway through The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, with issue 6 to round out his full rogues gallery.

Next Time: The Eternals (2006) by Neil Gaiman & John Romita, Jr.

 
Oct 13, 2021

Swamp Thing made someone's heart sing!!! He's in love! It's so sweet!

But we have to go through some really creepy horror stuff first like BUGS. Eww, gross.

In Alan Moore's 2nd volume of Swamp Thing (issues #28-34 & Annual #2), he gave us a little bit of everything, including a fun little trip to hell.

And then we kept reading The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with Chapter 5. Spoiler alert: Scrooge dies.

Next Time: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #6-8
Sep 29, 2021

This Jimmy Olsen story has too many characters we've never heard of, but now that we've read the back half of Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber's 12-issue Eisner winning maxiseries, we kind of love them all.

We also continued reading through The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck with Chapter 4!

Next Time: We return to Alan Moore's Swamp Thing (first time since Episode 45 back in January 2017) with Saga of the Swamp Thing #28-34 + Annual #2.
Sep 15, 2021

Jimmy Olsen?!??! It's easy to forget that Superman's Pal used to have his own long-running series filled with adventures, but now he's back and winning Eisner Awards thanks to Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber!

We read the first half of the 2019 maxi-series which is all about the murder of Jimmy Olsen's fake body double.

Then we continued The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with Chapter 3!

Next Time: We finish up Jimmy Olsen with issues #7-12!

Sep 1, 2021

Shang-Chi! CM Punk! It's a double-topical episode! Shang-Chi is finally getting a movie and we admittedly knew absolutely nothing about him, so we went back to his beginnings in Special Marvel Edition #15 & #16 which was then renamed to Master of Kung Fu and the story continued with #17-19.

But we didn't stop there! We also read Master of Kung Fu #126 written by the Best in the World himself, CM Punk.

Then we continued our long-read of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with #2. So much content!!!

Next Time: 2021 Eisner Award Winner for "Best Limited Series" -  Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #1-6 by Matt Fraction & Steve Lieber

 
Aug 18, 2021

Some of my friends... WATCH WRESTLING?!?!? We delved into the squared circle with this episode by reading a biography of the biggest man in the industry, Andre the Giant: Life and Legend by Brian Box Brown.

Chris and Kia did their best to teach Vince all about this weird world but really we all learned how big of an asshole Andre was.

Then we moved onto our next long read: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa. That's right, the ducks are back baby!!!!!!!

Next Time: Shang-Chi Origins (Master of Kung Fu #15-19, 126)
Aug 4, 2021

Agents of Atlas is a superhero team with a monkey AND a robot. Wow, it really doesn't get any better than this folks. We've been talking about Jimmy Woo and his weirdly thrown together team for ages and now it's finally time for us to see what it's all about.

We read their first appearance as a team back in What If #9 when they saved President Eisenhower, and then we read their first substantial miniseries from 2006 by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk.

Then over in Amazing Spider-Man, we finally finish a full year of this book with #12 in which Peter gets unmasked! Like for real!

Next Time: Andre the Giant: Life and Legend by Brian "Box" Brown and the beginning of our next long read: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck #1 by Don Rosa!

 
Jul 21, 2021

With everybody talking about the lore of Metroid these days, and the release of Metroid: Dread on the horizon, we took a look back at some Super Metroid comics from Nintendo Power 57-61 so that we could learn about Samus Aran and her weird bird blood.

And we did it with a guest! Mike from the podcast "Games My Mom Found" joins us and he even read Amazing Spider-Man #11 with us too.

What a swell guy!

Next Time: Agents of Atlas (2006) 1-6 + What If #9

 
Jul 8, 2021

Just like in the movies, Black Widow spent most of her time in the comics as a side character until she finally got to stand in the spotlight on her own.

We took a look at a couple of these stories from the 80's in a collection called Black Widow: Web of Intrigue, both written by Ralph Macchio.

First up is a George Perez story from Marvel Fanfare #10-13 and then a black & white one-shot in Bizarre Adventures #25 with art by Paul Gulacy.

And of course, we continued Amazing Spider-Man with issue #10 and the least memorable villains of all time.

Next Time: Super Metroid (from Nintendo Power 57-61)

 
Jun 23, 2021

It's a busy episode! We're reading Volume 2 of Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier run on Captain America where we see those dastardly Russians fill Bucky's brain with lies!

There's also a House of M tie-in issue in the middle which we went ahead and red as well.

Then we end things with the debut of Electro in Amazing Spider-Man #9. Thankfully, J. Jonah Jameson also returns to the series after taking a month off.

Next Time: Black Widow: Web of Intrigue (Marvel Fanfare #10-13, Bizarre Adventures #25)

 
Jun 9, 2021

Loki is everybody's favorite trickster god and in 2004 he finally got his own 4 issue mini-series by Robert Rodi with painted art by Esad Ribic.

It starts with a victorious Loki, which means he doesn't have to use any of his fun trademark trickery throughout the book. Hooray!

After reading that, we move onto Amazing Spider-Man #8 in which we see the least likable version of Peter Parker there has ever been.

Next Time: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Vol. 2 (Captain American 2004 #8-14)

May 26, 2021

Created by Dwayne McDuffie & John Paul Leon in 1993, Static Shock went from being a small project on DC's Milestone imprint to getting his own cartoon and becoming part of the DC Universe proper.

We read the 2000 miniseries Rebirth of the Cool in which we got our first glimpse at the Milestone Universe and then moved onto Amazing Spider-Man #7 with our first return villain: The Vulture!

Next Time: Loki (2004) by Rob Rodi & Esad Ribic

 
May 12, 2021

M.O.D.O.K. is easily one of the most bizarre Marvel creations of all time. A big head with tiny baby limbs who flies around in a little machine. Beautiful.

To celebrate his new series, we took a look at his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #94 (the Captain America half of the issue). Then we read Super-Villain Team-Up: Modok's 11 because we thought we would get lots of Modok (we didn't).

Then we read Amazing Spider-Man #6 and it's crazy that after 5 issues in NYC, Spidey ran out of things to do so he went down to Florida to fight The Lizard.

Next Time: Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool

Apr 28, 2021

It's time to revisit our favorite super fascists in Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe, a one-shot from the Marvel Graphic Novel line that came out 5 years after the original series.

Turns out this takes place A WEEK after the original series. We'll see the team realize the error of their ways and... fight a giant hand from outer space? 

Then we moved onto Amazing Spider-Man #5 where Doctor Doom really botches a kidnapping.

Next Time: Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11 + MODOK's first appearance in Tales of Suspense #94

Apr 15, 2021

Before Big Hero 6 was a movie, it was a Marvel superhero team based out of Japan that got two largely forgotten miniseries.

We're reading their 5-issue mini from 2008 written by classic X-Men scribe Chris Claremont and drawn by David Nakayama.

Unfortunately these issues may have been better off remaining forgotten, because Big Hero 6 might be the Balan Wonderworld of comics. We try to figure out just what the heck went wrong and how they avoided these disasters with the movie.

We had a much better time reading Amazing Spider-Man #4 and seeing Spidey throw sand in the air.

Next Time: Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe

 
Mar 28, 2021

As part of our ongoing quest to return to some of the series we've previously covered, we're revisiting Locke & Key with Volume 2: Head Games which has everybody opening up their dang heads. Gnarly stuff.

Then, we move on to Amazing Spider-Man #3, our first full-length Spidey story! Peter Parker is still kind of lame and he gives up almost immediately after meeting Doc Ock. What a nerd.

Next Time: We celebrate the sixth anniversary of this podcast with the Big Hero 6 (2008)

Mar 24, 2021
When you think about it, Batman and the Ninja Turtles have a lot in common. They're orphans, they're well-trained in martial arts, they thrive in darkness. I think they're all aliens too but I could be wrong about that.
 
We read their DC/IDW co-published 6-issue crossover from 2016.
 
Then, Peter Parker starts making that money in Amazing Spider-Man #2
 
Next Time: Locke & Key, Vol. 2 - Head Games
Mar 10, 2021

We're starting a couple of classics today from very different eras! First up it's Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier run on Captain America, which provided the inspiration for the second Captain America film. We're planning to read the whole thing eventually, but for today we're just doing the first volume.

Then we're starting our long-read of the first year of Amazing Spider-Man. That's right, all the way from the beginning. If it's any good, maybe we'll read the next 60 years worth as well.

Next Time: Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-6

 
Feb 24, 2021

How many of the Captain Marvels have we talked about? We've talked about Mar-Vell and Carol Danvers, but Monica Rambeau hasn't really come up that often, at least not as Captain Marvel.

With her being featured recently in WandaVision, we thought we'd take a look at her first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 and then the Captain Marvel one-shot from 1989.

And then it's finally time for Squadron Supreme #12! Final issue! Big fight! Lots of deaths!

Next Time: Captain America: The Winter Solider (Captain America 2004 #1-7)

Feb 3, 2021

Wedding bells are in the air!

We're going back to the mid-90's when Lois and Clark got married in the comics as well as on TV! We read Superman: The Wedding Album, a one-shot from 1996 which tells the whole story in a pretty self-contained issue.

We also get to some more questionable moral choices in Squadron Supreme #11 as we get really close to the end!

Next Time: Monica Rambeau's origins in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 and Captain Marvel (1989) #1
Jan 20, 2021

Babyhands. This dude has babies for hands. I know this was supposed to be about Wanda and Vision and their weird magic babies or whatever, but as soon as this guy came on the scene he stole the whole damn show like he stole those babies. BABYHANDS. 

This was from West Coast Avengers 50-52 and 56-57, which was a strange selection of issues.

Over in Squadron Supreme #10, we get some spies on the team!

Next Time: Superman & Lois Lane tie the knot in Superman: The Wedding Album (1996)

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