220 - Spider-Man: The Owl/Octopus War + Earth X #7
Some of My Friends Read Comics
Release Date: 01/17/2024
235 - John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits + Thunderbolts #8
Some of My Friends Read Comics
John Constantine is a badass. He's such a badass that his series is called Hellblazer. He's such a badass that he smokes and gets lung cancer and then tricks demons into cure his lung cancer for him. Wow, what a badass. We've only seen this guy in the pages of Swamp Thing, so we're reading Hellblazer #41-46 from 1991 when Garth Ennis took over writing duties. Then we finally say goodbye to the Elements of Doom in Thunderbolts #8. Next Time: The Fantastic Four meet Galactus for the first time in Fantastic Four 48-50.
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234 - Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, Vol. 5 + Thunderbolts #7
Some of My Friends Read Comics
Spooky season is swampy season here at SOMFRC and we're back to Swamp Thing! We're reading volume 5 of Alan Moore's run with issues #51-56. Swamp Thing has no more world-ending catastrophes to worry about, but his girlfriend's being persecuted for being into plants! Nothing to do but take over Gotham, get into a fight with Batman, and then spend a cool time in space. Then we move onto Thunderbolts #7, where the team disobeys a direct order from Baron Zemo! Next Time: We check out Garth Ennis's time with John Constantine in Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits (Hellblazer #41-46)
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233 - Iron Man: Doomquest + Thunderbolts #6
Some of My Friends Read Comics
It occurs to us that we've never actually read an Iron Man comic, and with the recent dual-casting of Robert Downey Jr. as both Iron Man and Doctor Doom, we decided to take a look at Doomquest from Iron Man #149 & 150. The metal bros travel back in time to (friend of the show) the medieval era! Doctor Doom rides a horse and that's enough reason to read this comic. Then we move onto our long read of Thunderbolts with issue #6 which requires a periodic table to enjoy. Next Time: The Saga of the Swamp Thing, Vol. 5 by Alan Moore (Swamp Thing 51-56)
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232 - Dazzler: The Movie + Thunderbolts #5
Some of My Friends Read Comics
Whelp, we tried to will a Dazzler movie cameo into existence, but Deadpool & Wolverine was unfortunately Taylor Swift-less. Nevertheless, we still press on to read Dazzler: The Movie, the 12th in Marvel's Graphic Novel line from the 80s, in which Dazzler meets a lot of terrible men who promise her a fast track to stardom. Then we continue our long read of Thunderbolts with issue #5, which has a dude in the shadows! Classic! Next Time: Iron Man and Dr. Doom meet in DOOMQUEST (Invincible Iron Man #149-150)
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231 - The Death of Captain America Pt. 2 + Thunderbolts Annual 1997
Some of My Friends Read Comics
Watch out crooks, there's a new Captain America in town. And he's got a gun! Steve Rogers is dead and Bucky is taking over as we pick back up with Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America in issues #31-36. Then we continue reading the Thunderbolts with an interlude in the Thunderbolts '97 Annual as we learn all about how the team came together. Next Time: Dazzler: The Movie (Marvel Graphic Novel #12) (in four weeks)
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230 - Hulk: Rick Jones' Bachelor Party & The End + Thunderbolts #4
Some of My Friends Read Comics
We haven't read nearly enough Hulk on this show, so we're looking at a couple different stories by Peter David. First up is the wedding of Rick Jones from issues #417-419, in which Captain America gets very bashful about a bachelor party. Then we check out The Incredible Hulk: The End, a one shot about the last days of the Hulk's life. We'll tell you why it doesn't feel like a comic book! And of course, we continue our long read of the Thunderbolts with issue #4 in which they accidentally gain a new member! Next Time: The Death of Captain America Pt. 2 (Captain America 2004 #31-36)
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229 - Ms. Tree + Thunderbolts #3
Some of My Friends Read Comics
We're reading some detective comics this week! No, not the Bat. We're reading a lesser known PI published by Renegade Comics in the 80s: Ms. Tree, written by Max Alan Collins with art by Terry Beatty. We jump into the middle of the book and read issues #18-23 in which Ms. Tree deals with the death of her archnemesis... and kills a ton of people. We were expecting a little more noir and a little less Punisher. Then we continue Thunderbolts with issue #3 in which the former Masters of Evil meet the current Masters of Evil! Next Time: Hulk 417-419 (Rick Jones' Bachelor Party) & Hulk: The End
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228 - X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills + Thunderbolts #2
Some of My Friends Read Comics
It's another classic X-Men story! We're reading God Loves, Man Kills by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson from 1982, which served as the inspiration for the X-Men 2 film. We get to know the evil reverend, Stryker, who has made some... questionable life choices. But why didn't they make him a reverend in the movie? Then we continue our long read of Thunderbolts with issue #2, which contains the ugliest statue ever erected to honor a superhero. Next Time - Ms. Tree: Heroine Withdrawal
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227 - I Hate Fairylnd, Vol. 2 + Thunderbolts #1
Some of My Friends Read Comics
It's time to go back to Fairyland! We loved the first volume of Skottie Young's I Hate Fairyland when we read it back in 2020, so we thought we'd check out volume 2. Will the art still manage to simultaneously be cute and grotesque? You know it! Also, we begin our next long read with Thunderbolts #1 by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, with villains posing as heroes. How devious! Next Time: X-Men - God Loves, Man Kills
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226 - April Fool's Day 2024: Spider-Ham Fights Baron Zebro + Carol Danvers Dates Her Son + Earth X Finale
Some of My Friends Read Comics
April Fools! We're doing some weird comics today, because that feels like it makes sense. We wanted to read Peter Porker and we only picked issue #16 because it had Baron Zebro in it. Then we read Avengers #200 because it's said to be one of the worst issues of all time, and it definitely deserves that accolade. And we finally end Earth X in issue #X, in which Spiders-Man wears a hard hat. The best thing in all these comics is the cool dinosaur that attacked Avengers Mansion. Next Time: I Hate Fairyland, Pt. 2
info_outlineLet's do some more Spider-Man. Why not?
It's The Owl-Octopus War from 1982 in Spectacular Spider-Man #73-79 by Bill Mantlo and Al Milgrom.
The Owl gets beat pretty badly, but we also have some great guests in the form of Black Cat, Boomerang, Biff Rifkin, Deb Whitman, Deb's terrible psychiatrist, Peter's weird professor, and Peter's decaying mental state as he falls passionately in love.
And then we move on to Earth X #7 in which stuff actually happens! Someone was secretly evil, and The Thing returns to his rightful place as the true star of this book.
Next Time: We finally get to The Death of Captain America with Captain America (2004) #25-30