198: Talking Kayfabe
Hello….we’ve run out of bandwidth this week and were unable to craft an awesome show to release. We are REALLY sorry about that and we will make it up to you by picking up next week. That being said, we didn’t want the feed to go quiet so here is an episode of I CAN TALK KAYFABE, the podcast that Shawn does with Joe Todaro. Its about wrestling magazines from the 80s and 90s, done much like we ...
59m Sep 27, 2018
59m
197: Eclipso featuring Thin Lizzy
Eclipso #6 (1993) Its about damn time we got back to some Eclipso. In this issue of his ongoing, Eclipso takes over the body of Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy and harasses the crap out of Bruce and Mona. The Creeper is there as well, only to make puns and get stabbed. Later, Eclipso tries to figure out some sort of convoluted poisoned cocaine scheme that will some how screw over Brazil or the US ...
1hr 13m Sep 20, 2018
1hr 13m
196: Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels #5 (1987) FALLEN ANGELS is NOT a comic about all the wayward daughters that Brett Michaels sang about. It’s basically a Sunspot back door pilot where he putzes around with the techno alien Warlock in (I think) the Bowery, joining up the Vanisher and soon-to-be X-Force randoms Siryn and Boom Boom to commit petty crimes. Bobby’s not into it though so in this issue we just focus on ...
1hr 2m Sep 13, 2018
1hr 2m
195: Doom Patrol Classic
Doom Patrol #117 (1968) The Doom Patrol split up their group early on here because Niles is too concerned with having sex whilst Robotman lies around looking like Anakin Skywalker on Mustafar and Negative Man suffers from ham deprivation. The minute they all leave, Clint Howard in a purple chicken costume arrives to attack a crippled man with an army of violent hummingbirds. Treachery persists...
1hr 14m Sep 06, 2018
1hr 14m
194: Spider-Man & the Sin-Eater
Spectacular Spider-Man #135 (1988) In one of his rare comic book appearances, the ever-affable Regis Philbin welcomes partially reformed serial killer Sin-Eater on his show, preceded by Mary Jane Watson modeling women’s fashion from the Gold Circle fall catalog. Peter Parker recovers from intense electrical burns enough to support his wife, only to get verbally embarrassed by a donut-fueled El...
1hr 11m Aug 30, 2018
1hr 11m
193: Super Sons
As promised, we dig into a Super Sons book this week as Superman Jr. and Batman Jr. Jr. roll into a town of independent women only to get thrown in jail for trying to be groovy. Later, Superman Jr. Jr. Jr. carries Batman Jr. the IV in one hand over his head like a waiter in a restaurant (ass-to-palm) to battle an alien who hates mirrors. This story ends with Batman Jr. to the Fifth Power tongue...
1hr Aug 23, 2018
1hr
192: Breakfast with the X-Men
X-Men [vol 2] #31 (1994) Much like the Bluths, the X-Men Blue team believes that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Join us this week as Gambit cooks up some morning gruel just so he can taunt Rogue that he ate it all while wearing tiny shorts. Also, Archangel and Psylocke get themselves some cappuccino and crash a car. Even Beast gets in on the brunch action with some morning co...
51m Aug 16, 2018
51m
191: Superman & the Metal Men
DC Comics Presents #70 (1984) Superman teams up with the Metal Men which is really strange because Superman is hugely bigoted towards robots. Thankfully, Clark is able to suppress his boiling hatred for machine men and team up with them to defeat a technologically gifted doomsday prepper. Also, Marc Maron shows up and attempts a heist in an air balloon. Superman then tries to murder him. This ...
54m Aug 09, 2018
54m
190: Destro & Baroness
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #77 (1988) Yo Joe! The Joes have been ensnared in a government cover-up on Cobra Island as Fake Cobra Commander and Serpentor battle it out. Serpentor lost though so that means Dr. Mindbender can go full Krieger from ARCHER with his dead body. As for the Joes, they chill with some Vipers to watch a cat fight between Lady Jaye and Zarana. Meanwhile, Destro wears a...
1hr 10m Aug 02, 2018
1hr 10m
189: Listener Mail and DC Comics Mad Libs
We got you covered with another round of DC Comics Mad Libs: Princess Diana hones her oxen hunting skills with Peter Jennings on Paradise Garage!The Justice League uses their pinky toes to overcome Dr. Light’s moist darkness!The Magenta Speedster sends Heatwave and Captain Cold to the Moon!Tearduct trauma with Green Lantern and Sinestro!Also, we read some of your correspondence from social med...
53m Jul 26, 2018
53m
188: Blackhawk
Blackhawk #263 (1983) It’s some wild and crazy Nazi punching action with Blackhawk and his merry band of military men. In this issue, Blackhawk and his lady nemesis Domino try to outsmart some villains on the set of CASABLANCA. Meanwhile, the Blackhawk crew fights the War Wheel in Spain and it gets stuck in some sand because beaches. Email the podcast at worstcollectionever@gmail.com Continu...
57m Jul 19, 2018
57m
187: Plastic Man & Metamorpho
The Brave and The Bold #123 (1975) We just had to go back to the Bob Haney well because this book is just too ridiculous for us to wait on. Bruce Wayne goes on vacation to Turkey so in his place is a freshly de-vagranted Plastic Man posting as Batman. Plas does a great job too, orchestrating a hostage rescue by having a cross-dressing policeman throw a grenade in a bank deposit box. Things ta...
1hr 9m Jul 12, 2018
1hr 9m
186: Warlock & Friends (with guest Raven)
Warlock and the Infinity Watch #29 (1994) Not gonna lie…this is a slog of a book. The finish is given away on the cover and it takes the full twenty-two pages to tell something that really only should have taken four. Thankfully, we have a guest in professional wrestler / comedian / comic book writer RAVEN. He’s awesome and he’s here to help us decipher this Jim Starlin tale of Adam Warlock g...
53m Jul 05, 2018
53m
185: Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light
Visionaries #5 (1988) Does anyone who isn’t a regressed 80’s child remember the Visionaries? Visionaries were a toy line that focused on holograms and poems for boys. The figures were slightly bigger than GI Joes so you couldn’t have them wrestle each other unless if the Visionaries were from the land of Manute Bols. This short-lived comic follows the heel and face knights as they attempt to ...
1hr 16m Jun 28, 2018
1hr 16m
184: Blue Beetle and Millennium
Blue Beetle [vol 1] #21 (1988) Its a Millennium crossover! Blue Beetle and Mister Miracle return from a JLI meeting where the heroes determine the best course of action to beat the Manhunters is to burn a hole into the earth. Mister Miracle watches Supermarket Sweep on Lifetime in the Bug while Ted goes up to his office and pretends to work. He gets shut down for a lunch date by a woman who RE...
1hr 11m Jun 21, 2018
1hr 11m
183: Shaggy Man
Justice League of America #186 (1981) So, Elongated Man gets monitor duty on the JLA Satellite and makes a peanut butter & swiss cheese sandwich because apparently he can bend his stomach so he doesn’t throw up. Or maybe he’s just one of those guys who do that thing you would do in high school where you would down ALL the condiments mixed today because you’re the resident crazy kid. Anyway, s...
1hr 1m Jun 07, 2018
1hr 1m
182: Jack Flag
Captain America #434 (1994) Jack Flag’s parents were strong-armed out of their home by the Serpent Society who’ve decided the smart criminal money is in Arizona real estate scams. So, Jack dyes his hair like a rocket pop, rigs up a JVC boombox to shoot lasers and offers up his non-snake related persona to the Serpent Society like some completely obvious Trojan horse. Snakes are dumb though so ...
1hr 7m May 31, 2018
1hr 7m
181: Deadman
The Brave and the Bold #79 (1968) Its about time we go WAY back and it also happens to be our first Deadman-centric book, which is shocking. Thankfully for us (and for you the listener), this book is peak Bob Haney so its out of its mind. Deadman decides to solicit Batman’s help in finding his hooked-handed killer and it JUST HAPPENS that some dude in Gotham is running around murdering folks ...
1hr 19m May 24, 2018
1hr 19m
180: TekWorld
TekWorld #1 (1992) We just can’t get out of this year of 1992, can we? Eh, its ok. That was the year WAYNE’S WORLD came out. It was a good year. In TEKWORLD, William Shatner creates a buff avatar for himself, a former cop named Jake Cardigan, disgraced by getting hooked on Tek, a VR drug that makes you relive the entirety of HBO’s ENTOURAGE. He goes to space jail, gets unfrozen in the future ...
59m May 18, 2018
59m
179: Black Condor
Black Condor #1 (1992) Its the pride of the New Jersey wilderness, the Black Condor, this week as we dig in on this random-ass, Primal Force-ass hero’s book. This is not to be confused with the Black Condor that was a human baby who was raised by actual condors to legit fly and go on to impersonate a Congressman. No, this Black Condor was a genetically engineered by his grandfather Abe Vigoda ...
1hr May 10, 2018
1hr
178: Secret Weapons
Secret Weapons #4 (1993) Its our first foray into the Valiant Comics universe and surprisingly, its not an issue of ARCHER & ARMSTRONG seeing how every dollar box ever in any comic book store is 50% ARCHER & ARMSTRONG. ARCHER & ARMSTRONG is like ALPHA FLIGHT but its wearing a newsie cap. No, this week we cover SECRET WEAPONS, which is supposed to be Valiant’s AVENGERS-esque title but the main...
1hr 8m May 03, 2018
1hr 8m
177: Nova in the 90's
Nova Vol 2 #2 (1994) At this point, its quite possible that Fabian Nicieza has written every comic that we’ve done on this show. I mean, have we gone insane with New Warriors-related books? Let’s be honest, they are not that good. Bunch of boring young heroes doing boring young hero stuff like playing video games and pretending to be Batman. Anyway, Nova takes on the villainess Tailhook who m...
1hr 16m Apr 26, 2018
1hr 16m
Supergirl & Animal Man
Adventure Comics #420 (1972) Its a mish-mash of stories this week with Supergirl taking the helm. First up, she ends up on a planet of, like, four dudes. There are these three evil scientists bros who keep trying to kill this puke-colored Adonis guy who gets all inappropriate with Supergirl. Everyone dies, Supergirl does nothing and leaves. Then we FINALLY work in an Animal Man story where Bu...
1hr 40m Apr 19, 2018
1hr 40m
Dr. Doom & Alpha Flight
Alpha Flight #91 (1990) We’re back to Alpha Flight because we love it. Well, Shawn loves it. Jen’s not that impressed. In this issue, Dr. Doom sets a literal “thirst trap” as he tries to convince Canada to give him fresh water for his parched Latverians. Turns out though, the deal is some sort of gimmick to piss off Symkaria and Silver Sable’s king father. Alpha Flight ends up having to perf...
54m Apr 12, 2018
54m
J'onn J'onzz & Friends
Justice League Task Force #0 (1994) We are caught between Easter and Wrestlemania as we head back to the 90s and the one of the #0 issues that surfaced due to DC’s Zero Hour event. In this one, a new Justice League Task Force is formed with the lead character being Martian Manhunter’s arm hair. To that point, I think Jason Mantzoukas could make a great J’onn J’onzz based on hirsuteness alone. ...
59m Apr 05, 2018
59m
Drax & Thanos
Iron Man #55 (1973) We take on an actual CLASSIC comic with significant events and debuts that still manages to be stupid with IRON MAN from 1973. Thanos is here for the first time as is Drax and Starfox and all the other cosmic goobers you’ve grown to love. Still though, its a ridiculous book as Tony gets a wicked migraine and gets beat up in his office by two Monchhichis on steroids. He ends...
1hr 17m Mar 29, 2018
1hr 17m
Mad Hatter in Detective Comics
Detective Comics #573 (1987) The Mad Hatter returns in this issue of DETECTIVE COMICS as he gets released from prison and immediately makes a hat out of a newspaper. Batman’s response is to run for city councilman with no political affiliation which goes as about as well as you’d expect. Mad Hatter shows up to throw a few razor fedoras while Jason Todd eats chocolate cake in front of Bruce Way...
1hr 5m Mar 22, 2018
1hr 5m
Annex: Crucible of Power
Annex: Crucible of Power #1 (1994) Annex is one of those Marvel characters that was introduced via poly-bagged card in the 1993 Annuals. He basically can use his suit of armor to think up guns and weapons and stuff as well as a new leg for himself (because his civilian identity is missing one). If he was smart, he’d think up a better color than 90’s fuchsia to make up his outfit. Also, he's th...
1hr 17m Mar 15, 2018
1hr 17m
Crisis on Infinity Inc
Infinity Inc #22 (1986) This week, we are in the midst of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS in this issue of INFINITY INC which sees the Infinity-eers transported to the Monitor’s ship for the most awkward company picnic ever. Silver Scarab and Fury are farting around asking everyone “are you my mother” while Skyman sarges on Wonder Girl only to go down in flames. At least Plastic Man and Elongated Ma...
1hr 14m Mar 08, 2018
1hr 14m
Justice: Four Balance
Justice: Four Balance #1 (1994) Something’s off because we are back in New Warriors land with this Justice/Marvel Boy/Vance Astro mini-series that reads like a formulaic episode of LAW & ORDER: SVU. Its basically “let’s cram everything about Vance’s life into four issues” as he and Firestar “Video Factory and relax,” gets called a father-killer everywhere he goes and uses his psychic Green Lan...
1hr 28m Mar 01, 2018
1hr 28m
L.E.G.I.O.N.
L.E.G.I.O.N. ’93 #61 (1993) We have no idea what L.E.G.I.O.N. stands for (Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network - I looked it up) but it certainly doesn’t spell a cohesive comic that we would continue to read. Well, let’s walk that back a bit. There are some good gags and Lobo is only in it for a few panels and is used quite well. But essentially, this is a stop-gap issu...
1hr 9m Feb 22, 2018
1hr 9m
Chuck Norris - Karate Kommandos
Chuck Norris - Karate Kommandos #1 (1987) This week, we take on our first-ever Star Comics book, which was a 1980s Marvel Comics line for folks that felt Power Pack was too intense. The Chuck Norris slant here is based off of his toy line and cartoon and not the scene in MISSING IN ACTION 2 where a captor hangs Chuck upside-down and puts a bag with a rat in it over his head but Chuck Norris en...
1hr 21m Feb 15, 2018
1hr 21m
Night Thrasher
Night Thrasher #3 (1993) Well, we’re back in boring New Warriors land but you know, we don’t hate this. I mean, its not good but its not offensive. Night Thrasher gets into it with a kimono-wearing Donald Trump/Wendigo gangster hybrid while Silhouette goes through a number of hairstyles from page to page like she’s Wonder Man or something. We also take the whole Night Thrasher origin for a wa...
1hr 27m Feb 08, 2018
1hr 27m
Aquaman in Adventure Comics
Adventure Comics #452 (1977) Guys, we had NO idea that this just happened to be “that one Aquaman story” when picked up this issue of ADVENTURE COMICS. Ah, god. This one doesn’t end on a fun note. Regardless, we find some joy here like the improbable laminating machine used to hand out Aqualad headshots as well as Black Manta’s plans for a Peter Benchley library. Please rate, review, subscri...
56m Feb 01, 2018
56m
Marvel's WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S
Quasar #17 (1990) In this issue of Shawn’s favorite comic, QUASAR, some random-ass Elder of the Universe decides the time is right to have a bunch of super-powered speedsters race to the Moon, thus exposing the sad roster of Marvel speedsters. I mean, once you get past Quicksilver, the quality drops off dramatically. This is also the issue of QUASAR where its revealed that omnipotent space br...
1hr 3m Jan 25, 2018
1hr 3m
Lois Lane Marries Satan
Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #103 (1970) In this fascinating issue of SUPERMAN’S GIRLFRIEND, LOIS LANE, Lois marries Satan. Well, it’s not quite Satan but Satan-ish. Ok, its not Marvel’s Satannish BUT it is an alien posing as an Indian version of Sigfried & Roy who gets hot for Lois from deep space and decides to hypnotize tigers in hopes that she’s dumb enough to cover the story and show ...
1hr 31m Jan 18, 2018
1hr 31m
Avengers West Coast vs. A Giant Baby
Avengers West Coast #70 (1991) We keep it local this week as we cover AVENGERS WEST COAST from 1991. Here, we have Julia Carpenter Spider-Woman farting around in Newport Beach, handling the (presumed) rampant thefts of seafood tapas. Or maybe someone’s double parked at the day spa, preventing Peter Gallagher from getting his eyebrows fluffed. A sad state of affairs in the OC. Glad Spider-Woman...
1hr 19m Jan 11, 2018
1hr 19m
Total Justice
Total Justice #2 (1996) Sometimes you can make a comic book out of a toy line and its awesome and then sometimes you can do one and its garbage. This is the latter. TOTAL JUSTICE was a toy line that put clunky plastic armor deals on DC characters. I had the random Despero figure (STILL HAVE IT IN 2018) in case you were wondering if I hold on to things forever. Anyway, the story is confusing an...
1hr 3m Jan 04, 2018
1hr 3m
Santa the Barbarian
Santa the Barbarian #1 (1996) To cap off our Holiday-themed month, we foist upon you SANTA THE BARBARIAN, a Rob Liefeld-curated book about angry Santas who fight robots, sit in thrones with hot elven lasses at their feet, stalk random dudes with knives and murder Jason Momoa doppelgängers. Sometimes, you just gotta take a swing and make a comic about a chromium trading card that came packed in...
59m Dec 21, 2017
59m
Holidays and Stuff with Batman and The Outsiders
Batman and the Outsiders [vol 1] #19 (1985) Continuing on with our Holiday comic book adventures, we check in to see what Batman and the Outsiders are up to. Turns out Geo-Force is ready to kill a creepy, life-ruining dude so Batman puts down his Criminology book (that most certainly had a Nugget magazine tucked inside) and helps Halo call Superman to kill Brion. What results is a morality-bas...
1hr 18m Dec 14, 2017
1hr 18m
A Ben Grimm X-Mas
Marvel Two-In-One #74 (1981) Ben Grimm and the Fantastic Four go X-Mas shopping and poor, blind Alicia Masters is stuck carrying a bunch of boxes in an inexplicably cruel act. I mean, hell, Reed can carry all the boxes himself so I don’t know why he’s making a woman with a legit handicap do it. Anyway, Alicia makes Ben write a letter to step-dad, the Puppet Master, who promptly gets out of jai...
1hr 23m Dec 09, 2017
1hr 23m
A Ben Grimm X-Mas
Marvel Two-In-One #74 (1981) Ben Grimm and the Fantastic Four go X-Mas shopping and poor, blind Alicia Masters is stuck carrying a bunch of boxes in an inexplicably cruel act. I mean, hell, Reed can carry all the boxes himself so I don’t know why he’s making a woman with a legit handicap do it. Anyway, Alicia makes Ben write a letter to step-dad, the Puppet Master, who promptly gets out of jai...
1hr 23m Dec 07, 2017
1hr 23m
Power Pack
Power Pack [vol 1] #53 (1990) We did some shopping over the holiday weekend and you lucky folks get to reap the rewards! For the first time, we cover POWER PACK, a book about four kids bestowed with super-powers by a dying alien horse. In this issue, Dr. Doom wants those powers so he sends Typhoid Mary to infatuate the blatantly underage Alex Power and Alex’s Doonesbury-looking dad into fighti...
1hr 19m Dec 02, 2017
1hr 19m
Power Pack
Power Pack [vol 1] #53 (1990) We did some shopping over the holiday weekend and you lucky folks get to reap the rewards! For the first time, we cover POWER PACK, a book about four kids bestowed with super-powers by a dying alien horse. In this issue, Dr. Doom wants those powers so he sends Typhoid Mary to infatuate the blatantly underage Alex Power and Alex’s Doonesbury-looking dad into fighti...
1hr 19m Nov 30, 2017
1hr 19m
A Superboy Thanksgiving
Superboy [vol 2] #38 (1983) Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Superboy’s celebrating Thanksgiving here as well by ignorantly starving a prison filled with malcontent boys, roasting albino turkeys with his eyes and then hiding in the basement of the Kent’s house like he’s Eddie Munster’s pet dragon Spot. Then he goes all street justice on Lex Luthor instead of staying home and eating his weight in ...
1hr 12m Nov 25, 2017
1hr 12m
A Superboy Thanksgiving
Superboy [vol 2] #38 (1983) Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Superboy’s celebrating Thanksgiving here as well by ignorantly starving a prison filled with malcontent boys, roasting albino turkeys with his eyes and then hiding in the basement of the Kent’s house like he’s Eddie Munster’s pet dragon Spot. Then he goes all street justice on Lex Luthor instead of staying home and eating his weight in ...
1hr 12m Nov 23, 2017
1hr 12m
Cage
Cage [vol 1] #13 (1993) This CAGE book is pretty boring but we do our best to make it work. There’s 90’s excess abound with sinewy cyber-villains and the Tinkerer being all creepy in his truck using his violence-based trickery to get Cage to help him find his son who is CONVENIENTLY being held with Cage’s brother and father. Also, Cage’s dad looks like the Afro-American version of Mr. Buzzcut ...
51m Nov 18, 2017
51m
Cage
Cage [vol 1] #13 (1993) This CAGE book is pretty boring but we do our best to make it work. There’s 90’s excess abound with sinewy cyber-villains and the Tinkerer being all creepy in his truck using his violence-based trickery to get Cage to help him find his son who is conveniently being held with Cage’s brother and father. Also, Cage’s dad looks like the Afro-American version of Mr. Buzzcut ...
51m Nov 16, 2017
51m
Batman: Hollywood Knight
Batman: Hollywood Knight #1 (2001) “Batman” makes it out to the west coast finally but its not “Batman” Batman but its some rich guy named Byron Wyatt who we believe might be the patriarch of the Wyatt Family in the WWE. Robin’s here too but he’s actually this bad-ass stunt man who has hair like Lobot from EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Its an Elseworlds book so there’s all sorts of nuttiness that doesn...
58m Nov 11, 2017
58m
Silver Surfer & Nova
Its back to the Marvel cosmic universe as Silver Surfer and Nova search for pirates in Mos Eisley-ish kind of place that they have to go through space tar to get to. Surfer takes clothes from two dead guys to fit in like he’s in some sort of Salvation Army / Hunger Games deal. He ends up looking like a kid wearing an adult fireman’s outfit. Meanwhile, Nova (the Frankie Raye version) gets restle...
49m Nov 11, 2017
49m