Month: June 2018

Episode 216: Year One Annuals Part 1

Welcome to the two hundredth and sixteenth episode of From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast!  This podcast has a simple premise; examine just about every Superman comic published between Man of Steel #1 in 1986 to Adventures of Superman #649 in 2006 in an informative and hopefully entertaining format.

After a lengthy intro that began life as what was supposed to be a brief discussion about the Justice League film from 2017 but devolved into a tangent on why the John Williams’ Superman theme is universal Mike and Jeff finally get into the first part of a two-part look at the Superman related annuals from 1995.  DC once again had a line wide theme for their annuals and in ’95 that theme was Year One.

They were legends from the beginning, or at least that’s what they house ads touted.

The Superman and Superman related titles went all in on this theme and the boys start with Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #4, which is part clip show and part previously untold first meetings between Superman and the founding members of the Justice League.  This is followed by Superman Annual #7, which features a team up with Doctor Occult (another Siegel/Shuster creation) and the Man of Steel’s first encounter with the supernatural.  Next up is Superboy Annual #2, which is incredibly important to The Kid’s story because this is the issue where we find out who Conner’s other Daddy was.

At least until Geoff Johns changed that nearly a decade later.

But for now…this is the other daddy.

Mike and Jeff also briefly discuss Shadow Dragon Annual #1.

Below is a gallery of covers and selected pages from the comics discussed.

And here is the video for the Superman trailer Mike played at the beginning of the episode.

You can subscribe to the show in two ways. First there is the RSS Feed and there is also the iTunes link. Are you on Facebook? Be sure to “like” the official FCTC page, which you can find by clicking on this link.

You can email the show by clicking this link. All questions, concerns, fears, trepidations and cheap shots are welcome.  Also be sure to give us a review over on iTunes and feel free to comment on the show here at the site!

Next Time: More Year One related annuals!  Adventures of Superman Annual #7.  Action Comics Annual #7!  Steel Annual #2!  Doomsday Annual #1!

Episode 215: Superman vs Aliens

Welcome to the two hundredth and fifteenth episode of From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast!  This podcast has a simple premise; examine just about every Superman comic published between Man of Steel #1 in 1986 to Adventures of Superman #649 in 2006 in an informative and hopefully entertaining format.

Part index.  Part commentary.  Part history lesson.  All podcast.

In space, no one can hear you scream.

On this podcast you can hear Mike and Jeff talking about the first cross-company crossover of the show!

To be fair you might be able to hear this episode in space, but you would need to have some kind of special suit, or you would have to listen to it in the ship you are traveling in, but that is beside the point.

This time out the boys are looking at the DC Comics/Dark Horse Comics crossover Superman/Aliens or, as the spine of the book calls it, Superman vs. Aliens.  Have you ever wondered who would win in a fight between the Man of Steel and a Xenomorph?  Well this is the three issue prestige format series for you.  Written by Dan Jurgens with art by Jurgens and Kevin Nowlan, this series kicks off when a distress buoy covered in Kryptonian writing crashes to Earth and Lexcorp calls in Clark Kent and Lois Lane to cover the story.  The Kryptonian writing has Clark’s interest so he travels to where the buoy came from on a Lexcorp space craft and discovers what he believes to be a lost Kryptonian city that somehow survived the planet’s destruction.  He meets a young woman named Kara but also comes across the Xenomorphs from the Aliens franchise and because he is far from a yellow sun his powers are waning.  Add to that problem are the four survivors Superman sent back to Earth who, unbeknownst to the Man of Steel, are carrying chest bursters.  Superman and Kara must survive the Aliens attacking them, so he can get back to Earth to save it from the destructive creatures he inadvertently sent there.

Before getting into that Jeff and Mike have a healthy discussion about the Alien franchise in general.  They discuss the movies and touch on other media like the comics and the video games.  But mostly they talk about the movies.

Because the first two are amazing.

Below is a gallery of covers and selected pages from the comics discussed.

And here is a gallery of bits and bobs from the edition of Previews where the first issue was solicited.

You can subscribe to the show in two ways. First there is the RSS Feed and there is also the iTunes link. Are you on Facebook? Be sure to “like” the official FCTC page, which you can find by clicking on this link.

You can email the show by clicking this link. All questions, concerns, fears, trepidations and cheap shots are welcome.  Also be sure to give us a review over on iTunes and feel free to comment on the show here at the site!

Next Time: The beginning of a two part look at the Superman related annuals from 1995, which fell under the Year One banner!  Issues covered are Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #4, Superman Annual #7, Superboy Annual #2 and, to a very lesser extent, Shadow Dragon Annual #1.

Episode 214 – Lois & Clark  Season 2: The Final Four

Welcome to the two hundredth and fourteenth episode of From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast!  This podcast has a simple premise; examine just about every Superman comic published between Man of Steel #1 in 1986 to Adventures of Superman #649 in 2006 in an informative and hopefully entertaining format.

Part index.  Part commentary.  Part history lesson.  All podcast.

This time out Mike and Jeff wrap up their three part look at the back half of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Season 2 with four…count them…four episodes!  First up is Target: Jimmy Olsen, where JBO (as all the cool kids call him) discovers that the weird rash that he gets at the same time every year is not some kind of social disease but rather the side effects of some Manchurian Candidate type experimenting done on him as a kid.  There’s evil scientists, a really ‘90s love interest and probably the best fight scene of the season between Jimmy and Lois.  Next up is Individual Responsibility, which features the Chin himself, Bruce Campbell, playing Bill Church, Jr.  Seems Junior is taking over the running of Intergang and has some issues with the editorials Perry White has been running.  He kidnaps Perry, which would usually be wrapped up rather quickly because of Superman but Junior has gotten his hands on Red Kryptonite, which makes the Man of Steel the Man of Apathy.

That fantastic episode is followed by Whine, Whine, Whine, which has Superman being sued by a supposed musician after Superman saves said slacker from a falling speaker.  A rather ham-fisted examination of the litigious nature of people here in the United States follows along with a boat-load of cameos including the late great Adam West and Frank Gorshin.  Finally there’s And The Answer Is…, where Ma and Pa Kent have been kidnapped by a millionaire that has learned all about Superman’s secret identity thanks to a diary left behind by Tempus.  Clark has to save his parents but only if Superman will kill Lois Lane.  Which he does.  Sort of.  There’s also a major cliffhanger that the boys will be discussing a bunch of episodes down the road.

You can subscribe to the show in two ways. First there is the RSS Feed and there is also the iTunes link. Are you on Facebook? Be sure to “like” the official FCTC page, which you can find by clicking on this link.

You can email the show by clicking this link. All questions, concerns, fears, trepidations and cheap shots are welcome.  Also be sure to give us a review over on iTunes and feel free to comment on the show here at the site!

Next Time: It’s a cross-company cross-over with Superman Vs. Aliens!

Episode 213: Lois & Clark Season 2: Tempus, Y’all!

Welcome to the two hundredth and thirteenth episode of From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast!  This podcast has a simple premise; examine just about every Superman comic published between Man of Steel #1 in 1986 to Adventures of Superman #649 in 2006 in an informative and hopefully entertaining format.

Part index.  Part commentary.  Part history lesson.  All podcast.

This time out the boys continue their look at the last handful of episodes of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Season 2.  Just like last time the episodes are a mix of great/terrible/really freaking great.  First up is Lucky Leon, which features two of the most important moments of this season; Lois and Clark finally go on their first, official, for reals date and a supporting character that Mike and Jeff have raved about dies.  You also get to hear about how one of the guest stars ended up playing Lex Luthor and a musical interlude with Ernie Hudson (who was not in the episode).

Next up is Resurrection which is just…freaking…awful.  Not only is it a sub-par follow up to an amazing episode but it introduces a character named Dan Scardino, who thankfully doesn’t stick around but that doesn’t keep him from sucking out loud.  There’s also a fight with a little person, a shockingly bad representation of a virus and Curtis Armstrong, who deserved better than this episode.

And then…

Then there’s Tempus Fugitive.

This is quite possibly the best episode of the entire series for a variety of reasons.  First, it introduces the character of Tempus, who is the best of the original villains created for the show.  Second, it introduces H.G. Wells to the series, who becomes a fun recurring character.  More than anything this episode has a conversation between Lois and Clark that defines not only the version of Superman from this show but also the Post Crisis version of Superman from the comics.  It’s not that the boys didn’t have a few problems with the episode (mostly about the use of time travel) but there are so many amazing moments (“How…dumb…was she?”) that they can’t help but gush over it.

Keep an ear out for two appearances by Mike’s wife and one appearance by one of Mike and Rachel’s fur babies, Mayday!

You can subscribe to the show in two ways. First there is the RSS Feed and there is also the iTunes link. Are you on Facebook? Be sure to “like” the official FCTC page, which you can find by clicking on this link.

You can email the show by clicking this link. All questions, concerns, fears, trepidations and cheap shots are welcome.  Also be sure to give us a review over on iTunes and feel free to comment on the show here at the site!

Next Time: Mike and Jeff conclude their look at Lois and Clark Season 2 with the last four episodes, which includes Target: Jimmy Olsen, Individual Responsibility, Whine, Whine, Whine and And The Answer Is…