Month: March 2021

OVERLOOKED DARK KNIGHT EPISODE 47 – STARLIN’S BATMAN PART 9: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY PART 2

Episode 47 – Starlin’s Batman Part 9: A Death in the Family Part 2

Welcome to the forty-seventh episode of The Overlooked Dark Knight. The is a non-index index show where the hosts, Andrew Leyland and Michael Bailey, look at Batman comics that rarely, if ever, get talked about.  Back in episode 39 they started a series covering Jim Starlin’s run of Batman and they are going to continue with that until they get through all of his issues, up to and including Batman: The Cult.

Poor Jason is dead.  Poor Jason Todd is dead.  All gather round his coffin now and cry.

In the second part of their coverage of A Death in The Family, Andy and Mike look at the aftermath of the death of Jason Todd.  To be fair, most of the third part of this story is made up of exposition that details what happened in the first two parts, but eventually  things get going again and Bruce has to deal with the fact that the man that killed his partner has been named the ambassador of Iran.  That’s right, folks.  The Joker has diplomatic immunity.  Superman is even called in all Dark Knight Returns style to keep an eye on the Caped Crusader, but will that stop Bruce from facing off with the Joker when he addresses the UN?

Well, no.  Of course not.  But stuff happens and it’s mostly good.

Below are the covers and select covers from the books discussed during this episode.

Andy and Mike want your feedback on this episode so they can read it on an upcoming show!  You even have options in how you leave your feedback.  The most direct way is to leave a comment right here on the site.  You can also send all questions, concerns, fears and trepidations to overlookeddarkknight@gmail.com.  Then there’ the Facebook page, where you can also leave a Batman related question for Andy and Mike to answer at the beginning of the show.  If you talk about this show on the social medias please include a #overlookeddk so the guys know where to find it.

If you want to subscribe to the show here’s the RSS Feed and the Apple Podcast link.  If you use iTunes please leave us a review.  Not only will we read that on the air like the other feedback but it really helps the show out.  The show is also available on the Google Play Store and Spotify.

Next Time: Andy and Mike’s coverage of Jim Starlin’s Batman run comes to an end with a look at Batman #430 and some of the feedback we’ve gotten about this series.

VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX EPISODE 274 – MMMS 2021 ACTS OF VENGEANCE: CAPTAIN AMERICA

Episode 274 – MMMS 2021 Acts of Vengeance: Captain America

The Merry Marvel MARCHing Society crossover continues with an all-star panel of comic book podcasters teaming up to talk about the Captain America issues that tied into Acts of Vengeance.  Joining me to talk about these amazing issues of Cap are Jarrod, Delvin, and Jason from The Longbox Crusade, and those guys are so much fun to record with.  We do bits, joke around, talk about Captain America issues 365-367, and generally have a great time.  What is the office culture like in the Red Skull’s organization?  Are Ron Lim and Kieron Dwyer a good fit as artists?  What is up with that back-up feature where a dude spits into another dude’s mouth?  And are the Red Skull’s cuff links on point?  Listen and find out.

Below are the covers and select pages from the comics discussed during this episode.

A Proud Participant in the Merry Marvel MARCHing Society 2021 event!

Views is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  You can also like the official Views From The Longbox Page over on Facebook.  You can email the show by clicking this link with all questions, concerns, fears, and trepidations.  Also, if you could leave a review over on Apple Podcasts, that would be keen.

Thanks again for Jarrod, Delvin, and Jason for stopping by!

Next Time: Either a shoot the breeze episode with Andy Leyland or a “lost” episode with Paul Spataro.

THE SUPERMAN AND LOIS TAPES EPISODE 6: “THE BEST OF SMALLVILLE” OR 50 SHADES OF SUSPICIOUS

Episode 6: “The Best of Smallville” or 50 Shades of Suspicious

This time out The BAM Crew (Bethany, Alison, and Michael) discuss the fifth episode of the CW series Superman and Lois.  The Best of Smallville (or as Bethany wanted to call it 50 Shades of Suspicious) brought up a lot of thoughts and feelings among The Crew this week.  Bethany loved the fact that the festival felt so small town authentic, while Alison noticed some things about Martha in this episode.  Then Michael (with an assist by Bethany) go full flow chart on the audience with a theory about certain super powered antagonists from this episode.

The phrase “meatsacks getting overclocked” becomes a thing at one point in the discussion.

As usual, Bethany gives her choice for The Most Punchable Face of the episode and Michael delivers another installment of Professor Bailey’s Superman 101, this time about the town of Smallville..

The Superman and Lois Tapes can be found on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The show can be reached by email at thesupermanandloistapes@gmail.com.  You can also leave comments here or over at the Facebook page for the show, which you can get to by clicking this link.

The main theme for the show is “Heroes” by the awesome Mike Schmidt.  You can find his work over at Speed Force Music.

Next Time: The BAM Crew discusses The Best of Smallville.

FCTC EPISODE 249: JUNE 1996 PART 2

 

Episode 249: June 1996 Part 2

Welcome to the two hundredth and forty-ninth 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.

Mike and Jeff have reached another milestone.  This one isn’t as obvious as other anniversary episodes, but with this installment the boys have reached the official halfway point of their mandate.

Only eleven years into their five-year mission.

Anyhoo, this time out the boys finish up the June 1996 cover date books, both of which have Superman battling nature in the form of a twister.  Or tornado.  Or something based on a hit film that came out around the time these books were released.  In Action Comics #722 Superman tries his best to take care of the tornados tearing through Smallville but he faces a number of setbacks along the way.  Pete Ross is also in the issue and really wants to fight the tornados, which makes sense when you read the issue.  The tornado action continues in Superman: The Man of Steel #57, where Superman teams up with the Jay Garrick Flash, who is awesome and makes any book he appears in better.

After that the boys answer the question Hey, Wha’ Happened in the rest of the DCU, starting with the Superman family books.  They trip hammer through Superboy #28, Steel #27, Showcase ’96 #5, and Supergirl Annual #1 before looking at some of the other comics DC put out that cover month.

Content warning: The discussion about the Robin issue mentions sexual assault, so trigger warning for those with sensitivities about that subject.

Here are the covers and select pages from the books discussed during this episode.

Shows Promoted In This Episode

You can subscribe or listen to the show in a variety of ways. First there is the RSS Feed and then there is the Apple Podcasts link.  You can also find the show on Spotify and the Google Play Store.  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: Another interview!  Mike and Jeff had an amazing conversation with artist Jon Bogdanove.  We learn how he came on to the Superman titles, his process on some of our favorite episodes, and so much more.

VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX EPISODE 273 – MMMS 2021 ACTS OF VENGEANCE: MOON KNIGHT AND THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Episode 273 – Merry Marvel MARCHing Society 2021 Acts of Vengeance: Moon Knight and The Incredible Hulk

Views is back just in time to take part in the newest podcasting crossover epic called The Merry Marvel MARCHING Society.  This year a bunch of us have banded together to cover the best ever, ain’t no doubt about it Marvel crossover OF ALL TIME…Acts of Vengeance.

I’m dedicating two episodes of Views to this crossover.  This time out I am talk about two different titles that crossed over with the event.  In Marc Spector: Moon Knight issues 8-10, Marc teams up with The Punisher to take on Flag-Smasher and the forces of ULTIMATUM.  Moon Knight also has to take on three zed-list villains, who actually give him a run for his money.  Then, in Incredible Hulk #363, Doctor Doom tasks the Gray Gargoyle with either capturing or killing the Hulk, which is easier said than done.

All of this and a brand new theme song!

Below are the covers and select pages from the comics discussed during this episode.

Podcasts promoted during this episode are…

A Proud Participant in the Merry Marvel MARCHing Society 2021 event!

Views is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  You can also like the official Views From The Longbox Page over on Facebook.  You can email the show by clicking this link with all questions, concerns, fears, and trepidations.  Also, if you could leave a review over on Apple Podcasts, that would be keen.

Next Time: Jarrod, Delvin, and Jason from The Longbox Crusade join me to talk about the Captain America issues that crossed over with Acts of Vengeance!

THE SUPERMAN AND LOIS TAPES EPISODE 5: HAYWIRE OR BAD, BAD BOY

Episode 5: Haywire or Bad, Bad, Boy

This time out The BAM Crew (Bethany, Alison, and Michael) discuss the fourth episode of the first season of the CW series Superman and Lois.  Haywire is about a lot of things.  It’s about Superman having to deal with escaped supervillain Thaddeus Killgrave.  It’s about a freak of the week.  It’s about Lois trying to stop Morgan Edge from getting his hooks into Smallville.  Mainly, though, it’s about Sam Lane telling the Kent boys that they shouldn’t distract their dad and the Crew had some opinions on this.

Especially Bethany.

You will be shocked at who has the most punchable face this time out.

The Crew also discusses how weird it is that the government has a special schoole for super powered kids, how much this episode pays homage to Smallville and Michael devotes this episode’s Professor Bailey’s Superman 101 to the history of Kryptonite.

The main theme for the show is “Heroes” by the awesome Mike Schmidt.  You can find his work over at Speed Force Music.  The music under the news segment is called “NewsSting” and is by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Next Time: The BAM Crew discusses The Best of Smallville.

FCTC EPISODE 248: JUNE 1996 PART 1

Episode 248: June 1996 Part 1

Welcome to the two hundredth and forty-eighth 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.

Things return to normal (somewhat) this time out as Mike and Jeff begin their look at the books with a cover date of June 1996.  Normal because the whole “three issues a month” thing is over and done with.  First up is Superman #112, where Lois and Clark finally…FINALLY…get away to talk about their relationship troubles.  The only hiccup is that NASA needs to give Superman a glorified beeper to help out with the Mars mission if the need arises.  And it does.  Also, Morgan Edge escapes from jail.  Then, in Adventures of Superman #535, the fallout from the breakup continues as Lois and Lori have a heart to heart about whether or not Lois and Clark can be friends or not as Lex Luthor takes control of Alpha Centurion’s soldiers and forces them to go on a rampage.  Meanwhile, Superman is in Smallville telling Jonathan and Martha about the break-up.  Oh, and Dana and Jimmy break up, but that isn’t the end of Dana.

After the comic talk is done, the boys discuss a TERRIBLE episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’s third season called It’s A Small World After All as well as asking, Hey, Wha’ Happened in the real world while these books were on the stands.

Below are the covers and select pages from the comics Mike and Jeff discussed during this episode.

Shows promoted in this episode include:

You can subscribe or listen to the show in a variety of ways. First there is the RSS Feed and then there is the Apple Podcasts link.  You can also find the show on Spotify and the Google Play Store.  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 reach an important milestone as Superman and (eventually) guest star Jay Garrick deal with a whole bunch of tornados tearing through Kansas in Action Comics #722 and Superman: The Man of Steel #57.  They’ll also be taking a look at the other Superman related books that came out during the June 1996 cover date and chatting about some of the other DC books that were published as well.

OVERLOOKED DARK KNIGHT EPISODE 46 – STARLIN’S BATMAN PART 8: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY PART 1

Episode 46 – Starlin’s Batman Part 8: A Death in the Family Part 1

Welcome to the forty-sixth episode of The Overlooked Dark Knight. The is a non-index index show where the hosts, Andrew Leyland and Michael Bailey, look at Batman comics that rarely, if ever, get talked about.  Back in episode 39 they started a series covering Jim Starlin’s run of Batman and they are going to continue with that until they get through all of his issues, up to and including Batman: The Cult.

It’s here.

What is quite possibly the most controversial Batman story ever.

Andy and Mike have gotten to…A Death in the Family.

Not the second Incredible Hulk pilot where David comes across a supposedly crippled heiress that is being slowly poisoned by her step-mother, forcing David to become the Hulk on several occasions and he even fights a bear (or, more accurately, a guy in a bear suit) at one point. No.  The guys are covering the story that made headlines because DC decided to use the then new technology of 900 numbers for something other than a phone sex line.

In this first part of the coverage, Andy and Mike talk about Batman #426 and #427, which are the first two parts of A Death in the Family, but when you consider that the issues are double sized it is almost like they are the first four parts of the story.  Jason is out of control and Bruce benches him before getting involved in yet another Joker escapes Arkham case  Along the way, Jason finds out that the woman that he thought was his mother was not, in fact, his mother, so he goes on a quest of his own.  “Shockingly” those two quests collide and Jason eventually finds his mother, but not before the Joker does and some really bad things happen.  Jason and his mother are locked in a room with a bomb and at the end of issue 427 it explodes.  Did Jason survive?

Well, no.  He didn’t.  Sorry for the spoiler.

Mike and Andy really dive into the story, both from a historic stand point and a critical one with Andy being very honest about his feelings about it and Mike admitting that nostalgia googles were worn while he re-read it.  It’s a stark look at what the story represents and how it’s told.

Below are the covers and select pages from the comics discussed during this episode.

Promos played during this episode include…

Andy and Mike want your feedback on this episode so they can read it on an upcoming show!  You even have options in how you leave your feedback.  The most direct way is to leave a comment right here on the site.  You can also send all questions, concerns, fears and trepidations to overlookeddarkknight@gmail.com.  Then there’ the Facebook page, where you can also leave a Batman related question for Andy and Mike to answer at the beginning of the show.  If you talk about this show on the social medias please include a #overlookeddk so the guys know where to find it.

If you want to subscribe to the show here’s the RSS Feed and the Apple Podcast link.  If you use iTunes please leave us a review.  Not only will we read that on the air like the other feedback but it really helps the show out.  The show is also available on the Google Play Store and Spotify.

Next Time: The penultimate episode in the Starlin’s Batman series and the conclusion of A Death in the Family.

THE SUPERMAN AND LOIS TAPES EPISODE 4: THE PERKS OF NOT BEING A WALL FLOWER or THAT TRUCK HAS A 50/50 CHANCE

Episode 4: The Perks of Not Being a Wall Flower or That Truck Has a 50/50 Chance

In their fourth episode, The BAM Crew (Bethany, Alison, and Michael) discuss the third episode of the first season of Superman and Lois, which was titled The Perks of Not Being a Wall Flower.  And it’s a pretty lively discussion with Alison raising some concerns about how realistic it is for Lois to be investigating Morgan Edge for a small town paper, Bethany having issues with all the teenage shenanigans, and Michael going absolutely crazy for the fight between Superman and Subjekt 11.

They talk about other stuff, but those are some of the best moments.

After all of that, Mike delivers another Professor Bailey’s Superman 101, Bethany reveals who had the most punchable face and the Crew goes over the feedback they’ve received since last time.

The Superman and Lois Tapes can be found on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The show can be reached by email at thesupermanandloistapes@gmail.com.  You can also leave comments here or over at the Facebook page for the show, which you can get to by clicking this link.

The main theme for the show is “Heroes” by the awesome Mike Schmidt.  You can find his work over at Speed Force Music.  The music under the news segment is called “NewsSting” and is by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Next Time: The BAM Crew discusses Haywire.

FCTC EPISODE 247: MAY 1996 PART 2

Episode 247: May 1996 Part 2

Welcome to the two hundredth and forty-seventh 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.

There was only one main book to talk about this time out, but Mike and Jeff certainly make a meal of it.  To finish out cover date May 1996 the boys talk about Superman: The Man of Steel #56.  This issue features the return of Mister Mxyzptlk, and boy is Mxy unhappy when he finds out that Lois and Clark have broken up.  It’s almost sweet in a way.  They also discuss Bibbo’s big fight, which was one of the more pleasant sub-plots to come out in 1996.  After that, Mike and Jeff answer the very important question of Hey, Wha’ Happened elsewhere in the DC Universe by looking at Superboy #27, Steel #26, Showcase ’96 #5, DC vs. Marvel #4, and a few other non-Superman related comics that came out that month.

Here are the covers and select pages from the comic discussed in this episode.

Shows promoted in this episode include:

You can subscribe or listen to the show in a variety of ways. First there is the RSS Feed and then there is the Apple Podcasts link.  You can also find the show on Spotify and the Google Play Store.  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 boys dive into cover date 1996 Part 1 by looking at Superman #112 and Adventures of Superman #535 as well It’s A Small World After All, a terrible episode from the third season of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.