One Comic Podcast

Nostalgia hits us in various ways this show, as we take a look at issue six of Paper Girls written by Brian K Vaughan with art by Cliff Chiang and Matt Wilson, which tells the story of characters from 1988 brought forward into the present (and some other coming back from the future. Possibly. Exactly what’s going on remains tantalisingly intriguing.) Suffice it to say that Bex and Jon (but not Jared, because he’s a child) brought their own experience of living through the 1980s to the party.  And even by our standards, this one was digressive. Including one swerve into a 1970s TV series Jon remembers fondly called The Paper Lads - which you can at least see vaguely how we got to. That one among others didn't make it to the final cut. We did talk about the comic too though. No 3&1 in this show, because reasons, but by way of a special bonus, instead of the usual random nonsense or outtake at the end, we’ve included one of the digressions, as Bex and Jon share some of the madness that was The Tomorrow People (original version) with Jared. Poor, innocent Jared, whose American childhood spared him. until now.

When an award-winning author on African-American identity takes on one of the most famous (and currently particularly visible) black characters in comics, the expectation level is set sky-high. Black Panther #1 from a couple of months ago sets the scene for an extended, and clearly multi-faceted, story which author Ta-Nehisi Coates clearly approaches with no suggestion he's planning on dumbing down for comics. Together with artistic collaborators Brian Stelfreeze and Laura Martin, he kicks off with a first issue that jumps straight into politics, relationships, history and tradition, and some good old-fashioned fisticuffs to keep things moving. How does it all stack up? Listen and find out. And in honour of Coates' transition to comics from other writing fields, Jared's 3&1 is on exactly that - authors who made their name elsewhere first. No spoilers, but his selected Worst One Ever has been mentioned on the show before. And he's right - he's a terrible, terrible comic writer.

Let's face it - it's been a grim week in the LGBT world (and indeed elsewhere), so it feels more important than ever to acknowledge and celebrate our sexual and gender diversity. So... Happy Pride Month in much of the world. To mark the occasion, and to reflect its queer sensibilities, Oni Press has published its first Pride Spectacular; three extracts from its LGBTQ-focused titles, including previews of two new series. So how do Merry Men, Wet Moon and Princess Princess Ever After hold up as queer stories, as comics in general, and as reasons to have Pride?  And by way of celebrating the radical act of living openly, a delve into comic book coming out and focus in particular on some times it was done well. This show is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Orlando shooting, and to the countless other LGBT victims of violence across the world.

Hot off a guest appearance in Daredevil season 2 on Netflix, and last seen in comics at the start of Secret Wars killing ALL the supervillains as the world ended, it's The Punisher's turn to be relaunched off the back of that universe-shattering crossover with a new number one and a new creative team (ish - one of them is a very old hand at depicting the terminal adventures of Frank Castle). So among many other subjects as we cover the new Punisher #1, in this show we discuss: who to root for if you can't root for the protagonist; heroes that kill; how best to use a character like The Punisher in a universe of heroes who don't; whether and how this issue works for us, and Bex's fondness for violence. With an unexpected special guest mention of Frank Miller? This show rated explicit for one use of Bex's favourite word. You know the one...

This is the week that X-Men: Apocalypse opens in cinemas here in the UK and its reviews are, let’s be generous and say ‘not great’. So does an Apocalypse-related comic - arguably the Apocalypse-related comic - do any better? This is X-Men: Alpha - Age of Apocalypse; the comic that starts the entire original AoA story. The kick-off of the saga that replaced the entire X-Men line for four months and plunged them into a world where Professor X died years earlier and Apocalypse arose unchallenged. Magneto and his X-Men are at the vanguard of the resistance. It’s a famous epic, the source of many stories since. But is it any good? And have we ever before spent as much time discussing the rendering of various characters’ junk? And alternate universes being all the rage round our house, it’s also time to dip into some others for this show’s 3&1, courtesy of Jon.

You won't find a much bigger change of pace after last time's Civil War than issue 1 of Boom Box's new four part series Goldie Vance. Which is definitely not a problem for the team, who definitely enjoyed starting to get to know Goldie and her supporting cast. Hope Larson and Brittney Williams have created a definitely different comic, with an unusual, well-realised setting, an interesting protagonist and an intriguing plot. And you don't always get all three of them in a first issue. And as Goldie Vance is a detective comic, Jared opted to 3&1 the genre. Though this is Jared, so as usual, definitions are fluid. Though his Worst One Ever is hard to argue. Seriously - just don't even try.

It's Captain America: Civil War week (here in the UK), so Bex, Jared and Jon marking the occasion with a Civil War show. Issue one of Civil War from 2006 marked the start of the series that saw hero vs hero in an ideological battle; should heroes be registered and licensed by the government, or should they operate free of regulation? If the government defines who's a villain, what's to stop them basing their decision on political grounds? But without regulation, who holds the heroes accountable when things go wrong? This promises not to be a typical all guns blazing super-heroic clash. As Civil War was written by Mark Millar, Jared rounds out the show with a 3&1 on Millar comics. In a long career covering multiple publishers, multiple genres and no small amount of controversy, what makes Jared's top three, and what's his worst one ever?

By many accounts, one of the few high points of the low point extravaganza that is Batman vs Superman, is the introduction of Wonder Woman to the DC Cinematic Universe. So to mark that, we've declared episode 32 The All Wonder Woman, All The Time Show. One of Diana's most famous reworkings was the post-Crisis version generally know as the [George] Perez Era, so we've jumped back to the mid-80s to look at the very first issue of that famous run. Does it stand up, thirty years later? What's good, what's bad, and what's unexpected? The Crisis wiped Diana's slate clean, so as a fresh start, how does this work out? And what's this? More Wonder Woman? Well of course, what did you expect?. Jon's got a 3&1 of Wonder Woman eras, and at one point when he shows the others a particular cover, this is the one he means - no peeking ahead of time though.

So, what do you do if you're a famously an infamously sexy vampire heroine with a werewolf boyfriend and a snooty butler looking to make a fresh start?You move to Los Angeles, rent an enormous gothic mansion via an ad on Craig's List and get yourself a whole new wardrobe. That;s the starting point for a new series of Vampirella, and the biggest change is the most obvious - the classic Trina Robbins-designed costume, famous from the walls of comic shops the world over, is gone, at least as far as Vampi's public face is concerned. As our heroine gets settled in to her new life and deals with unexpected intruders and internet infamy we also begin to discover a monstrous threat looming over a group of unsuspecting movie extras. The plot, as they say, thickens... And on the subject of vampires in comics, it's time for one of Jon's 3&1 segments on that very subject.

We each came to this issue of Bitch Planet with a different level of familiarity with the series, so we viewed is as everything from the latest in the run to a first peek into the world of Non-Compliance - so how this one-off story works from all our perspectives was an interesting starting point. Bitch Planet was almost one of the first titles we ever reviewed, so it's good finally to get under its skin. It's a series that's developed a substantial reputation, based only partly on its actual story; the additional material in each issue as well as the ways its fans have embraced the Non-Compliant identity are all part of what Bitch Planet is. Are we ready to get the NC tattoo too? Listen and find out. No 3&1 this show, but it'll be back next time.

Yes, we know it's February, but we still say Happy 2016 at the start of this, our first show of the year. We're somehow managing the trick of getting all retro with a brand new comic in this one, as we take a look at the return of Swamp Thing's original writer in issue one of the new Swamp Thing limited series. Given the wealth of different takes and additions to the mythology that have some along since Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson first created the Thing in the Swamp, what's it like having Wein back?And given the unquestionable impact of Alan Moore's retcon of Swampy's origin, Jon takes a swing at a 3&1 of Retconned Origins. If you know his favourite ranting subjects at all, you'll probably know what's his Worst One Ever.

Seeing out the old year and welcoming the new, we’ve succumbed to the lure of nostalgia and done a review show of all the One Comics to date. Which of the series we said we’d stick with did we follow? Have we changed our minds on anything with hindsight or the benefit of more issues? What is the secret to the perfect One Comic? Based on this view it’s a combination of smut, Bex and Jared sniping at each other and a healthy disregard for received wisdom. About *anything*. Also to note that with apologies, the technical challenges that plagued us at the end of the year affected the sound quality of the new parts of this. We’re hoping to have resolved this for our next session. Thanks for listening - Happy 2016!

Season's Greetings! Feliz Navidad! Nadolig Llawen! Spoiler! There is No Comic in this One Comic. Instead, as the first of our two festive specials, we're giving full rein to our comic creator fantasies and doing a mass Three And One (which technically is therefore a Nine And Three) on the comic series or characters we'd most like to be given control of and what we'd do with them. And of course because the point is that it's our Top Three and Worst One Ever, we also talk about the character we'd each least like to take on and what we'd do with them if it was the price of getting our hands on our favourite.Not to give anything away, these lists go to some strange places, including Bex taking over from two of the biggest names in comics history, Jared creating a new teen soap and to no one's greater shock than his own, Jon not claiming Legion of Super-Heroes. Maybe next time.

This is a long one, and partly that's due to Jared's idea of "three and one" going even more off-piste than usual into his "nonagon of naughtiness'; the "nine stage trail of fail" as he looks at the various levels of intersection between comicbook reality and, well, reality.The comic that led him there is the long-delayed Warren Ellis/Phil Jimenez/Andy Lanning Hellblazer story Shoot. Originally intended for publication in the late 90s but withheld due to its school shooting subject matter and the Columbine attack which happened before it was published, Vertigo finally released it twelve years later as a one-shot packaged with some other Hellblazer stories.Loving a bit of controversy as we do, we thought it was a perfect subject for us to take on. So come with us, listeners, to a dark place with some difficult subjects to navigate. And that's just Jared's stuff. 

We may as well get this out of the way up front: this is that rare show where we all agree with each other. A lot. But bear with it - it’s not as dull as it sounds, honest. It’s issue one of Clean Room, out this week from Vertigo, created by Gail Simone with art by Jon Davis-Hunt. We won’t give anything away here except to say that the last time we reviewed a Gail Simone book it was Red Sonja, and you may remember we raved about that, so we went into this story with high hopes. This is Vertigo back in creepy horror mode, so there’s that heritage to play for too. And in the spirit of the occasion, (our) Jon does a 3&1 on Vertigo limited series. Turns out that not everything you think of as Vertigo was actually Vertigo. And he’d like to point out that he remembered The Witching Hour five minutes too late to make this a 4&1, which it absolutely would have been. Also, there is too much comics trivia in this man's head.

This one's a bit of a puzzler. When you tell the story of a sexy woman super-agent set against a backdrop of the California porn industry, featuring lots of prominent cleavage and a very male gazey perspective, even if it's meant to be ironic, is it actually still just a bit sexist? And more importantly, is it actually any good? These and others are the questions we face in reviewing issue one of Red One from Image Comics, by Xavier Dorison, Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson.And as Red One is above all else a Soviet sexy super-agent and it's Jared's turn at Top Three/Worst One Ever, he's making his pick of Soviet/Russian super-characters. Astonishingly, he doesn't pick Colossus. Or, to Jon's annoyance, Darkstar.

Time for another Blast From The Past, as we go back to issue 137 of the first comic book series called The X-Men and the double-sized conclusion of the Dark Phoenix Saga. Having been corrupted by The Hellfire Club and almost incidentally destroyed an entire planet of intelligent beings, original X-Man Jean Grey is on trial for her life and creators Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin tell one of the best-known and most lauded stories in Marvel history. Thirty-five years to the (cover-dated) month later, how does this classic hold up? And famously, the outcome of this was subsequently undone by means of one of the biggest retcons in that same Marvel history, so in the spirit of the subject, Jon shares his Top Three and Best One Ever X-Men retcons. Well, not exactly that way round as it turns out.

Time to dip into the DC Trinity for the first time, with a look at this month’s Batman #43, part three of the Superheavy story which introduced a new man in the Batman suit, a new Batman suit (or two), a new version of Bruce Wayne, and a new Batman villain in the form of Mr Bloom. So there’s a LOT going on here, including a great deal of back story to get caught up on. The last couple of times we delved into the DC Universe we didn’t have such a good time. Will things be better as we get to grips with the acclaimed Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo run?And almost as importantly, what will Bex select as her Top Three/Worst One Ever superhero origins?

Let’s get this right out there up front: this one’s marked explicit for both subject matter and language. The first volume of Sunstone from Top Cow/Image is on one level a romance comic, but on a completely different level it’s a story about a BDSM relationship with quite a lot of graphic nudity. This one challenges us, particularly the male participants (and yes, we nearly typed ‘members’ there… there’s a lot of struggling with language here) in a number of ways: how do we feel about what we’re seeing? Are there limits to what seems appropriate for certain types of creator to create? Can we objectively assess the objectified? And what are we to make of the industry when we consider this comic?   One of those discussions where the basic question of “is it any good?” takes a back seat to a lot of others. Like "How many euphemisms for women's genitalia can Bex come up with?"

In comic book terms, there are few characters (and certainly few non-superhero characters) more iconic than Archie Andrews, so the launch of a brand new Archie #1 seems like a suitable occasion for us to mark. This first issue also includes a reprint of the very first Archie short story, which is… different. So how does this relaunch by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples measure up to the Archies of Jared’s youth? Back in show 3 we looked at the new horror version of Sabrina, which showed a different version of the Archie universe - how well or badly does a relatively traditional take play? And in the return of Top Three/Worst One Ever, Jared takes us through his Top Three (actually Five) Enduring Comicbook Romances. It’s safe to say we don’t all agree with his choices. Also: don’t forget to vote for the kind of comics you’d like to hear us talk about at onecomicpodcast.com

It's a relatively short show this time as we visit the closest planet to the sun for some crime action in issue one of Mercury Heat, from the creative team of Kieron Gillen and Omar Francia. A closed environment, a fish-out-of-water female lead, the strictures of a future society in which roles are determined for its citizens and some types are less welcome than others and a suspicious death; these are the ingredients Gillen mixes into this set-up issue. What did we make of it?No 'Top Three/Worst One Ever' this time, but it'll be back in our next show.

Famed comics writer Gail Simone has been writing Red Sonja's exploits for Dynamite for a while now, so we wanted to see how a well-regarded writer took on a character whose portrayal over the years has frequently been... let's just say "not exactly feminist". This issue, a chapter of an ongoing 'quest' storyline, served as an intro to the current run for two of the team, so how did it stand up as an entry point, as a piece of fantasy storytelling, as a comic book, and as a woman-led title? And for this show's Top Three and Worst One Ever, Bex takes a look at madness in comics, trying to work out what it takes to make mental illness (or what comics tend to deliver when they try for it) work in comics, and why it's so hard to get right.

Around a year into Dan Slott, Mike Allred and Laura Allred’s run on Silver Surfer, they produced an issue in an completely original format, telling a time looping story in a uniquely looping manner. This is the One Comic of that issue, last month’s Silver Surfer 11. What did the team make of the story, the structure, the relationship between the Surfer and his new(ish) companion Dawn Greenwood, and the inexplicably French space pirates? Listen and find out. Also, apropos of nothing, Jon takes a look at ‘Replacement Heroes’ in the regular Top Three and Worst One Ever feature. Who made the cut, and who failed to make the best of the mantle they took up?

The first issue of a new Alan Moore/Jacen Burrows collaboration, Providence #1 is the story of a young journalist in the big city. As we dig into an early-twentieth century world of creepy doctors, clandestine relationships, madness-inducing books and ... exit gardens, we consider the importance of a creator's reputation in committing to a series, and the fit between story and pictures.And in keeping with the theme, Jared takes a look at the best and worst of Lovecraft-inspired comics. It's a weird world out there.

Crossovers don’t get much bigger than this. The Marvel multiverse faces destruction and the only two Earths left are too busy fighting each other to do anything about it.  It’s kill or be killed for both the main and Ultimate universes and frankly, it’s not looking good for anyone. We delve into the first issue of Marvel’s biggest ever crossover, Secret Wars, by Jonathan Hickman, Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina to see how it holds up and the start of the crossover and the end of the enormous grand plan that Hickman has been weaving through the Marvel Universe for years now. And to round the show up, Jared takes a turn at sharing a Top Three and Worst One Ever - his chosen topic: Spider Costumes. And there are a lot for him to choose from.

Who’s up for an outing? No, not a trip to the coast, an enforced confrontation with one’s own denied sexual orientation. No? Doesn’t sound like your idea of a good time? Well imagine how you’d feel if you were Iceman; just back from a tour of the universe, happily perving over one of your teachers, then POW, in comes Jean “I’m psychic” Grey to burst your bubble of macho posturing and over-compensation by telling you “I know”. There’s a lot to unpack here, not least the complications added to the situation by telepathy, time travel and the adult Iceman’s diabolical dating record. Fun. Also, the first outing (see what we did there?) for a new feature: Top Three and Worst One Ever - in which Jon selects the best and worst X-Men spin-offs. And not to paint him as too tragic a case, he’s pretty much read all the candidates.

So one of the "every Spider ever"s of Spider-Verse is the version where Gwen Stacy was bitten by the spider rather than Peter Parker, and things have pretty much gone downhill for her from there. Issue one of Spider-Gwen unexpectedly turns out to be the comic which divided our opinions most sharply so far. In this one we take a tour of the way people view female heroes compared to male ones, consider the way people come to comics in the "it's all on the internet anyway" age and discuss the pros and cons of the alternate universe in comics.  Also: Bex reveals her true colours, Jared reveals his part-time identity as Cliché Man and Jon reveals he's the kind of person who uses the word 'shebang'. This one's got it all, kids. Though actually: don't listen kids - there are bad words and a drug reference (hence the 'explicit' tag on this one).

Blasting very much from the past, yet at the same time future-looking, if not terribly future shocking, this time we're going all the way back to 1984 to examine Prog 376 of 2000AD. Notable for the first appearance of Halo Jones by the mighty Alan Moore and Ian Gibson, there's actually a lot more to explore between its cheap four-colour newsprint covers. Of course, not being British and therefore versed in the strange little 2000AD subculture, one of our number is at something of a disadvantage even before you throw in the heavily phonetic speech bubbles on the Planet of the Scots. Poor Jared.

In which we encounter pronunciation issues, find ourselves taking the ever-so-serious Kraven The Hunter somewhat less-than-seriously, and wash the unpleasant taste of last time's Aquaman out with something completely different. That being issue one of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl from Marvel, written by Ryan North with art by Erica Henderson. And with all due apologies to those of a delicate sensibility, one or two strong words creep in again.

This time we set out to see what was going on with a character that's currently getting some press, courtesy of the upcoming film and last week's release of the film poster image. Aquaman issue 39 from DC is smack bang in the middle of an ongoing story, so this also feels like a great chance to test how well an ongoing handles that "every issue is someone's first" principle.Warning: some use of strong language.

It's time for Jon, Rebecca and Jared (the latter in a distant echo chamber) to take a look at something by one of *those* names in comic creation; issue 1 of Nameless, written by Grant Morrison, working with Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn on art duty. While we're on the subject of Morrison, as well as digging into this first issue, which we each have quite different views on, we also discuss our experience with his other work, from Batman to The Filth; Zenith to Supergods.

Except that it was too long, the subtitle for this show was going to be "The bastard love child of Felix The Cat and HP Lovecraft". Which may tell you what you need to know going into Frank's High Horse, from the collected edition The Portable Frank by Jim Woodring (Fantagraphics). Join the usual crew of Bex, Jared and Jon, plus special guests the ID, the Ego and the Super-Ego as we get lost in some very strange territory. Probably more ours than Jim Woodring's, to be fair. We're marking this one 'explicit' for some use of sexual terms, but all done in the best possible taste. Honest.

After a short hiatus, we're back, taking on the first issue of Marvel's new Star Wars series published this week. Written by Jason Aaron, with art by John Cassaday and Laura Martin, it's a return to the Star Wars universe for Marvel, who had the original licence back in the day. It's the Star Wars of our youthful passion brought back in a faithful recreation. But is its fidelity to 'proper' Star Wars a strength or a weakness?(Note: we discuss the many variant covers this issue has - the one we've chosen for this show's icon is the rather brilliant Amanda Conner variant.)

This time, in exploring the new Vertigo Quarterly: Yellow, we find ourselves exploring a mixed (magic) bag of post-apocalyptic high fantasy psychological drama with occasional ambiguous old men and two different takes on predestination. With occasional asides to consider the art of anthology assembly and how many directions it's possible to take the theme of 'yellow' anyway - this one's got it all.

It's an all-new, all-different (sorry, wrong publisher) chapter in Barbara Gordon's life, as she moves across the river, fights crime with a hangover, gets Black Canary's pad burned down and takes on a particularly topical bad guy. Who we inexplicably forgot to mock for talking in hashtags. #Literally. So does this new start for Batgirl work? 

Changing gears in a couple of ways this week, we look at the first collection of the webcomic Breaks by Emma Vieceli and Malin Ryden, which scores points by hitting a genre most of the team like and being cleverly universal in its setting. (Check it out at http://www.breakscomic.com/) And then we've got our hands on some new research about comicbook film adaptations. Will we agree with the statistically relevant sample? What do you think?

This time, for our third debut issue in a row we're talking about issue one of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina from Archie Comics and along the way we identify "the Brady Bunch of comics", are surprised by the grimdarkness of it all, and unexpectedly return to previous themes including characterful animals, people in trees and witches. (Okay, given this is a book about a teenage witch the last one's not *that* unexpected.)

This time, Bex and Jon take a look at the first issue of a new series from Image: Wytches, by Scott Snyder, Jock, and Matthew Hollingsworth, and consider whether comics can be frightening, what exactly was happening with that deer, and the creepiness of teeth, among other pressing issues.

For our first outing, Bex, Jared and Jon talk about the debut of the new Thor from Marvel, and find ourselves oddly drawn to a well drawn goat. And somewhere along the way we make Thor an X-Man. This could be a sign of things to come.