We've Got Issues (The Comic Book Podcast)

In this series wrap-up, Paul and Steve discuss their favorite stories in this series. Has Paul managed to turn Steve from sceptic to fan? What do the two friends see as the future of comics? Give a listen and find out. Thanks for listening to this twelve episode podcast series that was a year in the making and a labor of love for us here at Big Broccoli Studios. There are plenty of other stories to tell, so if you would like a second season of We've Got Issues, let us know.

What started out as a murder mystery unravels into a master plan of world peace by a madman as Steve and Paul wrap up ten comic book tales designed to turn any comic book naysayer into a fan.

Heralded by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels, DC Comics' 12-issue series Watchmen, published from 1986 to 1987, is just two big for just one episode. In part one, Steve and Paul discuss the first half of an epic story that begins as a murder mystery, where things aren't as they seem in this alternate reality tale of the 1980s.

Spanning six issues, across all three Spider-man titles, Kraven's Last Hunt sees the wall-crawler squaring up against his most dangerous foe. Published in 1987, by Marvel Comics, it's a personal tale for writer J.M. DeMatteis, with art by Mike Zeck, exploring what it means to be a man, what it means to be an animal, and the madness that lurks between the two, as well as what it means to be a hero.

In an alternate reality mini series written and drawn by Frank Miller, published in 1986, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns told the tale of an aging Bruce Wayne's return to the mantle of the Caped Crusader to save darkness that had befell Gotham City. The series also changed Batman's image forever, as well as ushering in the fourth age of comics history, known as the Dark Age. Fans either love or hate this series, but it's success cannot be disputed as many of its story elements have made it to the big screen version of the Dark Knight.

If an earnest talking to from an old African American gentleman to Green Lantern, a decade earlier, was the birth of comics being suddenly woke, one word uttered in anger by the X-Men's youngest member, helped comics reach adulthood. Written by Chris Claremont, with art by Brent Anderson, Marvel Comics Graphic Novel #5, commonly referred to by its title, “God Loves, Man Kills” is a good place for readers to start reading X-Men stories as it may seem familiar, having been influential on the X-Men movie franchise.

In 1982, while sharing a taxi ride in New York City, writer Chris Claremont and artist Frank Miller hatched the plot for the four issue Wolverine mini series. Meanwhile, while sharing a bus stop on a stretch of country road nine miles from nowhere, Steve and Paul hatched a friendship that has spanned nearly four decades. Hugely influential not just in the way Wolverine was written from that point on, the mini series was influential on Paul as well, and later became one of Steve's favorite stories in this series.

Widely regarded as the seminal Iron Man story, the nine-issue-long storyline culminated in Tony Stark facing his greatest adversary, alcoholism. Writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton proved with this story that in an era of flashy costumes and superpowers, heroes are only human.

One of superhero cinema's most successful franchises was almost one of Marvel Comics' biggest failures. Until 1975. The characters introduced in Giant-Size X-Men #1, written by Len Wein and drawn by Dave Cockrum, introduced an international group of mutants, many of whom have endured as part of popular culture to this day.

In Amazing Spider-man #121-122, Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's long-time girlfriend died. And so did comic books' innocence. Writer Gerry Conway and artist Gil Kane gave longtime readers a gut punch that has often been iterated in Spider-man movies, but never equaled.

Batman #232, published in 1971, might not have been the greatest Batman story ever told, but with “Daughter of the Demon,” writer Dennis O'Neal and artist Neal Adams (Yes, those two again) introduced readers to Ra's al Ghul, one of the most enduring villains in comics history.

Since their inception decades earlier, comic books were viewed as juvenile entertainment. In 1970, Writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams set out to change that with a story some refer to as the day comics got “woke.” Steve and Paul discuss Steve's initial reaction to the story and how the dialogue might be written today. Also in this episode, Paul gives Steve and the listeners a brief history of comics.

Your hosts, Steve Vinson and Paul Schultz stopped by the NPR studios to speak briefly with Chesterfield Station and Alistair Powers of "Well Said" about their new podcast.