Episode 290: Marvel Two-in-One Annual #3 - When Strike The Monitors

The Fantasticast Episode 290

Dick Sprang, David Banks

Hello, and welcome to episode 290 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, we join the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing as he teams up with the Definitely-A-Man Called Nova to defend the Earth against the might of the Monitors. Aided only by a trio of giant women and a plasticine railroad-building dog, it's up to these two heroes to save the planet from imminent destruction at the hands of Marv Wolfman, Sal Buscema, Frank Giacoia, Dave Hunt, Phil Rachelson, Joe Rosen, and Jim Shooter.

Joining us for this episode is podcast and three-time Fantasticast guest host, Al Kennedy. He's one of the most vocal New Warriors fans out there, and he was the perfect person to invite along to experience an early adventure of Nova with us. Along the way, we discuss The Penguin & The Queen, The King Ralph Scenario, the adventures of S.T.R.I.K.E.Monitor, Nova's 'Human Rocket', how eggs make everything more exciting, a giant Airfix woman, and why Cannonball wouldn't have gone 'boing'.

Al is the host of House To Astonish, a comics news and review podcast featuring The Official Handbook Of The Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe, available at http://www.housetoastonish.com/. You can also follow him on twitter where he is @housetoastonish

The Fantasticast is support by Stitcher Premium, home of Wolverine: The Long Night, launching March 12th. Starring Richard Armitage as Wolverine, this ten episode podcast audio drama is the first of its kind for Marvel. For a month's free trial to Stitcher Premium, head over to stitcher.com/premium and enter the promo code Fantasticast.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_290.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave them in the comments below. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Fantasticast Episode 279: Fantastic Four #194 - Vengeance Is Mine

The Fantasticast Episode 279

Gassy Head

Hello, and welcome to episode 279 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, we return to the scene of the crime (crash), as Fantastic Four #194 sees Alicia, the US Army, and a right dick of a fireman on the trail fo Ben Grimm, who has gone missing in the aftermath of a solar shuttle crash. Will he get caught up in Diablo and Darkoth's plot against Doctor Doom? Let's hope so...

Len Wein, Keith Pollard, Bill Mantlo, Dave Hunt, George Roussos, Annette Kawecki, and Marv Wolfman present Fantastic Four #194 - Vengeance Is Mine. It's a tale of unlikely geographic coincidences, intense melodrama, an unlikely way of pronouncing the word 'EXPLODE', and previous little of any members of the team who aren't primarily comprised of rocks...

Find Stacey Taylor's 24 hour live broadcast of Stacey's Pop Culture Parlour at mixlr.com/spcp-live and donate to her fundraising for the British Heart Foundation at justgiving.com/spcplive3. 

The Fantasticast is support by Stitcher Premium, home of Wolverine: The Long Night, launching March 12th. Starring Richard Armitage as Wolverine, this ten episode podcast audio drama is the first of its kind for Marvel. For a month's free trial to Stitcher Premium, head over to stitcher.com/premium and enter the promo code Fantasticast.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_279.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave them in the comments below. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Fantasticast Episode 262: Marvel Team-Up #61 - Not All Thy Powers Can Save Thee

The Fantasticast Episode 262

KISS Me Quick

Hello, and welcome to episode 262 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

We close out our episodes for 2017 with a nifty little threesome. First up, we find out what happens when Spider-Man goes up against the entire Fantastic Four, in Marvel Team-Up #61. Well, as close to the entire team as you can get, while just being one person. The Human Torch guest stars as future Fantastic Four creators Chris Claremont and John Byrne, along with Dave Hunt, make their debuts.

Then we're off to Long Island to check in with Marvel's teen superhero, Nova. In amongst his battles with perennial FF nemesis The Sandman, he finds time to put the fear of the almighty into the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing. And finally, we check in Gene Simmons et al as KISS find themselves on a whistle-stop tour of the Marvel Universe, in Marvel Comics Super-Special #1.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_262.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave them in the comments below. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Fantasticast Episode 244: Fantastic Four #178 - Call My Killer -- The Brute

The Fantasticast Episode 244

The Counter-Earth Pantsless Pipe-Smoking Society

Hello, and welcome to episode 244 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

Following an unexpected diversion with the last episode, we're back on track this week with a look at Fantastic Four #178. The Brute has joined the Frightful Four, and the team of villains is holding the Fantastic Four hostage in the Baxter Building. Will New York pay the princely sum of... ONE MILLION DOLLARS? Or will Marvel's First Family pay the ultimate price?

Roy Thomas, George Perez, and Dave Hunt present Call My Killer --  The Brute, with a whole host of guest stars including Thundra, Tigra, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, The Impossible Man, and more. As well as this, we're also taking a look at Tom Hanks' oovoo, and discovering that there is nothing quite like The Fonz.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_244.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave them in the comments below. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Fantasticast Episode 231: Marvel Two-in-One #17 - This City Afire!

The Fantasticast Episode 231

Andy vs Jabba The Hutt

Hello, and welcome to episode 231 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

We're returning once again to the world of Marvel Two-in-One for an issue of Marvel Team-Up that was printed in the wrong place for reasons that aren't exactly clear to us. As a result, we spend a little too long dealing with recent events for Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up and not enough time focusing on The Thing. Although, seeing as most of his pages are spent in a fight with The Basilisk, maybe that's not such a bad thing after all.

Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito and Dave Hunt present Marvel Two-in-One #17, a book jam-packed with surprise volcanoes, unusual uses for web fluid, unlikely eye-beam propulsion, and the ever-changing vista as seen from the window of Peter Parker's apartment.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_231.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave them in the comments below. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Fantasticast Episode 217: Marvel Team-Up #40 - Murder's Better The Second Time Around

The Fantasticast Episode 217

Locational Coincidences

Hello, and welcome to episode 217 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This time around, we're taking a brief look at Marvel Team-Up #40, in which the Human Torch plays second fiddle to Spider-Man, the Sons of the Tiger, the Big Man, the Crime Master, the Sandman, 2/3 of the Enforcers, and a dead pigeon. That's at least ninth fiddle, depending on how you're counting your fiddles. Oh, and he also flies away from the plot halfway through the issue. Spoilers, I guess...

We're also taking a look at the short-lived 1975 Fantastic Four radio series, in which a bunch of early FF issues are read aloud into a microphone and the fed through some ear-splitting electronic distortion. The series is perhaps best known for featuring a pre-fame Bill Murray as The Human Torch, as well as featuring Stan Lee as The Narrator (aka the person explaining everything because the plots were never adequately adapted for a non-visual medium). The episodes are freely available online, so why not give them a listen?

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_217.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave them in the comments below. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Fantasticast Episode 214: Marvel Team-Up #39 - Any Number Can Slay

The Fantasticast Episode 214

Shooting Pigeons On The Roof

Hello, and welcome to episode 214 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

Good news, everybody - The Human Torch has stopped starring in Marvel Team-Up! He's merely featuring now! And what a story he's featuring in. Moving effortlessly from a flanderous pigeon murderer to some of the biggest events in the New York Underworld, it's a story of of gangs, organised crime, and accurate translations of Spanish.

Scripted by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Sal Buscema, we also encounter returns of classic characters such as The Big Man, The Crime Master, Fancy Dan, Montana, and a villain who has merely been on loan to the Fantastic Four for the past decade. Strap in, folks - it's our short, but it packs a punch!

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_214.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave them in the comments below. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Episode 188: Marvel Team-Up #26 - The Fire This Time

The Fantasticast Episode 188

The Cockamamie Fan Club

Hello, and welcome to episode 188 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

With Spider-Man taking a month off, the Johnny Storm steps up to lead this issue of Marvel Team-Up, joining forces with the God of Thunder to investigate a Hawaiian volcano and a set of fiery bootprints, as both a forgettable Avengers storyline and a forgettable Marvel Team-Up plot get a follow-up. It's Thor and the Human Torch against the Lava Men in the abandoned kingdom of the Mole Man!

As if all of this doesn't excite you enough, we can also promise you a moloid with a six pack, and a hard-hitting investigation into the medical ethics of Donald Blake, MD. It's these kind of shenanigans that make the podcast what it is - almost the best Fantastic Four podcast on the internet!

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_188.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave them in the comments below. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Fantasticast Episode 181: Marvel Team-Up #23 - The Night Of The Frozen Inferno

The Fantasticast Episode 181

A Team-Up Of Ice And Fire

Hello, and welcome to episode 181 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

A titanic team-up as the tremendous twosome throw in together to tussle with the terrifying top dog of temperature, Equinox the Thermonuclear Man! Which tremendous twosome, we hear you ask? Why, the Human Torch and Iceman, who take over Marvel Team-Up for an issue. And just for fun, we also cover two pages of Giant-Size Spider-Man #1, in which Spidey borrows a ride and doesn't mention an ice patch.

Presented as only Len Wein, Gil Kane and Mike Esposito could possibly to present! Featuring lots of punching, and some surprising artistic references to the 1990s, but two decades too early. All this, plus Steve has finally combined his Hamilton obsession with his podcasting obsession. You have been warned...

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_181.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave them in the comments below. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Fantasticast Episode 178: Marvel Two-In-One #3 - Inside Black Spectre

The Fantasticast Episode 178

A Pro-Patriotism Podcast

Hello, and welcome to episode 178 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, we're returning to our favourite Thing-starring team-up title, Marvel Two-In-One, to jump into the middle of an ongoing Daredevil storyline. The Black Spectre are attacking in an impossible blimp, the Black Widow is only appearing one body part at a time, and Hitler's killing Captain America. Somehow, all of this comes together into a story...

A Two-In-One issue demands a guest-host, and we couldn't resist the opportunity to bring back onto the show Christine Hanefalk, of The Other Murdock Papers blog. Having made four other appearances on the show, she's our first Five-Timer, and we're celebrating by making her explain the Nelson family tree. We're also examining convenient awnings, Steve Gerber's interpretation of circles, and pondering a cry for help from the letterer.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_178.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, or leave them in the comments below. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

The Fantasticast is Patreon supported. Visit www.patreon.com/fantasticast to donate and support us.

The Fantasticast is part of the Flickering Myth Podcast network.

Original artwork by Michael Georgiou. Check out his work at mikedraws.co.uk

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.