Cancelled Comic Cavalcade

Hello, and welcome to episode 367 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

After an extended break, Steve is back to continue his journey through the latter issues of Marvel Two-in-One. What happens if a team-up books doesn't involve a team-up, and neither title star recognises each other? What happens if the non-title guest stars are more interesting than the actual guest star? And what happens if The Thing is actually his own grandfather in an attempt to match the Marvel sliding timescale with a story set in a very specific timeframe? Find out in this week's Fantasticast!

Tom DeFalco, Ron Wilson, Chic Stone, George Roussos, Michael Higgins, Jim Salicrup, Jim Shooter, and Bob Wiacek present Marvel Two-in-One #77 - Only The Swamp Survives. In which a walkabout in a swamp goes horribly wrong, Alicia Masters has no agency at all, we discover a new element of World War II, and find out what The Thing would look like as a Muppet. All this, and brief looks at Avengers #209 and Dazzler #5 as well!

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

John Byrne Doesn't Play Well With Others

Hello, and welcome to episode 367 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

We're finally here, the start of the 1980s renaissance of the Fantastic Four. John Byrne is here as writer and artist, and the Fantastic Four will never be the same again. Diablo is back in town, and looking to use the elemental nature of the Fantastic Four against his old enemies. Only some cunning thinking, and a well-stocked scuba store, can prevent the team from being defeated by their own dark reflections. And only the former co-host of The Fantasticast can help guide Steve through this new beginning.

Yes, returning to the show for the start of the Byrne run is former Fantasticast co-host Andrew Leyland. He tore himself away from reviewing The Overlooked Dark Knight, and from hosting his eclectic pop-culture review show The Palace of Glittering Delights, to dust off his Fantastic Four longbox and make a return to the world of Fantastic Four review and commentary. Missed him? As well as his podcasts, you can also follow him on (what's left of) twitter where he is @leyland_andrew!

John Byrne, John Byne, Bjorn Heyn (but actually John Byrne), Glynis Wein, Jim Novak, Jim Salicrup, Jim Shooter, and Terry Austin present Fantastic Four #232 - Back To The Basics! Featuring two-month-old Oscar talk, Yeoh before bladder, Not Bjorn Heyn, a catalogue of redheads, and the cleansing of New York with fire.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

A Veritable Everything Bagel of 1970s Fantastic Four

Hello, and welcome to episode 358 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This time around, the Fantasticast is taking a short breather between the end of the Moench/Sienkiewicz run, and the start of the Byrne run. Picking up from where we left off in mid-2015, Steve is here to guide you literally through every issue and spin-off of the Fantastic Four, from Fantastic Four #121 through to Fantastic Four #131, including all of Marvel Two-in-One to date, and a few extra appearances as well.

Yes, it's Steve Further Fan-'Splains The FF, a chance to catch up on everything that's been happening so far in The Fantastic Four. It's a non-stop skip-and-a-jump through the post-Kirby years and into the 1970s, with revisits of the good, the bad, and the Conway. It's a chance to revisit old memories, and remind ourselves of the just how weird things could get in the 1970s.

Part 1 of the Fan-'Splain series can be found in Episode 137, and Part 2 can be found in Episode 138.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

We Need To Talk About Sue's... Uh...

Hello, and welcome to episode 365 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, we're taking a well-earned break, both in the real world and in the podcast. Steve's travelling to Los Angeles to attend the Gallifrey One convention, and Ben, Alicia, Bobby, and Bill are off to the circus in Marvel Two-in-One. Such a shame that there's only one circus in the Marvel Universe (yes, we're discounting the one with Johnny's cousins from Strange Tales), and that one is the Circus of Crime!

Tom DeFalco, David Michelinie, Jerry Bingham, Chic Stone, George Roussos, Michael Higgins, Bob Budiansky, Jim Salicrup, Jim Shooter, Joe Sinnott, and Gaspar Saladino present Marvel Two-in-One #76 - The Big Top Bandits. Guest-starring both Iceman and Giant Man, and featuring some curiously silent heroes, a thoroughly irriating clown, an accidentally-forgettable artist, and the strong need to talk about Sue's... uh... As well as this, we're also joining the latest of Marvel's merry mutants to follow her disco-laden adventures with Doctor Doom in Dazzler #3 and #4.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

He Is Styggor, And He Is Not Important

Hello, and welcome to episode 364 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

The end has arrived, and, well, it's probably about time. The creative team are departing the book to make way for a fresh start, but they've got some unfinished business to take care of. The Baxter Building and the surrounding city block are stuck in the Negative Zone, and Lorrie Melton is missing her boo. Can the Fantastic Four overcome civilian insurrection, and the least important villain see in the Fantastic Four to date, and make it back home to Franklin?

Doug Moench, Roger Stern, Bill Sienkiewicz, Joe Sinnott, And Moore (but actually Al Milgrom and Frank Giacoia), George Roussos, Jim Novak, Bob Budiansky, Jim Salicrup, and Jim Shooter present Fantastic Four #231 - In All The Gathered Gloom. Featuring someone who is a gangster and not a Wolverine writer, someone who is not Magneto, someone who is not Jim Shooter, someone who is not Jerome Moore, and wouldn't you know it? Bill Sienkiewicz is inking, and he wants you to know it!

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Ah, Fuck Me Dead, I've Got To Draw All This Shit

Hello, and welcome to episode 363 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

For the second week in a row, the Avengers nose their way into the podcast, but to greater narrative effect. Blastarr and Annihilus are teaming up to tame the Negative Zone, and only The Thing and his poker-playing Avengers buddies can stop them. And only Steve and his Antipodean podcasting buddy Paul Hix (Waiting for Doom, The DCOCD Podcast, Dial F for Flanger, The Gary Show) can recap and review this oversized anniversary issue.

Tom DeFalco, Alan Kupperberg, Chic Stone, George Roussos, Mike Higgins, Jean Simek, Bob Budiansky, Jim Salicrup, Joe Sinnott, and Jim Shooter present Marvel Two-in-One #75 - By Blastarr -- Betrayed! Featuring pre-emptive podcast notes, some tips for She-Hulk, a spaceship called Tim, Annihilus's best life, the bestial bastard Blastarr, sexy Highfather, the anatomy of a boot, and an inevitable discussion about Neighbours.

Find Paul on twitter where he is @reading_hix and find Waiting For Doom (and all his other shows) at https://www.waitingfordoom.com/

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Hello, and welcome to episode 362 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This time on the Fantasticast, we discover what happens after an all-action issue. Yes, it's the inevitable exposition, and there's plenty of it. From decaying cultures in the far future to the inside of a black hole, this issue is not short of great concepts, but can they be spun into an engaging story that stands alongside it's predecessor? Uh...

Doug Moench, Bill Sienkiewicz, Joe Sinnott, George Roussos, Jim Novak, Bob Budiansky, Jim Salicrup, and Jim Shooter present Fantastic Four #230: Firefrost and the Ebon Seeker. Featuring lots of blatant rip-offs of recent science fiction films, a gratuitous Avengers appearance, and an astonishingly awful UK Number One single. Well, that bit isn't in the comic itself, but after last week, you do deserve a bit of warning.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Festive Clay Snuffling

Hello, and welcome to episode 361 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, the Fantasticast hits a new milestone - the first comic covered twice by the show. We looked at Marvel Two-in-One #74 almost an entire decade ago, and it's time to look at it in context of the run, and see if Steve has worked out just who the people at the party really are.

Except that Steve isn't doing this along. Joining him for a thoroughly unseasonal Christmas bash is returning guest host Stacey Taylor. Host of Stacey's Pop Culture Parlor, Stace and Barry In The Morning, and new show Never Seen, Stace is back and delightful as ever. Together, they examine a unusual Christmas tale, as childlike wizards and bovine nannies meet the holiday spirit. 

Mark Gruenwald, Frank Springer, Chic Stone, George Roussos, Michael Higgins, Bob Budiansky, and Jim Salicrup present Marvel Two-in-One #74 - A Christmas Peril, featuring parole, a guy with a big face and a lack of talent, all of the swears, uncensored smut, and... hold on, that's the hosts! In addition, Steve takes a quick peak at Avengers #206, as he forgot to do it last time.

Fantasticast guest-host Christine Hanefalk has published her first book. Being Matt Murdock: One Fan's Journey Into The Science of Daredevil is now available as both a book and an e-book from Amazon. Do go and check it out!

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Reed's Tool

Hello, and welcome to episode 360 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

It's a bumper episode of The Fantasticast this week, as we cover no less than five comics! From visitors from the inside of a black hole, to scientific handwaves, from the disco floors of New York to the funeral of a President that could have been, with a quick sidestep into flashback territory, this is one of our busiest episodes to date.

Doug Moench, Bill Sienkiwicz, Joe Sinnott, George Roussos, Jim Novak, Bob Budiansky, Jim Salicrup, and Jim Shooter present Fantastic Four #229 - The Thing From The Black Hole. And many, many more creators bring us Amazing Spider-Man #215, Dazzler #2, Thor #306, and What If? #26. Join as us we discover the first Fantastic Four work of John Romita Jr and Tom DeFalco!

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Direct Nipple Strike

Hello, and welcome to episode 359 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This week, we're jumping through the dimensions with Ben Grimm and Wendell Vaughan. A dangling plot thread needs to be tied up, and it leads our heroes to a world under threat, a world where dinosaurs and oil drilling are forced to mix. Oh, the horrors!

Ralph Macchio, Ron Wilson, Chic Stone, George Roussos, John Costanza, Bob Budiansky, Jim Salicrup, Jim Shooter, and Joe Sinnott present Marvel Two-in-One #73 - Pipeline to Infinity. Guest-starring Quasar, and featuring some catty swiping at Muse, at least one bare-arse naked guy, and Roxxon: Exxplained. And, as a bonus, we also take a quick peek at Thor #305, featuring the return of Gabriel, the Air Walker.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

Reed Richards: Master of Ethics

Hello, and welcome to episode 358 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

This time on the Fantasticast, we must, we must uncover the mysteries of Franklin's powers, by dressing him up as Professor X (with handy replica Cerebro) and hoping that he isn't too unhappy about a burger. And if this doesn't sound too great, don't worry - someone's read some 'science' and is oh-so-eager to show off their 'research'...

Doug Moench, Bill Sienkiewicz, Joe Sinnott, George Roussos, Jim Novak, Gaspar Saladino, Bob Budiansky, Jim Salicrup, and Jim Shooter present Fantastic Four #228 - Ego-Spawn. Featuring a long look at the medical and scientific ethics at play, the worst way to manipulate your family so you can get your own way, and a prick in a vest.

Send in your feedback to [email protected], leave your comments at the libsyn site, or at www.TheFantasticast.com. Follow us on twitter, where we are @fantasticast

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.