This year’s project rolls on, starting with Spider-Man #51, part three of Power and Responsibility Ben decides to join the battle with Pete and for the first time dons most of the webs! Then, in Spectacular Spider-Man #217, the culmination of the first chapter of the Clone Saga and more about the mysterious Judas (in my mind) Traveller Then, in Jonah Hex #3, a wild Bat Lash appears! Then, in Jonah Hex #4…uhm, he shoots more people? I promise to get images that are not spoilers and shows someone being shot at. If you want to help the show, be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, Spotify Player FM, TuneIn, Overcast, Beyond Pod or Castbox and leave a comment. If the link at the top of the page isn’t working, you can always make your Amazon purchases through our affiliate link here! Or you can support on Patreon and get early access to episodes of After Dark and...

Decided to dust of this old chestnut for the new year! You don’t need to follow along to enjoy, but of course if you want to, feel free to! I read Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey’s All-Star Western as part of DC’s New 52 and enjoyed it very much, so Todd has assigned me, the precursor to that series, Jonah Hex I am a fan Jimmy as both a creator and a person from his social media so I am very much looking forward to reading “more of the same” especially if it includes scenes like this: Todd will be, luckily and very straightforwardly assigning me 1-3 issues a week until around the late 50s or so, this week reading issues one and two. I on the other hand, am assigning a much more daunting task and that would be the Spider Clone Saga. A very maligned story from the 90’s, covered in great detail at the Life of Reilly blog from 2008, to read the entire run would be well over 150 issues. I have been able to distill things down to 80 issues. This week, I’m assigning Todd Web of Spider-Man #117 and Amazing Spider-Man #394, the first two parts of Power & Responsibility, where Peter and Ben come face to (cloned) face for the first time and we are introduced to Judas Traveller, a nigh omnipotent force seemingly behind the return of the clone. If you want to help the show, be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, Spotify Player FM, TuneIn, Overcast, Beyond Pod or Castbox and leave a comment. If the link at the top of the page isn’t working, you can always make your Amazon purchases through our affiliate link here! Or you can support on...

With no new books for the next month (at least) so we were trying to figure out what to fill that gap in with. And we cam to an amalgamation of an old idea (Todd & Joe Have Issues) and suggestions from listeners as well. The goal was to get Todd to read Thunderbolts, especially the Kurt Busiek run, which you can check out here. So, that was a place holder, but what was I going to read? I love Busiek, one of the most underrated creators of all time, writing every major character at DC and Marvel, plus his own legendary series, Astro City. That was gonna be a choice, but I know both Todd and I have read that. But, I have holes in my reading of Busiek’s bibliography, and Todd made the choice. Conan! It wasn’t until the Gail Simone Red Sonja run that I really ventured into the sword and sandals books, but this Conan run, which you can find here, is not only written by Kurt, but also with art by Cary Nord, who I’ve been a fan of since his run in the mid 90’s on Daredevil. So what do you have to read to follow along? Todd made it easy, issues 1-6 plus the zero issue. Perfect! I, on the other hand, have to make it complicated: PLEASE NOTE: Kurt Busiek was nice to give me the correct CORRECT reading order. Please go by his list, but keeping mine there: – first, read Incredible Hulk #449, the debut of the Thunderbolts – Thunderbolts #1 – Tales of the Marvel Universe #1 – Thunderbolts #2 – Spider-Man Team Up #7 – Thunderbolts #3 & #4 – Thunderbolts Annual 1997 – Thunderbolts #5 – Thunderbolts minus one – Thunderbolts #6...

Is this really the end? Is this the final Todd & Joe Have Issues? It would seem so! And we tap the well of one of the most heavily mined resources for this segment, an issue of James Robinson’s Starman! And it’s a Christmas issue! A one off issue! And it doesn’t feature a visit from David! Jack is delayed on his way to a Christmas party at the O’Dares by a down on his luck department store Santa and decides to bring him along in hopes to returning his memories. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our list....

It’s the holiday season so expect more like this. I mean Christmas theme issues, not ones where DC’s Wolverine lite beats up Kris Kringle. So, I’ve never read this one, but this one shotter by Keith Giffen and Alan Davis sees the Main Man Lobo hired by the Easter Bunny to take out Santa Claus. But the Jolly Fat Man ain’t going down without a fight! Now, in doing my “research” I was reminded of this fan made live action short! Maybe I’ll just watch this instead of reading the book. Highly...

It’s tough to follow a great run on a book. And Grant Morrison’s run on JLA is just that. Great. It’s also influential. The first time in many years the Justice League was comprised of the ‘big seven’ the top teir DC superheroes. But after Morrison left the book, another fantastic writer in his own right, Mark Waid, took over the book. He penned the classic ‘Tower of Babel’ storyline, also this issue, just in time for Christmas. In this issue, Plastic Man (not really a big seven member, but they’re trying) is convincing a young child that not only is Santa Claus cool, but he’s also a member of the Justice League! Is this a hoax? An imaginary tale? An outright lie? It does give Waid to set up Neron, the devil/Mephisto analogue he created in the 90’s in the Underworld Unleashed event. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

It has come up before, but Superman has tons of great stories. He gets a bad rap for being the Big Blue Boy Scout, not being able to kill, blah blah blah. The rub being, however, very few of those great stories were pre-Crisis (earlier that 1986). Superman Annual 11 is one of the rare exceptions. Written by Alan Moore with art by Dave Gibbons,  two years before Watchmen, wrote one of the best known and most beloved Superman stories of all time. Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman show up at the Fortress of Solitude for Superman’s birthday, but someone else has already crashed the party. This image above with Superman saying “BURN” is homaged even today, with the recent CW Crisis on Earth X event. But my favorite is great episode of the equally great Justice League Unlimited cartoon, “For the Man Who Has Everything.” Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

A rarity and a thanks to good friend Jessie Tipton for the suggestion, a book I have never read, but of course Todd has, from the Marvel line of graphic novels from the 80’s The most famous of these graphic novels is the Death of Captain Marvel one, who was just recently cast by Jude Law in the upcoming Marvel film as Mar-Vel, who precedes Carol Davners in the role. So, in a brief online description I was able to find: the Thing and the Hulk have been pulled to the planet of Matriculon by Stamben Malelet, to deliver a document to an important scientist from the clutches of a local criminal. The two are then offered, in effect, two wishes if they’ll retrieve the scientist. Sounds like a delightful romp to me! Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

The Thing is the best. Whether as part of the Fantastic Four, recently a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy or an Agent of SHIELD, Ben Grimm is awesome. However, he’s been the star of dozens of mini series and solo series that never went very far, sadly. This is a very busy, compressed issue as, in being cancelled with issue #8, it seems as though writer Dan Slott was given the opportunity to wrap up no less than five plot lines or stories in a 22 page comic. The framing device of the issue a superhero Poker tournament held in Ben’s super fancy apartment. A virtual who’s who of heroes and by that I mean of the several dozen of folks in this book, I have no idea who the fella in the middle of this panel is. And sadly, this was the end of solo series for Ben, for at least 11 years. He and the Human Torch are co-stars of the upcoming Marvel Two-In-One, which allegedly will lead to the return of the Fantastic Four.0 Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

A couple of apologies to start. 1) while this is a graphic novel (trade) I didn’t realize this was originally a three issue mini series. That’s on me, my bad. And B) this is really tough to come by. And it shouldn’t be. The story tells the tale of Brian Michael Bendis (who handles both writing and art chores) shopping Torso around Hollywood to get made into a movie. But also his other books, Goldfish and Jinx as well. This is a book that I feel not only should every comic book fan should read, but also anyone in the comic industry. Really, anyone trying to “make it” in any form of entertainment should read this as so much of what Bendis deals with can be used as a learning experience. I will say this however, for a book written in the mid-90’s and published in 2000, one thing hasn’t changed: Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

This is where my Flash run and fandom begins. The Flash is one of the most recognizable super heroes around and can be distilled in a way that anyone can understand (“runs really fast”) but he was just one of those characters I just never read. I caught bits and pieces of him in other books (Superman, Batman, JLA, etc.) but never enough to check out his solo book. That all changed with Dave Romeo. Dave is the owner of my local comic book shop, Comics on the Green, and in 2000, he suggested I try JSA, at the time written by James Robinson, later taken over by Geoff Johns, which I ended up loving and immersing myself in DC history. A year later, the same writer, along with artist Ethan van Sciver, did a one shot taking over Wally West’s version of the Flash. And pun intended, I was off to the races. This issue introduces new readers not only to the Flash and his ‘family’ but also his Rogues Gallery, by introducing new villain Murmur, along with Iron Heights Prison itself, along with many other people, relationships and concepts that would shape the entire DCU for the next ten plus years to come. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

I love this book. When Toddd chose this, I was over the moon. This story, written by Marc Andreyko with art by Joe Bennett tells a tale that bridges Infinite Crisis and the events of 52. After Dan Didio was talked out of killing Dick Grayson, Batman was taking the Bat Family (boys only) on a cruise. But before Dick leaves, he gets one last goodbye with Barbara Gordon and a flashback tale as well. Said flashback story is a retcon of their first team up taking on a surprise villain which includes one of my favorite gags in all of comics! Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

The Archie gang! For nearly 80 years, the picture of wholesome, middle America teenage fun! That was until 2013 when Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla decided to take a different approach. In one of the many attempts at a genre mash up, your ‘something classic’ plus ‘horror element’ formula, more times than not, it doesn’t work. This one went over like gangbusters! So much so, not only zombies were safe Very early in the run, an issue saw Sabrina (of Teenage Witch fame) be offered up as a bride to a Cthulhu monster. THAT did so well, it spun off another book, the Chillinng Adventures of Sabrina. THAT did so well, it spawned ANOTHER spin off, this time called Jughead the Hunger where now we have werewolves! But the real success of this can also be tied to the current CW Network show, Riverdale. All because of zombies. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

A spooky, scary pick from Todd sees a book I’ve never read. Ghostie has had dozens of relaunches and dozens of chances. Maybe the Marvel character I most associate with the 90’s. If Wolverine wasn’t on your cover as a guest star, then Johnny Blaze (or Danny Ketch) most certainly was. I have maybe read less than 40 Ghost Rider comics, mainly because they were written by Jason Aaron and they were great. I did try the recent Ghost Driver run, which was the inspiration for Ghostie’s appearance on the most recent season of Agents of SHIELD. Not sure how that ties into the Inhumans, but I’m sure I’ll never know. My only other exposure to Ghost Rider has been the Nicholas Cage films. Now, I’ve never seen them, I have very high standards. But, Adam Carolla always mentions the mis measuring of Johnny Storm’s “goal post to goal post” stunt. Also, in publicity interviews for the sequel, Cage stated some of the younger extras were looking at him like he really was Ghost Rider. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our list....

I love Gotham Central. One of the best runs on any comic ever. Where I, and many others I’m certain, first became exposed to folks like Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark. Not the first time a book has focused on the GCPD and how they worked with and around Batman, but none did it better than this. Now, this is a bit of a cheat as this is part one of a four issue arc, but I feel as though this works on it’s own alone. It’s Christmas time in Gotham and there is much unrest. More than usual as there is a gun man who is striking out, seemingly at random at all hours of the day. While dealing with a possible issues within the department itself, the police force itself now becomes a target. And, as a last resort, as detailed in another issue of the series, they resort to contacting the Batman himself once the pieces come together of who the mystery shooter is. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

Here’s a tough one for me. This week’s choice, Crecy from Warren Ellis and Raulo Cacares through Avatar Press, is an enigma. And by that I mean it is out of print, a niche graphic novel about a war from the 14th century and Avatar Press’s website is blocked from my work. Here’s all I got: A highly trained but under equipped army invades another country due to that country’s perceived threat to home security. The army conducts shock-and-awe raids designed to terrify the populace. This army is soon driven to ground, and vastly outnumbered. The English army has to stand and fight, in Crecy, France. On 26 August 1346, modern warfare changed forever. This is the story of England’s greatest battle. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

So, this was a tough one. Not because it was an issue we’ve never read, not because it was a listener recommendation (Thanks, Jason) but more so, that in less than 15 years, there are FOUR New Avengers #8! How did I know I had the right one? Because this one has the debut of Squirrel Girl as live in nanny for the Avengers! The super hero who beat Galactus, TWICE! So, not having read this issue before, I can gather it has something to do with Doctor Doom, who is no stranger to dealing with Luke Cage. I can only imagine what sort of business Jessica Jones will give him. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

The X-Men were dead. RIP. Not a hoax or imaginary tale. In 1970, the X-Men stopped being published. It just wasn’t selling well enough. Sure, there were reprints here and there, maybe just to keep the IP alive, but let’s flash forward to 1975. Len Wein and Dave Cockrum decided to make a new X-Men team, a multi national team of newly created characters, some past villains turned babyface and some new guy Wein created over in Incredible Hulk. They, led by Cyclops, are off to Krakoa to save the original X-Men. This issue single handedly changed EVERYTHING about comics. Years later, the story was even retconned to make reference to ANOTHER team sent before this one, third Summers brothers, all sorts of silliness. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

Things are tough in comics. And by “things” I mean tropes. The things we take for granted in comics, that are done by everyone, hence being done by everyone, it is tough to make those tropes seem new and fresh. That leads us to Starman #11 by James Robinson and Matthew Smith. A buffer issue, a one off issue can feel unimportant, skippable even. However, one of the storytelling tools Robinson would use in Starman was ‘the Shade’s Journal.’ The Shade, aka Richard Swift, was a longtime Starman adversary. And by longtime, I mean dating back to the Golden Age Starman, Ted Knight. Did I say adversary? Well, this story is the time Shade teamed with members of the Justice Society to take on a bigger foe, Ragdoll. DC comics at this time and Starman especially, was all about legacy. One hero passing the mantle from one person to another, this story, however, was at least for me, the first instance I read of a legacy villain. Spoilers, as this iteration of Ragdoll, does meet an untimely demise at the end of the issue, but this is only the beginning of the troubles that name will bring to all the citizens of Opal City. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...

Spider-Man is awesome! He’s may favorite superhero and, outside of a dark period of four years or so, as long as I’ve been able to read, I’ve read the adventures of Peter Parker. But, I take that for granted and no everyone has the intimate knowledge of Spider-Man like I do and everyone once and a while, the major publishers will do a refresh, a retelling of our main characters origin. But even Spidey has experienced some changes over his 50 plus year publishing run. For example, he’s a card carrying member of the Avengers! This issue, by Dan Slott and Richard Elson catch everyone up to date on everything you need to know about the Amazing Spider-Man. Oh yeah, there’s a B story about one of Spidey’s greatest villains being on their death bed. Nothing to see here. Any discussion, thoughts, feelings, criticisms of this week’s selection can be placed below in the comments section. As well as suggestions about future choices for one shot issues to add to our...