Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About Spider-man

Today we go over the merry, lighthearted life story of a little fellow called Rorschach. Gather the kids around and read them the story... no sorry, that's wrong, never do that! Watchmen #6 ("The Abyss Gazes Also") is a bleak albeit compelling tale that answers the question "What If Batman Were Truly Emotionally Damaged, But No, Like REALLY." To subscribe for bonus content, do so at screwitpodcasts.com Email us your comic book thoughts at screwitcomics@gmail.com

This is an excerpt of our interview with Scott Aukerman about his experience writing the new Astonishing Spider-Man comic. To hear the full one, subscribe at screwitpodcasts.com -- proceeds pay our costs and then go to the charity Hero Initiative. Thanks! -------------------------------------- Writer / comedian / podcaster Scott Aukerman returns to the podcast for a third time, this time to discuss his new comic book Astonishing Spider-Man. Available exclusively on the Marvel Unlimited app, Astonishing Spider-Man is publishing in the "infinity" format, meaning it's one long vertical page designed for viewing on phones and tablets. We talk to Scott about how he got the gig to write his own Spider-Man comic, the experience of writing for this format, and what aspects of Spidey Scott wanted to focus on. A lifelong Spider-Man fan, Scott is giving his all for this series -- we hear about the research and thought he's putting into the stories in an attempt to make the kind of Spider-Man comic he'd like to read. And

Rorschach gets captured! Also Ozymandias is almost murdered! And the entire issue has a symmetrical layout, something neither Kevin nor Will noticed for like 20 years! This is our continuing coverage of Watchmen! To get our monthly bonus episodes and support the podcast, subscribe at https://www.screwitpodcasts.com/ Email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com  

It's the Dr. Manhattan on Mars issue! The man (god? thing? electro magnetic lifeform?) who lives in all time! Although he only relives his life up until things we have already seen. No spoilers in the Dr. Manhattan all-time existence!  This is one of the most iconic and memorable issues of a superhero comic book ever! We get into it! --------- Subscribe for bonus episodes (like our recent foray into Ryan North's FF issues) at screwitpodcasts.com    

Watchmen #3! Dr. Manhattan is forced off of Earth because journalists are annoying! Take that, the media! We also see Laurie and Dan's friendship blossoming into something more. Or at least they seem to get sexually excited beating up bad guys. We also get our longest look yet at the most divisive part of Watchmen: the pirate comic! Subscribe at screwitpodcasts.com for bonus episodes, to support our podcast and to give to Hero's Initiative!

We continue our examination of Watchmen with issue 2! A funeral for a friend! Not a friend so much as a violent amoral psychopath - The Comedian! Writer Alan Moore's narrative mastery is on display as we learn about the Comedian from a series of flashbacks that show us the way he changed over the years from a 16 year old would-be-sexual assaulter, to remorseless mercenary, to finally a frightened man begging for help from his former enemy. We also learn more of the world of Watchmen and how things changed with the arrival of the superpowered Dr. Manhattan, which we will learn even more of in the next two issues! Subscribe at screwitpodcasts.com for bonus episodes, to support the podcast and to give to Hero's Initiatve!

Today we are republishing a discussion on the first issue of Alan Moore/Dave Gibbon's landmark 1986 comic book Watchmen. We first released this on Nov 27, 2019.  At that time, HBO was airing its television series adapation of/sequel to the comic, so Kevin and Will went through the first issue of the comic. Now five years later we want to go through the entire series. Listen to this epsiode and we'll be here next episode with a discussion of issue 2! Watchmen is, of course, a 12 issue comic book series featuring superheros that live in a world much more realistic than we usually see them. It's about a merecenary superhero, The Comedian, who gets quietly murdered, and another superhero, Rorschach, an emotionally shut down detective, who finds out. Even though the "masks" have been banned by the government, they all start communicating to unravel this mystery. The one legal superhero -- the supernarually powered Dr. Manhattan -- has used his power to cement America as an unchallenged sole dominant nation. When h

EPISODE 291 - We take a break from our regular seasons to pay tribute to two great comics artists who passed away recently: John Casasdy and Karl Moline. Cassady is probably best known for his stunning work on Planetary (with writer Warren Ellis) and Astonishing X-Men. But also -- everything he drew was magic. Moline was a bit less known, but made a huge impact with his stellar work on The Fray, Route 666 and much else. Both of them are gone too soon.  On cheerier subjects, we catch up on our mailbag in which we learn about some mistakes we (Will) made and that some people agreed with Kevin's opinions on Ultimate Spider-Man!

For our last episode on The Human Target, we go over the recent excellent run by writer Tom King and artist Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance is back and this time he has to meet with members of the beloved 1980s version of the Justice League. You want The Human Target chatting on a couch with G'nort? You've got it. He also falls in love with Ice, works for Lex Luthor, has to look over his shoulder to check for Batman -- and lots of fun stuff. Although a very different approach than Peter Milligan's, this is a delightful run! As fans of the 1980s JLI, we really enjoyed this! Next episode we dive into a little-known indie comic called Watchmen (yep, that one).

EPISODE 289 : End of the Peter Milligan run.  We finish our coverage of the Peter Milligan run of the Vertigo series "The Human Target." The final story, "The Stealer" is in many ways the most Human Target-y stories of them all. Someone from Christopher Chance's life wants to steal his identity. What happens when a master of disguise is impersonated by another master of disguise? Will it hard to know who is the real Human Target? Will Christopher Chance himself know? Will Bruno be able to get good water for his espressos? All these questions and more are answered or at least carefully dodged in this final really fun story! Next episode - we give a quick look at the excellent Tom King / Greg Smallwood run. 

We continue our look at the excellent crime noir Vertigo series HUMAN TARGET. In these issues, our hero Christopher Chance gets involved in the seedy underbelly of human trafficking. This series is not big on lighthearted topics! Chance and his romatic partner (wife? girlfriend? it depends which identity Christopher is in) discover the lengths each will go to achieve their goals. Oh and there's also a fun story where Christopher is contracted to sexually please a bunch of woman. True! 

EPISODE 287: Peter Milligan's run on Human Target continues to tackle tough, dark material, this time with a story about a group of domestic terrorists. We follow another protagonist who seems to have less than steady morals as he commits murder, abandons his friends, lies to his family, plans marital affairs, and immediately presumes he is being hunted! And then.... Christopher Chance the Human Target enters his life! Chance seems to mostly hold on to who he actually is during this story. The inner turmoil is saved for the group of former terrorists who have to face the consequences of acts they committed long ago. Hey this is good! Plus we have another Chris Gethard email, read in its entirety.  

This is a 10ish minute preview of our "sop-scriber" episode in which Kevin and Will create a superhero team. If you want to become a sop-scriber, go to screwitpodcasts.com! ---------------------- Martin Goodman, former publisher of Marvel Comics has come back from the dead and asked the Milksops to make a new superhero team. Requirements: 4-8 members, names and powers, a "hook" for the team (and we agree to sign away all the rights). In just over an hour we do it!

EPISODE 286 - After Vertigo published the four issue Human Target mini series, and after the original graphic novel, they started a short-lived but excellent regular series. We cover the first three issues in this episode.  The first issue takes where things left off in the graphic novel (no spoilers, but Christopher Chance has forgotten he is Christopher Chance -- that's not a spoiler because that happens a lot) and gets The Human Target back to his bizarre status quo. Remember this is a guy whose self-chosen profession is to dress up as people that are being pursued by murderers so he can prevent the murder and defeat the bad (?) guys while almost getting killed himself. So, yeah, THAT status quo. Issues 2 and 3 deal with a little lighthearted topic known as the 9/11 attacks on America. Our story is about  a man who uses the attacks as a chance to fake his death and remove the problems of his life from his family. He does it for noble reasons. Or does he? Hint: no.  We still have writer Peter Milligan and a

EPISODE 285 - We welcome two time Eisner nominee comics writer Jordan Morris to this ep! Jordan is here to promote his new young adult comics novel Youth Group. Jordan is also co-host of the great podcast Jordan, Jesse, Go! as well as having written for several cool television shows. Check out Jordan's work! Jordan also joins us in this episode's topic: The Final Cut, an original graphic novel featuring the Human Target. The Final Cut happened a few years after the Human Target Vertigo mini-series, and Peter Milligan is even better. Christopher Chance, the Human Target is once again having trouble keeping track of his real identity as he goes undercover first to protect a screenwriter and then find a missing child star. But of course, nothing and no one is as they seem. Once again the theme seems to be that everyone is wearing masks. Javier Palido is the artist and his simpler approach is a powerful contrast to the complex plot. It's a beautiful, thrilling book. The Milksops also have a few loose pop culture

Acclaimed comics writer J.M. DeMatteis (Justice League International, Kraven's Last Hunt, Moonshadow) is back to promote his new Kickstarter for the second issues of his DeMultiverse. The DeMultiverse is JM's independently produced comics, which include four titles: Layla in the Lands of After, art by Shawn McManus Anyman, art by David Baldeón Godsend, art by Scott Koblish Wisdom, art by Tom Mandrake Plus as a bonus an earlier project that had not been released: The Edward Gloom Mysteries, art by Vassilis Gogtzilas To donate to the Kickstarter and help issue 2 of these series come out, go here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spellboundcomics/jm-dematteis-presents-the-demultiverse-phase-2-edward-gloom?ref=ksr_email_backer_backer_confirmation  We go deep on each series to talk about his influences for each one. We get into the art styles of the many talented artists co-creating these stories. We talk about the promotion necessary to keep a Kickstarter going! We ask how JM stays so positive in an indus

EPISODE 283: The Milksops begin their dive into Peter Milligan's early 2000s run on The Human Target.  Created by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino in 1972 for DC Comics, the Human Target has had several runs over the years. The basic gist is this: if you're in danger of being killed, you can hire Christopher Chance who will dress up as you until he catches the killer! Very normal, simple strategy.  In 1999, writer Peter Milligan and artist Edvin Biuković started a run which pushed the envelope of how far this story could go. For example, in this first story, Chance has an assistant who has gone so deep undercover he has forgotten he is in disguise. And that's just the tip of the iceberg in this complex, rewarded, thrilling four issue story. We learn that almost everyone we meet has a double life of some kind, and they're all trying to hide it for different reasons. By the end of the four issues, Milligan and Buikovic had established that this character was a great inspiration for terrific stories. Join us as we

EPISODE 282 - We finish our coverage of John Byrne's FF with the issue where Sue Richards changes her name from The Invisible Girl to The Invisible Woman. It's a fine issue that mostly features She-Hulk breaking out of Psycho-Man's fear spell. We also learn the story of Pearla, Queen of the Microverse! We give some closing thoughts on John Byrne. For a good John Byrne issue, and there were many you got: strong confident storytelling, exciting purposeful battles, clearly told stories, a strong command of where your eye goes, and what your heart wants to know. Byrne in the 80s was iconic, truly one of the best and most popular creators in America. The shortcomings: his art starts to get sketchier as he strives to produce more. His faces look... honestly, the same? It's almost strange how that DOESN'T hurt the story telling. He gets more and more about the references. Although funny, he's best when he isn't doing a book which is billed as comedic first and foremost. But for the FF, he revitalized the comic, givi

EPISODE 281 - We're approached the end of the John Byrne FF era. Franklin is having another prophetic dream, which is a six page plug for Power Pack, which the Milksops applaud. Sue Richards is standing up to Reed like never before, and she demands revenge against Psycho-Man. And that means we're going to the Micro-Verse! And also, whoa, what is the Micro-Verse? We also have an appearance of our sub podcast "Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About War Games" which is hilariuosly more well produced than the main podcast. And the Milksops cast themselves in a movie! One more ep of Comics Rays and Correspondence to go! ------ Subscribe at https://www.screwitpodcasts.com/ to get our monhtly sop-scriber episodes, or join our free Discord chat! Email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com  

We're nearing the end of our coverage of John Byrne's FF run. In one of the final stories, the (new) Hate Monger teams up with the (old?) Psycho-Man to create a third brand-new villain... Malice! And you'll never guess Malice's true identity. Ok, I'll tell you: it's the Invisible Girl! And this is the final adventure of the Invisible Girl! Not because she dies but because she changes her alias next story.  We read some email, which I bet was great! Email us at screwitcomics@gmail.com In a few episodes we will begin our next season, coverage of Peter Milligan's run on Human Target. ------ Join our sop-scriber level for $5 a month, $50 a year over at https://www.screwitpodcasts.com/