Marvel Comics – Deconstructing Comics

#694 “True Believer”

True Believer

How much Stan can you stand? That’s the question Emmet and Tim are asking as we review an undetermined number of Stan Lee biographies! In episode 692, we covered Spurgeon and Raphael’s 2004 entry; this time, it’s the most recent tome, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee by Abraham Riesman. While some in the mainstream press may be stunned by this book’s revelations about Stan’s status as “creator” of the Marvel Comics pantheon, this is not news in comics circles. But why is a self-professed fan of Stan delivering so much negativity? Or, is Riesman being, rather than too harsh, not harsh enough?

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#692 “Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book”

Raphael/Spurgeon book on Stan Lee

Tim and Emmet begin a series on Stan Lee biographies with the 2003 book Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book by Jordan Raphael and the late, great Tom Spurgeon. What’s the tone of this book, and how does it portray Stan? How much of the Marvel Universe is he actually responsible for, and what were his motivations for taking more credit than he deserved? We discuss, and then Tim gets some background on the making of the book from co-author Jordan Raphael!

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#689 Priest’s “Black Panther”

Priest's Black Panther

In 1998, under the “Marvel Knights” banner, Christopher Priest began the first ongoing Black Panther title in nearly two decades. Panther was a relatively unknown character to many Marvel readers at the time. With the aid of “Emperor of Useless White Boys” Everett K. Ross, and artists like Mark Texeira and Joe Jusko, Priest (a.k.a. Jim Owsley) made Panther a must-read and brought the nature of his character into sharper focus. Kumar and Tim discuss the first 17 issues (the ones included in Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection Volume 1) and see if it still stands up 23 years later.

Michael Hoskin’s 4-part article

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#688 Jed MacKay interview

Black Cat

Candian Jed MacKay is rising through the ranks at Marvel with some stellar books starring secondary characters — the Black Cat, Taskmaster — and now the Avengers in mech suits (Avengers Mech Strike). In this episode he talks with Tim about why Taskmaster portrayals have become goofier, how he treats Black Cat as sexy but not cheesecake, how he manages his writing time and more.

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#685 Hilary Barta interview

Where Monsters Smell

Hilary Barta has been drawing (and sometimes writing) comics for decades, for nearly any publisher you can name. He even worked with the great Alan Moore on “Splash Branigan.” In this week’s show he talks to Koom about working with Moore, his Plastic Man stint, and his new humor story with Doug Rice “When Monsters Smell” in Marvel #4. And, the utility of drugs to the creative process is debated.

HilaryBarta.com

Hilary Barta on Patreon

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#667 Freelancer problems

Many of us have dreamed of getting paid to make comics. Except in rare cases, working in American comics means being a freelancer. While a creative career can be rewarding, there are plenty of downsides, too.

First, there are the day-to-day problems. Tim talks to Howard Simpson, a freelancer in Los Angeles, about time management, letting friends and family know you’re not ALWAYS free, dealing with lack of health insurance, and more.

Then, Asher Elbein talks about his recent article in The Daily Beast about how the recent allegations of top freelancers abusing their power to seduce young women, or certain publisher staff members outright abusing freelancers and others, are of a piece with the well-documented problems of freelancers like Alan Moore or Siegel and Schuster, who were vastly undercompensated for making wildly successful comics like Watchmen and Superman!

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#665 Remembering Denny O’Neil

This week we take a look back at the career of Denny O’Neil, the longtime comics writer and editor who passed away June 11. Emmet discusses O’Neil’s legacy with Professor Jonathan W. Gray, author of such books as Civil Rights in the White Literary Imagination, and the founding editor of the Journal of Comics and Culture.

O’Neil was a force in the move to turn DC’s iconic but silly characters in a more serious direction — having substance, not only violence. What shaped his worldview? How much of his personal story was in evidence on the page? Was his editing a crucial component of Frank Miller’s best work? And more.

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#663 Moon Knight Begins

It’s been some time since Moon Knight came anywhere close to being considered a top-tier Marvel character in terms of popularity. But in the early ’80s, he was riding high in a popular series by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz. In this episode, Tim and Paul look at the runup to that series, when the character appeared in solo stories and teamups in various titles, as chronicled in the Marvel Epic Collection line’s Moon Knight: Bad Moon Rising.

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#661 Hydra Cap (pt 2)

Hydra Iron Cap

As leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain America has been put in charge of the U.S. military and law enforcement (and, seemingly, become president of the U.S.) following an alien invasion. But he then reveals that he’s also the leader of Hydra, and the evil organization quickly takes over the country. In this episode, Tim and guests Joe and Kendall (from the Wayne Manor Memoirs podcast) complete last week’s discussion with a walk through the Nick Spencer-penned Marvel crossover event Secret Empire!

Vulture.com on the Hydra Cap controversy

Polygon.com: Was Secret Empire worth it?

CBR: Why Kobik didn’t undo the casualties

CBR: Yes, Secret Empire was worth it

CBR: No, it wasn’t

ScreenRant.com: Did fan reaction affect the ending?

ScreenRant.com: How Secret Empire should have ended

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#660 Hydra Cap (pt 1)

The last two words that anyone expected to see in Captain America’s word balloon were “Hail Hydra,” but sure enough, that’s what happened in Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 in 2016. The outcry Marvel heard back for this move was even bigger than they had anticipated.

Of course, it wasn’t a permanent change, but it wasn’t undone in the way we might have expected, either. How does it read a few years later, and what are the good and bad points of the event it led to, Secret Empire? Joe and Kendall from the Wayne Manor Memoirs podcast join Tim for the first of two episodes taking apart the controversy and a massive Marvel event.

IGN interview with Nick Spencer as Secret Empire began

Screen Rant’s take

CBR Nick Spencer video interview

Radd Titan Nick Spencer video interview

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