Michael Higgins

The Fantasticast Episode 368: Marvel Two-in-One #77 - Only The Swamp Survives

The Fantasticast Episode 368

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!

Direct download: https://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/The_Fantasticast_Episode_368.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, 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

The Fantasticast Episode 365: Marvel Two-in-One #76 - The Big Top Bandits

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.

Direct download: https://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_365.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, 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

The Fantasticast Episode 361: Marvel Two-in-One #74 - A Christmas Peril

The cover to Marvel Two-in-One #74, surrounded by Fantasticast branding.

The Fantasticast Episode 361

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!

Direct download: https://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_361.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, 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.

The Fantasticast Episode 360: Fantastic Four #229 - The Thing From The Black Hole

The Fantasticast Episode 360

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!

Direct download: https://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_360.mp3

Send in your feedback to fantastic4podcast@gmail.com, 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.

The Fantasticast Episode 342: Marvel Two-in-One #66 - A Congress of Crowns

The Fantasticast Episode 342

The Bad Guy Is Called Hugh

Hello, and welcome to episode 342 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, a packed episode sees us don matching hats to dominate the entire- wait, these aren't hats! They're multiversal incarnations of the Serpent Crown! And only The Thing and the Scarlet Witch can save us from a <checks notes> oil CEO called Hugh. It's the final part of the Serpent Crown Affair, and we're here to examine just what happens when a deranged businessman tries to grab power in Washington. 

Oh, right...

Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Ron Wilson, Gene Day, Frank Martin Jr, John Costanza, Jim Salicrup, Joe Sinnott, and Jim Shooter present Marvel Two-in-One #66 - A Congress of Crowns. And, if that wasn't enough for you, we also look at what happens when Reed and Sue go shopping in Defenders #86, what happens if Doctor Doom had chosen a path of heroism in What If? #22, and we throw ourselves into Shogun Warriors #19 to see if the addition of the Fantastic Four can save this little-loved title. Plus, we get a bit tired and honest while answering one of your e-mails...

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_342.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.

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Fantasticast Episode 330: Fantastic Four #216 - Where There Be Gods

The Fantasticast Episode 330

Daniel Bedingfield Is Ultron!

Hello, and welcome to episode 330 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 loiter in the aftermath of the Wolfman run on the Fantastic Four. Following all the high-stakes cosmic drama, it's time for something a little more grounded. Well, as grounded as a hyper-evolved scientist and an incursion from the Negative Zone by Blastarr can possibly be. Can our favourite blasting baddie twist the next stage of man's evolution to his will?

Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, John Byrne, Pablo Marcos, Carl Gafford, Irv Watanabe, Michael Higgins, Mark Gruenwald, Rich Buckler, and Al Milgrom present Fantastic Four #216 - Where There Be Gods! Featuring an arse-less Ben Grimm (no, really - those rocky buns are definitely missing in action), and the realisation that it can't really be Franklin's fault that he's badly written...

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_330.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.

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

Episode cover design by Samuel Savage.

The Fantasticast Episode 312: Fantastic Four #208 - The Power Of The Sphinx

The Fantasticast Episode 312

Whammosplang!

Hello, and welcome to episode 312 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, it's the final pre-Byrne issue of the Fantastic Four. Well, technically it's the final pre-pre-Byrne issue, but I think I'm splitting hairs... The spotlight swings onto Nova and his supporting cast of misfits, who lurch from saving the Fantastic Four to stealing the power of the living computers of Xandar as the cosmic epic attempts to switch gears.

Marv Wolfman, Sal Buscema, Diverse Hands, Glynis Wein, Joe Rosen, Jim Shooter, Dave Cockrum, Keith Pollard, and Joe Sinnott present Fantastic Four #209, in which Prime Thoran gets a power-up, the Skrulls go invisible, there's some death by vacuum (cleaner), and there's some gubbins involving The Sphinx. We also peer at the hasty conclusion to Godzilla, King of the Monsters, and see how the Fantastic Four cope with an alternative Nova in What If? #15.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_312.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 295: Marvel Two-in-One #45 - The Andromeda Rub-Out!

The Fantasticast Episode 295

One More Piece Of The Action, See?

Hello, and welcome to episode 295 of The Fantasticast. Each week, Steve Lacey and Andy Leyland guide you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four.

Guns, gals, jalopies, doppelgangers, and a suspicious wall all combine on this week's Fantasticast, as we head to Brownsville, Brooklyn, with Captain Marvel in to- oh, wait, where did he go? Anyway, this week's issue of Marvel Two-in-One is the sequel to a story that we never expected to see, especially as it ignores another sequel. Oh, hey, Mar-Vell's back.

Peter Gillis, Alan Kupperberg, Mike Esposito, Phil Rachelson, Michael Higgins, Roger Stern, Jim Shooter, and Ron Wilson present Marvel Two-in-One #45 - The Andromeda Rubout. Huh, he's gone again... Anyway, remember Torgo? He's back. Well, some of him at least. And there's a very unconvincing Skrull dying a very unconvincing death. And he's back once more... is anyone getting this not-very-subtle commentary on the use of the guest-star in this book?

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_295.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.