Bob Calhoun, the author of The Murders That Made Us: How Vigilantes, Hoodlums, Mob Bosses, Serial Killers, and Cult Leaders Built the San Francisco Bay Area, joins Douglas Wolk to discuss Fantastic Four #116–a very odd transitional issue. Topics discussed include include Doctor Doom’s résumé,…
Greg Matiasevich (of Multiversity Comics’ Robots from Tomorrow podcast) joins Douglas to discuss Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine! #1-12, a 2001 Lee/Kirby tribute miniseries spearheaded by Erik Larsen and Eric Stephenson. Topics include “Jack Kirby” as a genre, a Kirby black-light poster…
Charles Hatfield, Professor of English at California State University and the author of Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby, joins Douglas Wolk to discuss Kirby’s final contribution to the Doctor Doom story, Fantastic Four #84-87. Topics include the influence on this story…
Christine Hanefalk of The Other Murdock Papers and the #savedaredevil campaign joins Douglas Wolk to discuss Doctor Doom’s battle with Daredevil in Daredevil #37-38 and Fantastic Four #73. Topics include the quasi-science of Daredevil’s radar sense, the question of whether it’s a good idea for…
Comics historian Rhett Thomas joins Douglas Wolk to talk about Fantastic Four #57-60, Silver Surfer: Loftier than Mortals #1-2 and “The Silver Burper” from Not Brand Echh #1! Topics include the unwieldiness of the device with which Doctor Doom steals the Silver Surfer’s power, the…
Jeet Heer–national affairs correspondent for “The Nation,” master of intellectually omnivorous Twitter threads, and Jack Kirby scholar–joins Douglas to discuss Fantastic Four #39 and 40. Topics include Doctor Doom as Hobbes’ Leviathan, Kirby’s personal background and how it informed Fantastic Four‘s characters, the proto-Doom in…
Abraham Riesman, the author of True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, joins Douglas to discuss 1964’s Fantastic Four Annual #2–which features both the first appearance of Latveria and the origin of Doctor Doom. Topics include what we know and don’t know about…
Patrick A. Reed, comics historian and Associate Curator of the exhibition “Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes,” joins Douglas to discuss Fantastic Four #23. Topics include baby dinosaurs, the peculiar dynamics of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s collaboration at this point, Reed Richards being even more…
This week, Arthur Wyatt (of 2000 AD and FutureQuake) joins us for a conversation about Fantastic Four #16 and 17, the earliest sighting of the Microverse, the excellence of Jack Kirby-designed helmets, Doctor Doom’s little-known mastery of disguise, how Doom might be like Pete Buttigieg,…