Every Story Ever: February 2026

Transcript

Speaker: This show is recorded using Zencaster. If you are a podcaster or you want to be a podcaster and you want to be able to record remotely, you can do so using Zencaster. They also have hosting options and you can let them know that we sent you. Follow the link in our show notes or in the episode description and sign up for an account on Zencaster now to start recording your own podcast.

Speaker: Glad to start.

Speaker: We have a list on our website, warrocketajax.com, called Every Story Ever. What we're doing is we're taking lists from our listeners of three comic book stories, and then we are placing those stories on the list from best to worst comic book stories of all time.

Speaker: Hello, everybody, and welcome to the War Rocket Ajax Every Story Ever special. For February 2026, my name is Matt Wilson, and with me, as always, is my co-host, my longtime co-host, Chris Sims.

Speaker: I would like to think that at this point we're friends. ah I was going to say, I almost said life partner. That's true. That's true. a AC did call you my first wife the other day. Yeah.

Speaker: We are a a type of life partner at this point. ah Certainly business partners. ah And ad friends, that's right. And what do we do on this show? Weird that that was the the fourth thing you referred to me as? was i mean i I think life partners are friends. You can't be a life partner without being a friend, I would say.

Speaker: Well, And for it to work at all. Well, that's true. That's true. That's true. ah What do we do on the show? We rank comic book stories on a huge list from best to worst.

Speaker: And you might have wondered last month, hey, why didn't Matt and Chris do an Every Story Ever special in January? In fact, someone asked on Blue Sky about that. and then And then immediately felt bad about asking, which...

Speaker: I appreciate the sentiment. You didn't need to feel that bad. You didn't know. It's fine. you did If you didn't know, you didn't know. ah But there were extenuating circumstances. Chris's beloved dog, Bowberry Biscuit Sullivan Sims, yeah sadly passed away.

Speaker: And if you don't listen to the regular Ajax show and you only listen to the Every Story Ever specials, you're only getting that news now. And you also don't follow us on Blue Sky. Do one of those.

Speaker: Follow us on Blue Sky or listen to the regular shows. The regular shows are good, man. The regular shows are good. i don't know Especially the ones where we're ranking swords. Rating.

Speaker: but rating rate Not ranking. Rating. Whatever the case, ah so we don't have to relay this news in so many places, ah you know maybe do one of those. Follow us in on Blue Sky or listen to the regular show. Either way, that is why we didn't do a show in January.

Speaker: Will we do a makeup episode? I don't know. usually these Probably not. Usually these episodes are longer than two hours anyway. So just add up the extra time beyond two hours that the episodes are, and that'll be the makeup episode.

Speaker: Also, I'm sorry, if you can't give me come on. yeah then come on I think that is quite reasonable. Yeah.

Speaker: ah But I will say, sitting here recording this month's Every Story Ever with Coffee Cup. The new dog. but My new dog. My new friend. ah See, i go I go with friend first or second.

Speaker: wow

Speaker: um Yeah, Coffee Cup's here and ah being very quiet and very good and hopefully not doing what ah he did last time i had my headphones on and was sitting at my desk talking to a microphone which is puke all over my floor

Speaker: we'll see what happens over the next few hours yeah it'll be a surprise for all of us yeah I'm already hearing a little bit of Harrison ah in the other room so it's enjoy him You I will.

Speaker: While he's still around, ah my friend and cat Harrison. He is 15 years old.

Speaker: All right, we're going to write some comic book stories here in a second. Chris, would you like to give a rundown of the current state of the Every Story Ever list? Sure, Matt. ah We have a list of comics that we're looking at that is 1,685 comics long.

Speaker: six hundred eighty five comics longn At the bottom, Dead Last, Identity Crisis, Cody Rhodes' favorite comic. How devastating. How devastating was it was it to learn that Cody Rhodes would ask what his favorite comic book was without hesitation, said Identity Crisis. um Unbelievable. I mean, also very believable.

Speaker: Yeah. like like ah How much do you want to guess and bet that former guest on this very podcast, Christopher Daniels, put that comic in his hands?

Speaker: i don't even and I don't want to i don't want put that evil on The Fallen Angel. Sure. Because we don't know for sure. We don't know. know yeah it He might not have.

Speaker: I'm beginning to suspect that Cody Rhodes does not have good taste. Yeah.

Speaker: there are i mean, look, everybody had their Cody is embarrassing moment when he was in AEW. And I believe we have reached Cody is embarrassing in his WWE wwe run.

Speaker: And that's that's where we're at. I'm glad that Cody was back in ah Vince Jr.'s cartoon wrestling ah before the aid of you ah DC Comics crossover.

Speaker: yeah Because there would have just been a scene where he was hanging out with ah Batman and being like, do you remember that time the elongated man's wife died? He would be like, Bruce, in front of everybody. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. i I posted on Blue Sky after he said that. I posted, um adrenaline in my veins, tiny footprints in her brain. and there are people who follow me that don't watch wrestling and have Cody Rhodes' theme song, Committed to Memory, um who thought I was having a stroke.

Speaker: Yeah, that's fair. I mean... yeah No, you should worry about me. i think I think certain wrestling theme songs people should know. like Everybody should know that one. And everybody should know AJ Styles' old theme song to which changed the lyrics to We some southern boys play in Fatal Frame.

Speaker: Ain't nobody man enough for Fatal Frame. Still makes me laugh to this very day. Also, they should know... Hulk Hogan's non-WWF theme, American Made, because we do use it on the show.

Speaker: We do. Which is not an endorsement of Hulk Hogan. Did we say what was at the top of the list? It's the Spider-Man story. Yeah, If This Be My Destiny slash the final chapter. It's the one where Spider-Man um lifts up up a heavy object. um that it's It's extremely good.

Speaker: You should just know that story as Spider-Man Does the Thing, because that's that's what happens. And it's not even like it's not even like Cody said he liked a bad comic, you know? He said he liked the worst worst comic.

Speaker: The worst comic, yeah. Was his favorite. Absolute favorite. i wouldn't I wouldn't be this – I mean, look, I would be – what's the worst rated comic on the list that you wouldn't even be mad that somebody liked it, you would just be intrigued?

Speaker: I mean, honestly, if somebody told me that the Draco was their favorite comic, I would talk to them for an hour. but's um that's a good That's a good ah thought, Matt. that's a That would be – you would have to justify this. Yeah.

Speaker: Like, if you told me Identity Crisis was your favorite comic, I would be just like, oh, you have terrible taste, and that would be the end of it. If you said that Draco was your favorite comic, I would be like, tell me everything ah what that you like about it. Yeah, our our bottom ten.

Speaker: Oh, there's CuffCuff. The Draco, Heroes in Crisis, Voodoo Hoodoo, Superman Indian Chief. Oof, bad.

Speaker: That one's bad. Avengers 200. Oh, no.

Speaker: Coffee Cup does not like all these bad comics. Coffee Cup sure don't.

Speaker: Avenged 200, Mr. A, Marvel. Honestly, the clock if you said Marvel was your favorite comic, I would also really need an explanation. No one would ever say that, though. I don't think so. Not not in a non-ironic way, yeah. yeah i don't like There's that anyone...

Speaker: zero percent chance that anyone would be like, my favorite comic is Marvel. i think I think my friend Sean Boggess would maybe say that, but it would be a joke.

Speaker: I think like if you said Mr. A, i would not be fascinated. I would just know that you were a bad person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah If you said,

Speaker: man there's some rough stuff in here. If you said Holy Terror, I would assume you were racist. Oh, yeah. Yeah. If you said Doomsday Clock, I would also think you just had no taste.

Speaker: If you said Love Hina, I would just assume that you read it when you were like 13. Sure. That makes sense. I mean, that's probably also true of Identity Crisis. I mean, Cody is older than that, but... Cody's at least our age, Matt. He's he's younger than us, but but not by much.

Speaker: Okay. I'm going to if you said Death Mate was your favorite comic, I would need to know. I would need to read your thoughts. I would be curious.

Speaker: Cody is 40. Yeah, so he's essentially our age. He was born in 1985. Yeah, so which means that he was 20 when Identity Crisis was coming out. and but i should He should know better. he should Yeah, I was 23.

Speaker: And I knew that thing sucked. and And he was probably older when he read it, because you know he wasn't reading it coming out in single issues. I don't want to i don't want to definitively say that, because i I know Cody's a nerdy guy.

Speaker: you know he's got He's got the Triforce on his oh on his ah boots and everything. But Cody also, you know when he was on AEW...

Speaker: but What's the podcast? on Unrestricted. Unrestricted. um ah Tony Schiavone asked him who his favorite Star Trek captain was. And ah when Cody hit coding needed to be reminded about Benjamin Sisko, which first of all, and then he goes, oh, well, he was only a commander.

Speaker: And that was the first time I felt personally betrayed by Cody Rhodes. All right. We got to get into some lists here. But yes, we Cody, how dare you?

Speaker: Our first list, Chris, comes to us from Lou Shoemaker, who has some stories chosen by the Sequential Art channel on Discord for us.

Speaker: Okay. First is Amazing Spider-Man Volume 1, Numbers eighty nine through ninety The Death of George Stacey. Pretty good!

Speaker: It's pretty good. i would say of the like big, pivotal... Spider-Man stories.

Speaker: It's not the tippy top, but it is pretty good. Yeah. I mean, like, it's not, like, it's obviously not as good as The Death of Gwen Stacy.

Speaker: Right. Which is, it's kind of direct, uh... Or, you know, what's at the very top of the list. Yeah. Or, like, Spider-Man No More. I think Spider-Man No More is better. Mm-hmm.

Speaker: But it is good. ah It's... I think it's one of the first spiderman Amazing Spider-Man stories that isn't by either Ditko or Romita. Yeah, it's Gil Kane.

Speaker: It's Gil Kane, yeah. um But Gil Kane, good. Gil Kane, good, but like especially these issues. Well, Ramita's doing the inking, so it it it has a Ramita look to it.

Speaker: um But it is it's Gil Kane. um Yeah, I mean, like most of these issues is a big fight with Doc Ock. Spider-Man's one true ah villain, but one true arch nemesis.

Speaker: Certainly at this time, because... Wait, is this after Green Goblin? No, this was before Green Goblin died. um Yeah, Green Goblin dies in... Green Goblin's got to die in Death of Gwen Stacy, yeah. Yeah, yeah, man.

Speaker: But, ah no, yeah, this is this is good. And, like, one of Doc Ock's, like, most, like, brutal moments of, like, like he he doesn't...

Speaker: intentionally knock down that chimney that kills Captain George Stacey? No, his arms get all weird. But his arms get all weird. He accidentally destroys that chimney, and then Captain George Stacey gets crushed. The good thing about that story, the really like key Spider-Man part of it, is that the chimney collapses on Captain George Stacey.

Speaker: he could Spider-Man races down to try to save him And then like a bunch of bystanders saying, like Spider-Man's carrying George Stacey. He must have killed him.

Speaker: That's Spider-Man. That's some Spider-Man shit right there. My favorite thing about this is that George Stacey gets hit by like a like a literal ton of bricks dropped from the top of a building.

Speaker: And then is both conscious and alive long enough to be like, hey, I always knew you were Peter Parker, and has no blood or visible injuries.

Speaker: ah the That's the comics code, baby! Yeah, he just he just dies of oh Of something. so He dies of love being hit by bricks, but with no injuries.

Speaker: Internal injuries is what I think you would have to call it. ah usually Usually there's ah at least a mark on – usually at least someone's suit is rumpled a little bit, but not not Captain George Stacy.

Speaker: No. the that you know we've We've been talking about how good Gil Kane is. you know maybe That's not the best, but – No, but I mean, like ah like it's comics code. It's 1960s superhero comics, so it's fine. I just think it's funny. But like' no wonder Peter's like, he's got to be alive.

Speaker: but He looks fine. ah ah But yeah, like the ah the cover of number 90 is top It's so good. top shelf it's like so good Because it's like Spider-Man carrying George Stacey up the building, but his face is in shadows, so like it's like a left a mystery who it is. yeah unless you read Spider-Man. Yeah. Because there's only one person who looks like this in the book. Who dresses like this, yeah. yeah And everyone in the crowd is saying, Spider-Man did it. It's all his fault. He's a murderer.

Speaker: And then the the blurb is Spider-Man, kill her. And like... I do love that shit. yeah I do love that shit. Spider-Man did not kill ah George D.C. No, but but like even it ends with you know Peter thinking to them himself, oh, what's going to happen if Gwen finds out I'm responsible for this?

Speaker: Which he's not. But he blames himself. like Obviously, he blames himself. I will say – of ah Of course Spider-Man blames himself. That is what Spider-Man does. yeah yeah like There's no way he's not going to blame himself.

Speaker: He's like three people removed from being responsible for this one. I mean, you know you could you could come up with a set of reasons. Because he's like, if I hadn't been fighting Doc Ock, this wouldn't have happened.

Speaker: yeah but like But yeah. like He's being unfair to himself, but that's Peter. You know? Yeah.

Speaker: He's the one who kind of makes Doc Ock's arms go wild. ah So i I guess that part of it's kind of his fault, but I mean, you know.

Speaker: ah Peter Parker carries a lot of guilt. And i'm not trying I'm not out here trying to ah absolve Peter of all his guilt and make for a much more boring Spider-Man comics. Yeah.

Speaker: But yeah, i mean the the death of Captain Stacy is good. I think, it I mean, I'll tell you this. I think it's better than the death of Gene DeWolf. Oh, it's definitely better than that. Yeah. I certainly think like it.

Speaker: Death of Gene DeWolf, I feel like is always the one that's maybe kind of forgotten about in the list of of Spider-Man character deaths, which is weird because it was a big deal.

Speaker: It was a big deal. there yeah it's you know it's It's Gwen and and George Stacey. I mean, Uncle Ben, obviously, is the big one, but you know about that, I assume, listener. oh But I feel like... i think the death of Gene DeWolf is maybe a little more ambitious in what it's trying to do and like what it's trying to accomplish.

Speaker: But this is like better crafted. like It's kind of like Stan at the top. you know we We are known as a... a a ah i think it's safe to say we are a Kirby Partisan podcast.

Speaker: kirby like Kirby and even Ditko do a degree. like i If you asked me who was chiefly responsible for the first five years or so of Marvel Comics...

Speaker: Stan would be third on the list. Yeah. But he is third on the list. Yeah, yeah. And I think that like it it it is worth noting that like when Stan's on, Stan's good. Oh, yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can definitely – there's plenty of comics from this era where you can tell even then that he's kind of phoning it in. You know? Whether he's you know too busy with Hollywood or – regrowing all that hair or whatever. um Or he's just writing too many books. Or he's just writing too many books because he was doing them all, you know? yeah But like, when he's on, he's good.

Speaker: Like, there's there is a reason that we ah we all know about Stan and that it's he's actually pretty good when it comes down to it.

Speaker: Yeah. um I mean, just Death of Jean DeWolf is like pretty low on the list. It's in the thirteen hundreds I think this is well above that. Oh, yeah. it's time It's not as good as Gwen.

Speaker: Death Gwen Stacy is at like 187, I think. As it should be. it's Where is it? er It's pretty high. It's a 187, baby. a 178.

Speaker: it's one seventy eight it's a one seventy eight Well, that's nothing. That's that's not funny. that's That's not a funny number. i mean, 187 isn't even a funny number, and that's definitely not a funny number.

Speaker: Correct. ah So I think this is somewhere... yeah i mean, obviously it's between 1300 and 178. Yeah. yeah um So I narrowed it down.

Speaker: So you go ahead and pick spot.

Speaker: Let's see...

Speaker: i mean like I don't know if it's going to go in the top half of the list, just because it's a top-heavy list, but like is it better than Nightfall? Probably. Nightfall is good.

Speaker: Nightfall's good! Nightfall's at $850. It's probably better than Nightfall. It's probably better than Nightfall. I like Jim Apero more than I like Gil Kane.

Speaker: But this comic looks better than Nightfall. All right, let's see. 750 is The Night the Mob Stole Xmas. This is probably above that.

Speaker: How is Nightfall not higher than that? 700 is the first appearance of Loki. This is better than that, I think. 650 is the Doomsday Book from Detective Comics.

Speaker: World War Hulk is there, too. are both pretty good. Those are both pretty good. i This might be in the 600s somewhere.

Speaker: Like, is this better than Blood on the Moors? I mean, Captain America does fucking cut a vampire's head off in that one, Matt. He sure does. He sure does.

Speaker: Like, is it better than E is for Extinction? We have that at 620. I mean, $5.99 we have Mr. Waffles, which...

Speaker: I am having trouble, even after all these years, comparing Mr. Waffles to the death of George Stacey. To anything, yeah.

Speaker: To anything, really, yeah. What a what a com what a Frank Comics, man. Frank Comics. Frank free Comics!

Speaker: They're about as good as they get sometimes, you know? Like, you don't know about Frank Comics. You gotta go look up Frank Comics. Okay, here's what I will say. I think this is better than the story where Mysterio is a therapist, which we have at number 628. Oh, that's that's a pretty good one, but yeah. yeah And it ain't as good as Marvel Boy.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Well... I think it might be the new number 628. Yeah.

Speaker: nobody Nobody writes big cuss words in the death of George Stacy. Nobody writes big cuss words in the death of George Stacy. Alright, so this is the new number 628. That was Eleanor.

Speaker: Alright, we good with that? Hang on, hang on. Amazing Spider-Man numbers 89 through 90. numbers eighty nine through ninety

Speaker: Do you know what year this was off the top? I do not. I want to say it might be 1970. Let's see. ah let's see

Speaker: It is from the year 1970. Wow. yeah Dr. Spider-Man over here. I mean, that was just an educated guess. That was simply an educated guess. Yeah.

Speaker: I didn't get a guess by Dr. Spider-Man. I mean, if if if I have to wear the the the title, I'll take it. All right.

Speaker: Next on Lou's list, Chris, is Hawkworld Volume 1, the miniseries by Tim Truman. I have recently been heard to say on this very show, Hawkworld's pretty good.

Speaker: I have not... red hawk world I read Hawk World in 2003. I cannot accurately recall enough of Hawk World to rank it.

Speaker: I have read it recently. I know it's pretty. It's very pretty. Wait, we're talking about Hawk Not Hawk World

Speaker: right hawk world nineteen ninety is the Ongoing series, I believe. Boy, is there anything more DC Comics in 1989 than a prestige format book with a painted cover of Hawkman? You know, Hawkman from DC Comics holding a Mac-10.

Speaker: Very DC Comics. That's about as 1989 Detective Comics comics as it gets. Here's the thing about Hawkworld.

Speaker: Hawk World was the prestige miniseries that was so

Speaker: good and everybody agreed that it was good that DC Comics scrapped its entire a post-crisis reboot of Hawkman and just said, this is Hawkman now.

Speaker: Because there was a version of Hawkman after the reboot after the post-crisis reboot, who was essentially just Silver Age Hawkman. Right.

Speaker: And um because Hawkworld sold so well and was so well regarded, DC just dumped that old Hawkman from 1986 and

Speaker: And said, this is Hawkman now, and that the other Hawkman had been an imposter the whole time. And that is all in Hawkworld 1990. Yeah, which this Hawkworld 1989 does so well that in 1990, Hawkworld comes out again with John Ostrander and Tim Truman, ah who would go on to do The Spectre.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah. the And that shit runs for three years. The 1990 Hawk World is just like continuity fixing to get rid of the old Hawkman and bring in this new Hawkman from ah Thanagar.

Speaker: I feel like if I could get rid of two things from DC Comics. I mean, there would be a lot of things I would get rid of. Identity Crisis would be the first thing. But if I could just say, hey, we're just not going to have this anymore, it would be Hawkman and Donna Troy.

Speaker: Just because that's they're a barrier to entry, man. Agreed. And I know a lot of people like Donna Troy. Couldn't be me. Not a Titans guy. I think Hawkworld is the one time – well, not the one time. There have been other times. But like one of the main times that like an argument could be made for Hawkman.

Speaker: And and but part of how that happened was totally change it.

Speaker: Like, Hawkman is not, ah you know, a reincarnated Egyptian anymore. He's an alien and part of, like, a police force that dresses like this.

Speaker: was that not part was that not part of i'm I know I'm usually the DC Comics continuity guy, Matt.

Speaker: But you can tell what I no longer care about.

Speaker: Was Thanagar and all that not part of Silver Age Hawkman? Surely it... It was little bit, yeah. It it it was. um Golden Age Hawkman was the the reincarnated Egyptian.

Speaker: it your shit wi Was Hall... carter hall And then there was Katar Hall. Yes, yes, yes, yes. um Silver Age Hawkman did have some of the – did have, like, the Thanagar stuff. you're You're right. It was in there.

Speaker: um But, like, I'm trying to think of what the what they did with the post-crisis reboot. I guess he was also supposed to be Thanagarian, but then he ended up being, like, a spy or something.

Speaker: I think that sounds right. i think yeah Maybe he was a Manhunter. maybe maybe Because, boy, if you wanted to get rid of somebody in ah in late 80s DC Comics, they were a fucking manhunter.

Speaker: yeah That dude? Been hunting men. and now And now he's all of it. Hawkman is both ah a reincarnated Egyptian and a Thanagarian.

Speaker: See, that's that's what gets me. like I like that comics have like fantasy stuff and sci-fi stuff. yeah But for some reason, i cannot i cannot fuck with he's re he's reincarnated and also from another planet. Like the reincarnation happened on another planet. That doesn't seem right.

Speaker: Now, it's all nonsense.

Speaker: But man, it just doesn't it doesn't feel like that should be what it is. Yeah. Anyway, Hawk World is good. like it It gets like way too complicated after this, I think.

Speaker: But Hawk World, that there was no intention in Hawk World of like re resetting everything. it This was just supposed to be like a prestige, out-of-continuity story.

Speaker: Yeah, i feel I feel like that's the major failing of DC Comics for 20 years. twenty years is that you would do a story and you wouldn't necessarily expect it to be in continuity or affect continuity.

Speaker: And then all of a sudden, it is what all continuity is based on. Because that's kind of what happened with the killing joke. Yeah, that's true. and that's And they tried to do that with Kingdom Come.

Speaker: And they did it with Hawk World. Yeah, it's ah DC having Elseworlds stories or out-of-continuity stories that were really popular... And like that people regarded as like comics that aren't just for kids. well like DC Comics was so invested in and and entrenched in the idea of being taken seriously that they couldn't help themselves. Yeah.

Speaker: They couldn't just let a thing be a thing. they could they They truly could not help themselves. And and like that's still going on. like like That's the whole thing about Doomsday Clock.

Speaker: When they could finally put the Watchmen characters in continuity, man, they did it. man ah Man, they did it. there was There was never a chance Doomsday Clock was not going to be in continuity. Yeah.

Speaker: Oh, ah no, I'm not saying yeah that the the attempt was – I'm saying to bring Watchmen into continuity. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: Man, oh, man. so So where do you want to put Hawkworld? Because like I said, i I read it, but it was 23 years ago, you know?

Speaker: Like, Hawkworld is very good. i mean, yeah, to Tim Truman's good. um Tim Truman's a hell of an artist and also like quite good at storytelling. like like writing if there was ah If there was a Hawkman story, I would suggest to anyone or recommend to anyone. It would be Hawkworld.

Speaker: But there's not. um There's not, but if there was, that would be it. You're going to read any of them. Yeah. Is it better than Deadshot 1-4, which we have at 249? I don't know. That shit's pretty good, dude.

Speaker: Is it better than Grayson, though? Yeah. Really? I think it's like the number the new number 250.

Speaker: All right. I mean, that's really high, Matt. I think it goes this high. i mean, that puts it that puts it above Sleeper, OMAC. robin It puts it above Robin Dies at Dawn? Yeah.

Speaker: J.A. World War III? I could go down a bit. um i'm just i mean, look, if that's if that is where your heart is leading you, then that is where your heart is leading you. I think you're talking me down a little bit.

Speaker: um

Speaker: Okay, it's not better than Marvel 2 and 1 Annual No. 7, is No. 269. Nice. But it better than... nice

Speaker: but is it better than Is it better than the X-Men story where Wolverine doesn't get married? Oh, man, that was good, though. That one's really That cover?

Speaker: Wolverine in his kimono? It's better than Horns of the Rhino, though. So, 276. 276 is where I'll put Hawk World. All right. Hawk World 1989. Hawk World 1990 is going to be is considerably lower, I am sad to say. Yeah.

Speaker: 1989. Hawk World featuring Taylor Swift, 1989. That's right. ah Man, I don't know if there's a more DC Comics year than 1989.

Speaker: it's That is such a DC Comics year. it is It's a real DC Comics year, which is wild because like the next five years are Marvel-ass comics years.

Speaker: Yeah. i I was going to say... like i think about batman year two I think about the cover of Batman Year 2, where he's holding the gun. Where he's got the gun on the sword? Yeah. ah Hey, man, you know what comic has kick-ass covers?

Speaker: Batman Year 2. ah But I was like, that's 1989, but that's actually 1987. Late man. DC Comics in the late 80s. There was no stopping them now.

Speaker: Yeah. Like Shelton and the late eighty was something the fuck else, I'll tell you what. Yeah, man. My favorite part is when they're like, you go back and read DC Comics from the late 80s, and they'll be like, we you know we did Dark Knight, we did Man of Steel, and now Camelot 3000. And it's like, damn, y'all really thought ya really thought Brian Boland was going to get that one over?

Speaker: man i'm not saying it's not good. I'm just saying it didn't get over. Fair. Alright.

Speaker: The final story on Lou's list is Ronin by Frank Miller. Never read it. I ah have also never read Ronin by Frank Miller, despite it being called Ronin Asterisk Masterless Samurai. If it had been literally called Ronin Asterisk Masterless Samurai, I would have read it.

Speaker: But, like, I feel like Ronin was absolutely out of print for a while. And it's just one that I kind of never got around to because like, it is, it is likely a surprise to, to many of our listeners that there is like a late eighties Frank Miller book from DC that I didn't read when I was 16.

Speaker: but Frank Ronan is earlier than you think. Is Ronan like, ronan is runningin Ronan is pre-Dark Knight Returns. It is 1983 and 1984. Damn! Yeah.

Speaker: yeah But I think that makes it that makes it even harder for us to have read it, because I do think you're right. I think it was out of print for a long time. i I simultaneously feel like it was out of print for a while, and then I'm like, no, it was a Frank Miller book but from DC. it It couldn't have been.

Speaker: But I feel like it wasn't. And yet. And I don't remember, like, i I think I even looked for it when I was, like, a teenager. Because you want to talk about a book that Wizard Magazine talked about a lot?

Speaker: Ronan. ah But I remember, like, looking for it at comic shops and, like, not being able to put together a run. Yeah.

Speaker: And... it It makes me wonder if like there was some kind of rights issue it. I feel like it is a creator-owned book. Yeah.

Speaker: Like, published through DC, but I feel like there is a creator-owned thing with it. Well, let's see. There was Absolute Ronin.

Speaker: was There was ah an Absolute Ronin hardcover published in 2008.

Speaker: Yeah, man. you know You know I wouldn't pay a no $89.99 for a Frank Miller comic in 2008. And as it's as far as I can tell, that is the only collected edition of it.

Speaker: ah Matt, can I mean for second? This is mean, but also maybe shouldn't be mean. this is this is mean but also maybe i shouldn't maybe i shouldn't be me It's up to you. It's up to you. What do you want to do? well It's just like I saw this thing and the headline was like, you know, no one knows what almost killed Frank Miller.

Speaker: And it was like, like the actual article was like addiction. Oh, like we knew. he's like Yeah, man, we knew. We've been to like, like, yeah, we saw him.

Speaker: Like if you if you laid eyes on Frank in the the mid two thousand s Buddy! Buddy, you you you knew something was wrong!

Speaker: yeah but yeah But, you know what, like... I hear that that Frank's doing just fine in the Bermuda Triangle these days, so... It's just very weird, that like, the the narrative that no one knew.

Speaker: yeah oh you mean when when Frank had... severe health issues and like got divorced and um like all that stuff. don't know. Maybe I'm talking too much trash now. Maybe I'm talking out of school. ah I know. am sure Ronan is quite good.

Speaker: But it is one of those things where it's just like

Speaker: i couldn't ever get my hands on it. Should we re-Ronan? Should we re-Ronan? Should that be a catch-up? do feel like I feel like my reluctance to read a Frank Miller comic in 2026 is really equal and opposite to the fact that I should have read this in 1998.

Speaker: Yeah. yeah Yeah. I feel like I should have read this, but I didn't. Right. In 1998, this would would have been when I was looking for this. And I couldn't find it. I couldn't like get the issues.

Speaker: Yeah. or Or a trade paperback. so Should we read it? Should we read Ronan? Should it be the next catch-up? ah Fam, tell us. Please, fam. Chat, ah tell us if we should read Ronan.

Speaker: i I will say, it is a lot of comic. Yeah. It's six prestige format issues. Each issue is quite long. um But it's it's not you know that. i mean, it's like reading a 12-issue series, I guess.

Speaker: um Also, like in many ways, I feel like it is not the book you expect it to be. Just based on like looking at some of it right now.

Speaker: Yeah, it's like because it's it's like a weird sci-fi thing, right? It's a weird sci-fi thing, but also a samurai story. Yeah. This was the time period where I feel like American comics were maybe the closest to doing stuff that manga did.

Speaker: ah But, like, there's just a handful of these kind of stories that weren't superhero stories and were just weird sci-fi things. Yeah, I mean, like, most most of them were weird sci-fi things.

Speaker: Like, you're hard-boiled and so forth. Mm-mm-mm. Uh... Your heart's boiled. Yes, yes, yes. All right. ah Tell us if we should read Ronan as a catch-up ah

Speaker: fam. Finally from Lou Spectacular Spider-Man magazine number two or magazine number two, Norman Osborn becomes the Green Goblin again.

Speaker: Spectacular Spider-Man magazine? Yeah, I don't know if I've ever read that.

Speaker: Oh, is that – Because i don't think I've ever – That's the the big tabloid-sized one. Yes. Yeah. It's it's the magazine-sized not tabloid. It's magazine-sized.

Speaker: It's the magazine-sized book from the late 60s. Yeah, ah which is all in black and white and also looks great because it's John Romita Jr. on these big old pages. Or John Romita Sr.

Speaker: Yeah, it's Jazzy John. Yeah. um Again, I've read this, but it was ah million years ago. Probably when I was reading a lot of Essentials. Probably when I was reading through X-Men for the first time. I probably took a took a break to read those.

Speaker: Oh, the this is in the Essentials? that like This stuff would have been in the Essentials, you think? I don't think this was in... This had to be in something, because I know it was reprinted.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: like this is one This is one I never read. i don't remember like getting reprinted. in like ah You know, like when ah Norman Osborn came back in the 90s?

Speaker: Yeah. He was revealed to have been behind the Clone Saga completely. And and ah and know he ah he also had Aunt Alive.

Speaker: secretly held captive because the Aunt May who had been around for 30 years had been an actress. It it wasn't that long. Was it that long? It was like 25 years, I think.

Speaker: It was a while. Yeah. Now, the the the story where Norman Osborn becomes Green Goblin again, that is in color, I think. Okay.

Speaker: Or maybe it was re-printed in color? No, it was it was in color when it was printed. Um...

Speaker: Yeah, man, I feel like I've definitely read this before. i i feel like I'm coming off as a real... Matt, fucking 800 episodes into this show, I'm feeling like i'm coming off as a fake comics boy right now. I mean, look, I'm... Yeah, I think I read this. I'm Dr. Spider-Man, and i haven't read this, so... You know, that's how it goes.

Speaker: I mean, look, this one this one I would catch up on, because it's... This one I will absolutely catch up on, yeah. Yeah. because it's a blind spot it's a Spider-Man blind spot for me, which I don't have a ton of, but this is definitely one of them.

Speaker: Because it was printed in a magazine, and and I don't remember it ever being reprinted. I'm sure it has been reprinted in a comic book, but not one I ever picked up and read or remember. It was in some kind of paperback that i that I had at some point in my life. It had to have been, yeah. But...

Speaker: I remember this cover. This cover is pretty like well-known. But...

Speaker: Yeah, i I don't know. i I don't remember this story. I don't remember ever having her read this before. So... ah Definite catch-up candidate there, for sure.

Speaker: couple of catch-up candidates on that list. Alright, our next ah list comes to us from Patrick O'Duffy. The Boss Dog. The Boss Dog.

Speaker: Who got me a very nice condolence present after Biscuit biit passed. ah This is a list in memory of M.D. Bright sent to us in April of 2024. Yeah, so around about when ah Doc Bright also passed.

Speaker: Yes. one ah One of the best to ever do it. Yes. ah In his honor, here's a list of some of my favorite Doc Bright single-issue stories from various series.

Speaker: First on Patrick's list is Quantum and Woody No. 4, Noogie, by Doc Bright and Priest. i haven and i had it in paperback.

Speaker: i had Okay, I had a run. I put together a run of the original Quantum Woody. Then I had the the the paperback... that came out with the Valiant reboot.

Speaker: And I didn't read either one. And i was like I was like, man, one of these days I'm to sit down and read this. It's Chris Priest. It's Doc Bright. This is going to kick ass.

Speaker: And then I just didn't? For some reason?

Speaker: So I've never read this. God, that's that's one that I feel like is ah another very viable ah yeah viable catch-up candidate. hi Okay. v have it this this one This one might be a little ah this might be a little spicy for you boys.

Speaker: Alright. This is a i I have read this before. i have read this issue. it is...

Speaker: it is ah It is a comic that only Christopher Priest and M.D. Bright could have gotten the away with. Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Speaker: But the thing is, it's good.

Speaker: Yeah. I mean, yeah, of course it is.

Speaker: Like, Priest, 97, arguably the height of his power. Doing a do doing a pretty, like, like ah of a meta-commentary on certain words through superhero comics?

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Man, I fucking love Priest. that's That's a dream guest. Oh, man. kid I couldn't even imagine. I couldn't even imagine trying know what i would ask. I would just be, hey, Priest, can you talk for 45 minutes about whatever you want?

Speaker: And maybe I'll ask a question at some point.

Speaker: You remember when you did Black Panther for Marvel Knights? That was awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: when you did Deathstroke? That was awesome. ah Remember when you did the Black Panther comic you're doing right now that is absolutely bonkers? I'm little praised.

Speaker: ah But yes, this is ah this is a comic that replaces the the N-word with the word noogie. Uh-huh. And um uses it in multiple places. And then elsewhere in the comic, um like people say A-word hole and S-word and so on and so forth. Yeah, everybody who cusses in this comic says S-word, F-word, whatever. And there's like ah like the whole like first few pages of the book are kind of like explain are setting up the gag.

Speaker: Yeah. um like As I said, i can't it is hard for me to imagine many other creators getting away with this.

Speaker: um Certainly no nobody who's white ah could but could could even attempt this or should. No, but no i can I can tell you, ah when they did Quantum and Woody, ah Christopher Hastings and Ryan Brown did not do this.

Speaker: Correct, yeah. and And it ends with... ah with Eric, ah Quantum, ah like, piecing out at the end of the at the end of the issue. Because Woody says, ah you know, it no he didn't mean it that way.

Speaker: And so Quantum has to be like, look, I got i need some space. ah It's good. It is it is a good... issue, for sure.

Speaker: ah like Is it like top of the list? i I don't think so. But it is it is very good. ah Let's see

Speaker: see. At 700, we have the first appearance of Alicia Masters. Below that, we have Wondertons Twins 1-12, the Mark Russell Wonder Twins one. I think this is very similar to that.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Number 703 is Namor Fed Up With Man from the Strange Tales of anthology, which makes me laugh just hearing. ah hu um So maybe this is not quite that good.

Speaker: you're You're a real Michael michael Cooper stan. i I am, I am, I am. ah

Speaker: Painting That Ain't Paris is at 724. Yeah.

Speaker: Okay, I don't think it's better than the painting that ate Paris, but I think it might be better than the first Morrison Doom Patrol story, which we have at number 729. Crawling from the Wreckage.

Speaker: Yeah. What do you think? i't I've never really read this issue before. Oh, hang on. Okay, Wii 3 is at number 738. I don't think I would put this above Wii 3.

Speaker: Um...

Speaker: But I do think I would put it above

Speaker: like Form of a Question and Milk Wars, which we have at number 746 and 747. I think this is the new number 746. Okay. So, Quantum and Woody, Volume 1, Number 4.

Speaker: Noogie goes at number 746. I feel bad just typing it. Yeah, I mean, knowing how loaded of a word it is in the context of the story, we'll make you do that.

Speaker: ah Next on Patrick's list is Power Man and Iron Fist number 124, Hardball. hardball By Doc Bright and Jim Ousley.

Speaker: The creators. Christopher Priest. um Which is the final issue of Power Man and Iron Fist.

Speaker: That... Okay.

Speaker: That book ends...

Speaker: That book ends a little weird. But that book started weird. mean, it's a weird book. It's a weird book. Like, I wish they would do this more, where you've got two characters, and they both have solo books, and neither one works, and so you're going to cancel it, so put them in the same book.

Speaker: it's It's just like when you have two singles wrestlers who aren't getting over, put them on a tech put them in a tag team. yeah You know what this is? This is the bar, man. Yeah. It's absolutely the bar.

Speaker: For listeners who don't know, the bar was Cesaro, a.k.a. Claudio Castagnoli, and Sheamus put into a tag team with each other. Yeah.

Speaker: After their best of seven series. Which which were ah ah banger after banger, honestly. Yeah, that's true. i I continue to maintain, to this very day,

Speaker: That if Seamus spent two years in New Japan, Seamus had come up and and done two years in New Japan as giant Seamus or whatever, we would all think he was one of the best wrestlers of all time.

Speaker: ah Have you read this issue of Power Man and Iron Fist? Because I have not. Of course I've read this issue. Of course you have. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah, no, this i mean this is, it's good. Like, you get to see Danny using his powers in a new way. Like, he's he's channeling his his key into this kid oh to keep him alive.

Speaker: Yeah, this kid who's, like, dying in a hospital, yeah. Yeah. And, like, there's a bunch of other stuff that's going on, because the kid has powers.

Speaker: And it's like ah it's like a um a quasar sort of thing going on. And it's like an extra-sized issue, because it is the last one. Yeah, and yeah man.

Speaker: It's... It's got some good stuff in it And I do... I do really like it. And i I do want to know... Here's one of my questions for our dream interview with ah Christopher Priest.

Speaker: When the last panel of Power Man and Iron Fist is a close-up on Luke Cage being very sad and shedding a single tear and just saying Christmas, did you mean that to be funny?

Speaker: I mean, I think he had to, right? Because it is a very emotional comic book. but Sure. such a like That is one of those that could go either way.

Speaker: Where like it's kind of funny, but it's also like... It's kind of legit. I mean, that's the beauty of that's the beauty of Priest. Yeah. it's it's hard to to to It's hard to assume intent with anybody, but I feel like with Priest, it's extra hard.

Speaker: Yeah. oh Fucking Iron Fist hits a guy so hard that his his costume changes color at one point in this comic. It turns red. Yeah, yeah man.

Speaker: It's good. It's good.

Speaker: Captain Hero is the the the identity that the kid takes, who like has kind of a quasar thing going on, where he's kind of he's kind of Captain Marvel, he's kind of quasar. He's a kid who can become an adult superhero, very much in the Captain Marvel mold.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And, like... And you think Danny dies in this comic. Yeah, because the kid like punches him really hard. Yeah. it's i mean it's It's a hell of a way to end a series. It's grim, but it's a hell a way to end the series. There's even a funeral for Iron Fist. Yeah, like that's that's why Luke is saying Christmas at the end. I guess I should make that clear.

Speaker: yeah That he's hugging Misty Knight and talking about how much he misses his best friend, Danny Rand. his His life partner and business partner and associate.

Speaker: Danny Rand. Do you think you'll cry at my funeral, Matt? um ah If yours is first. Honestly, it could go either way at this point.

Speaker: but Buddy, I wouldn't even begin to try to predict it. Welcome to Every Story Ever. This is the show where we rank comic books and also face our own mortality.

Speaker: This one's good. This one's good. I don't like the guy that they're fighting on the cover whose costume has big weird nipples.

Speaker: Who is definitely in the in the book a while. yeah I think he said Danny might kill him. He's the guy that Danny punches so hard his costume turns red. I don't know.

Speaker: I think this issue is pretty good. I don't think it's it's the best comic Priest ever wrote. The best comic Mark lu be the best calling mark Bright ever drew was the Snake Eyes trilogy.

Speaker: That comic kicks ass. It does, you're right. That comic should actually be higher on this list. oh But... Oh wait, have we not ranked the the Snake Eyes trilogy?

Speaker: I don't... I know we've ranked Silent Interlude. We've ranked the origin of Snake Eyes. don't think we've ranked the fucking Snake Eyes trilogy, man. The Snake Eyes trilogy is not on the list, so... Somebody get some line-stippers on that one.

Speaker: ah But yeah, like i i think it's I think it's pretty good. I like it.

Speaker: oh I would say...

Speaker: also probably not as good as... I mean, you know, I by coincidence landed on the Riddle Factory. Probably not that good.

Speaker: As final issues go, I think it's better than Marvel Team-Up 150, which we have at $892. But don't but i don't I don't know if it's as good as Funeral for a Friend, which I did read recently, again. And that's actually pretty good.

Speaker: It holds up. So I think we'll put it right at the new 892. 892. Okay. Man and Fist number 125 is the new number 892. Okay. Okay.

Speaker: is the new number eight ninety two

Speaker: okay

Speaker: um yeah if you don't for a I got better data. I got to enter Matt. Okay. as As we've often said, everything after – like with Batman, everything before his back gets broken is great.

Speaker: And everything after that is kind of eh. In Nightfall? well after Well, once it becomes Night Quest and John Paul Valley takes over and all of that. Yeah, Night's End and Night Quest are not.

Speaker: There's something there, but it's not like it's not as good. as good the death of superman With Death of Superman, it's the other way around. Yeah, Death of Superman like starts dumb, gets real good.

Speaker: Gets good after Superman dies. Yeah. what Weird how that goes. weird how And when he when he comes back, that shit's good too. Yeah, man.

Speaker: He's got that hair. He's got he's got to got that mullet. That Superman mullet.

Speaker: ah All right. Finally on Patrick's list is Icon number 13, It's Always Christmas by Doc and Dwayne McDuffie. The introduction Buckwild Mercenary Man.

Speaker: i was about to say i I was about to say that ah I have not read more Icon than we have read for this for this show.

Speaker: We've never read the issue that introduced Buckwild Mercenary Man. I thought we did Icon for a catch-up, but it it's not on the list. Did we not rank Icon?

Speaker: I thought we did it for a catch-up, too. We read a bunch of Icon recently. and I feel like maybe we we said we wanted to read the rest of the series. I think that might be it, yeah. yeah because like It does kind of feel like the series as a whole is one big thing.

Speaker: And for that reason, i like I don't know if this ranks as a single issue. Yeah, man. um Buckwild Mercenary Man... is who is just Luke Cage.

Speaker: Who just Luke Cage. a a parody of Luke Cage that Dwayne McDuffie grappling with what it means that one of the like most popular black superheroes was also a blaxploitation character created by white people.

Speaker: Created by Tony Zabella. Yeah. And so you get like, you get this like over the top parody. That's very funny in the way that like Dwayne McDuffie can be like very funny.

Speaker: And, uh,

Speaker: you know he's he's His name is Buckwild, mercenary man. His arch enemy is Lysistrata Jones, who uses a P-Whip to mind control him.

Speaker: ah it's It's not subtle. He... oh has the same origin as Luke Cage.

Speaker: oh But... Yeah, man. like We get like Icon, who is... Icon is Dwayne McDuffie doing a lot of stuff that's really interesting. like you know Icon and Rocket both kind of grappling with with black superheroes in America, as ah you know a lot of Miles Sim was.

Speaker: But then to to basically have Luke Cage show up, and then have him die, and then have Icon speak at his funeral... where he talks about how um

Speaker: for all you know for all his faults, Luke Cage is worthy of respect because although although we may from our current perspective have found him crude and ill-informed, we cannot deny his importance.

Speaker: Intentions count as much as actions, and Buck was nothing if not well-intentioned. And I think that's like that's really interesting. ah and this was like the only issue of Icon that I had read before, because how can you not read the comic that features Buckwild, Mercenary Man? you know Well, the the funeral is in a different issue, right?

Speaker: The funeral is in a different issue. Yeah. yeah So ah that says to me like pretty clearly that single issue is not the whole story.

Speaker: and like If we're going to rank Icon, we probably should rank the whole series. yeah We should just read the whole series and then rank it. It is, i i think, thematically of a piece.

Speaker: Yeah. um while While we're talking about that, I definitely said that I was going to read Heroes Against Hunger and and rank it. um I haven't done that. Okay.

Speaker: So ah maybe next time I'll have read Heroes Against Hunger and we can rank it, but I sure haven't done it yet. Alright, so we're going to say Icon, we're going to keep Icon to rank as an entire series at some point in the future.

Speaker: Finally on the list is pat from Patrick is um Batman 425 Consequences by Doc and Jim Starlin. ah We've ranked it. We've ranked it. Yeah, Yeah, boy. That's my origin story.

Speaker: yeah that's that's that's my origin story That is the Chris Sims origin story. You ever read a comic and it's so fucking good that it determines the rest of your life?

Speaker: Like every every decision you make can be in one way or the other traced back to that. I have, and it's that one.

Speaker: Our next list is from Greg. That man fucks that dude up. He sure does. That time man chucks that fucking car battery out of him fucks him all Our next list is from Greg Pakmet, and it is called Just a Little Guy.

Speaker: like it when people title their lists. I do, too. i I like it when they're themed. I like it when they're titled. The first is from The Brave and the Bold, number 115. The Corpse Who Wouldn't Die.

Speaker: oh that's... I get it, because that's a Batman and Adam story. Yes, I think it's about a lot of ah characters who were little guys. Yeah, ah that comic owns Batman dies.

Speaker: ah Like, Batman is brain dead. And so the atom gets down, like shrinks down to a microscopic size, climbs into Batman's head, and then jumps around on his brain, which, as we all know, doesn't kill you.

Speaker: Right. it It, in fact, um causes your body to move around. Yeah, it it causes your body to move around. And... oh it it ah makes him punch people in the face.

Speaker: Because according to what I recall of the actual script of the issue, Batman's body is so used to just punching people in the fucking face that that is what his reflexes do.

Speaker: he He's just built for that. Yeah. ah this is ah This is a Bob Haney-Jim Apero joint. but If there was any doubt.

Speaker: yeah Yeah. ah No, this this rules. The only thing that does not rule about this is that ah Batman dies on like page four.

Speaker: or it's page five. from like just Bob Haney, Batman, is not the smartest man in the world.

Speaker: And also I like that um these like these bad guys who set this trap for Batman, like they kill him. like Batman gets ah zapped and then like falls from a building and splats on the ground.

Speaker: And these dudes don't like unmask him or finish him off or anything. They just put him in a car and like swing him by a hospital and throw him out of the backseat onto the curb.

Speaker: What we would all do, right? ah

Speaker: Oh no, what do we do? Just dump him in front of the hospital. Yeah.

Speaker: And so so Adam has to just like stomp on his brain a lot to give him ideas. I don't think that's how ideas work. Next time someone's like, hey, where do you get your ideas from?

Speaker: The answer should be there's a tiny man. There's a tiny man who stomps on my head. Who steps on my solar vellum. yeah yeah Tiny footprints on the brain.

Speaker: Oh.

Speaker: So really, Sue Dibney should have only been made stronger. Correct. Yeah. And Cody Rhodes will never understand that. Sadly, sadly.

Speaker: Too much adrenaline in his bones. ah Where do you want to put this story, Chris? Matt, it kicks ass. Okay, great. but This is one that I that i remember like vividly remember blogging about.

Speaker: Back in the ah the comics blogger days. It's it's ripe for that. It's yeah ripe for that. yeah As most and I'm a pair of Raven the Bolts are. um yeah the fucking The corpse that wouldn't die. God, it's good.

Speaker: The comics blog internet gave us so much. um It gave us this. gave us heated rivalry. It gave us everything. It gave us much. Yeah.

Speaker: oh I don't know, man. It kicks ass. I love this story. It's so dumb. It's so dumb. It's so good. How does Batman ultimately come back to life?

Speaker: don't know fucking Adam jumps around enough in his brain. There is a a panel where um like the The atom is like trying to jump on his brain, and he like fucks it up, and Batman just falls flat on his fucking face.

Speaker: Like the Shockmaster.

Speaker: Oh, I see what it is. The doctors just like fix him. Yeah. That's what happens. He goes back to the hospital, and oh Jim Gordon's like, nothing is impossible for Batman. And then Batman just wakes up.

Speaker: Oh, okay. ah So the atom is like, they they go ah he's moving, he's going to live. Yet there wasn't an atom of energy left in his brain. it's That's not what energy is, Bob.

Speaker: Of life energy. Life energy. That's not how we measure energy, but go on. Go on, Bob. And then the atom is standing there. And he's like, they don't know that there was a single atom still inside alive alive inside Batman's brain. And as a scientist, I'd surmise that all that stimulation must have reversed things and caused this happy miracle.

Speaker: As a scientist. As a scientist.

Speaker: I mean, like,

Speaker: is this as good as the Daredevil issue where Daredevil beats the shit out of Ultron with a stick? Probably not.

Speaker: I don't know. yeah It's up to you. but It's hard to say. It's hard to say.

Speaker: i mean, i think like I think it's better than Godzilla the Half-Century War. I think it's on par with the Daniel Warren Johnson Beta Ray Bill.

Speaker: In terms of fun I have had reading comics, this one wins. Okay. All right. So i think i I do think I am going to put it just below Daredevil number 275 and 276, the Acts of Vengeance issues, at the new number 511.

Speaker: Wow. This is high. This is going high. Matt, this comic fucks, dude. This is going above age all of the Gale Simone Agent X.

Speaker: matt that and dies, okay? Batman dies, and then the atom jumps around in his brain, and Batman's brain is so geared towards being Batman that that makes him get up and solve a fucking crime.

Speaker: i mean, it's pretty good. the the Pretty good

Speaker: good. The people who who use the Every Story Ever list as like a reading list, go fucking read this comic and tell me I'm wrong. um

Speaker: ah The corpse that wouldn't die is the new number 511. ah Next on Greg's list is Small Talk, The Incredible Hulk, Volume 1, number 384. Oh, that sounds like a Peter David issue.

Speaker: That must be part of the Peter David run. That's got to be a Peter David issue, because I bet he's like, wouldn't it be funny if wouldn' it be funny if the hulk was the Hulk was tiny? The Hulk was small instead of big.

Speaker: like Like, what if the Hulk... what like You know, usually the Hulk's a big guy. What if he was little? little guy i bet I bet I would make him mad. Yes, it is in fact.

Speaker: The Hulk is small. And... It is almost assuredly a Peter David issue.

Speaker: I think this is this is a this is a Todd. Oh, wait, no, this ain't Todd. Who's doing the art on this? Todd do the cover? He might have.

Speaker: I'm looking for credits. I can't find credits. What is this? 300 and what?

Speaker: um i think Todd did do the cover, maybe.

Speaker: ah Usually Todd signs the covers. That does... but

Speaker: Yeah, Peter David and del keian Dale Keown. Dale Keown. Dale Keown. Yeah. Okay. ah I've never read this, so I can't rank it. I've also never read it because it's a Peter David Hulk book, which I famously never read.

Speaker: I've read some Peter David Hulk, but I've never read this.

Speaker: So I can't say. i The Abomination is apparently very big, and The Hulk is very small. Yeah. That's all I know about it. Not going to put that on the catch-up list.

Speaker: Alright. Next on Greg's list is All Creatures Great and Small from Superman Adventures number 7 and 8. I bet that shit's good. Superman Adventures is a good book. these i'm Without even looking, these are Scott McCloud issues.

Speaker: honest I'll tell you if you're right. I'll tell you if you're right. Okay.

Speaker: It is, once again, about ah the the characters getting little.

Speaker: It's got General Zod in it. It's got General Zod and Kryptonian Lady. I forget her name. Is that is that Ursa?

Speaker: it's it is It is Scott McCloud and Rick Burchett. Boom. Crushed it. Gotcha. yeah Gotcha. Gotcha.

Speaker: ah I bet it's pretty good. I've definitely read it, because I've read all of Superman Adventures. um Oh, it's got it's got to Superman, T-A-S, Dan Turpin in here.

Speaker: Yeah, man. It's got Lois. it's got It's got all your faves. Yeah. It's got Dan Turpin, Lois Lane, Superman.

Speaker: ah Mala. Mala is her name. on That was her name on Superman the Animated Series. yeah ah And it's ah it's not Zod. It's Jaxer, I think.

Speaker: Oh, it's not Zod? Okay. I don't i mean like i know Zod is involved with this, but like there's you know it's there's three Kryptonian criminals.

Speaker: That's true. There's only two of them in this. ah So yeah, Jaxxer and Malar are really tiny, and then Superman gets tiny and fights him, and then Jaxxer gets really big, and then Superman stays tiny, and ah so there's a lot of size-changing stuff in here from Scott McCloud. There's Lois trying to spray the Kryptonians with bug spray.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. He also, um instead of using the machine that made him giant ah to make Mala big, Jaxor eats it so that he's the only one big.

Speaker: That's pretty good. Which is such a dick move. Yeah, man, it's... This is comics, baby.

Speaker: It is comics based on an animated TV show. Yeah. Superman ah flies into Jaxer's body and then just like beats him up from the inside. And gets the shrinking machine back.

Speaker: And he gets a little a little some little he gets ah Star Labs to build him a little a little suit of armor for his tiny body. Yeah. And then he hits him with the sh shrink ray and puts him in a little red sun cage.

Speaker: oh it's it's It's good, man. like I will say that the best Superman av Adventures books are the ones that Mark Miller wrote, by which I mean the ones that Graham Morrison secretly wrote.

Speaker: um But the Scott McCloud stuff, like if you... I like Zot, and I like Destroy. But if you kind of want to see Scott McCloud...

Speaker: in like like like you know putting theory into practice and just making fun comic books. Read that Superman Adventures run, man. Because it's comic books.

Speaker: And also, like i mean in the TV show, in the Superman animated TV show, Dan Turbin is just Jack Kirby, pretty much. But in this story, he is...

Speaker: in this story he is Jack Kirby. he's He's Jack Kirby as hell. The very last thing that happens is Superman says, oh, I did a lot, but i who I really admire are the heroes who don't have any powers, like Dan Turpin.

Speaker: And it ends with Dan Turpin saying, like yeah, you've got to look out for the little guy.

Speaker: i mean, come on. Good stuff. Yeah.

Speaker: ah i I like this comic. like you what you think we're saying you You feel okay ranking it? Oh yeah, i've definitely. like i've read I've read this entire run. Yeah. um let the podcast that i was I'm sorry that we're talking about wrestling so much, but the podcast that I listen to, they were doing like some WWE shows from 2009.

Speaker: and wait which Which podcast that you listen to? of The Attitude Era podcast, sorry. Okay, yeah. ah They were doing some shows from 2009, and one of the hosts ah just kept going, now this is a WWE match.

Speaker: Because it would be like John Cena vs. Randy Orton. And he was like, guys, now this, this is a WWE match. And it's like, that's very funny, but like when i when I read these Scott McCloud Superman images, I'm like, boy, this is comic books, isn't it?

Speaker: This is what they're like. Yeah, man. Comic-ass books. This is comic books right here. This is comics. um Check, check, check, check.

Speaker: Let's see. I don't think it's as good as...

Speaker: mean, it probably is as good as the JLA story where they get split into their superhero identities and their civilian identities. That's a 717. Okay. But, you know, I don't think it's as good as Batman Universe. That's a book I like a lot.

Speaker: it's Yeah, Batman Universe is good. And I don't think it's as good as the Majin Buu saga. But I think it is probably better than the first appearance of Squirrel Girl. So this is the new number 720. Yeah.

Speaker: Superman Adventures, numbers 7 through 8.

Speaker: it's It's called ah Creatures Great and Small.

Speaker: All Creatures Great and Small. Like the hymn, Matt. You remember that from the church. Yes, like the hymn.

Speaker: Okay. Let's take a backup from Greg since we couldn't do that Incredible Hulk issue.

Speaker: ah First is To Steal an Ant-Man from a Marvel Premiere number 47 to 48. You know i haven't read that.

Speaker: ah Let me see if I've read that. it I may have read it in like a reprint or something.

Speaker: Oh, this is the, this is, is this like the start of Scott Lang? ah sounds like it. I think this is like the first Scott Lang Ant-Man story.

Speaker: Which I do think I've read as a reprint before. It it is fine.

Speaker: Fine.

Speaker: ah It's David Michelinie with John Byrne and Bob Layton. You love all those guys.

Speaker: ah Yeah, I remember this story being fine. ah I've definitely read it. it has been a while. um Where would this have been reprinted?

Speaker: Maybe in like the Irredeemable Ant-Man run or something? I know it got reprinted somewhere.

Speaker: But like, you know, it's fine. It's it's the first Scott Lang Ant-Man story from 1979. It's got... ah

Speaker: what's that What's that big dude's name?

Speaker: think it's got Darren Cross in it.

Speaker: Uh, let's see.

Speaker: I'm trying to determine if I remember enough about this to rank it. like ah but But I think my... by oh Darren Cross is that big mutant guy that's Okay, that's Darren Cross.

Speaker: Um... Alright, I think I remember enough about this and am good enough on it to rank it. So I am going to rank it. I think it's going to be in quadruple digits, for sure.

Speaker: It ain't as good as Sensational She-Hulk number 50, which we have at number 1020.

Speaker: Okay. It ain't as good as Calvin Ball, which we have at 1050. Okay.

Speaker: 1100 is Scare Tactics from 1996. This is maybe the ballpark. ah Blood is the Harvest is at number 1101. Talk about Len Kaminsky's Scare Tactics?

Speaker: That is what I mean.

Speaker: Let's see.

Speaker: Number 1123 is Gotham by Gaslight. Magnus Robot Fighter is 1124.

Speaker: 1150 is Fantastic Four, number 66 through 67, him. Okay, this is exactly as good as him. The coming of him. Yes. Him?

Speaker: In fact, I think I'm... oh It's better than that Peanuts strip where Spike killed a rabbit, which we have at 1151. Okay.

Speaker: But is it better or worse than him?

Speaker: Man, that might be a coin flip. Him comes out of a big egg.

Speaker: I'm going to put it right below that. So I'm going to say this is the new number 1151. Okay. So not as good as him. Not quite as good as him.

Speaker: but but But right there. This is Marvel Premiere number 47 through 48.

Speaker: And the story is called... To steal an Ant-Man.

Speaker: And it is the story where Scott Lang becomes Ant-Man. So this is first to know Scott Lang? I believe so, yes. I believe so.

Speaker: Yes, it is it is his first appearance as Ant-Man. I don't know if he had appeared as Scott Lang before that. Oh, yes, he had. he had appeared in Avengers number 181 before that. Okay, well, I will delete that note. it's It's not first Scott Lang, but it is his origin as Ant-Man. Okay.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Our next list is from Jolene.

Speaker: And it starts with X-Men Annual No. 13, Dazzler and Diamondback do a body swap.

Speaker: Now that that sounds like I've read it.

Speaker: that's that I have to have read that. Now are we talking X-Men? It can't possibly be X-Men... 1991, because they don't have an annual number 13 for that series. No, this this has got to be... oh It's got to be Uncanny X-Men. It's got to be the Atlantis Attacks annual.

Speaker: That's annual number 13 for Uncanny X-Men. Okay.

Speaker: So it's...

Speaker: Yes, it's... italy like Yeah, okay. Atlantis Attacks, man! Here's what the Atlanteans' master plan was... Let's switch Diamondback and Dazzler's bodies.

Speaker: ah Not written by Chris Claremont, surprisingly. ah Written by Terry Austin, with art by Mike mike Vosberg. A noted Claremont collaborator.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah. some of that some of that Some of that rubs off.

Speaker: So this is this is Dazzler running around in Diamondback's body with purple hair. Strong look, honestly.

Speaker: Yeah, I've never read this, Chris, so this this one's going to be you. I have not either. oh you haven't? Okay. i thought I thought surely I have read this. I'm looking at... is all kinds of Australia years, man.

Speaker: I'm looking at this. This art is a rough. ah a Boy, oh boy. This art is not doing it for me.

Speaker: I gotta tell you.

Speaker: Not my thing. Alright. So we're going to have to shelve that one. Correct, Chris? Yes. Chris, next on Jolene's list, you have to admire Jolene's continued commitment to this.

Speaker: haven't read it. Catwoman number 54, Object Relations, a.k.a. The Diamond That Would Stay Stolen.

Speaker: one One day, bud. One day. One day it'll happen. Yeah. There may come a day, but it is not this day.

Speaker: Finally on Jolene's list is Batman 383, Just As Night Follows Day, in which Bruce just wants to go to bed. ah Can you give me that ah that issue number again, Matt? 383.

Speaker: I know, Coffee Cup.

Speaker: That a Doug Monch or Minch and Gene Colon with Alfred Alcala story.

Speaker: so So this would... oh this would not be part of Munch Squad. We were told how to say the name correctly. I think it is Minch.

Speaker: Minch Squad. Okay. This is from 85. Yeah, this is from the mid-80s. Is this just pre-crisis? This is mid-crisis. Oh, okay. Here in 1985. Yeah.

Speaker: oh okay ah here in nineteen eighty five um I don't think I've read this one. i do like the idea of us like of everything that we've talked about today. This is the one i am most likely to read because I do like the idea of Batman just wanting to go to bed. Because that is a Batman I can identify with.

Speaker: Batman's just real sleepy. He's just real sleepy. yeah can you imagine Could you imagine a Batman story being about this now? Yeah. I think they should do it. I think they're a little, honestly, I think they're a little too precious with Batman sometimes.

Speaker: Although having read that, like having read what I've read of the, the fraction run, i feel like we're very close to getting a Batman where we can just have, Hey man, I got, I got to go to bed.

Speaker: got to go to sleep. I'm real tired. I've been up for three days. Like I can see that happening.

Speaker: I long for the time when Batman could just be sleepy. Like, I really think that nowadays, like, it's it's just a rule at DC Comics of, like, Batman's always got to be vigilant and awake and on top of things.

Speaker: ah Like, we can't have an opening splash page where he's just, like, sitting in the Batcave stretching and yawning. i think you gotta have those every now and then, man. Like,

Speaker: Batman has to be a dude who has like a house and a dog. You know? Yeah. I mean, like even by the time you get to Nightfall, it's like, Batman's tired, but he just keeps going.

Speaker: Which is the the that's that's just the the brilliance of Bane's plan. Yeah. ah Hey, I know we've already talked about Nightfall a little bit, but like, God, I love that I love that Nightfall is predicated on the part where Bane realizes that Batman's weakness is that he won't stop being Batman.

Speaker: Like, if I break everybody out of Arkham Asylum, he's got to go catch them all. yeah And he's not going to be able to... And he won't stop. Yeah. He won't stop. And all I got to do at the end is come in and like beat him up.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. ah Brilliant. It's like, I feel like at the time, people made a lot of comparisons between Bane and Doomsday, but Bane was smart. Yeah, that's the thing. is like Bane has a plan, and it's a good plan.

Speaker: And like the the Venom is just kind of like the icing on the cake right for him, you know? like They're both big villains, but they could not be more different.

Speaker: Yeah. Couldn't be more different. Yeah. All right. There is a backup from... I do want to read this comic, though. ah Yes. it It seems like a fun single issue. It does seem like a fun single issue.

Speaker: ah Okay. what We do have a backup from Jolene, which is Batman Nightfall Part 3, Night's End, featuring Catwoman 12, the pivotal issue where Bruce actually returns as Batman.

Speaker: god god God bless you.

Speaker: God bless you for getting it. Working your plan, planning your work, getting in there, and like i putting Night's End in there. I'm sure the notion the idea of Jolene has here is that surely batman or surely Chris has read the issue where Bruce finally returns as Batman.

Speaker: I haven't. I've read every part of Night's End except the Catwoman issues. ah which has a a story by Joe Duffy and a script by Chuck Dixon.

Speaker: With pencils by Jim Ballard. Here's the problem, is you said a script by Chuck Dixon. I would have read this Joe Duffy book.

Speaker: I don't know, man. Night's End's kind of bad.

Speaker: Like... Night's End's kind of bad. It ends with Bruce and finally, like... staring down Jean-Paul Valley, Batman, and saying, I can't let you kill him.

Speaker: Yeah, man. It's got a bunch of weird, like, the positively, it's got a bunch of weird Asriel stuff where Asriel hallucinates Saint-Dumain and like is having a full breakdown.

Speaker: But, I don't know, man. i I do have to say, the talent's art in this issue is good. Look, Jim Ballant is a man who gave in to his impulse. i don't even want to say gave in.

Speaker: Embraced his is impulses. proclivities. His proclivities. Jim Ballant is someone who didn't want you to know, didn't want you to not know what he was into.

Speaker: And very but there is a moment, there's a level where I can respect that. But Jim Ballin's not bad. but There's some art of Batman in this issue that is straight up good.

Speaker: Yeah. No, Jim Ballin, not bad. I mean, this is also Jim Ballin-ing by Rick Burchett. That helps. That helps. That does help. But yeah, like, Jim Ballin's not a an incompetent artist.

Speaker: I do think by the time you get to Tarot, it's like... By the time you get to Tarot, he has fallen off a little bit and also is like... Well, it's – He's not – that's what not what he's there for.

Speaker: He's become idiosyncratic. Yes. In certain ways. like The draftsmanship is not there anymore. um It's here, though. like he These are like good sequential pages of art. I mean, that last that last page you talked about with Batman saying, I can't let you kill him.

Speaker: That Batman is a bit disproportionate. I mean, sure. But in a comic-y way. That man has shoulders like Taro's chest.

Speaker: They are big, bolder shoulders, for sure. Yeah. He likes them round and big. and And the the the... What do you call those like bits that ah that stick out from his gloves?

Speaker: ah His little little... I don't... know if they have a proper name. but yeah Little glove wings? Yeah. the the yeah the Little glove spikes. They're big. They're big.

Speaker: Ballant makes those real big. he He draws them like they're Wolverine's claws. He draws them like fucking Kelly Jones. Yes. They're very they're Kelly Jones size for sure. like Big ears also. like Jim Ballant doesn't draw anything small.

Speaker: That's true. Jim Ballant could have never drawn that issue about the Atom. You'd be like, well, how's he going to fit and how's he going to fit in Batman's head? All right.

Speaker: ah Jolene, yeah you great try, but but we're not going to do it. No, no, I've read Night's End. I have read this issue. You've read this issue? Yeah, I've read all of Night's End.

Speaker: Okay, we're going to rank all of Night's End. Yeah. it's I mean, it's definitely worse than Nightfall. It's definitely worse than Nightfall, just because it's like... Like, the most interesting stuff about it is not...

Speaker: I don't want to say it's not what it should be, but it's not what you want it to be, because it's not... The most interesting stuff about it is not Bruce's journey to coming back. Nor is it Jean-Paul Valley's kind of, like, you know...

Speaker: like, John Walker failure to be Batman. You know? it The most interesting stuff about it is is John Paul Valley halluc like hallucinating Saint-Dumas.

Speaker: Right, but, like, it it does lose something after reading The Groonies. Because of how derivative it is to the John Walker Captain America stuff. Yeah, like, specifically derivative of that.

Speaker: Yeah. Like, i

Speaker: I mean, like, i don't... Night's End is better than Night Quest. I think. Wait, no. Night Quest is better than Night's End. But... it's It's just like, I mean It ends up just being Jean-Paul Valley and Bruce Wayne like have ah have a fight to decide who's going to be Batman.

Speaker: and And Bruce wins. i i I remember Knight's Quest just like kind of dragging on. Yeah. like Knight's Quest is too long.

Speaker: Knight's End is shorter. Knight's End is shorter and still quite long. And still quite long. Yeah, because it has to run through every fucking book. Yeah. um But...

Speaker: Like... night quote Night's End ends with Jean-Paul Vallee just going, damn, I guess you are Batman. And then that's kind of it, and that's not... Like, I don't want to ascribe motivations.

Speaker: And I don't want to like speak for someone who's not here. But it does feel like... Like, Denny O'Neill knew he wanted to write Asriel for another hundred issues.

Speaker: And so most of the stuff that would have been interesting in ah Night's End is kind of interesting in Asriel, but not as interesting as it would have been in Night's End.

Speaker: like Like, the Asriel solo book goes weird places, dude. Like, it gets wild. But...

Speaker: Yeah, like it it it definitely suffers by comparison Captain America, which would have been you know like several years before this.

Speaker: Like five or six years earlier. Yeah. yeah And i think it suffers from having been spread out over six monthly titles.

Speaker: And then it doesn't even end with Night's End, because you get Prodigal. Let's see. You had Batman, Shadow of the Bat, Detective, Legends of the Dark Knight, Robin. The four Batman titles, plus you had Catwoman and a Robin.

Speaker: Yeah, the four Batman titles plus Catwoman and Robin. Legends of the Dark Knight got pulled into it. Yeah. And then you had um like fucking Showcase at some point.

Speaker: Yes, you also had Showcase in there sometimes. Yeah. so It's a lot. It's a lot to keep up with. It's a lot. Like, I don't... I don't know how they could have done it better, but I know that they could have done it better.

Speaker: I think that is fair. yeah Like and you know like like we said, like the first like Nightfall is smart.

Speaker: It's a smart story about a smart villain who... like If you want to compare somebody from this... to Doomsday, it is unfortunately kind of Jean-Paul Vallee after he becomes Batman. Yeah, because like the big fight is kind of nothing.

Speaker: like The big Superman and Doomsday fight is kind of nothing. Yeah, and that is also true. by like like There's not a lot of deep philosophy or...

Speaker: ah there's There's not much to the the philosophical battle between Batman and John Paul Valley. It's just like, hey, don't kill that guy, but I want to. Yeah, and unlike the John Walker stuff, it's not that these are these are two guys who have you know who are coming to this from radically different places, and one guy is Steve Rogers, who's like the perfect man, and one guy is John Walker, who is incredibly flawed.

Speaker: but like you know thinks he can do it. like Jean-Paul Vallée got brainwashed by a cult, and so he's going around hallucinating Saint-Dumain.

Speaker: Jean-Paul Vallée doesn't have a character flaw. Jean-Paul Vallée has been computer-programmed by a guy who looks like a D&D monster.

Speaker: to yeah To murder people with a flaming sword. yeah John Paul Valley is a character flaw. Yeah, like, it's... Like, he's made to be... Like, I mean, you know, it's... it's I guess it's the whole, like... I think we've talked about this before.

Speaker: Like... he he's he's the answer to the question, well, why doesn't Batman kill the Joker? right like it He's the editorial answer to, well, here's why here's why we don't make Batman kill people.

Speaker: Because that wouldn't be fun. And like logically, like i feel like Nightfall works in a way that the others don't, because logically, none of it should happen. Because logically, it should be Dick.

Speaker: Like, I know that, like, he's his own man, and he's Nightwing, and he's doing stuff, but, like, it should be Dick. And it ends up being Dick in Prodigal. And so, like, if you skip directly from Nightfall to Prodigal, you don't miss anything.

Speaker: The only thing you miss is Bruce getting his ah back magically fixed by Chandra Kinsolving, which is bad. Well, the way Chandra Kinsolving is treated as a character is bad.

Speaker: yeah Which, i will say I will say, having said that, Night Quest is worse than Night's End. Because the Chandrakin solving stuff is bad. Is in Night Quest. That's in Night Quest, yeah. like it When we join Night's End, Bruce is wearing his weird like actual bat ninja costume and hanging out with Lady Shiva.

Speaker: There is an issue in knight's quest or in Night's End called Too Many Ninjas, and I cannot hate that. No, no. it's Look, I've read it. I don't regret reading it.

Speaker: But the whole time you're like, man, this should be something. It should be more than it is. Yeah. Like, there should be more of a...

Speaker: to To go back to the John Walker comparison of it all, Jean-Paul Valley as Batman should be more than a straw man. Yes. Yeah. Where's that where's that issue where where John Walker throws a pitchfork through a man? Yeah.

Speaker: You know? Yeah. like because Because you'd think that would be the one where Jean-Paul Vallée fights Bane. And it's not. it's just that It's just that he's stronger and has fucking robot suit with Wolverine claws.

Speaker: And he just beats up Bane. And that sucks. And it sucks because, like, again... bain's been like The whole deal with Bane is he has a plan, and he has the perfect plan, and it works.

Speaker: And don't know, man. Night Quest, I'm going to say, is worse. Night's End is actually not as bad as Night Quest. i'll I'll tell you this, though. Night's End also has, like that Power Man and Iron Fist issue, an issue where, um in the middle of a fight, a character's costume turns from blue to red.

Speaker: Yes. And and like with with Iron Fist, you're like, oh, that's because of the mystical energies of ah of Shenlong the Dragon. um And in Night's End, it's just like, it just turns red.

Speaker: He's not Batman anymore. It just turns red because he's going to red in Asriel. he he He lost the fight to be Batman, so he's not blue anymore. It's like he painted his costume red and then put very flammable blue paint on top of it.

Speaker: And then he got into a fight and caught on fire. Yeah. So it turned red. Yeah. Alright, so where does this go? Where does Knight's End go on the list? Did we say enough nice things about that Catwoman issue?

Speaker: I think we did. i mean i think we did, yeah. i do Look, some very admirable and very well-drafted Jim Ballant art.

Speaker: Yeah, don't want to say too much nice about it because it is Chuck Dixon book. Yeah. um Night Quest is at number 1485 on the list. Night Quest is pretty bad. Nightfall is at 855. Yeah, Nightfall is good, actually. Nightfall is good, actually.

Speaker: I think we're looking somewhere probably in the 11 or 1200s. I would read Night's End again before I read The Phalanx Covenant.

Speaker: Alright. At least this got Batman in it. You know? Fair. I think it's... Where do you think it ranks compared to the 2014 Charles Soul She-Hulk?

Speaker: ah That is interesting.

Speaker: There's probably more that i like than i more that I like in the Charles Soul She-Hulk, but I think it is similarly not quite what you want.

Speaker: That Captain America story kind of a mess. Yeah. Yeah. it It bugged me. It bugged me. It... Yeah. It's... the I'll say it.

Speaker: Weirdly comparable. Yeah.

Speaker: Uh... So I think it could go in that region. I don't think it's as good as X-Men Mutant Genesis. Yeah. Which is at 1243. Union Genesis has Omega Red's dick in it.

Speaker: It most assuredly does. Yeah. ah So I think it's... ah put it I would put it below Akewood Goths.

Speaker: Okay. Because that's got the Bela Lugosi's dead copies in it.

Speaker: And the dance. Uh-huh. What did you say, Matt? And the dance. And the dance. The gothic dance, yeah. Yeah. And I would put it above 1963, because Night's End did end.

Speaker: Okay, so this would make it the new number 1245. Yeah.

Speaker: Batman, Night's End. And I'm just going to put in parentheses seven books. Featuring Catwoman. Yeah. ah Jolene, you got one in there.

Speaker: You got it. You did it. Congratulations to you.

Speaker: ah You did it. All right. How much time do we have left? We only have about 10 minutes left. Okay. We can start the next list. Once you cut out all of the ah all of the Coffee cup appearances.

Speaker: Oh, I'm not cutting out anything. Not even that three-minute silence? I will cut that out. So okay we have maybe 15 minutes left. okay ah This list is from Ryan Bielek.

Speaker: And these are some submissions from Spider-Man The Gauntlet. So I've definitely read all of these. Okay. Okay. no it well Wait, is Spider-Man The Gauntlet not one story?

Speaker: Oh, yeah, that's a good point. oh No, we we did determine. We determined when previous stuff from the Gauntlet got submitted that they are they are separate.

Speaker: Okay, okay. because he Because it is several stories of Spider-Man fighting all of his bad guys back to back to back. Yeah, I mean, it's – Kind like Nightfall. It's Spider-Man's Nightfall. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: it It really is. It's the Nightfall of Spider-Man. Yes. ah the the all of those All of those Cravens are sending all the villains after him so they can do the grim hunt.

Speaker: That's right. They sure did. Yep. All right. First from Ryan is Power to the People from Amazing Spider-Man number 612 to 614 by Mark Waid and Paul Azaceta.

Speaker: in which Electro's powers start to have issues, and he targets Dexter Bennett and the DB building. Remember Dexter Bennett? Boy, you remember Dexter Bennett and the DB?

Speaker: hell yeah, I do. You know I remember Dexter Bennett and the DB. Those were good times. What's the numbers on that? They are 612 to 614. twelve to six fourteen hoof Man, those were good comics, dude. Those were good comics. Those Brand New Day Spider-Man comics were good. that Okay, this is the first story from The Gauntlet. Yeah, what a fucking cover.

Speaker: Yeah, great cover. Yeah. um What a great looking comic, man. Paul Asgheta. poof Very of the time, I feel like.

Speaker: like This is what comic covers looked like in 20... twenty This would have been 2010, maybe? 2011?

Speaker: Seems like it. Yeah. um

Speaker: Yeah, this story's good. this story this like I don't have like the best member memory of it. Oh, ah this is this this is... Okay.

Speaker: This is when Electro had... like um He lost his like headpiece because people thought it looked stupid. And yeah yeah he had kind of what Wolverine's hair has, where he had scars on his face that were exactly like the mask that he wore.

Speaker: yeah I mean, that was very much a thing in the 2000s and 2010s in comic books, where like... Oh, a character a character wearing a mask or a thing on their head that looks like a thing. That's stupid. But if they have a scar on their face that looks like a thing, that's cool. Having bullseye.

Speaker: Yeah. Having bullseye. Having an electro.

Speaker: I'm sure we can think of other examples. I'm sure there are other examples. What if Wolverine's hair was just scar tissue? That would be gross. That would be gross. That be gross and nasty, and I'm sorry I said it.

Speaker: This is a story where um I think it's like after jonah J. Jonah Jameson becomes mayor. So he's already like starting to turn people against Spider-Man.

Speaker: um And Electro takes that even further. like he like There's like a mob of people as Spider-Man is fighting Electro, and he's like telling them that Spider-Man is not actually on their side. And so they all turn against him.

Speaker: And then, yeah, he goes after Dexter Bennett and the DB, ah which, which was what the daily bugle became ah after, after Dexter Bennett bought it, f the db after Jonah became mayor.

Speaker: ah Or I guess he but turned it into a DB and then Jonah was like, I got to do something else with my life. And he ran for mayor. Yeah. um

Speaker: But it ends with Spider-Man and Jonah like joining forces to save Dexter. And then the whole DB building collapses.

Speaker: Bummer. Yeah. ah Because of ka all that shit Electro did. Yeah, man. elect Electro. he did He did all that electric shit. Yeah. Do you think a Electro ever like was doing a crime?

Speaker: And they were like, who are you? And he went, I am Electric Head. Have you ever done that? I mean, no but um it would be cool if he did.

Speaker: It would be cool if he did. I can't remember what it was that made Electro so mad at Dexter Bennett. You know, he's Electro, he's mad.

Speaker: I don't think I've read this. This looks good, though. oh Oh, this is a very post-2008 financial crisis story. Did Electro lose a lot of money on subprime loans? ah he yet Well, he he's not doing well financially, and he's mad that the federal government bailed out the DB.

Speaker: Which is high fiction that the federal government would do anything to help a newspaper.

Speaker: I mean, maybe not a newspaper, but Matt, about the DB. We're talking about the DB. DB was like a website, I think. Was it supposed to be kind of like TMZ? It was like, I mean, I think it was...

Speaker: i i I know they had a website.

Speaker: Yeah. yeah And they had like video, online video. They did pivot to video. They pivoted to video. that That's 2011. That's twenty eleven um when it all started to go wrong.

Speaker: Yeah. But yeah, like ah I think some of that federal money got funneled to the Mad Thinker, which made Electro's powers go go nuts.

Speaker: um But it's like, you know, it it some of that stuff is irrelevant, right? it It is like ultimately a very fun story, though, with good art.

Speaker: um like the the last or One of the last pages is just like after the DB filled building, which was the Daily Bugle building, collapses. It's just like one long panel in the middle surrounded by black of Jonah just looking up.

Speaker: at the building falling, falling down. Do you think, um, Dr. Doom and the Kingpin showed up for that one? I don't think so. I, I, I don't think, uh, I don't think, mean, it's reminiscent of nine 11, but, uh, I mean, the page where the, the DB falls down is very reminiscent of nine 11. Yeah.

Speaker: Uh, this is a good story. This is a good story. It's, it's a good way to kick off the gauntlet.

Speaker: Uh, all'll you but Let's see. I think it might be in like the 800s.

Speaker: Like, I think it's better than the first appearance of the Punisher. Really? Okay. I mean, would you not say so? Yeah, probably.

Speaker: That's the number 839. The first appearance Punisher, we talked about that. First of all, that story has a nasty freak in it. It sure does, yeah. like I like it better than New Ways to Die. We have that at 835. Okay. I

Speaker: um i like it better than the first appearance of Venom, or Spider-Man 300, the Venom story. Of course you do.

Speaker: Yeah, of course I do.

Speaker: I mean... Okay, but it is not better than Buddy meeting Grant in Animal Man. What number that? That's at 815. Okay. Okay, so we're looking between 815 and 833.

Speaker: I don't think it's better than the Wednesday Comics Supergirl story. we' got We've got, in that narrow little field, we've got like three Wednesday Comics stories.

Speaker: Yeah. Flash, Supergirl, and Hawkman. Those were the very good Wednesday Comics stories. Yeah. weird that Hawkman's the lowest ranked of them, but that Supergirl story was good.

Speaker: Okay, I don't think it's better than the Salem origin from chile Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. That's a good comic. That's a good single issue. But I do think it's better than Blades and Lasers.

Speaker: I mean, by what by what measure? You know?

Speaker: ah That would make it the new number 829.

Speaker: okay So that is Amazing Spider-Man numbers.

Speaker: What numbers? 612 to 614. Is there a title to that story? or I'm just calling it The Gauntlet Electro.

Speaker: Yeah, I mean, that's really what it is. It's it's just Electro's part of the gauntlet. what are the What are the issue numbers? because it's ah It's a three-parter? 612 to 614.

Speaker: yeah it is it is a three-parter.

Speaker: Power to the people is what it's called. Power to the people.

Speaker: The gauntlet. I am a metric head. Next on the list from... Ryan, is Kimia's Castle, Amazing Spider-Man number 615 and 616 by Fred Van Linty and Javier Pulido, in which Sandman begins splitting into multiple bodies and kinmats the girl that he thinks is his daughter. That's the best story in the gauntlet.

Speaker: That's not surprising. That one is really fucking good.

Speaker: Like... Like, ah really, the gauntlet was just an excuse to do some Spider-Man stories with, like, the classic bad guys. Mm-hmm. And some of them are better than others, but um the one about Sandman, this one, it's drawn by Javier Pulido. Yeah, and this is the this is the story where there's that panel Spider-Men swinging through the snow with the scarf on.

Speaker: Yes. Yeah, that's good stuff. Yeah. um I mean, and he makes a parachute out of his webs. He's wearing this scarf and a hat and little... like little ah Ankle warmers.

Speaker: And also, like yeah, like Sandman um has... it's It's a very like good modern Sandman story in that he is he is back to being a bad guy, but he has like genuine, heartfelt um ah family reasons for...

Speaker: for being, for doing crimes. Like, cause he adopts this little girl named Kimia and like, Spider-Man is like, um, she's, he's, she's not your daughter.

Speaker: Right. So I have to take her back. Um, and, and, you know, probably take her to like, you know, child protective services, And Sandman is like, no, no, i've but I've adopted her. She's my daughter. And Kimia wants to stay with him.

Speaker: um And even by the end of the story, she's like, oh, Sandman's coming back for me. Yeah. um It's really good. I like the part where Sandman, like all the different Sandsmans show up.

Speaker: And one of them is wearing his ah Jack Kirby costume. Yeah. And he's the only one who's not wearing like a, like, the striped shirt and brown pants. Yeah.

Speaker: That's very funny. With the, the, the Jack Kirby costume with the mask. Yeah. And, and the like weird, like sunburst like thing around his neck and all of that. Yeah. What a good looking comic.

Speaker: Yeah. Like, like I, you know, like we don't always go for like, um, ah superhero comics that have a lot of kind of moral gray area to them necessarily.

Speaker: and this one is definitely one of those. Cause like this little girl, Kimia has been missing. Like she's there, are like posters around town that says she's missing.

Speaker: and she's been reported as missing, but she's also an orphan and not in a legal way, but Sandman has like essentially adopted her.

Speaker: And, like Spider-Man believes himself to be in the right to like rescue her from him, but she wants to be with Sandman. And like likes the time that she spends with him.

Speaker: um And he is like actually like a parental figure for her. And so Spider-Man does finally like rescue her, but like it's not what she wants.

Speaker: Right. um And so it's man, it's, it's good. Like, and, and, but you know, Peter feels guilty about it, but because of course word.

Speaker: um And like, he like tries to hand her off to glory grant and she doesn't want to go.

Speaker: it, there's even a part where it's like, or glory's like, I'm sorry, Spider-Man, but like, what did you think was going to happen?

Speaker: Um, cause she, cause she goes into the system. She, she gets put into like child protective services. I feel like more people should ask Spider-Man that at all times.

Speaker: Yes. Like, yeah, Spidey, what did you think was going to happen? Yeah. When you did this? Uh, this is a really good one. Uh, I would put it definitely above the previous story, the Electro story.

Speaker: Um,

Speaker: Let's see. 650 is Loki, Agent of Asgard. That's pretty good. 654 is World War or Hulk. I don't think it's above that.

Speaker: Okay, 657 is the story where the lizard ate a boy. It's a good story. it's a bad That's a bad thing to do. That is another story in the gauntlet, actually.

Speaker: Is shit in the gauntlet? I... oh Maybe it's not in the gauntlet. It's pretty close. It happens pretty close to the gauntlet. ah But maybe it's not maybe it's not actually in the gauntlet.

Speaker: ah So i can I can maintain my assertion that this this story about Sandman is the best story in the gauntlet. Yeah, because cause shit? Look, there's a bad thing that happens in it, but it's a good story. And it's a good story about, again...

Speaker: A very bad thing. We do not endorse the events of the story, but we do endorse the story. Oh, no. Shed was part of the gauntlet, because it came just before the Grim Hunt.

Speaker: Hmm. That hunt must have been pretty grim. Yeah, it doesn't have ah the gauntlet on the cover, but it's definitely part of the gauntlet. If you're going to use the word grim to describe something, and...

Speaker: Like, to describe something that happens in a story, and also the events of Shed happen in a story, and that's not what you call grim? That hunt better be real grim. With that in mind, i will rescind this being the best story in the gauntlet. Because, as we've said before, Shed is good, actually.

Speaker: Shed's real good. Yeah. um But I think this is not too far below shed

Speaker: Let's see. I think that I would put this above Thanos Quest, which is at 681. Dang. Okay. ah But I don't know that I would put it above Multiversity 1 and 2 or Batman and Robin Adventures Christmas Riddle.

Speaker: Oh, that makes sense. So I think this is the new number 681.

Speaker: That's amazing Spider-Man number six, 15 and six, 16.

Speaker: Kimia's castle.

Speaker: The gauntlet.

Speaker: All right. We're going to finish this list from Ryan and then we'll be done. Uh, Finally on Ryan's list is Something Can Stop the Juggernaut from a Amazing Spider-Man number 627 to 629 by Roger Stern and Lee Weeks, in which Spider-Man has to protect Juggernaut from a new Captain Universe.

Speaker: Captain Universe? Yeah, man. The hero who could be you? The hero who could be you. Damn. Now that. e I have to admit, i've I've definitely read these issues. I've definitely read this story.

Speaker: I do not remember it. this still part of Grim Hunt? This is part of the gauntlet, yeah. Okay. um Because it directly precedes the Grim Hunt.

Speaker: Let's see. It's Roger Stern, so it's – Roger Stern, great. i I have to admit that of of the three stories just we've been given here – I remember this the least. I do remember this like big splash page of Captain Universe ah approaching Spider-Man.

Speaker: Who was the Captain Universe in this story? well Matt, he could be you. He could be you. um You wouldn't be drawn by late weeks, though. For a while, um Spider-Man was Captain Universe.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: I wish I had gotten that comic that Marvel would make where where you were Captain Universe. Things to advertise back in the 90s. God, I wish I had gotten that.

Speaker: I wish I had been Captain Universe.

Speaker: ah So yeah, like this Captain Universe has like this big vendetta against the Juggernaut, and it's like, I'm going to make you suffer like you made me suffer. And so Spider-Man is actually protecting Juggernaut throughout this, um you know in a big role reversal of the classic, nothing can stop the Juggernaut.

Speaker: I will leave you as you left me all those years ago on Seti Alpha 6. Yes. Married alive.

Speaker: Uh...

Speaker: guess this I guess this Captain Universe is just like a guy. Yeah, his name William Wynn. William Wynn, yeah. And then eventually Juggernaut gets the Captain Universe powers.

Speaker: ah That seems like bad news. that' That is pretty bad news. When you get the powers of Sidorak and Captain Universe, the hero that could be you.

Speaker: But he his... ah he He ended up he ends up telling William Wynn, like, hey, okay, I did you wrong. You can kill me if you want to.

Speaker: And

Speaker: Spider-Man's like, no, Kane, don't do that. And he apologizes to the kid. And then the Captain Universe powers just, like, go away from him.

Speaker: ah And then what William Wynn writes a book about the Juggernaut. This one is just okay.

Speaker: Love Roger Cern, this story is just okay. Alright, pick a spot. um It's the lowest of the three we've done so far. Okay.

Speaker: Probably in like the eleven hundreds maybe.

Speaker: Let's see. It ain't as good as Spider-Man Big Time. That's at 11 nice.

Speaker: But it's probably better than Punisher number 14, Social Studies. Oh, you're about the one where um where the Punisher does a class of 1984? Okay, maybe it's not. flash oh Slash of the Substitute?

Speaker: We've raked this. have we It is at number 1193 right now. Wow, you you called that one, bud. And I went right there. I went right to that section of list. You went exactly there? Yeah.

Speaker: Amazing. i don't I don't know how we'd already ranked this one, but we'd already ranked it. Well, I assume someone sent it in. i Must be. And ah and we it finish up the episode talking about a story we've already ranked for a while. It's like that sometimes, man. It do be like that sometimes. Yeah.

Speaker: So that's the end of of this Every Story Ever special. If you would like to send in an Every Story Ever list for us, ah you can do it at our email address, which is warrocketpodcast at gmail.com.

Speaker: You get a much better chance of getting your list read on the show. You may have heard me say earlier that we were doing lists from around the spring of 2024. Yeah.

Speaker: um those are lists from line steppers who are at the $10 level on our Patreon. So if you want to have really any chance of getting your every story ever list read on the show, um you kind of have to be a line stepper on our Patreon. um It's patreon.com slash warrockethx. If you pay us $10 a month at that level, you can become a line stepper and guarantee that

Speaker: Your list gets read on the show. Clearly, we have a pretty big backlog, if even those. um But um that is that is the way to make sure that you get a list on the show, and you can get entries into the other stuff um that we do on the regular weekly War Rocket Ajax show, like 1 to 10 of Swords.

Speaker: So um if you if you can't do the $10 level, though, you can help us out at the $5 level or even a single dollar a month on our Patreon. And that would help us out a lot. And you get cool stuff. You get ad-free episodes of all of our shows and bonus content and all of that. So ah go to our Patreon and help us out if you can.

Speaker: Our website is warrocketajax.com. It has every us episode of the show. WarRocketWiki.com has all the info you could want or need to know about this show, WarRocket Ajax.

Speaker: ah Let's see. You can follow us on Tumblr and get in touch with us on Tumblr, WarRocketPodcast.tumblr.com. We're on BlueSky, WarRocketAjax.com there. And we have a Discord. You have to be invited to be a member of our Discord, but if you ask us nicely for an invitation, we will get you one, and you can join over there and be part of that community, which is a cool place.

Speaker: If you want to find me and my stuff, go to mattdwilson.net to find links to my comics, my books, my other podcasts, and my social medias. Chris, where can people find you? Everybody can go to the-isb.com. That is my website. It's got links to things that I've written and podcasts that I do, and even a link where you can hire me to write for you.

Speaker: And you should. And you should. i agree.

Speaker: We'll be back in March with another Every Story Ever special. Yeah, and and we'll also be back on Monday with a new episode of our show that we do every week that you can listen to. if you Yeah, listen to it. If you haven't listened to it.

Speaker: And also, we went 15 minutes over, two hours, this episode. Just add up in a crew and we'll make up for the January episode that way.

Speaker: Okay? Matt, I'm not going to lie. going to be trying to get out of here at like 1.45 next time. Okay. Bye, everybody. Bye, everybody. Forever, forever, forever, ever, ever, ever.

Speaker: Yes! From this day on, let every breed of mongrel live together.