PEOPLE WITH ISSUES Episode 27

I'm guesting on the latest episode of People with Issues, discussing comics with Mr. McGroovy. Amongst the topics are Blade Runner by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson, Fantastic Four Pocket Book and Hulk Pocket book by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Hate by Peter Bagge, Justice League by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, Spleenal by Nigel Auchterlounie, and Star Wars Weekly! Have a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QezxzLHCZ8k

THAT COMIC SMELL: Justice League International Volume 6

The latest podcast is online now. Discussing Justice League America issues 31-35, and Justice League Europe issues 7-11. These were collected as Justice League International Volume 6.

From the website:

"We have been doing a Justice League International chat across a number of episodes and years now, selecting issues that make up the collected volumes but now we have come to the end of those collections with this final volume. That doesn’t mean we will be stopping OUR JLI volumes though. From now on we will just be covering what issues we think would make up the next collection.

For now though, this episode is our continuation of Keith Giffen, J.M. Dematteis (Justice League America #31-35), Bart Sears & Adam Hughes (Justice League Europe #7-11) JLI series or the “BWAHAHA” Justice League as people now seem to know it. Kevin McGuire had long dropped off by this point having now even stopped on covers but will make one or two appearances in the future.

This continues to be a source of pure joy and we really can’t wait to keep talking about these for years to come. This “JLI book club” is one of our favourite topics to do here on the pod and we hope you enjoy it.

This and all the usual comics chat on…

That Comic Smell!"

Have a listen here.

THAT COMIC SMELL: Justice League International Volume 5

The new episode is online now. A return to discussing Justice League International.

From the website:

"Guess who’s back with a brand new plan of attack?!

Yes! The TCS crew are all back together in the same space. We got a really nice day weather wise so took the chance to sit outside and catch up with our favourite DC superhero squad. We are back chatting about the Justice League! In this JLI Vol.5 conversation we sift through the next collected volume whilst also admiring the single issues we each have, from different parts of the world as well. We compare the printing, colouring, different editorials/collections over the decades and of course (most importantly) the smell.

It was so great to sit down and just have the band back together chatting comics again.

We really hope you enjoy, as much as we do…

That Comic Smell!

Follow us on Twitter & Instagram @thatcomicsmell

Get us on…

Soundcloud: tinyurl.com/y8vzeh3c

Spotify: tinyurl.com/y2qtu2cs

YouTube: tinyurl.com/yajnxcno

Apple Podcasts: tinyurl.com/hwbqxab

Podbean: tinyurl.com/yxvecykj

and most places you find podcasts."

THAT COMIC SMELL: Captain America

The new episode is online now.

From the website:

"This time we tackle a very special 80th anniversary of a Joe Simon and Jack ‘The King’ Kirby creation. Yes! It’s CAPTAIN AMERICA!!

We dive into our recollections, past issues, what we still have, what we thought of them and the character and so much more.

We also answer those burning questions that listeners had for us on social media before we started recording.

This and all the usual comics chat on…

That Comic Smell!

Follow us on Twitter & Instagram @thatcomicsmell

Get us on…

Soundcloud: tinyurl.com/y8vzeh3c

Spotify: tinyurl.com/y2qtu2cs

YouTube: tinyurl.com/yajnxcno

Apple Podcasts: tinyurl.com/hwbqxab

Podbean: tinyurl.com/yxvecykj

and most places you find podcasts.

Captain America #414 (Mark Gruenwald, Rik Levins)

Avengers Unconquered (Brian Michael Bendis, Alan Davis)

Avengers Unconquered #7 [Civil War] (Mark Millar, Steven McNiven)

Mighty World Of Marvel #80 (Fabian Nicieza, Tom Grummett)

Marvel Legends #31&32 [Civil War aftermath] (Christos N. Gage, Jeremy Haun)

Captain America & Falcon #213 (Jack Kirby)

Captain America #200 (Jack Kirby)

Captain America Weekly (John Byrne)

Captain America #305 (Mike Carlin, Paul Neary)

Daredevil #233 (Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli)

Truth: Red, White and Black (Kyle Baker, Robert Morales)

Justice League America #47 (Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis)

Fighting American (Joe Simon, Jack Kirby)

Captain America #110&111&113 (Jim Steranko, Stan Lee)

Captain America and The Falcon (Jack Kirby)

Captain America #247-255 (Roger Stern, John Byrne)

Captain America #274 (J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck)

Captain America #286 (J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck)

Captain America Annual #8 (J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck)

Captain America #1 - 21 (Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Steve Epting, Mike Perkins)

Marvel Vault

Secret Wars"

THAT COMIC SMELL: Justice League International Vol.4

The latest episode is online now, where we discuss Justice League International volume 4 - or as I prefer it, Justice League issues 23 to 30.

Yes, the thorny issue which first reared its head with volume two - that of whether these comics function well as book collections - comes up once again.

There is also a short discussion on Columbo, and why it's among the best TV shows ever made.

First though, I make good on numerous promises I made to bring in comics which were previously discussed.


Follow us on Twitter & Instagram @thatcomicsmell
Get us on…
Soundcloud: tinyurl.com/y8vzeh3c
Spotify: tinyurl.com/y2qtu2cs
YouTube: tinyurl.com/yajnxcno
Apple Podcasts: tinyurl.com/hwbqxab
Podbean: tinyurl.com/yxvecykj
and most places you find podcasts.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL

In amongst all the revamped DC Comics, there is a series of one-shots called Retroactive, giving popular creators of the past another bash at the characters they've previously worked on.
I was delighted to see that Keith Giffen, J.M.DeMatties and Kevin Maguire have done another issue of Justice League International.
I really liked this series during its 1987-1992 run, and also the follow-ups Formerly Known as The Justice League in 2003, and I Can't Believe it's not the Justice League in 2005.
Unlike those latter two series which updated the storyline to the present day, this new issue takes place during the original storyline. It's a blast.
Personally I never tire of this trio's work. I was gutted when it finished in 1992, and have lapped up every revamp since. This issue was good too. Giffen's plots and situations are imaginative, clever and quite ludicrous at times. DeMatteis is very witty and keeps all the individuals in character. Maguire is a classy superhero artist.
The funny thing this go around is the computer colouring (as with the recent Ditko Hulk book). It just swamps the line art in my opinion. I guess I'm old fashioned and I want flat colours!

JUSTICE LEAGUE INVERTED

I’ve been sick all week. In-between shaking, coughing, headaches and the rest, I’ve been lying in bed reading some Justice Leagues from the late 80s.

The trend for revamps really got going in the late eighties. Monthly comics that had been regularly running since the '30s were renumbered, starting again from #1. The companies like doing this as there is always a sales spike with a new number one as readers pick it up to be in at the start of something new. I recall John Byrne taking over Superman with a new number 1 (after Alan Moore and Curt Swan’s enjoyable two-part “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” in Superman #423 and Action Comics#583). Byrne’s book looked pretty mundane to me, but this revamped Justice League series looked good.

The cover sat on the shelf, the team looked tough and confident and a bit threatening. Anyway it was enough to make me pay up 40p in John Menzies. When I got it home I really enjoyed it. Plotter/layout artist Keith Giffen was a writer I’d enjoyed before on his Ambush Bug comics. I thought scripter J.M.DeMatteis was worth watching too, as he’d written the Kraven’s Last Hunt story for Spider-Man a year or so before. I viewed that as a take-off on Frank Miller, in that it dropped the thought balloons and put loads of disjointed stream of consciousness into boxes instead. Justice League #1 was the first time I’d seen penciller Kevin Maguire’s art too, and I really liked his work. The Justice League comic went on to be a consistently good comic for the next five years.

So. In issue 23, January 1989, the story ends with Green Lantern (Guy Gardner) and Mister Miracle (Scott Free) arguing, and an “atmospheric inversion” taking place – portrayed by printing the artwork in negative:

It was an intriguing way to end an issue. I always thought it would be good to see the art as it must have been drawn though. Eleven years later I got a scanner at home and thought about doing this every so often. And now ten years on, an enforced time-out has given me the impetus to do this:

Seeing those images at last has tickled me!

PS. I still don’t know what “the deadly secret of the atmospheric inversion” was. You’ll note it says “Revealed in Invasion Book Three (on sale now)”. I refused to buy any of these tie-in issues on principle – and due to budgetary reasons. The next issue of Justice League started with another story entirely.