The Death-Defying Human FlyCast #2 – Race to Destruction!

In this episode, your host Max is joined by very special guest, Steve Givens! Max and Steve discuss the second issue of The Human Fly, and get into all sorts of twisty canyons and spike-filled deserts! Come along as the Fly tries to survive a death race, Ghost Rider makes an appearance, and a broken man gets his life back! Also on track, Steve and Max will talk about secret identities, inner and outer conflict, and how writer Bill Mantlo made The Human Fly's own Woodward & Bernstein so dang hot!

Let's get wild!

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Opening theme: “Human Fly” by The Cramps
Closing music: “Motorcycle (Straight to Hell)" by Table Scraps

14 responses to “The Death-Defying Human FlyCast #2 – Race to Destruction!

  1. Thinking about your comment about a hero whose identity is completely secret, even from the readers. The only one I could think of was Shadowhawk, the Image character from the early 90s. But even then, that was more of a plot device than anything and got completely revealed in the second mini-series, i.e. within a year of the character’s introduction, so definitely not what you asked for.

    As for your idea that a modern Human Fly with some sort of passive power that draws him to where there’s danger, I’m really digging it. He’d be kinda like Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap, trying to fix wrongs. Or even more like Leonard Nimoy in The Simpsons. “Wherever there is mystery and the unexplained, cosmic forces shall draw me near.”

  2. Max, haven’t listened yet, but I’m looking forward to it. I just wanted to let you know that the “Leave your comments” link on the gallery page is opening the Human Flycast #1 page, not #2.

  3. Great show Max and Steven! Some interesting tangents here, like the Dungeons & Dragons animated series. I agree, it had no business being that good! From the few episodes I’ve seen as an adult, that one still actually holds up, and is as “grown-up” as I recalled from childhood. Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (produced by the same studio)? Not so much. The Mr. T analogy was apt as well.

    Carmine Infantino is vastly underrated in his ability to draw very attractive, sexy women. His work seemed more…pneumatic at Marvel. Not only here but with Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman. The changing times, I suppose.

    Ghost Rider is an obvious guest-star, since he was born a bit from the Evel Kneivel craze as well. Maybe Nicholas Cage knows who the Human Fly REALLy was? 🙂

    Chris

    1. Chris, I know you probably already know this… if not, I don’t want to spoil it…but the identity of The Human Fly (the real one) was revealed years ago. A feature film is supposedly in development. I don’t recall if the comic revealed his true life ID, but it’s out there.

  4. Another fantastic episode, Max! Steve was a great guest and brought some great insights to the inscrutable Human Fly! Like you guys talked about, having your main character be a complete mystery to your audience must be hard to write. I think it’s fun, but at a certain point, I think a writer has to start dropping bread crumbs to help explain the mystery or, like you guys mentioned, have him not be the main character.

    Rubik the amazing cube was a great pull. That was a crazy idea to just sell a toy. I love ’80’s cartoons and all the ideas that were thrown at the wall to see what would stick (and sell!). Speaking of which, I also enjoyed DnD cartoon, Steve. It was really trying to legitimatize DnD and make it non-Satanic (though Venger didn’t help) for the masses. I wonder why they didn’t try to also make a Human Fly cartoon? You’d think he’d be great for an action series and would sell toys like hot cakes! Just thinking of all that Evel Knievel merch that came out……

    Well done again, gentlemen! Keep up the great work!

  5. I was trying to think of how you could update the Human Fly for current times. Getting back to the original idea of a human fly as someone who scales buildings or walks tightropes, I thought the best modern equivalent would be a parkour practitioner. With that in mind, the new Human Fly could be a secretive parkour expert who uploads videos of their death-defying runs on social media. Despite their online fame, they avoid appearing in public. In keeping with that idea, this Human Fly could operate at night, thwarting crimes they encounter, while making their runs through the city. You could even keep the tragic accident as part of their backstory, but, perhaps, replace the steel skeleton with an athletic prosthesis.

    I also enjoyed your shout outs to DC Super Hero Girls, which helped to foster my daughter’s current interest in comics, and to Stingray. I’m also a fan of the red and white watery wonder, and I’m counting down the episodes until oHOTmu OR NOT? reaches his entry.

    Thanks for another amazing episode.

    1. I like your update, Brian. And I’m glad to hear a major comic company is doing something that effectively attracts readers under the age of 40.

  6. Thanks for getting another show to us so soon, Max. And how lovely to hear Steve on the network again. #2 sounds like this is another solidly entertaining issue, and the Infantino/Green art is certainly a draw. I’ve always liked Carmine’s Seventies Marvel work, and yes his women redefined ‘pneumatic’.

    It’s hilarious to hear that after all the set-up about Human Fly secret ID suspects, it never came up again. Oh well, at least DC could use the idea for Wild Dog… I was going to say Harmony Whyte is obviously a Marvel niece of Perry White, but the spelling rather ruins it.

    That’s a great observation about Human Fly’s costume being reminiscent of Stingray’s – now there’s a character Marvel should really be using regularly based purely on his brilliant visual. But last I heard, the Sub-Mariner had fed him to the sharks. Charming.

    I would be interested to read an issue of Human Fly because despite individual stories sounding entertaining, my gut reaction is that this isn’t for me – the old TV Hulk-style ‘hero goes from town to town and falls into a different soap opera story every week and you never see the other characters again’ doesn’t have enormous appeal. But still…

  7. Thanks for another enjoyable podcast, Max. Steve, you’re a great guest and appearing on Fire and Water is a wise use of your open calendar space in the summer.

    It occurs to me that the Human Fly is a little more like a pulp hero than a comic book hero. He has a capable entourage of distinct characters around whom most of the plot revolves. He’s a mysterious, uber-capable moral paragon whose character needs no further development, and the action beats revolve around him. Sounds like the Shadow or Doc Savage to me.

    1. Captain Entropy, that’s a really good point about the pulp hero trope. With the exception of the visuals and tone being pure 70s Marvel super-hero, the structure of the character dynamics is very much like the Shadow or Doc Savage.

      As for my podcast appearances, gotta do something with my summer downtime. idle hands, you know. Haha!

  8. I can’t confirm because I don’t own any copies, but it’s possible the 35¢ version is Canadian. There’s a third cover with the British price (12p). This is true of the first 3 issues (then down to 2 versions, North America/Britain), then the US price jumps to 35¢ and I guess we’re synced until inflation changes the prices again. Random issues of The Human Fly will also have a Whitman cover for sale in department stores.

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