Who’s Who in the DC Universe #12

It's the twelfth titanic issue of WHO'S WHO IN THE DC UNIVERSE featuring Aquaman, Bibbo, Chesire, Elasta-Girl, Hawkwoman, Lois Lane, Man-Bat, Mera, Mr. Freeze, Suicide Squad, Zatanna, and more! Plus YOUR Listener Feedback!

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46 responses to “Who’s Who in the DC Universe #12

  1. Aquaman
    I had not yet become an Aqua-fan when this series came out. I had read the 1989 miniseries and would go on to be a big fan of the spear-hand Aquaman series. I agree with both of you, that this particular entry could have been more dynamic.

    G’Nort.
    I love G’nort but I’ve always been a fan of the UnderDOG! (sorry! had to do it!) I like that the Name font makes the G serif’d in such a way that it doesn’t specifically have an apostrophe but the G looks as if an Apostrophe was there and they just made it part of the G itself.

    Hawkwoman
    I love the art of the profile Image and I love the uniform. I wasn’t a huge fan of the continuity headaches that this era of Hawkman generated. but setting that aside, I found the whole series to be really enjoyable.

    Intergang
    The Moll next to Mannheim looks like Miss Morganberry from the Ruby-Spears Superman Animated Series from 1988 (A shameless Miss Teschmacher rip-off)

    Klarion
    This was an entry I never had much interest in. I really hadn’t seen the character in any of the books I was reading at the time.

    Lois Lane
    I really loved that they did away with the scheming secret identity proving aspects of Lois’ character. My first issue in this era was the reveal issue. When I went into it, I figured there’d be a way out of the reveal by the end. I was astounded to find that Lois was actually making out with and engaged to Clark Kent! That threw me off entirely! I was so used to Lois being in love with Superman and dismissive of Clark, that the shift over to Clark being the love interest, and Superman being Just a friend of the couple that I was suddenly wildly interested in reading Back issues of this era.

    Man-Bat
    I liked the Man-Bat episodes of Batman the Animated series but that was more of a chemically-induced Lycanthropy (wait…Chiropt-thropy?…uhm, is that an acceptable Bat-oriented variation of that term?) The only Man-Bat story I had read at that time was a story in the greatest Batman stories ever told. I’ve recently been reading some of Man-Bat’s adventures in the Detective and Batman Family comics where Kurt is a private Detective and I really like that version of the character.

    Mera
    See Aquaman.
    (I did love the cat-fish fight Mera has with Dolphin in the Peter David series)

    Mister Freeze.
    Freeze didn’t have much of a presence at this point in my comic reading. (I actually thought Joker killed him in the second Robin miniseries (which was the last time we saw him in this suit.)

    Question
    I really didn’t know anything about this character until JLU (and that’s about my only knowledge of the character until the comic version died and passed the identity on to Renee Montoya)

    Red Tornado.
    This was always my favorite look for Reddy. I liked the way he was played in some old issues of World’s Finest and Justice League of America. I don’t think I really took a strong interest in the character again until Young Justice started up.

    Silver Banshee.
    Banshee was the main antagonist in the Identity reveal issue of Action Comics that I had mentioned before. Aside from that I I wasn’t really interested in her beyond the fact that she played a part in that comic.

  2. Bibbo- Bibbo is (no pun intended) my favorite. Jerry Ordway created the character based on one of the people that populated the bar his mother owned while he was growing up. Joe Joe was an ex-sailor that would often walk Jerry and his brother to their grandmother’s house and generally looked after them. One of the stories that Jerry told Jeff and I was that Joe Joe came to the bar one Sunday when it was closed and wanted in. The police were called and Joe Joe took on several officers at once before his mother ran out and made them stop. The sound of the night sticks hitting Joe Joe’s skull stuck with Jerry and they were able to get him released from custody and inside to treat his wounds. I liked Bibbo before hearing these stories because he was an amazing supporting character that had a lot of heart, but after learning the origins of the character I like him even more.

    And yes, Jose did buy that lotto ticket, but a gust of wind tore it out of Jose’s hands and it hit Bibbo in the face. He used the funds to buy the Ace O’ Clubs and Bibbo went from a cranky yet loveable side character to someone that took care of his friends and his neighborhood. He took Jimmy in when he was temporarily homeless and helped reunite Jimmy with his mother. He took care of his friends and he even helped out the Roger Stern looking guy that was selling bagged versions of the Daily Planet from when Superman died after finding out the guy was down on his luck. One of the best moments for the character was from around the same time when Bibbo, this ex-boxer and sailor, prayed to God asking why he took Superman and not Bibbo. It was an emotional moment and if it doesn’t at least make you feel a little sad then you’re dead inside.

    1. Intergang- This was one of the elements of the Superman books from 1988-1992 that I loved the most. I dug the idea that there was this criminal organization with vague ties to the Fourth World operating in Superman’s world. The best use was the time around Exile, because Clark breaking that story was the cover story for him disappearing when Superman was off Earth. They’ve tried to bring them back over the years, but it was never better than this era. At least to me.

      Lois Lane- Bogdanove was an interesting choice for this entry, but he drew a fantastic Lois Lane so this is far from a bad entry. It will come as no surprise to anyone that I am a big supporter of the Lois and Clark marriage. Bringing that back was one of the best parts of Rebirth and while Bendis has done some…unorthodox things with the marriage at least they’re still together. For now. I don’t trust the higher ups at DC as far as I can throw them.

      1. Project Cadmus- The second first appearance fits because the history of the organization changed significantly from Pre to Post Crisis. Superman’s relationship with it in particular was totally different. In Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen run Superman is the one that shows Jimmy around. In Post Crisis Superman has a serious problem with them because of the cloning work they do and that ties into the history of Krypton at that time. Again, I love this organization because of this era.

        Silver Banshee- Full disclosure; I have recently re-listened to the original Who’s Who episodes up to the annuals recently, so this isn’t my Shagg scaring memory here. They screwed up the first appearance again. It’s Action Comics #595, not 495. Someone was cutting and pasting there. I love this character. I have seen a few cosplays (per Rob’s comment) and it kills me that I didn’t have a camera when I saw the best one because it was dead on from the Byrne drawings. I am a bit salty that she was in a Batman direct to DVD movie, because Batman has enough freaking villains, but it’s good to see her out there. Oddly enough, this image does nothing for me. Dusty Abell was a good artist, but he seems to be trying to do the Mignola version of the character and it just doesn’t work for me.

  3. Wasn’t the original plan to follow all the various Who’s Who editions with coverage of Secret Origins? That sounds good. Lookin’ forward to it.

  4. Hey guys,

    Another great episode! Couple of things…

    Elasti Girl – the tv show depiction of Rita losing her cohesion and blobbing out was actually set up in the 2009 Doom Patrol run by Keith Giffen and Matthew Clark. That run established that Rita’s body could take tremendous damage, be split apart and reformed without consequence. She was reconstitutes her body built from her self-memory and photos. Mark Waid had previously shown that her humanity was unnerving and not convincing in the Brave and the Bold series he did with Perez. I really love the performance of April Bowlby in the series and she has easily become my favorite character in the ensemble, and the definitive version of the character.

    G’Nort – put me in the ‘sick to death of this character’ camp. There was over-exposure in the GL books as well.

    Tasmanian Devil – I don’t live in Canberra but I do work there!

    Thanks for playing the Waiting For Doom promo!

  5. Thanks for both saying my surname correctly (Droo-ay Why-ter) and offering me a freebie. I’ll be sending my address. I might ask my husband to comment so you can have a go at saying his name – Yragael.

    Aquaman
    I agree that Ken Hooper’s pin-up is pretty dull. Wish they had got Aparo or even Adam Hughes who drew a gorgeous Aquaman during the Kooey Kooey Kooey storyline. I was going to ask why Aquaman looks depressed in all the images but obviously it is due to poor, dead Aquababy.

    Bibbo
    A favourite character from the Ordway run. I was going to tell you about the connection to Jerry’s childhood but Michael Bailey got there first. Love the dentures joke. This entry should definitely have a creator credit for Jerry.

    Blasters
    Hard pass. Got to say I thought Dust Devil looked Kirbyesque but I see why Shag got that impression from Mrs Levy.

    Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress
    How can Blue Jay be so bulbously muscular but have such a flat crotch? You can tell that Bart Sears used to design action figures. Poor Blue Jay. I’m not completely convinced by the perspective on that piece. Surely for Blue Jay to look that big SS would have to be about a mile away to look the same height.

    Cheshire
    Rob is right. This is super cool. Terry Austin is a great inked for Colleen. It looks like Cheshire’s in a bit of a corner. There’s not enough room to swing a dead cat in that space. Sorry.

    Elasti -Girl
    Love this image. It was really weird hearing your conversation about who inked this when I’d already got into a Twitter conversation about it where I suggested Ty Templeton and then Ty confirmed it. Shag is right that Raine Szramski has some great art online. You should all go and check out her work.

    G ‘Nort
    I’m now going against my normal Staton love but I wish this had been drawn by Tom Artis. He definitely drew my favourite G’Nort. Joe did a great job but it could’ve been better. I like the fact that you referenced G’Nort giving up smoking but you really need to note that Stephen DeStefano was clearly showing G’Nort smoking a joint.

    Hawkwoman
    I love this piece. Graham Nolan was really good at dynamic poses. God there are a lot of dead supporting characters in this issue. Hawkwoman’s boyfriend Jonesy gets added to Aquababy, Wandjina and Lian.

    Highfather
    I just remain sad that there was no reference to Himon. Then you could’ve done some cheap jokes.

    Interchange
    Does anyone understand the running joke about Intergang from the Superman books? The really tall woman with the obscured face is called Tiny Bubbles and her face is never shown. This is clearly played as a reference but I didn’t get. I’m presuming it’s obvious if you’re American.

    Klarion and Teekl
    This is amazing. You’re right that Val Semeiks is underrated. You need to read the Demon series. If only the showtunes issue.

    Lois Lane
    This image is not the best choice. I would personally prefer the middle image blown up. Bogdanove is one of my favourites but I would’ve gone for JLGL (PBHN).

    Man-Bat
    Wasn’t Golden the artist on the Batman Family Man-Bat stories? He really is a character who gets great art. I first saw him in Action 600 drawn by Mike Mignola. I often recommend the Modern Masters books from Twomorrows as being great books. If you love Man-Bat you have to pick up the Kevin Nowlan book which features his designs for Man-Bat for the Batman Animated Series.

    Mera
    Love this image. Chris Sprouse would do a great Aquaman run.

    Metal Men
    You’re being a but unfair to Dan Jurgens. The guiding force behind the Metal Men series was Mike Carlin who wrote it supposedly the storyline was deliberately set up in the Byrne Action issues which were edited by Carlin.

    Mr Freeze
    I’ve always loved David A Williams’s work since I first saw it in the Impact Jaguar title. Apparently he left comics for animation but he has come back in the last few years doing some amazing Marvel covers and various bits and bobs mainly on the books designed for younger readers. I love the fact that he has drawn Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin.

    Project Cadmus
    It seems crazy to do a Cadmus page without using Jerry Ordway who had used them the most in Superman or Karl Kesel who drew their Secret Origin.

    Question
    It’s odd that you say Mr Zsasz had no connection to the Question when his first appearance was edited by Denny O’Neil who have Vic Sage his alternate name. Loved this Question series and I’m a huge Cowan fan. This looks good but I think it was drawn for a different colouring style. Cowan was working with Bill Wray on Question and Julia Lacquement on Green Arrow and his style really suited their painterly style rather than Tollin’s trad DC style.

    Red Tornado
    I love this costume design and Jason Pearson was a great choice. His dynamic style really suited Red Tornado. You mentioned that Firestorm created his new body which is only half true. Firestorm created a new body with his old design but in Captain Atom it was revealed that as it was new and unstable Red Tornado was able to reshape it to this design. The Firestorm connection comes from the artist who drew that comic – Rafael Kayanan. That issue always sticks in my head because the cover features the New design coloured as the old design which is really jarring.

    Silver Banshee
    Weird character to do a butt shot of. Wish they had got Mike Mignola to draw this as he drew her origin story from Roger Stern’s Superman debut. As a Brit of Irish extraction it always annoyed me that her name Siobhan always came with an asterisk and the explanation “pronounced Shee-Vaughan”. All the Irish people I knew pronounced it sha-von. I found that infuriating as a kid.

    Stealth
    Giffen and Pratt drew LEGION 28 which was a body horror story about Stealth giving birth to her baby. It’s better than it sounds. George Pratt did quite a bit of inking around this time. He assisted Malcolm Jones III on issues of Question and Sandman (he clearly inked the last few pages of Doll’s House) and went on to ink issues of Sandman (over Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg and Colleen Doran) and the Mike Mignola covers for the Dark Knight, Dark City story within Batman. Don’t forget he also created Stealth and all the other LEGION characters.

    Suicide Squad
    I always felt this image was quite pedestrian and really didn’t express how good the series was. The mention of Oracle taking over started when Amanda Waller started going on missions. Obviously they always tried to suggest that any character could die so they had to have someone ready to take over from Amanda and she picked Oracle.

    Tasmanian Devil
    I disliked the humorous time on this entry. It puts him on the same level as General Glory and G’Nort which seems a little unfair. I was surprised that you mentioned the reference to living a life of freedom regardless of their religion, race or sexual orientation but didn’t pick up on the later reference to his best friend Joshua Barbazon. Kevin Dooley was being about as subtle as a hang glider flashing.

    Zatanna
    Perfect entry. Phenomenal art, ignore the creepy retcon, feature all the costumes. Fantastic end to an issue.

    Thanks again to you for all the enjoyment you bring to us. I really enjoy these episodes and I’m glad to be a tiny part of them.

    1. Re: The Question, Damien, it was Rob, I think, who did indeed mention that Denny edited the Batman books; I think the point was that there’s been no connection made in the comics, so far as we know.

  6. Both Zsaszes at references to real world fringe psychologist Thomas Szasz, so there is a connection.

    Titans talk: Cheshire. Sort of deserved better, but being tied down to Roy Harper doesn’t help. The later appearance in Secret Six was one of Gail Simone’s rare misssteps, making her react to her daughter’s death by regressing to Maxima levels of baby-crazy? No thanks. There’s something to be said for her being the DCU assassin without a hint of redemption or remorse, but assassin stories wanted their people to both have hidden good sides and also be unbearable badasses, so there’s not much room.for her to be used.

  7. A note on Man-Bat: At a convention earlier this year, I brought the Man-Bat and Captain Cold pages to Michael Golden’s table for him to sign. As he signed the Man-Bat page, he revealed that he had actually drawn the page to be seen “right-side-up” (with the moon at the top of the page and the buildings at the bottom), but they flipped it in production, presumably so that Man-Bat himself wouldn’t be upside-down. He was pretty upset by the reversal, feeling that the composition worked better in its original form.

    Golden did draw the Man-Bat feature in Detective Comics when it took over the “Batman Family” anthology formula. I forget whether he only drew one or two installments before Steve Ditko took over the feature.

  8. Listening now, but I will say Shagg’s Aquaman theory doesn’t hold water (ahem). Nearly all the long-running DC characters had their first appearances dialed back to their actual first appearances. There was certainly an Earth-Two Batman (he got his own Who’s Who entry in the first series), but Batman in Who’s Who only gets Detective Comics #27 for his first appearance.

    So this doesn’t exclude the one-time existence of the Earth-Two Aquaman, nor do the two issues of All-Star Squadron where he, you know, actually appeared. On Earth-Two.

    Chris

  9. Okay, still have the feedback to listen to, but as for the entries:

    Aquaman: I really like this piece. I liked Ken Hooper’s art on the title. It’s a very nicely realized, illustrative style. Yes, it’s not “comic dynamic” but it has this nice lyrical quality to it, which works with an underwater character, in my opinion.

    Bibbo: I’ll admit, I didn’t really “get” Bibbo at first. I didn’t really understand why the super-team were spotlighting this character so much in the titles. I thought he may be a modern interpretation of Captain Strong, who was a Popeye analog Superman met in the Bronze Age? But apparently it just comes from Ordway’s family owning a tavern, and Bibbo being based on the patrons there. He eventually grew on me. Great piece either way, though.

    Elasti-Girl: I love this piece. This made me want a “non-weird” Doom Patrol book featuring the original team, who were quite dead by the time I was born and started reading comics.

    G’Nort: You know, Shag brings up a really good point (gasp!). THIS G’Nort really looks nothing like the character Maguire drew in those early JLI issues. You could assume they were two different species of Lanterns, honestly. I prefer the Maguire version too.

    Hawkgirl: You know, Cindy and I really need to reiterate how influential this version of Shayera was on Hawkgirl moving forward on JLUCast. I don’t care for this look either, but I love the front, and Graham Nolan in general.

    Lois Lane: I agree this is a great concept, but Lois looks like she’s from Pandora and should be blue, she’s so tall. And those tiny feet! Plus she’s super-busty on the back image of her and Clark embracing. I would have preferred Ordway or Jurgens handle this one, although I like Bognadove elsewhere.

    Man-Bat: Shag, what did Batman ever do to you? Yes, Man-Bat is similar to the Lizard. But Aquaman is similar to Namor, and you’ve devoted half your life to talking about him. Fantastic piece, no matter if it’s upside down or rightside up. And as others have stated, Golden drew Man-Bat in Batman Family and Detective in the 70s.

    Mera: Um…Not a huge fan of this one. As I have said elsehwere, I felt like Sprouse gave everyone the same face back in this era. Mera and Aquaman even seem to have the same face. It’s not bad, just not as gobsmacked as Rob.

    Mr. Freeze: Hard to believe shortly after this the Joker unceremoniously KILLS Mr. Freeze in the Robin II mini-series! He’s in this armor when he dies. He doesn’t come back for quite some time, either, during Knightfall of all places. Before Paul Dini’s revisionist origin, he was definitely riding on the fumes of his 60s TV heyday.

    Zatanna: What a great piece! I would LOVE to see Shanower draw a New Frontier-esque Silver Age DC comic one-shot or mini series. I’ve been wanting more ever since the JLA issue of Secret Origins!

    Chris

  10. Great episode, fellas!

    You know, for a long time, I never got the character I called Red Bore-nado. Thanks to Rob, it hit me. A robot longing to feel, to understand the human condition. Well, that’s Rob-ot, isn’t it? Why are his eyes leaking? That sort of thing. A true synthesis of Richie Rich and Irona.

    I was always a sucker for this era of the Hawks. Yeah, it didn’t make a lick of sense and got mired in its own continuity snafus, but dammit if the Hawkworld mini and ongoing weren’t great procedural comics. And this version of Shayera is the definitive one to me.

    You know what would have made this issue more memorable? Some Laura Gemser.

  11. This episode really illustrated how the colored borders were more trouble than they were worth. Why bother having borders to indicate heroes, if you were going to lump Zatanna and other “supernatural” heroes together with the villains that were “supernatural”. Not to mention the mistakes (like listing Man-Bat as “supernatural”) or the arguments about whether Suicide Squad is a hero team, or if Project Cadmus is technology. They would have been better if without it.
    The Elastic-Girl entry is amazing, but when Shag pointed out the guy with no arms past his elbows I looked for him. Once I spotted him I flashed to the scene in John Carpenter’s The Thing where a character has his forearms bitten off and is flailing is bloody stumps around.
    As for Mera, I also agree with Shag that there is just something off about her art. Her face looks flat. I dunno, too round and not well defined.

  12. First, my sympathy to everyone at the network for the loss of your friend, Xum. Losing a friend is always hard, and this had to be painful for all of you. I really feel for his family. I always enjoyed his Xum’s Who pieces.

    I was involved in a discussion somewhere (Batman 66 board, maybe?) where we wondered if Batman #176, with a December 1965 cover date, was one of the issues the producers of the show read to prepare for the show. It is an 80 page reprint issue, and features Mr. Zero’s first (and at that time, only) appearance, as well as stories with Penguin, Catwoman (who had been absent for several years at that point) and the Joker’s Utility Belt story that was adapted into an episode.

    Mr. Zero’s name wasn’t changed to Mr. Freeze until Detective Comics #373 in 1968, and Robin commented that Mr. Freeze sounded like someone from a campy TV show. I wonder if Dini read that issue, because Aunt Harriet had to have life saving Cryo-Surgery in it, and I thought Dini may have appropriated that for Nora. Freeze didn’t have another starring role until Len Wein’s Batman #308, where Wein humanize Freeze by giving him a moll out to stab him in the back. If you haven’t read Wein’s Batman run, it is highly underrated, and I really enjoyed it. Freeze’s wife Nora was a Paul Dini creation.

    Neal Adams said he suggested Man-Bat because he knew someone at Marvel would eventually think of the idea and use the character to irritate DC. I’ve always liked the character, especially the original Robbins/Adams/Giordano 3-parter. The cool thing about Man-Bat’s own series is that Batman guest-starred in the first issue, which was drawn by Steve Ditko. What a weird, cool thing to see Ditko draw Batman!

    Michael Golden drew Man-Bat back-ups in several of the final issues of Batman Family. He also drew the Batman lead story in the last three issues. Great stuff!. Yes, I know, I’ve read waaayyyy too many Batman comics. He’s the character that drew me into this abyss of comics collecting.

    See, Shag, I went a whole comment and didn’t even mention Laura Gemser once.

  13. It’s great to hear you both be so positive about so many characters. Here I come to be fussy (and lay the groundwork for Frank!).
    Aquaman looks constipated. He’s doubled over and his face shows great distress. That initial reaction compels me to scrutinize the image further to find more annoyances. Yellow eyebrows. Blond people do not have banana-yellow eyebrows. Bubbles from the nose. That shows that Aquaman is releasing air through his nose. Why? Was he holding his breath? why? The green sea turtle looks pretty good. The tube-like fish isn’t an eel. There is no dorsal fin. One little annoyance leads to so many others. Like…
    Mera. The pic is very nice, except…she looks like Sandra Bernhard, which is not appealing to me. Also, Arthur Jr. Both entries include the sad story of Arthur Jr. Why did this story survive the Crisis? Superman? Never Superboy. Hawkman and Hawkgirl? Not married. Batman? Always hated Superman. Arthur Jr.? THAT STORY IS CANON! IT CANNOT BE CHANGED! (Same thing with Mr. Terrific.)
    Lois Lane: I never got used to chestnut-haired Lois. I like raven-haired Lois. Why did the artist put so much detail into her boots? It must be important to the story, otherwise why call attention to it, right? Laces, and buckles, and straps, and shadow-defying! Are they her Klurkor boots?
    You say Bibbo. I say Cap’n Strong.
    Man-Bat. Wow! I appreciate Erich sharing Mr. Golden’s opinion, but I disagree with him. The image as it is printed is so much more dynamic, and unsettling, than having it flipped. Man-Bat faces down looks more like he is plummeting than flying. I’m going to repeat what Gothosmansion wrote, and expand on it. Man-Bat’s series in Batman Family/Detective is tops. His illustrators include Marshall Rogers, Howard Chaykin, Michael Golden, and Don Newton. Kirk and Francine Langstrom are shown as a young couple, very much in love, and struggling to earn money. I was very sad when other creators chose to make Man-Bat a mentally unstable antagonist. Shagg, find those BatFam Dollar Comics on your digital device. If only for the Man-Bat stories.
    Human Flying Fish. Marvelous. As was everything that Xum shared with us. His passing has really affected me. His talent was so evident in these Xum’s Who pieces. His Done-In-One Wonder podcast was perfection. His blog was genuinely touching, in both comedy and pathos. I envy you, Rob and Shagg, for having had the chance to get to know him, even if only telephonically. Thank you for sharing so much of him with us!

  14. Just caught up on the last two episodes. Fantastic as always.

    Very sad to hear about Xum’s passing. I didn’t know him, but I certainly knew—and loved—his talent.

    I suspect Xum did a listing for the Squid because at some point, there were plans for a Squid entry in the original Who’s Who series. See the Croc listing in issue No. 5, where it says “(see Squid).” I started thinking about other cross-references in the original series that never ended up with corresponding entries: I know there was Supertown and Superman’s Fortress of Solitude…I’m sure there were others that aren’t coming to mind.

    Shagg, I commend you for resisting the urge to make the predictable comment about the Elasti-Girl entry relating to a giant woman in a skirt standing above a crowd of people.

  15. Hey guys – any plans to cover the Who’s Who pages in the new Watchmen Companion? I intend on getting it just for the reprints of the old Mayfair DC Heroes RPG material in it.

    Also, there is a new Jonah Hex podcast that I’ve just discovered – Via Pony Express https://viaponyexpress.podbean.com/

  16. Cheers for another listenable episode.

    I quite like the Ken Hooper Aquaman, bar the massive great head with its super-sad expression.

    I’d love to have seen more of the Blasters post-Millennium. Maybe they’ll show up before the end of the current Inferior 5 series, which is set just post-Invasion. Incidentally, surely they should be called The Blasted, not the Blasters?

    Don’t blame Dan Jurgens for that terrible Metal Men origin, it was writer Mike Carlin who was behind it.

    Opinions can’t be wrong, but so far as Hawkworld’s Hawkgirl being the best version, Shagg is plain wrong. I hate all these grumpy Hawkgirls and Women, and those stupid bin-lid wings were ludicrous – who wants a flying bird character without bird wings?

    Shagg is right, that Lois Lane outfit is so wrong, it doesn’t say ‘classic Daily Planet reporter Lois’. I don’t know about spy, she looks like she’s about to empty the trash. I’m with Terry, brown-haired Lois always looked weird, thank goodness Jean Loeb and Geoff Johns eventually had her dye her hair black in 1987.

    There’s a lovely elegance to the Mera illustration but that facial expression – the woman looks utterly gormless. Maybe she’s still meant to be post-Arthur Jr loopy? And on the, as Shagg would say, ‘backside’, there’s no decent representation of her hard water powers – back then she was basically an underwater Green Lantern, here Mera looks like she’s blowing bubbles at Black Manta.

    I’m sick of Mr Freeze and his wife issues, although Peter Tomasi did move things on recently with the introduction of Mrs Freeze in Detective Comics

    Red Tornado is up there with Elasti-Girl and Man Bat for the best entry in the issue, who knew an android could look so sexy? Well, except Wanda in that issue with Vision in Speedos.

    Bob Greenberger would certainly know whether or not John Ostrander planned to make Oracle the leader of the Suicide Squad, he was the book’s editor.

    Hey, did you know that Michael Golden drew Man-Bat in Batman Family?

  17. Impressive podcast. Most impressive. Sorry for ya’lls loss. Xum was a talented artist and voice over guy. And he did a great job on drawing the Human flying fish. I will miss seeing his added characters to the Who’s who. Sorry to hear his done in One wonder cast and Samantha Fox pod cast won’t be there any more. On to the comic. The Aqua Man image looks cool. Not as cool as the Pad run or the movie. Still cool, Mr. Freeze is interesting, but I think Scarecrow didn’t makeit because of the Disney Scare Crow TV show.

    They did get mad at Hamer for making a movie of that heroic version of the Scare Crow. Er Reverand Good. Irony that version is PD , but as Disney was doing a tv not many people wanted mess with them. Think Hammer called it the Night People with Peter Cusan as the Scare Crow. The title came cause they wanted to remake I am Legend, but couldn’t afforded it. So used the title to do the Scare Crow. Or so I hear. Moving on. Bibo looks cool. One of Ordway’s cooler add ons to Supes. Him and Crime Buster. Blue Jay And Sorcess look cool. Elastic-Girl looks fine. Sorry not a fan of the drawing.

    Ah so that’s ware the Hawk Girl personality comes from. Cool. Hawk Woman looks cool here. Though I see why the suit didn’t make the Cartoon. It would take for ever to get that done in a comic. Lois looks cool. Liked her best on Small ville. The Man Bat drawing is cool. I inherited one of the issues of his 70s comic.

    Mera looks fine. Looks like the art from the Conglomerate. I liked that comic sadly it didn’t go on from this. I like Mera mostly in the Cartoons , The DC cartoon movies and the movie. But, not a big fan of hers. Sorry. Though I may pick up more about her. She has been pretty cool in the movies. Mr. Freeze looks fine. The Cartoon defiantly took him to the next level. Michael Ansara’s voice defiantly helped this character.

    Yep Red Tornado looks cool.

    The SS looks cool. Can’t wait to see the movie. Hope this one is better than the first. The Atom if I remember is Palmer, but using a new name. I think he faked his death. Flag was there, but died in a mission. With Tiger taking over. Babs looks cool here. Her running the team would be cool. But, the BOP works better for her. Dead Shot does become an anti her near the end.

    Zatanna looks cool. I liked her in the Seven Solders. She had her moments. JLA dark was a good fit for her. In the comic and Cartoon movie. Ah Banshee is a great villan and fun on Super Girl. (Though I don’t watch that show any more. Sorry season 2 wasn’t my fave. ) Oh I still do the tube. Though having to set my vides to adult…to avoid Coopa. Uggh. pointless government interference. U-tube is supposed to be for 16 and over, but what ever. My vids should never be watched by kids, but some vids are coo, for every one… not mine, but every one elses.

    But, to avoid probs I now just fix em. Can’t wait to hear the next podcast.

  18. Oh on the U-tube thing. I mean for language and hand gestures. I never post any creepy images. Ah High Father looks cool. Also he does have to fight Dark Side. So the size may help. Also sorry never saw a Silver Banshee cos play. Most Women here …save me. Dress as the 11th Doctor. Harlequin. Some anime. The Tardius. Saw one woman with a half skull painted face. But think she was Hela. Oh and Cat Woman. No Banshee here …. yet.

  19. Cheshire: in some of her appearances, it’s noted that she is triple-jointed, meaning that she’s not just a badass martial artist, but she can attack in seemingly impossible ways. But no comic artist, including creator George Perez, ever portrayed this in any way. The only time I’ve seen this attempted was on the Teen Titans cartoon, where her movements make her look like a rag doll or a marionette minus the strings. It was freaky as anything, and right on the money.

    Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress: I’ll need to pay extra attention when the JLI Podcast reaches the issues where these two are in the same issues as General Glory. Since the 3 of them are Avengers analogs, but do not have any shared history, there *should* be ample chances for winks to the reader. “You remind me of someone,” and the like. But I do not recall that from memory, so I doubt it was done.

    I am not a fan of Dave Hooper’s artwork, so the Aquaman image is disappointing. Any of the artists you both mentioned would have been tons better. Pity.

    Love that Elasti-Girl page! Good detective work, guys! I would also note that Rita was first portrayed as blobby in Doom Patrol Volume 5, written by … Keith Giffen. Imagine me knowing that.

    If I may, Shagg, I think the version of G’Nort you prefer is Kevin Maguire’s version with an almost human nose, albeit slightly pointier than humanly possible. Ralph Dibny would be jealous of that schnoz.

    So many other beautiful entries on your gallery page: Bibbo, Hawkwoman, Lois, Man-Bat, Mera, Red Tornado, Suicide Squad, Zatanna. Nice.

    When the episode started, I wasn’t ready to hear the disclaimer about Xum. I was in my car, pulling into the office parking lot, and started to choke up. I know I never met let alone interacted with him, but you podcasters have become terribly important to me. And we get to see another Xum’s Who. Thanks for sharing it, guys.

  20. Wow, lot’s of catching up here to be done. Sorry about not leaving feedback to issue #11. I assumed I would have the usual nine months between episodes to respond. To make up for it, my comments will be a mix of both issues.

    – You two can mock Snapper Carr all you want, but remember if it weren’t for him you would be wearing Starfish as a facial accessory. Mlle. Cobert may be good with the computers, but I don’t remember her fighting off intergalactic despots with lawn maintenance.

    – I am of two minds about your story of David Ace Gutiérrez texting you when your podcasts are not of the Who’s Who variety. Firstly, it makes me feel better about the messages I leave here and on Twitter when it has been a few months without a Who’s Who update. That being said, I’m hurt that DAG has access to your cell phone number and I don’t. Come on, Shag, we could stay up late and chat about Jericho and the Forever People! Doesn’t that sound like fun?

    – You solicited my thoughts on season 2 of the Titans, so here they are. Overall, Season 2 was a dramatic improvement, and not just because of Jericho (whose role was fairly small and I’m still not convinced on the casting choice). I did very much like seeing Donna Troy, Superboy, Aqualad, and the handful of other cameos we received. This season felt less gritty to me for whatever reason and there was a greater emphasis on the team forming bonds, both of which are points in its favor. I still don’t love Anna Diop, but she was less prevalent this time around, so it isn’t worthy of complaint. All in all, I was very happy with what I saw and would watch a season three.

    – I have to take off my hat to Rob. I consider myself to be the luckiest man in the world for being able to convince my wife to marry me, but she will only begrudgingly read the comics I offer her to read. The idea of buying one (even autographed by Neil Gaiman) and giving it to her for a gift is laughable. So, you either married well above your station or are a terribly unromantic gift giver and it isn’t my place to decide which one.

    – Feel free to read this in Simpsons Comic Book Guy voice if you’d like, but I can’t take Shag’s opinion on comic book geekery all that seriously if he hasn’t read through the Wolfman / Perez Teen Titans. Shag, it is so good! You seriously need to make this a priority.

    On to Issue #12

    – Cheshire: The best thing that ever happened to this character is her daughter Lian AND NOTHING BAD EVER HAPPENED TO LIAN!! so there’s that.

    – Elasti-Girl: I’m back in Bizarro World. I love the layout of the “splash page” and what is being attempted here, but there is no world in which a picture where Rita Farr’s face is drawn like that is the best image in the comic. I’m not artsy enough to exactly pinpoint why the face is wrong, but this is one of my least favorite entries solely because of the way her face is rendered. I do like her catching the airplane out of the air, at least.

    – Intergang: Am I the only one who has an issue with a large, shadowy organization being showcased with the “representative sampling” entry approach? If I had no clue who this group was, how would I know that it wasn’t just comprised of the seven characters seen in this image? I don’t have a great solution here, but I feel like there ought to be a way to do a listing for a massive conspiracy group like this so that they don’t look like they have a definitive roster like the Outsiders or Justice League.

    – Metal Men: For me, this is the best entry in the book and I think you hit it on the head why. The front image does look like it would have been at home in the old Who’s Who, which I still believe was the high water mark of this series. Maybe after you finish up with Impact, we can cycle back and start all over again. Surely you’d enjoy the opportunity of applying your decades of new podcasting experience to redoing your early neophyte foibles on this series.

    Let it be known that I provided feedback over two issues of Who’s Who and still said less than one of Frank’s posts.

  21. From Xum’s Who (my sympathies on the loss of him), I was really surprised to hear that the the appearance of the Human Flying Fish in Super Friends #1 was only his second appearance and after 15 years. I had assumed that he had appeared more and that’s why he was chosen for that group of villains. Funny

  22. 36 minutes into this and 100% YES!!! Losing comic.db is like losing the right arm of online researching and sanity-preserving organizational reading orders and order of appearances for characters, creators and more!

    All I know now, is that the site was purchased by the site ComicBook dot com, who’s search engine database for characters is woefully underdeveloped and mainly focuses on clickbait articles to generate web traffic. I don’t have much faith that they plan to incorporate the comic.db information database into their own either. It just seems like the buy off of a competitor site and that the functions and features of the competitor site (comic.db) that were extremely useful are going to be lost for the foreseeable future.

  23. Doing Sunday chores podcast listening. 1 Hour and 6 minutes in: YES!!!! Robin Meets Man-Bat, 1000 times YES!!! The Power Record absolutely left the most vibrant, creepy, effective and lasting impression of Man-Bat on me as a child!

  24. Great job, as always, gentlemen! And now that I have a loose leaf copy of Who’s Who (thanks to you!) I guess I will have to get a binder and find a way to organize the entries. Since the original Who’s Who was alphabetical, that just seems like the way to go but maybe I will try to sort it by colour category? Anyways, on to the entries……

    Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress – I liked these characters from the early issues of JLI but I never understood why the Silver Sorceress has no silver in her costume. Is this just another Crimson Fox situation? I don’t get it.

    Gnort/G’nort – I agree with Rob that this really was a one note/joke character. The first time I read him, it was hilarious. The second time brought me a chuckle and by the third time I was mildly amused but then they just started putting him in every issue and the joke wore thin. I feel like if he was used more sparingly, he would have been a more loved character. Though JLI Annual #4 (Justice League Antartica) was pretty funny……

    Man Bat – So amazing! This is a character that would work great in a more Gothic horror themed Batman film.

    Metal Men – This group is one of my favourite teams of all time but a lot of that has to do with the covers by Jim Aparo and Walt Simonson. There is a current Metal Men series right now which isn’t too bad and features an Nth Metal Man!

    Mr.Freeze – I really liked this entry as well and agree with you that, even though this isn’t my favourite Mr.Freeze costume (nostalgia for the Super Powers figure aside), this is a great drawing of the character.

    Zatanna – And another entry where it really shows off the character in a dynamic way. Why can’t all entries be like this? Rob, as an artist, hypothetically, if you were to get a Who’s Who entry to draw, would the editor tell you what to draw, or at least an outline? Or does the artist pretty much get free reign here? Also, if this fictitious editor said you could draw any entry, who would you want to draw ?

    Keep up the great work!

  25. Did Darkstar G’Nort get killed off-panel? I vaguely remember a storyline where someone (Fatality?) was killing former GLs, and it was implied that they had killed and skinned him.

    Silver Banshee first appeared in the History of the DC Universe Portfolio, in the piece for John Byrne’s Freaks, along with an early version of the Next Men characters.

    And yes, I was referring to Rob saying something nice about a Legion-related entry.

  26. 1) One thing I’ve learned over the years is that since tone is largely absent from internet commentary, just putting things into print can easily lead to misunderstandings. For instance, I once made what I thought was an obvious, blatantly untrue trolling gag about a podcaster’s voice that needlessly, unintentionally was found to have wounded years later. Eventually, I began to avoid commenting on the relative quality of fellows in my circles for fear of doing harm. Even in the case of a Xum Yukinori, I’d either forget to mention his Xum’s Who after slogging through a given print edition of Who’s Who, or worried that if I praised him one month and missed it the next, he might infer judgment of one over another. I certainly wanted to throw him a little shade last issue, when he did a particularly great entry for the entirely nothing villain The Squid, but as usual decided silence was best. I’m very happy that he had time to craft one of those entries for the Human Flying Fish in his own style, showing the potential and appeal in an overlooked option in Aquaman’s unfortunately slight Rogues Gallery. He actually gave the character a McFarlanesque vibe that makes him look cool. Too bad I didn’t let him know when it might have mattered.

    A) The short-lived 1991 Aquaman series sported one of his better logos, and in a break from both Rob and Shag, I much preferred the Shaun McLaughlin volume over most any other. I read the series in anticipation of Peter David’s run, only to be gravely disappointed with that series both in a vacuum and in comparison to the book cancelled to clear a way for it. McLaughlin has complained that DC should have allowed him to kill off Black Manta, which would have finally resolved that damaging issue. While I agree that the original Manta needed to die, I don’t think it was in Aquaman’s best interest to serve as executioner, as his emotional inability to allow himself revenge enhanced his character. Chadwickian artist Ken Hooper was probably to gentle for his times, but I thought he was a good if not exactly commercially viable choice for the story and its hero. As much as I enjoyed The Adventures of Captain America and Bucky, I think everyone would have been better served with his drawing six Aquaman issues and handing off to Hooper (rather than three-quarters of a forgotten prestige format mini-series.) The title visibly faltered once Hooper left, and McLaughlin didn’t seem to have another arc in him, assuming he wasn’t just playing out time on a lame duck volume.

    B) Bibbo was an unfunny “comic relief” distraction that continuously reinforced the view of the Superman books as being for old men who still chuckled over Popeye comic strips. He makes Jimmy Olsen look like Scott Pilgrim.

    C) I got Blasters #1 cheap decades ago and it’s never come out of the longbox once. Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress are fine examples of limited appeal analogues who overstayed whatever modest welcome they may have ever enjoyed, but at least they weren’t actively aggravating like General Glory. I think Colleen Doran’s inset panels turned out better than the pin-up, but it’s still good work, and I’m happy to note I got my first commission from her on the way to our Boston get-together. Even before Lian’s death, Cheshire was pretty much ruined by her having nuked Qurac, which nobody ever brings up because Middle East. Agree that Elasti-Girl was almost certainly inked by Ty Templeton based on the overall look, and it gives the then-deceased heroine an impressive showing. Entirely with Rob on G’nort.

    2) I typically used ComicBookDB as a third option after Comicvine and GCD, depending on the needs of a given bit of research. You’ll all be fine.

  27. D) When I read Chuck Dixon’s Detective Comics run, I tended to enjoy it, but I never kept up with it because of crossovers and my disinterest in Graham Nolan’s art. Following Tim Truman on Hawkworld was also a comedown, but it was still palatable, so I don’t know if his style varied because he was inking himself/consciously emulated Truman/coloring/what have you. While it’s generally agreed Hawkworld rendered the characters radioactive to continuity, I think it’s been said here that it could have been a solid prequel’s sequel maxi-series, and benefited from a time jump to the present with a new #1. It was clear that once the extended Byth story arc resolved and Truman left the book entirely, John Ostrander didn’t have much to say about these characters… yet continued not saying it for another 30-odd issues across two volumes. Even more than the continuity hell though, I think the greatest disservice was the personality swap between Shayera and Katar. Being the ’90s, “strong female character” meant turning her into Meghan McCain, while Katar became a namby-pamby constitution-caressing “demon rat,” or in comic terms prone to boring speechifying. When Ollie Queen embraces capital punishment and C.I.A. operations while Hawkman is earning his civil liberties merit badge from ACLUJr., you’ve maybe given up on serving the established characterization. Meanwhile, Shayera gets a lore-mandated tragic romance with the black cop that always gets killed to motivate their white partner, the ol’ backward two-step. So yeah, put me down for not favoring ham-fisted, inconsiderate, and poorly thought out revisionism for the sake of a zeitgeist that was already passing when the first mini-series came out.

    E) I actually like Charlton Heston from 10 Commandments on Cross-Fit, since otherwise Highfather always came off as Odin drained of all personality. “I’m old and made regrettable decisions my children must pay for” doesn’t get the kids up and dancing like “‘Mad-Eye’ Moody as fickle abusive dad doling out new mortal identities with a side of endtimes, if ye be worthy.”

    F) Given that Paris Cullins just acquitted himself well, it’s a shame to follow up with a dud like Intergang. Man, these guys always seemed to come up in ’90s Superman stuff, despite never amounting to more than “you know those hoods that threw their unloaded pistols at George Reeves? But with rayguns.”

    G) When Grant Morrison turned Klarion the Witch Boy goth, I was like “You’re doing Tim Burton a decade late, but also why?” It’s a very distinctive property; “Wendy the Good Little Witch as Pugsley Addams but also a British dandy” is pretty friggin’ high concept for an Etrigan adversary. I really didn’t like Alan Grant and Val Semeiks on The Demon, and Klarion specifically was overused, but the premise was sound and one of the better elements of their run. Just don’t have him serve as the lynchpin of a crossover that amounts to DC Babies.

    H) I’m glad Lois had a camcorder instead of a camera (Jimmy say “Stay in your Lane, ma’am”) but that whole outfit doesn’t say “intrepid reporter” so much as “Crocodile Dundee.” She’s an icon as old as Superman himself, so can we do better for a logo than typeface? Again, Jon Bogdanove did one of my favorite Loises, the third inset panel proves that he’s a master of physical intimacy in comics, and I think Lois was better served in the triangle-number period than any other character, but this still feels off-model. I appreciate that DC tried to make Lois more visually dissimilar from Clark and other prominent DC females by giving her the brown hair, but it’s just not Mary Jane Watson without the red hair and Veronica Lodge cannot be a blonde.

    I) MIchael Golden was definitely past his packing-in-tons-of-detail period on to his heavily-rendering-maybe-a-third-of-the-page-and-cheating-the-rest phase, and about to enter his I’m-just-going-to-phone-it-in, but-with-a-bold-color-palette times. Man-Bat was probably listed under the Supernatural category because Vertigo writer Jamie Delano and painter John Bolton had begun work on their years-in-the-making grimdark revisionist mini-series that, by the time it was released, was dumped out as an Elseworlds.

    J) I’ve got to tell you, it took me a while to come around to Chris Sprouse. I never hated him or anything, but he drew in that under-rendered cartoony style that DC seemed to favor in the early ’90s when they couldn’t keep any of the flashier artists. His Mera looks so much like a Jill Thompson drawing that you’d be forgiven for mistaking the two, except Thompson would have gone quirkier and more detailed, so maybe more like her inking someone else’s layouts? Anyway, this was from when Mera was full-on homicidal cray, so the sweeter profile image only highlights how dirty she had been done.

    K) I remember when the Carlin/Jurgens Metal Men mini-series was announced after Doomsday/Reign and thinking “It’s 1993. Nobody wants this. Why does DC keep wasting their time and resources pushing stuff that nobody wants.” Jurgens should have been working on Deuce for Bravura instead of slogging through a trademark renewal for his editor.

    L) My brother had the ToyBiz Mr. Freeze action figure with the obliques-rifles, which looked vaguely improper and just made the Super Powers figures want to smash his dome more. Early David A. Williams, who went on to undervalued Image work and a commission for me at HeroesCon that remains one of the gems of my collection.

    M) Project Cadmus is A.I.M. without any of the good stuff, and it’s ersatz Kirby at his King Solomon’s Frogs nadir.

    N) I miss Rick Magyar’s inks, but Denys Cowan still looks great on The Question, who should have gotten a TV series by now. He’s be a good fit for a firm-R cable or streaming show.

    O) Jason Pierson drawing like Joe Phillips but inked like Neal Adams is a peanut butter and tuna fish sandwich. I came to love most of Gaijin Studios, but at this point, they were all still Chris Sprouting. I will never not hate Red Tornado.

    P) I will never hate Silver Banshee. She was like a New Wave Fantomah arriving when Superman needed more badass and lady-type villains. She can even sell being drawn with her butt up near as high as a cat’s ass with her back to the viewer while chopping a book with a burning medieval ax. This could have been a pile of off-putting WTF, but somehow Dusty Abell and the inherent coolness of Banshee make me want to read whatever weird story this is supposed to be conveying.

  28. Gents, I just bought the reprint edition of Detective Comics 259; The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl. There was an ad for Captain Action that can be made up as Aquaman. The Aquaman outfit came with a trident. This was part of your discussion on this podcast regarding where or when the trident first appeared. Perhaps there’s something even before this.

  29. Q) The Stealth birth issue was easily one of L.E.G.I.O.N.’s best, and Barry Kitson is a guy I’ve never had strong feelings about one way of the other, so I’m perfectly happy to have Keith Giffen on a non-5YL entry. As a character type, Stealth should have been one of my favorites on the team, but the dynamics of Alan Grant’s scripts were such that it was just everybody reacting to Vril Dox or Lobo. Everyone else was sort of interchangeable in a Silver Age-y way, playing exasperated or indignant straights. As such, and especially in light of the murder-rape, I’m surprised Stealth hasn’t been quietly killed in a crossover yet.

    R) The stereotypical group-photo-at-H.Q. profile shot seems so out of place for Suicide Squad that it makes me scrutinize the image for some indication of satire. I also tend to think of Geoff Isherwood of being very much influenced by the ’70s Filipino Invasion, so the inks of Robert Campanella are way too smooth an CCA-approved. By year three, it seemed like Ostrander had invested too much into his core surviving cast to kill anyone off, so you could easily tell the doomed nobodies from the stunt ringers like “The Atom.” Come on, we all know you can’t solve a proper mystery by introducing an entirely “new” character in the last chapter, so Adam Cray was a total cheat. As much as I want to honor her creator’s design, Nightshade looks way better in her ’80s suit than she has since. I miss Bronze Tiger a bunch.

    S) Chris Wozniak is probably in my top ten mainstream artists I wish I had less exposure to, so I guess points for Tasmanian Devil not being a total disaster? If I ever bring DC Bloodlines back (don’t take that bet) I already scripted a Taz spotlight years ago for Paul Hix to do line readings on.

    T) I realize that “elemental” manipulation was Zatanna’s default power in the late Bronze Age, but doesn’t it seem like this should be Mera’s entry art? It’s a credit to Eric Shanower that his detailing and dynamism make “cave wave” look this good. Given that he spent his career doing adaptations of classics of literature and myth, I have to assume he chose to forego super-heroes, because he clearly had the chops. I think I remember Mark Waid saying to me in that interview how proud he was of using Shanower’s inks to get across the beauty of Curt Swan’s pencils, which he felt were almost never faithfully replicated.

  30. Another great episode guys! I can’t believe I’m all caught up on this show. I’ve gone back and listened to Shag’s Ultraverse show and was so disappointed that it ended so early and abruptly. I was a big Ultraverse fan, that I even bought the Prime Standee from my LCS. (Unfortunately he did not survive my move).

    I’m currently listening to the Secret Origins podcast, and I’m enjoying that as well.

    Thanks to you two for introducing me to the world of podcasts that I was unaware of!

    I was wondering if there was a way to upload some files? I was introduced to the DC Universe in the early 70’s by a vinyl record LP (Leo the Lion CH-1040). It had the Origins of Aquaman and the Golden Age Green Lantern on 1 side and on the other was the origins of both Jay and Barry Flashes. Not sure if you’ve ever heard this, but I was able to track down the audio, and I’m sure you’d enjoy them.

  31. A most enjoyable episode, gentlemen. I basically came here to talk about Stealth and Giffen’s body-horror issue, which is a spectacular, almost Vertigo-esque diversion from L.E.G.I.O.N’s usual shenanigans, one of the best issues of the entire series, and is an incredible showcase of Giffen’s art at its most Giffeny and Cronebergy. But others above me have already mentioned most of that, so… err… carry on.

  32. I am currently still listening to this episode, but I don’t want to forget the things I have to say. 1) I didn’t write in in time to the last episode to say, “Gee! I get free advertising for my podcast even for characters that just guest in an issue!” 2) I was shocked, SHOCKED, when you said the comic book database had shut down! It was my go-to for checking to see if I missed any appearance of Babs! 2) In the Suicide Squad entry you mention Oracle being pushed towards leadership and asked whether this was just the writer coming up with something. This is not unlikely, as there was a story where Oracle stepped in as leader when The Wall (Amanda Waller) was incapacitated.

  33. Hi. I’ve only found you guys recently, but plan on checking out everything over time. I am a huge fan of the Who’s Who (and the OHotMU, and any Handbook-type materials). Have you covered the Argh!yle entry in Son of Ambush Bug #2? Also, Amazing Heroes #109 had a list of all that artists and what they did in the original run of Who’s Who as well as an article about minor characters that could of had entries (including the Bouncer and Crusader).

    I also learned of Xum Yukinori’s work and am sorry to learned he had passed on. There’s a number of characters that he could have done profiles for. Professor Ojo, Superman Revenge Squad (both of which were referenced, but the entries didn’t appear), Black Adam, Joker of Earth 2, Sonik from World’s Finest Comics.

  34. Edit: The final sentence in my comment didn’t make sense. It should read “That Babs is being considered for Suicide Squad leadership is not unlikely, as there was a story where Oracle stepped in as leader when The Wall (Amanda Waller) was incapacitated. 3) I was ever so sorry to hear of Xum’s passing. What a kind, intelligent, and talented man! I regret not recording an episode of BTO with him! Sincerely, Stella (1% owner of the Kitana Banana Fruit Stand)

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