Happy New Year! And what better way to ring in 2026 than to thrill to some classic yarns featuring some of DC’s vilest villains? Join Paul Kien and his guest Peter Watson as they discuss DC Special #14 – Wanted! The World’s Most Dangerous Villains! Listen as they discuss tales starring the Penguin, Toyman, Captain Cold and the debut of Heatwave!
This month’s instocktrades.com selections:
https://www.instocktrades.com/products/dec237190/absolute-all-star-superman-hc-(2024-edition)
https://www.instocktrades.com/products/nov237828/all-star-superman-tp-(dc-compact-comics-edition)
Martin Gray’s review of the Wanted Hardcover:
https://dangermart.blog/2020/04/05/dcs-wanted-the-worlds-most-dangerous-super-villains-review/
Some info on William Woolfolk:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Woolfolk
https://www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/creator.php?creatorid=216
https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_55&products_id=1406
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“Cloud Dancer ” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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Loved the issue – There’s something about having some Golden Age in the mix that made it special.
I liked the Calculator story and look forward to the next issues (even though I never really understood the Atom’s powers). I paused the cast and got the Tec book out to quickly read it once I heard Paul and Sean were going to cover it. Haven’t read the other 5 Calculator issues.. but if I had to describe him, I’d say he’s basically the Mad Thinker who fought the FF – he was always calculating upcoming events based on his mastery of probabilities (without the calculator glued to his chest).
I agree with Sean – the costume is something else. He has a readout display on his forehead… but he can’t see what it says?
One nit – someone (Paul?) said as an aside that the Infantino price increase letter was in response for going from 15 to 20 cents… but I think it was for them going from 15 to 25 cents (and going giant size for about a year) – and, believe it or not… I THINK I remember reading this letter as a kid – that move to 25 cents was a big event to little kids.
Keep up the great work!
And, thanks for the heads up on next month’s cast – I will do my Calculator homework – but there’s a limit… I’m not getting any Love comics!
This was a fun show. I don’t really remember this issue, but I must have seen it. I read just about everything back then. I do remember the back-up series with the Calculator. I also remember how it ended. I recall reading the letter columns, and how some of the fans were able to predict who the next guest star would be before it was even announced. It did make sense at the end.
The screen on top of the Calculator’s head was probably a way to let the readers know what was going on without having the writer use a lot of text making explanations.
Great show fellas! I love the art in this era of Superman in the Golden Age. A certain very friendly podcaster recently sent me a pair of Alter Ego issues spotlighting the folks who worked “ghosted” for Joe Shuster during this period, and it’s fascinating stuff! I often forget how nuts some of the Silver Age Flash stories are! I don’t think I ever knew Heat Wave’s gun was called a “hot rod” but it makes sense! So thanks for that enlightenment, Peter! The late Golden/early Silver Age Batman stories really do prove the 60s TV series may be the most faithful comic adaptation EVER, like it or not!
Loved the discussion on the first chapter of the Calculator story. I re-read this series a few years back, and yeah, it makes absolutely NO logical sense…even within comic logic! But it’s fun, and the art looks nice. When I was a kid, I thought Calculator’s suit was cool, but now he looks like he should be shooting out PEZ from the top of his cowl!
Yet again, a great show. I particularly enjoyed Peter’s dramatic readings.
On Infantino’s art – I’m one of those Bronze Age guys who really didn’t like his work in the ’70s and after, but very much like everything I’ve seen from earlier, esp. his work on the Flash, Adam Strange and various SF stories from the 1950s/’60s. And yes, his portrayals of women were quite lovely.
As usual, I enjoyed the creator-focus segment; I know a little about Woolfolk, and I’m glad you mentioned the Mad Hatter. I read both issues featuring that odd, short-lived superhero (they’re public domain and available at the Digital Comic Museum and Comic Book Plus) and they’re honestly not bad. Not great, but really interesting and also a bit puzzling, in that nowhere is it even explained why the hero even calls himself the Mad Hatter – he doesn’t even wear a hat!