Paul and I are back with more comics waffle for you to gobble up, as we send good wishes to Adam Hughes, chew over Marvel’s layoffs and its wider malaise, and discuss DNX, Challenges of Doom, Clayface: Celebrity Dirt, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Horse’s Marvel reprints and Jughead: Piemageddon. We’ve also got reviews of Fireborn and The Fury of Firestorm, and The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe has aged badly.

The podcast is here, or available via the player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments below, on Bluesky, or via email.

(And yes, my audio is all wonky – we had to record remotely for the first time in ages, and I didn’t set up my mic right. Sailor V, as they say.)

Back once again with the renegade Masters of Evil, as we look at the first half of 2004 miniseries Avengers/Thunderbolts. There’s talk of Spider-Man working down the mines, Jean Grey’s ex-boyfriends and a deranged neo-Nazi who names everything after the letter X, and even some discussion of the Avengers and the Thunderbolts, so why not come and join us? Exactly, no reason, that’s what we thought.

The episode is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Bluesky, or via email.

Paul and I have a lot of news for you this time round, as we remember Tatjana Wood, and talk 3 Worlds 3 Moons, Hulk War, Terminal, M.A.S.K., Skate Ali, Odin, Avengers/JLA, Jays of Future Past and Concrete: Stars Over Sand. We’ve also got reviews of The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery and The Punisher, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe appears subject to work commitments. All this plus the octopus that predicts the football results, donkey cigars and one unit of entertainment.

The episode is here, or available through the player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Bluesky, or via email.

(Also, I know the Vertigo book I was thinking of was End of Life rather than The Living End, it was late and I was tired)

It had to happen. And now, it finally has. It’s time for me and Paul to bite the bullet and step into the squared circle to take on Marvel’s Most Merciless, the Masters of Mayhem, the Mush-Mangling Mavens of the Marquis of Queensbury, the… Thunderbolts?

It’s Fightbolts time, but will they float like butterflies, or sting like bees?

The episode is here, or available through the player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Bluesky, or via email.

It’s only 348 sleeps ’til Christmas, so we’re taking the opportunity to look back at the best 2025 had to offer, as we run down our pick of our three favourite comics of last year in the 14th annual Homies awards. Will your favourite make the cut? What did your fellow listeners choose? Find out here, true believer! Or in the comments for the Homies post from the start of December, I guess, for that second question at least. Here is definitely more convenient.

The podcast is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, via email, or on Bluesky, and here’s hoping you choose to stick around with us for 2026!

Jingle bells, Batman smells… or DOES he? Does he actually smell of GOOD THINGS, in an unexpected twist? How does he smell… compared to other comics? There’s only one way to find out – let’s have an end of year awards season! It’s time for the 2025 Homies!

As always, we want to hear from you about what you dug this year. As with last year, rather than give you a long list of categories, we’re concentrating on the comics we read that really did it for us. We simply want you to tell us:

What was the best comic you read all year, and why?

It could be a new release, it could be a relaunch, it could be another great year for a reliable ongoing. It could be a majestic miniseries or a great graphic novel, an incredible indie or a brilliant Big Two book. We’ll be reading them out on the show, so let us know what you dug and what about it made it so special for you.

Give us your pick, and may 100% of your Christmases be white.

Paul and I hit a major milestone this episode, as we reach the end of the first run of the original Thunderbolts team, and cover issues 72-75. There’s fighting, arguments, and weird things exploding, and that’s just the behind the scenes escapades of Bill Jemas. Will all the TBolts survive? Will they all get off Counter-Earth? Will they all make it to the next volume of the book? Find out the answers to two of these questions right here, true believer!

Next up, it’s the Homies, so look out for a post on that in the next few days. And then… sigh… it’s Fightbolts.

The podcast is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think in the comments, via email, or on Bluesky!

With NYCC in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to look back at some of the news coming out of the show, like the revamped Vertigo slate, Swamp Thing Is Killing The Children, DC K.O.’s unexpected crossovers, Marvel’s two upcoming symbiote-centric sagas, Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s Crowbound, the first wave of post-Age of Revelation X-books, the impending Spider/Super crossover and a smattering of other little newsy nuggets. There’s also reviews of Endeavour and DC K.O., and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is a government man through and through. All this plus Warwick Davis’s bin rota, Jim Davidson’s Garfield and an unavoidable detour into “in a world…” voice.

The episode is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Bluesky, or via email.

Paul and I continue to bop back and forth to Counter-Earth this episode, as we look at Thunderbolts (1997) #69-71. There’s plotline resolutions, a parade of fill-in artists and the least elite team of Elite Agents of SHIELD you could ever hope to encounter, plus Boobforce powers, the Curse of Taz and Café La Plume De Ma Tante.

The episode is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Bluesky or via email!

A small but perfectly formed episode for you this time round, with news about Die: Loaded, the new Infernal Hulk and Doctor Strange, DC’s upcoming Batman/Static: Beyond and the announcements of the murderers’ row of creators working on Batman/Deadpool. We’ve also got reviews of Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum and Uncle Scrooge: Earth’s Mightiest Duck and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is a bit of both. All this plus the Thing’s ’92 Subaru, Green Lantern’s trick or treating habits and the Wuzzels revival.

The episode is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Bluesky, via email, and if you want something from our Redbubble store I would get in there quick because it’s going away soon, to be replaced by something hopefully better.