Voice of Latveria Douglas Wolk

James Romberger - artist, teacher, and author of "Steranko: The Self-Created Man" - joins Douglas Wolk to discuss Jim Steranko's Nick Fury serial in Strange Tales #161-167... in which Doctor Doom only appears in the final panel, but WHAT A PANEL IT IS. Topics include Steranko's formal innovations, the early connections between Steranko and Art Spiegelman, and the chessboard motif in this story. (Also: apologies for the slightly glitchy sound quality this week!)

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Comics historian Rhett Thomas joins Douglas Wolk to talk about Fantastic Four #57-60, Silver Surfer: Loftier than Mortals #1-2 and "The Silver Burper" from Not Brand Echh #1! Topics include the unwieldiness of the device with which Doctor Doom steals the Silver Surfer's power, the curious creative relationship between Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in 1966, and who owns a hundred pairs of stretch socks.

Dugan Trodglen--musician, comics retailer, journalist, and technically a character within the Marvel Universe--joins Douglas Wolk to discuss Avengers #25! (And the final panel of #24.) Topics include Don Heck's fortes as an artist, the beginning of Wanda Maximoff's fraught relationship with TV sets, the putative hipness of Hawkeye, Wally Schirra's advertisement for Actifed, and relevant videos of MF DOOM.

Chelsea Gaia--co-host of "Experience: A Career Stories Podcast," and a former wedding photographer--joins Douglas Wolk to discuss Fantastic Four Annual #3, Marvel Heroes & Legends '96, and Fantastic Four 40th Wedding Anniversary Special. Topics include Roz Kirby's possible influence on Susan Storm's wedding outfit, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's surprising final collaboration, which superhero picks up the check when everybody goes to eat at Tavern on the Green, and why honeymooning in the Blue Area of the Moon is a terrible idea.

Robb Milne of the excellent "Marvel by the Month" podcast joins Douglas Wolk to discuss two much later stories that take place very shortly after Fantastic Four #40: Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness's backup story from 2006's Stan Lee Meets Doctor Doom #1, and Christos Gage and Mario Alberti's 2010 Spider-Man/Fantastic Four #1! Topics include a secret moonlighting gig the 616 Stan Lee might have had, the sorts of continuity glitches over which Douglas gets extra finicky, and how one of Eero Aarnio's classic Ball Chairs might have ended up in a panic room for visiting dignitaries at a thinly disguised Columbia University.

Episode Notes
Jeet Heer--national affairs correspondent for "The Nation," master of intellectually omnivorous Twitter threads, and Jack Kirby scholar--joins Douglas Wolk to discuss Fantastic Four #39 and 40. Topics include Doctor Doom as Hobbes' Leviathan, Kirby's personal background and how it informed Fantastic Four's characters, the proto-Doom in Challengers of the Unknown #4, the Inhumans' story as an allegory for Jewish assimilation, and the F.F. as a Kennedy-era Democratic coalition.