We promised 2 episodes in March and we’re squeezing it right in there at the 11th hour. But we’re back for the next set of issues from the Joshua Williamson Flash run. We first stop over at Batman and pick up with The Button which takes us closer to understanding the forces behind all the lost time and history in the DC Universe. But it also reminds us that Eobard Thawne is the epitome of evil. The way he beats Bruce’s ass in the Batcave is a good reminder that speed beats prep time. It’s not just the Button though. After being largely absent in the first three volumes, Thawne features heavily in the next set of volumes for The Flash. And ends up dying…twice. If the first three volumes were a reintroduction of Barry Allen, these next set of volumes are a reminder of why Eobard Thawne is one of the scariest and evil villains in DC. Death doesn’t stop him. And when we get the reveal of why he’s become a mortal enemy of Barry Allen and it’s the most petty, insignificant thing; It’s just a good reminder of why this type of person is such a problem. 

Issues:

• Batman/The Flash: The Button
• The Flash Volume 4: Running Scared
• The Flash Volume 5: Negative
• The Flash Volume 6: Cold Day in Hell

Now that the first season of the She-Hulk series on Disney+ is over, now is a great time to talk about She-Hulks comic book history. The timing has nothing to do with the fact that Kriss is late on releasing this episode because work has completely swamped him. Nope, this timing is completely planned. 

Life has gotten really busy for Kriss and Dpalm so the regular Character Corner schedule has been a bit hectic these last few months. But thankfully Marvel has swooped in for a rescue by announcing a bunch of things for their next few phases of movies so that gives us a lot to talk about. 

In this episode we’ll talk about some of the trailers and announcements made for movies and TV shows coming out of SDCC. Not all of them involve Marvel and DC. We got the first teaser for the new John Wick and Amazon dropped a new trailer for their really really really expensive Lord of the Rings show. But of course, this is a comic podcast so we’re gonna want to focus on the comic book movies and TV shows that we got a look at. Unfortunately for DC fans, WB didn’t really bring a lot. We all knew we weren’t gonna hear anything about The Flash because…reasons. But WB only showed Shazam Fury of the Gods and Black Adam in a puzzlingly light presentation. They didn’t even lean on their successes like Peacemaker or even The Batman (which dropped this year but it seems like everyone has just forgotten about). No Aquaman either. It’s all just really puzzling.

And then Marvel came out and it was the complete opposite. A firehose of information about the end of Phase 4 and what’s planned for Phases 5 & 6. And boy is it a lot. Then there’s “that trailer”. The Wakanda Forever trailer is a rollercoaster of emotion and we can’t wait until November to see it.

We wrap up our Avengers part of our Hickman series with the 9-issue Secret Wars event that sees Hickman rebuild the Marvel Universe first in Doom’s vision then from Reed’s. Secret Wars is one of those events where you don’t have to read all the related non-Hickman written issues to understand the story but you want to. It’s a good cap to the end of the story Hickman has been telling not only from Avengers but all the way back to SHIELD. Also, just like in Time Runs Out you start to see where he lays the seeds for what he later does in X-Men. 

There is one more episode we’re doing in this Hickman series and it will be to cover Hickman’s run on X-Men and the new dynamic he created for mutants in the Marvel Universe. But before that we’re going to head over to the DC world to talk about Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing. 

With the mention of the word “Incursions” in Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness its timely for us to reach the “Time Runs Out” portion of our Into the Hickmanverse series. This is the lead up to Secret Wars and its basically Hickman destroying the Marvel Universe. All of it. Time Runs Out is actually jarring at first because there is an 8 month story gap. The Avengers have split. The Illuminati is on the run with new members. The Captain Britain Corp has been wiped out. The Cabal is given free rein to destroy other worlds. So much has happened and Hickman takes his time explaining it all.

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We also get the reveal of who “Rabum Alal” is and it’s…Doctor Doom. Hickman does what he always does and calls his shot and takes us back to the beginning. And not just this series but all of his series. At one point the Illuminati takes refuge in the Immortal City that we saw Nathaniel Richards and Howard Stark as members of S.H.I.E.L.D. There’s also some connections to Secret Warriors. And you really start to wonder if “All Hope Lies in Doom” from the Fantastic Four series with Val & Franklin from the future was also talking about the work that Doom is doing in this series that leads to him confronting the Beyonders. 

And then there are the hints at future Hickman stories. Like when Scott talks about the name of the game being “resurrection”. Knowing what we know now about Hickman’s time on X-Men and it seems like he called his shot here as well.

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Every time we read this series we pick up something new. By the end of Time Runs out there’s only two universes left: 616 and 1610. And that’s where we will pick this all back up with Secret Wars in the next episode.  

We’re back with another Character Corner episode and this time we’re talking about the character Moon Knight. Or should we say the characters Marc Spector/Steven Grant/Jake Lockley. Moon Knight is an interesting character to cover. First appearing in 1975 in Werewolf By Night, its pretty clear that early Moon Knight was Marvel’s answer to DC’s Batman. There’s so many obvious comparisons. Early on in Moon Knight stories, Marc Spector wasn’t suffering from mental illness. Rather his three personalities were actually cover aliases for him. Interestingly enough, all his aliases also seem to line up with aspects of Bruce Wayne. You have the Billionaire playboy Steven Grant. The highly skilled mercenary Marc Spector. Then there’s the seedy Jake Lockley that is clearly based off of Matches Malone (who first appeared in 1972 in Batman comics). Then there’s the Moon Knight concept itself. Dressed in all white (versus the all black of Batman), a hero of the night that looks at himself as the “spirit of vengeance” and taking out those criminals that prey on the weak. 

But then Marvel started to put some space between the characters by introducing Khonshu, the Moon God that took Marc Spector has his priest (or fist depending on how you look at it). Instead of some internal drive to make criminals fear him because of the murder of his parents, Spector is driven to fight crime because his God commands it. Or is it that he’s just insane? Or both? Later comics definitely show that Khonshu is a very real (and petty and vengeful God). And it’s Khonshu that has pretty much driven Marc insane. But it makes for a really interesting character and some very good comics to read (except for the Bendis run. Don’t do that to yourselves). 

Issues: 

• Werewolf By Night #32 – First Appearance
• Bad Moon Rising Moon Knight Epic Collection
• Moon Knight Volume 1
• Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu
• Marc Spector: Moon Knight
• Moon Knight: Resurrection Wars #1 – 4
• Moon Knight: High Strangeness #1 – 4
• Marvel Knights #1 – 15
• Moon Knight (2006 – 2009) #1 – 30
• Vengeance of Moon Knight
• Secret Avengers 
  • Issue #19 – First appearance of the Mr. Knight suit
• Moon Knight (2011 – 2012) #1 – 12 – Bendis (you can skip it)
• Moon Knight (2014) Marvel Now
  • Issues 1 – 6 (Warren Ellis)
  • Issues 7 -12 (Brian Wood)
  • Issues 13 – 17 (Cullen Bunn)
• All New, All Different Moon Knight (Jeff Lemire Run)
• Avengers Vol 8 #33 – 38 – Age of Khonshu
• Moon Knight (2021 – )