CZ#53 – “Superman” (2025) and “Fantastic Four: First Steps”! – Podcast

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Click here to listen to the new episode!

“That is where you’ve always been wrong about me, Lex! I am as human as anyone. I love, I-I get scared. I wake up every morning, and despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other, and I try to make the best choices that I can. I screw up all the time, but that is being human, and that’s my greatest strength. ” – Superman to Lex Luthor

That’s right, it’s the one you’ve all been waiting for (probably) Chris and Erik are finally back with their thoughts on James Gunn’s “Superman” (2025), and the MCU’s latest entry, “Fantastic Four: First Steps”!

Featuring cameo reviews by:

(Episode edited by Erik Slader)

Also be sure to listen to Episodes ⁠⁠#40 – “All 4 Fantastic Four Movies?!” ⁠⁠and ⁠⁠#49 – “The Superman Movies (1978-2013)”!⁠

10 (More) Great Spider-Man Stories

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Spider-Man, obviously, is one of the most popular characters in comic books (or movies, or cartoons, or video games, or…) and has been for decades now. His popularity has meant for most of the 60+ years of his publishing history he has had more than one ongoing title running simultaneously. Not counting what if…? or Ultimate stories (those would need to be different lists), I wanted to pick out 10 tales of the webbed wall-crawling wonder that will show you why he, his villains, and his cast of supporting characters are second to none.

I should point out this is NOT a top 10 list, in that these are not ranked in any particular order, nor are they the 10 BEST Spider-Man stories, or my absolute favorite 10. These are just 10 cool stories that maybe slipped your radar or were out before you were reading Spider-Man and/or were born. I imagine I will revisit this topic, because it was hard to narrow it to just 10 for this article.

So, if you haven’t read these, do yourself a favor and check them out, and if you have read them, well… good.

Check out our first installment of great Spidey stories here, and check out some X-Men recommendations here and here!

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CZ#52: The New 52 (DC Comics: 2011-2016) – Podcast

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Issue #52: The New 52 (DC Comics: 2011-2016) – Podcast

“The World’s Greatest Superheroes, 52 All-New #1’s!”

Chris and Erik are back with another random episode…

  • DC’s ‘New 52’ Era (2011-2016)
  • Crisis on Infinite Earths / Flashpoint
  • Jim Lee’s Justice League
  • Grant Morrison’s Action Comics
  • Scott Snyder’s Batman (Court of Owls / Zero Year)
  • Brian Azzarello’s Wonder Woman
  • Geoff Johns’s Aquaman and Green Lantern
  • “Superman / Wonder Woman”
  • “Superman: Unchained” by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee
  • Behind-the-Scenes Controversies
  • Some of the titles that didn’t land with fans
  • Zero Month / Villains Month
  • Forever Evil
  • The Darkseid War
  • Convergence
  • Rebirth
  • Doomsday Clock

(Episode edited by Erik Slader)

Essential Reads: Captain America

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On our latest podcasts (issue #51) we gave our recommendations for the star-spangled sentinel of liberty: Captain America!

The good Captain has been around for close to a century (!!!!) now, so there are quite a lot of Captain America comic books! Wanna start reading some awesome Captain America comics but aren’t sure where to start? Here are our recommendations (and some honorable mentions) for some awesome Cap comics!

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CZ #51: Thunderbolts, Ultimate Spider-man, Spidey Villains, Cap, Kingpin, Krakoa, and more! (Podcast)

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Issue #51: Thunderbolts, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spidey Villains, Cap, Kingpin, Krakoa, and more! (Podcast)

“There’s something wrong with me. An emptiness. I thought it started when my sister died, but now it feels like something bigger. Just a void… Or maybe I’m just bored.” – Yelena Belova / Black Widow (Thunderbolts)

Chris and Erik are back at it with another random episode…

  • MCU Catch-Up: “Thunderbolts”, “Captain America: Brave New World”, and “Daredevil: Born Again”
  • Ultimate Spider-man (2024)
  • X-Men: The Krakoa Era
  • Pitch Ideas – Event Books: “Kingpin Takes the Marvel Universe” (Erik) and “Acts of Vengeance 2” (Chris)
  • Mount Rushmore: Spider-man Villains
  • Essential Reads: Captain America

(Episode edited by Chris Carroll)

Check out our blog at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ComicZombie.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more! 

Follow us on Social Media: Instagram: @ComicZombiePodcast / BlueSky: @ComicZombie

Essential Reads: Green Arrow

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On one of our latest podcasts (issue #48) we gave our recommendations for the emerald archer: Green Arrow!

Here are some honorable mentions and both Chris and Erik’s picks for their favorite- or at least most recommended- Green Arrow stories!

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10 (More) Great X-Men Stories

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You know ’em, you love ’em, it’s Marvel’s- maybe comics’- greatest team, the Adjectiveless, Exceptional, Astonishing, Wolverine & The, New, Immortal, X-Men! They’ve been around for over 60 years now, and insanely popular for 40+ of those years. Combining that with the fact that for many of those years there have been numerous titles running simultaneously, you end up with thousands of X-Men comics!

Out of those thousands there are so, so many great stories. The Marvel universe’s best and most important moments are full of X-Men stories. There are so many amazing ones, and many of them so drastically different, that creating any kind of ranking is both impossible and leads down the road to madness.

So, that being said, the following are not necessarily my favorite X-Men stories, but I love them all the same. There are still so many more I could include, so we may have a couple more installments of these.

All right, let’s get to it! Here are, in no particular order, 10 great X-Men (or X-Men adjacent/related) stories! (Also, you can find the first of these here, and one for Spider-Man here!)

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Nearly Every SUPERMAN Ever… So Far!

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Since his debut as the world’s first superhero in 1938’s Action Comics #1 – the Last Son of Krypton has had a number of incarnations, evolving through the decades as a reflection of the times he lived in, but one thing will never change – the Man of Tomorrow is here to stay! With James Gunn’s new “Superman” movie hitting theaters this summer (2025), we figured it would be a good time to do a deep dive into (nearly) every version of Superman… so far!

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Comic Zombie #50 – Bat-stravaganza! (Absolute Batman, The Batman, Best Bat-Villains, Best Bat-Comics, etc) – Podcast

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Comic Zombie #50 – Bat-stravaganza!

“I don’t need cars, or planes, or computers. I don’t need anything you have. All I need… is BATMAN.” – Absolute Batman #5

Chris and Erik team up once again to talk all things BATMAN for this 50th Episode Special!

  • Absolute Batman / Absolute DC
  • The Batman / The Penguin / Sequel News?
  • Hush 2 – Comics News
  • Best Bat-Villains
  • Best Bat-Comics
  • Best Batman Animated Movies
  • The Long Halloween, The Court of Owls, The Dark Knight Returns, Under the Red Hood, Knightfall, No Man’s Land, etc
  • And so much more!

(Episode edited by Chris Carroll)

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Top 100 Comic Book Heroes Master List

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The age old questions of comic fans: Batman or Superman? Spider-Man or Wolverine? The debates about the best heroes are endless. We tried to make a top 10 list, but that was just too hard. So we tried a top 25, but that quickly became a top 50… you get the idea. So we were able to ‘narrow’ it down to an even 100. Odds are you will vehemently disagree with who did or did not make the list, or just the order that we placed them. But, hey, it’s our list.

(Honorable mentions to Beta Ray Bill, USAgent, Martian Manhunter, Kid Flash, Hercules, The Frenchman and the Female (the Boys), Abe Sapien, Spider-Man 2099, Static Shock, Nite Owl, Guy Gardner, Booster Gold, Spawn, Atom Eve, Mary Marvel, and a hell of a lot more. So many more we could- and may- do another whole 100 list!)

We will release these in installments of 10 so that you don’t have the longest list ever to read through. Agree with the placement or who made the list? Disagree with the burning power of a thousand suns? Let us know! Enjoy!

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