The Plot Podcast - Episode 14 - Stanley and His Monster

Stanley meets The (well, a) Sandman. From Stanley and His Monster 1. (c) 2023 DC Comics.

Inspired by the Sandman re-read that Joe and Todd are doing at Longbox Heroesv (@longboxheroes), we look at a tangentially-related series, the 1993 series Stanley and His Monster, by Phil Foglio.

We give a brief history of Stanley’s creation, in the mid 1960s in the funny animal comic Fox and the Crow, how Dennis the Menace/Ralphie Phillips mash-up Stanley Dover meets his pet monster and how he has to hide him from his parents.

Then, we discuss Foglio’s work before this book, both at DC (Angel and the Ape, Plastic Man) and elsewhere (Buck Godot, Zap Gun for Hire). And explain what happened in Sandman: Season of Mists sets up the mini-series.

We do an issue-by-issue breakdown, with all the main characters, including some guests from the DCU proper and what would become the Vertigo section of the spinner rack.

We close out by mentioning more recent appearances by Stanley and the Monster, including the great Scooby Doo Team-Up, which features Angel, Ape, The Inferior Five, The Maniaks and a couple suprise cameos as the bad guys.

If you miss the funny wing of DC comics, look for these books in your local comic shop. Don’t think the mini-series is available digitally yet.

Episode 117 - Sunshine Superman

The March 1986 issue of Amazing Heroes, guest edited by Mark Waid.

After many years, I’m happy to say we have got Mark Waid (@markwaid) as a guest. And what better subject to discuss, fresh off his new book Dark Crisis - Big Bang, than the concept of continuity and the multiverse. Why has the idea of multiple worlds become so popular in the last decade or so, when it was something often thought as troublesome years earlier? We discuss how omnipresent it is now, in comics, movies and more. We also talk about the original Crisis in 1985, including Mark editing an issue of Amazing Heroes all about the post-Crisis landscape at DC following the series. There’s also talk about Hypertime and other attempts DC made to try and “simplify” continuity over the years and how things are going the other way now. There’s also a deep-dive on things like The Super Sons, The Inferior Five, Cancelled Comics Cavalcade and more. We also discuss Mark’s current books at DC, including Batman-Superman World’s Finest, Batman vs Robin and the upcoming Shazam (don’t call him Captain Marvel).

It was great to talk to Mark after seeing him for a few years and almost 25 years I sold him his weekly comics when Mark lived on the East Coast. Hopefully, we can get him back on the show in the future for more deep dives into DC lore.