Episode 139 - Who are You

Even Kryptonite got an entry in Who’s Who. © 2025 DC Comics.

It’s back to the future as we welcome back to the podcast our very first guest, Al Kennedy from House to Astonish. The original plan was to discuss one of Al’s Mastermind subjects, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (and DC’s Who’s Who), but we only got there after a meandering bit of chat about a variety of subjects, including wrestlers from the 2010s and their current identities (no kayfabe breaking here).

But we do a deep dive on the original 1980s version of the Handbook, how DC’s approach to Who’s Who differed, Marvel’s readjustment with the Deluxe Handbook, the art in both books and more. Amazingly, we didn’t mention the three-ring binder era of Who’s Who or DC doing a spinoff Who’s Who for Star Trek (which DC was publishing at the time).

There’s also some dicussion on some current books we are enjoying, including work by past guests Mark Waid (Justice League Unlimited) and Al Ewing (the gone too soon Metamorpho, with Steve Lieber). There’s also reminiscing about late 90s comics, including John Ostrander and Pascual Ferry’s Heroes for Hire and Starman. Sadly, no Swingers talk, although I had it in my notes. Shame on me.

There’s also some sci-fi media talk, but nothing on Doctor Who (I stopped watching after Capaldi left). Since Al and Paul O’Brien do a Thunderbolts podcast, we obliquely discuss the new movie, the Fabian Nicieza era of the book and rehabilitating of super villains, how the pod with deal with the “fight club” era of the book and more.

Al also discusses some of his other projects, including his Terry Pratchett podcast Desert Island Discworld and some shout-out for our pals Joe and Todd at Longbox Heroes.

The Plot Podcast - Episopde 7 - Ultraviolet (1998)

The Ultraviolet team in their prison vault. Don’t call it a cemetery.

The Plot Podcast in Hallowe’en Month at the When It Was Cool Network goes from tongue in cheek to deadly earnest. We’re joined by Odessa Steps Magazine contributor Justin Jones (@xPrimusPilusx) to discuss one of his all-time favorite TV shows, 1998’s Ultraviolet. The British show, written and directed by Joe Ahearne, stars Jack Davenport, Susannah Harker, Philip Quast and a young Idris Elba as a team trying to fight the good fight against … well, they call them Code V’s or leeches, but those monsters who want our blood to stay alive. We discuss how we both found the show here in the early 2000s, the premise of the show, and what we love about it. Since there are only six episodes, we discuss each one in detail, so spoilers ahoy. We rave about the quality writing and acting on display, some of our favorite scenes and more. It’s a Valentine in October to a program I often describe as “The X-Files and Blade fight Vampires.”