Silver Age comics, fondly put on trial.
Checkered Past is a conversational tour of DC comic issues from the Go-Go Checks period, moving from credits and plot setup into close commentary. The pleasure is in the drift: close reading, household digressions, sharp corrections, and amused frustration at Silver Age logic.
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Checkered Past is a comics-history show with the clutter and warmth left in. Its focus is narrow in the best way: DC comic magazines from the Go-Go Checks period, handled issue by issue with publication details, story credits, plot summary, and immediate reaction. Dr. Bob serves as the guide, setting the frame before each comic begins. Dr. Husband comes in to explain everything, which keeps the show from becoming a straight recap. The format sounds casual, but the attention is specific. A caption gets read, a panel choice gets questioned, a villain’s plan gets held up to basic sense, and suddenly the conversation is halfway between close reading and kitchen-table comedy. The show is especially good when the comics are at their strangest. Flash turning a villain into a human drill, Lois Lane logic around beauty contests, Superman mysteries involving Kryptonian objects, Blackhawk crime plots, Wonder Woman disputes, and Bob Hope school chaos all become chances to laugh without losing the story. It also knows when not to laugh. When vintage DC runs on racial stereotype language, racist characterization, sexist assumptions, or ugly beauty standards, the conversation flags it plainly and keeps the critique attached to the page. That balance matters. Checkered Past clearly enjoys these comics, but enjoyment does not require pretending every panel aged gracefully. The recurring digressions are part of the texture rather than filler. Property taxes, weather, mall crowds, air conditioners, toy shows, and neighbor sightings can interrupt the comic, then somehow loop back into it. The result is a show for listeners who like their comics scholarship informal, opinionated, and observant. It has enough bibliographic detail for collectors and enough comic timing for people who simply enjoy hearing old superhero stories tested against ordinary human sense. The guiding mood is fond exasperation. These are not museum pieces under glass; they are weird, dated, sometimes wonderful comics being read aloud by people alert to both the fun and the mess.
Made for: Comic readers, DC history fans, and podcast listeners who enjoy detailed issue walkthroughs with conversational humor. It especially suits people who like old superhero stories examined for craft, absurdity, and dated assumptions.
What sets it apart: The show pairs careful credits-and-panels coverage with loose domestic banter, so the scholarship never feels sealed off from ordinary conversation. It can admire a cover, question a plot mechanic, and pause over offensive period language in the same stretch.
From February, 1966 through August, 1967, DC Comics branded all their publications with a checkerboard masthead, lovingly known as "Go-Go Checks". Because, you know, the 60s. With the help of his husband and intrepid friends, Dr. Bobb will examine each of these issues in depth and tell you what you need to know!
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Close recaps, alert visual commentary, and spirited arguments turn mid-century DC comics into lively objects of criticism.
Checkered Past treats a narrow run of mid-century DC comics as material for close, conversational criticism. Dr. Bob introduces each issue through its credits and cover details, then follows the plot with a second voice ready to question its logic and catch revealing visual…
The Flash drills a villain into oil; you get someone willing to question his survival.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Batman, a rigged leadership contest, and frank talk about the comic's racist dialogue.
Batman befriends John Whitebird in The Brave and the Bold No. 71, the 1967 comic Dr. Bob and Dr. Husband discuss on Checkered Past. Whitebird is a candidate for tribal leadership, and rival Tom Tallwolf conspires with the Promoter to fix the contest.
An alien possession, a fairy godmother, and a beauty contest make Lois Lane #73 gloriously hard to explain.
Checkered Past follows Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #73 into one of its stranger tangles: an energy being hides inside Lois after a space probe returns, while a woman claiming fairy-godmother status waves magic at Lois and Superman.
A loving Flash recap that weighs superhero physics, fashion, and comic-book logic with amused precision.
Flash #169 gets a stylish Checkered Past treatment as Dr. Bob follows Barry Allen through The Top's crimes, a rare mirror exhibit at an art museum, and Anton Previn's valuable fashion designs.
A 1967 Wonder Woman issue gives divine rivalry and comic-book romance a lively, digressive Checkered Past treatment.
Wonder Woman 169 lands as a neat Silver Age snapshot: April 1967, 12 cents, edited by Robert Kaniger, with two Kaniger-written stories, "Wonder Woman Battles the Crimson Centipede" and "The Cage of Doom." Dr.
A Kryptonian mystery becomes an affectionate, digressive talk about comics, collectors, and milling.
Superman 195 gives Checkered Past a tidy Kryptonian puzzle to worry over: someone is destroying Kryptonian relics and memorials on Earth, Superman, Supergirl, and Krypto cannot find the culprit, and Kandor soon disappears too.
Two April 1967 DC comics bring hotel farce and a serious discussion of racism.
The Adventures of Bob Hope #104 sends a teachers' convention into hotel farce. The hosts linger over a disguise as a rock and roll group and an empty banquet hall, where Badger Goldliver waits for guests at his birthday party.
A fish communicator, a nuclear submarine, and the Loch Ness Monster send Lois Lane's February 1967 caper onto a gloriously unruly coastline.
Checkered Past follows Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane 72 from a journalism lecture series at Pacific University into the orbit of ichthyologist Trenton Thorne and his fish communicator.
A claim on every wheel sends Plastic Man to sea and the hosts into a discussion of ships.
In Plastic Man number three, the Duke of Wheelington claims every wheel in the world. His reasoning is that an ancestor invented the wheel in the Stone Age. That includes a yacht's steering wheel, and the company's attorneys need time to investigate.
Fandom recap with receipts and side roads.
Moon Knight talk with lore-soaked judgment.
Fast takes for lore-sick fans.
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A podcast episode analyzing Doom Patrol #110 from 1967, discussing the Brotherhood of Evil's attack and Madame Rouge's survival.
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Plastic Man number three comes in as wheel nonsense at full speed.
Lois gets nautical fast.
Batman walks into a rigged tribal leadership contest.
The setup is proudly weird.
Flash 169 gets a full go-go once-over.
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Wonder Woman number 169 gets the go-go treatment, and then the paperwork shows up.
Superman #195 gets the go-go-check treatment, and the episode does not hurry to stay on track.
Go-Go checks, teacher conventions, and war comics crash into each other.
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