Fast talk for the weekly comics pile.
First Issue Club Comic Books turns new comic releases into loose, rapid-fire conversation. The show moves from DC and Marvel first issues to indie horror, trailers, reprints, and whatever bit the table cannot resist chasing.
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First Issue Club Comic Books is a comics conversation built around the thrill and risk of issue one. The show works best when the table is sorting through what feels promising, what feels familiar, and what is weird enough to earn a pull-list slot. Mike DeStacey, Greg Lickteig, and Andy Vargas bring a loose group dynamic rather than a polished review-panel format. They interrupt, joke, correct course, and then usually arrive at a concrete reader take. The coverage leans heavily into weekly first issues from Marvel, DC, and indie publishers. Superhero continuity gets plenty of room. Firestorm, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Venom, Punisher, X-Men, Lobo, Deathstroke, and DC Next Level all appear as living story machinery rather than abstract brands. The hosts care about how a book fits into a larger run, what old thread it revives, and whether the premise actually gives the next issue somewhere to go. They also keep space for horror and stranger comics, including Exquisite Corpses, Sleepy Hollow material, and monster-sized local spectacle like Godzilla stomping through Kansas City. The tone is playful. It can be needling, mildly grumpy, and absurd, but the energy comes from people who still like buying, reading, collecting, and overthinking comics. Creator names and industry context surface naturally, from Adam Hughes and Dave Stevens to Eve Ewing, Tyler Boss, Che Grayson, Tim Seeley, Nick Spencer, and Garth Ennis. The show is not trying to be a beginner textbook. It assumes a listener can keep up with Krakoa fallout, Jigsaw, Tombstone, mutant schools, cloned Lockheeds, and the economics of reprints. That confidence is part of its charm. Even the digressions tend to reveal taste: collector anxiety, local pride, shop culture, and the strange logic of comic fandom. First Issue Club Comic Books is for readers who want their weekly comics news served with jokes, side quests, and a real sense of what might be worth carrying home.
Made for: For comics readers who follow new launches, superhero continuity, indie horror, and shop-week buzz closely enough to enjoy inside-baseball jokes. It especially fits fans who want lively reactions before deciding what to buy next.
What sets it apart: The show combines first-issue review instincts with loose comic-shop banter, so the coverage feels informed without getting stiff. Its best moments turn tangents, local jokes, and continuity rabbit holes into practical taste-making.
We're a reading club, hyping and reviewing all the weekly talked about number one ☝️ comics.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Loose, informed conversation turns new comic releases into sharp discussions of craft, continuity, character, and the promise behind issue one.
A new number one gives First Issue Club Comic Books a clean question: what deserves another issue? Mike DeStacey, Greg Lickteig, and Andy Vargas work through new releases in loose, joke-heavy conversation, moving from plot mechanics and character choices to the larger continuity…
First Issue Club turns your pull-list panic into jokes, verdicts, and one more book you definitely need.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A loose comic-shop hangout where Chris Kattan, Adam Hughes, reprints, and next week's pickups share the same shelf.
The episode frames comic-book talk as a kind of friendly contact sport before it gets to the week's stack. It opens with an extended run through Chris Kattan's Domingo, fantasy lineups, Clash of Titans, Monopoly Go, and the odd little joy of Burger King texts, then shifts into…
A loose first-issue chat catches Firestorm's fuse and lets the comic-shop detours breathe.
The Fury of Firestorm plays here like superhero machinery with a timer wired into it. First Issue Club leans into the book's complex superhero nonsense, tracking a limited-series setup that points this version of Firestorm toward a collision with consequences across parts of the…
A lively Daredevil discussion where classroom ethics, secret identities, and comic-book speculation all collide.
First Issue Club treats the new Daredevil series as more than a fresh launch, turning it into a lively argument about Matt Murdock's obligations to the law, his students, and the promises he keeps making.
A psychic mutant university gives familiar X-Men machinery a strange, smart new floor plan.
First Issue Club's X-Men discussion is strongest when a familiar school story slides into stranger territory. Gray Matter Lane comes across as a massive mutant university on a psychic astral plane, where students in Brazil and Chicago can tune into the same mental channel,…
A loose but pointed Punisher review on a classic-feeling issue that keeps the character's politics mostly outside the frame.
Punisher lands as a test of how much familiar machinery a new run can carry. The discussion follows Frank Castle back into a borough vacancy left by Tombstone's imprisonment, with organized crime pushing forward and Castle caught in mental lapses and trauma tied to Micro.
A comic-shop debate finds real tension in a Spider-Man first issue's odd medical turn.
The First Issue Club reads Amazing Spider-Man 1 as a reboot caught between superhero routine and bodily consequence. Peter misses his first day of work when Rhino rampages, but the episode becomes more compelling once the hosts settle into the comic's street-level medical turn.
A funny, warm interview about spy-story spectacle, shy-kid loneliness, and finding community.
Matthew Rosenberg's talk with First Issue Club looks at comic-book craft through a question of belonging: how far can big, ridiculous spy machinery go while still carrying the loneliness of a shy kid trying to find his people?
Fandom recap with receipts and side roads.
Moon Knight talk with lore-soaked judgment.
Fast takes for lore-sick fans.
Matthew Rosenberg gets the Interview Club placard.
Number ones keep Mike young.
A comic book review podcast discusses issue five of Exquisite Corpses, praising writer Geordie Belair's Eisner-winning coloring and storytelling.
The First Issue Club hosts an emergency episode to discuss a massive leak of emails and financial documents from major comic book publishers.
The hosts of First Issue Club discuss Godzilla vs.
First Issue Club moves from Mario Kart Tour's shutdown and a top-1,000 ranking to DC news and comic-book criticism.
Chris Kattan somehow lands the opener.
First Issue Club is back.
Collectibles are both the joke and the soft spot.
The hosts discuss issue 11 of the comic book Exquisite Corpses, its expansion into other media, and novelizations of comic books.
The hosts of First Issue Club humorously discuss DC Next Level comics and a Spider-Man trailer, while also reflecting on trees and paper.
Mike and Vargas open by treating Greg's empty couch spot like a tiny tragedy.
The bit starts with ghost jokes.
The hosts of First Issue Club discuss Godzilla vs Kansas City and Return to Sleepy Hollow comic books, with a tech issue disclaimer.
The hosts introduce a new podcast series discussing each issue of the comic Exquisite Corpse, explaining their format and referencing a past experience with Donny Cates.