Ryan & Donny On Favorite Single Issues

The guys take a moment to reflect on their most pivotal comics!

You know, there are a lot of comic books out there. At least twenty or so. In this minisode of Ryan and Donny’s Half-Assed Substack Podcast, the boys discuss the single issues they consider to be the most important to their comics careers! Check it out!

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Ryan Stegman: Alright, so my favorite single issue of all time is definitely the “Anatomy Lesson” issue of Swamp Thing. It's Alan Moore's (I think) second issue that he wrote, but it really was the kickoff of his magnum opus that was Saga of the Swamp Thing. It is probably the best-written comic I've ever read. It's a genuinely scary comic. The way that he kind of did, honestly, what I feel like you did, [like how you] you took Venom’s history and you made it all make sense. You spun it around a little bit. He basically took the whole thing, spun it around, made it into a thing that was very cohesive, and set it off on a journey that he set up right away. Then, as an honorable mention, I'm going to say- because it's not as well-written but- the issue of Spider-Man with Wolverine and the Wendigo by Todd McFarlane is one of my favorite issues of all time, because of the nostalgia aspect of it. It was this book that my friend had in Pennsylvania, when I was first introduced to comic books and I had just crossed this age where, I'd seen comic books before, and I was interested in them, but I wasn't interested in the creator. That Spider-Man book was the first one where I was like, "who drew this? How did he do this? I need to learn more about this." And so that issue kind of sent me on my comic book journey. Years later, when I got back into comics, because I moved away from Pennsylvania, lost touch with that friend- lost touch with comic books- and then got into Spawn, and was like, "I should go back and get that Spider-Man issue that I love so much.” Lo and behold, it was the same artist. I didn't realize that at the time. Sentimentally, that is the most important comic book of my life.

Donny Cates: Those are good choices. For me... man, it's hard to pick a single issue, right? I mean, honestly, any of the issues of Alan Moore's Miracleman run could be a perfect issue. I've said it before, Miracleman by Alan Moore is just flawless. I think that a lot of the themes and things that he plays with in stuff like Swamp Thing and Watchmen and stuff like that, I think he nailed in that book. Sometimes, not always but sometimes, I think nailed them better in Miracleman. Issue #18 especially, which is when Kid Miracleman, Johnny Bates, just goes on his fucking insane slaughterfest. So brilliant. They have to teleport a rock into his brain to kill him, it's really fucking hardcore. But really the thing that comes to mind, and I hope this isn't kind of, like, hacky or anything, but... it hit me at a special time in my life, and a special time probably in everyone's life, but I was just the right age. I've talked a lot about JMS's run on Spider-Man, it's probably one of my favorite, if not my favorite, run on Spider-Man of all time. That first six issues feature Morlun, who comes in just to beat the shit out of Spider-Man in the street. And pretty much does. Peter gets away and issue six ends with him curled up in bed having escaped, he's just like bleeding, beaten, and bloody. And you think, "oh my god, that was the craziest six issues of Spider-Man I've ever read in my life.” But then he hits you one last time: the final splash is Aunt May walking in holding the costume and she knows. And then, if you have it in the collected formats, that cliffhanger just like hits you right in the face, right? Then you turn the page to my favorite single issue. It's just an all-black page that says, "we interrupt this broadcast to bring you late breaking news," or whatever it is. You turn the page and it's Spider-Man at ground zero at the World Trade Center. That entire issue- Marvel's response to the World Trade Center attacks- is profound and just beautifully drawn by John Romita Jr. It's got so many small moments. One that comes to mind is Captain America standing and watching over it and the captions say something to the effect of, "I don't think I'll ever be the same to see this kind of thing once in my life. He’s seen it twice." That was a great little moment. Moments like when it says, "you can't see us through the dust and debris, but we are here," and way off in the background through the dust you can see Wolverine and Ben Grimm helping out. Cyclops is cutting a beam with his eyes, which is not how Cyclops’ beams work, but that's okay. It's been made fun of a little bit for Dr. Doom crying and stuff like that. Whatever. I thought it was beautiful. There is a moment where Spider-Man gets to this kid who can't find her mom- or it's a mom that can't find her kid- and they just look at Spider-Man and say, "where were you? Why didn't you help us?" Oh, it just fucking kills you. Then the last line of the book, I remember just being so haunting and- at the time- it was kind of what I needed to hear as a kid trying to deal with the all-encompassing existential nightmare that was that whole event. Putting it through the lens of Spider-Man and stuff really helped me a lot. Knowing what we know now, and the wars that would follow and everything, it's very haunting because it ends with these captions saying, "you wanted to wake us up, you wanted our attention… Well, message received. Look for our reply in the thunder." It's really fucking hardcore. At the time I read it and was like, "that's very heroic." But now, I think we may have overdone it a little bit on the thunder part. That being said, that's a great issue. As sappy as you want to call it and everything, it's the issue that came to my mind. And on that hopeful and beautiful note- smash that subscribe button and tune in for more exciting insights from your favorite creators Ryan Stegman and Donny Cates.

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