Ten Cent Takes
Ten Cent Takes
Mike Thompson & Jessika Frazer
A podcast looking at comics, pop culture, and how the two connect. Come for the history, stay for the swearing.
Dollar Bin Discoveries: Double Trouble Edition
This week’s Dollar Bin Discovery is all about Double Trouble: That means it's twice the fun and twice the chaos. Mike spun into Web of Spider-Man #117 while Jessika tackled the wonderfully weird Dragonfly and Dragon Man. When comics double up, things get stranger.
Jan 21
20 min
Issue 124: The Girl in the Bay
This week we're reading The Girl in the Bay, a supernatural drama about lost time, second chances, and the unsettling idea of someone else living your life. After vanishing in 1969, Kathy Sartori resurfaces fifty years later to confront an eerie double and the life she never got to live. It’s a moody, introspective story about identity, grief, and new beginnings.
Jan 14
44 min
Dollar Bin Discoveries: Things With Wings Edition
This week’s Dollar Bin Discovery takes flight with "Things With Wings."  Mike cracked open SilverHawks #1 and got in touch with his inner space cop, while Jessika checked out a winged menace in Rune #1.
Jan 7
23 min
Issue 123: Within Our Reach
This week we're unwrapping Within Our Reach, the early ’90s holiday benefit anthology. Created to raise funds for Sempervirens and amfAR, the book features a mix of superheroes and social causes into one seasonal package. Festive, earnest, and unexpectedly weird in turns, it’s a holiday special worth reading.
Dec 31, 2025
46 min
Dollar Bin Discoveries: Long Underwear Edition
’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the bins,Not a hero was stirring without long undies underneath. This week’s Dollar Bin Discovery celebrates Long Underwear, so Jessika is checking out Herbie #1 from Dark Horse, while Mike read Glory & Friends Christmas Special.
Dec 24, 2025
28 min
Issue 122: Hercules- Prince of Power
Today we’re going (back) to the future with Hercules: Prince of Power vol. 2. Will we get lost without the context of the prequel? Will Marvel’s biggest himbo in space win us over? Is Skyppi the Skrull a trans allegory? Tune in to find out!
Dec 17, 2025
1 hr 1 min
Dollar Bin Discoveries: Sci-Fi Crime Edition
This week, we're blasting off into Sci-Fi Crime, where the future is shady and everyone's moral compass is a bit off. Mike checked out the preview issue of Crimson Skies, a pulpy mix of air pirates and alternate history, while Jessika dove into the wonderfully chaotic Aristocratic X-Traterrestrial Time-Traveling Thieves #1. It’s heists, hijinks, and high-concept nonsense.
Dec 10, 2025
15 min
Issue 121: Comics and the AIDS Crisis
Our latest deep dive tackles how comics confronted (and often struggled to confront) the AIDS epidemic throughout the 1980s and 90s. There's everything from groundbreaking moments of compassion to outrageously offensive books. We check out what the medium got right, what it got very wrong, and why these stories still matter.
Dec 3, 2025
1 hr 24 min
Dollar Bin Discoveries: Native American Edition
This week’s Dollar Bin Discovery theme honors Native American Heritage Month with a look at comics with Native characters across the decades. Mike read Avengers #682, where a legacy hero gets swept into a cosmic crisis, while Jessika explored the trippy, time-bending world of Timespirits #1.
Nov 26, 2025
18 min
Issue 120: Dan Dare (2007)
This week we're diving into Garth Ennis’s 2007 Dan Dare series. It's a grim, yet surprisingly heartfelt reboot of a character better known for stiff-upper-lip sci-fi adventures.
Nov 19, 2025
1 hr 7 min
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